The document we are sharing with you, “Response to An Affirmation of Creation,” was voted by the Annual Council in 2004. After three years studying the interaction of faith and science the organizing committee of the two International Faith and Science Conferences, sponsored by the General Conference, presented its final report to the General Conference Executive Committee at the 2004 Annual Council. The report indicated that there was an overwhelming support for the biblical doctrine of creation in six literal and consecutive days followed by the seventh-day Sabbath rest. It also indicated that there were some differences of opinions among some theologians and scientists. As a response to the report the Council voted the document that we are sharing with you.

What the response affirms is not new in Adventist doctrine and theology. It is simply a reaffirmation of the traditional, biblically based position of the church. This reaffirmation was considered necessary because a small number of individuals were misinterpreting the Fundamental Belief on Creation reading into it what the church never intended to say. Hence, the response reaffirms the historicity of Genesis 1-11, emphasizing in a particular way that “the seven days of the Creation account were literal 24-hour days forming a week identical in time to what we now experience as a week; and that the Flood was global in nature.”

The value of this document will be determined by the way it will be used by pastors, church leaders, professors and theologians in their respective work as they seek to nurture the church and contribute to the formation of new generations of Adventist church members. The Council did a significant service to the church, which it represents, by clearly stating what the Bible and the church proclaim to be biblical truth in the setting of the first angel’s message. This message calls the human race to “worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water” (Rev 14:7).