The present paper will discuss three approaches to issues of doubt and their relation to the question of the world\u27s age. The first two approaches are methods of inquiry: the scientific method, and the exercise of judgment. The third approach Is not a method of inquiry, but rather a procedure of organizing known facts into an a priori or given framework. One may refer to this third approach as the partisan procedure. That each of the three approaches has legitimate applications is acknowledged, but most people are not aware that with regard to the issue of cosmos antiquity, evolutionists have been conferred the mantle and authority of the scientific method when, in fact, they have operated as committed partisans. Neither the scientific method nor the partisan approach, however, is appropriate for inquiry into the age of the cosmos. The partisan procedure is not appropriate because it is not a method of inquiry, and the scientific method is not appropriate because the issue of the world\u27s age is a historical rather than a scientific question. The proper approach for inquiry into the when of creation Is the exercise of judgment in which evidence on alternative sides of an issue is weighed. When this approach is taken with regard to the question of cosmic antiquity, it is the contention of recent-creationists that the straightforward Genesis record is more plausible than the evolution alternative involving vast spans of time
