No, though Adventism played a major role in the growth of the position in America. Prior to the 20th-century, many believed the Earth was relativity young, but fields of study like geology and paleontology caused many Christians to pivot on their theories. Writers before the rise of modern science simply based their dating of the earth on the most up-to-date research available at the time. Christian’s initially reacted to the rise of modern science with a welcome embrace.
But in the 20th-century, young-earth creationism (YEC) began to rise. The most influential proponent in the 1920’s and 30’s was a man named George McCready Price. He was a Seventh-Day Adventist armchair geologist (his credentials are disputed) and is known as the father of modern day young earth creationism. Price advocated for what he called “flood geology” (that the fossil record is a result of a global flood) which was influenced by a vision Ellen G. White claimed to have where she was shown the first week of creation taking place.
According to Ronald L. Numbers (Hillsdale Professor Emeritus of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison) in his book titled Darwinism Comes to America, young-earth creationism was met with stiff resistance from most of the Christian science community from the 1920s through the 1960s. In 1961, Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb published The Genesis Flood which played a major role in young-earth creation science becoming a mainstream doctrine in many conservative evangelical circles. In 1963, Morris founded the Creation Research Society which was the first prominent young-earth research institute seeking to provide an alternate explanation for the understanding of the age of the earth.
Something else of importance to note is that Ellen G. White claimed to be shown in vision that there were other planets with life that existed long before the earth. Seventh-Day Adventist’s, including Price, only advocate for a young earth, and not a young universe. Adventism has an entire pre-earth origin story branded “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan”.
Because of this, within Adventism, there is no room for disagreement on this subject. Much of their theology is predicated upon the age of the earth being roughly 6000 years old. Furthermore, they interpret Revelation 14:6 (part of their unique “gospel” message) to be speaking about worshiping the true Creator by resting and worshiping on His 7th day and recognizing that He created the world in 6 literal, 24-hour days.
It is important to understand that not all people who reject YEC automatically accept Darwinian evolutionary theory. There are many alternate theories out there which still credit God with the creation, but disagree on the mechanics and hermeneutics used to arrive at a young earth creation model. Having disagreements about the mechanics behind when and how long it took God to create are nowhere said to be a damnable heresy in the Bible.
