HOW TO DECIDE BETWEEN SIDES ON DIFFICULT ISSUES
For any topic, whether it relates to Christianity or not, how do you decide issues that have good, strong arguments on both sides? The following is a suggested method.
HOW TO STUDY BIBLE-SCIENCE ISSUES
There are five steps:
1. Observe the Biblical evidence
2. Observe the natural evidence
3. Interpret the Biblical evidence and evaluate the theories
4. Interpret the natural evidence and evaluate the theories
5. Fit the two together for each theory, noting the rough spots.
Many Christians might disagree with this order; they would say 2 and 3 should be reversed.
HOW TO CHOOSE A VIEWPOINT ON A COMPLEX SCRIPTURAL ISSUE
Deciding between the arguments is somewhat like an nonlinear regression problem; the final answer depends not just on the facts but on the "strategy" of determining erroneous views.
One strategy is to choose a view that has the greatest number of exact matches. Read the passages and interpret them the way they sound. Rationalization, harmonization, and "creative" interpretation are not needed, just take the plain meaning. While this commonly used method makes the user feel very good about a certain number of passages, this method ignores how far the "misses" are; that is the evidence and passages that do not fit. One danger is to rationalize by saying "I'm satisfied since my theory fits these five or so passages, and I choose to ignore the three or so passages that contradict my theory."
A second strategy is to "plot a course" midway between all passages, such that you are not directly against any passage. If a theory does not fit a passage particularly well, at least it does not go against it and it does take into account all the evidence and every passage. One danger of this method is when some evidence or passage interpretation is in error.
The passages in question for the age of the earth are: Gen 1:1-26, Job 38:4-7, Psalms 90:4, 1 Timothy 1:4, and 2 Peter 3:3-8. The point of this paper is not to persuade you to a particular side, but to evenly show you both sides, and to help you become aware of the strategies you choose, and the logic you follow, as you come to a conclusion on the age of the earth.
Positive arguments are propertionally spaced. Defenses against the opposite view are fixed spaced. If every argument on both sides has some sort of answer, how can we decide which is right? One way is to score each side similar to volleyball. Match each argument and rebuttal. If the rebuttal is totally effective, the argument side gets 0. If the rebuttal is not totally effective, give the argument side from 1 to 5 points depending on its strength and the weakness of the rebuttal. This assumes each argument has equal weight; if you do not think that is true, then give each argument the weight you wish. -- Have fun!
FOUR CHRISTIAN VIEWS OF CREATION
These four views all agree that God created everything, -but how? All agree that micro-evolution occurs. In contrast to atheistic evolutionism, all four views believe man is here for a purpose, morally good and evil are in fact real, and man is capable of much more than just "super-animal" behavior.
RECENT (YOUNG EARTH) CREATIONISM
...Root Positions
1. Life Could Not Have Started by Chance.
2. Without many miracles, macro-evolution could not and did not happen.
3. The earth and universe are young (11,000 - 6,000 years old).
...Ramifications
1. Nature does not lie, and it proves a young earth. "Old" data is explainable or else God made some things (like grown animals) with the appearance of age.
2. The earth's magnetic field, continents, galaxies, heavens will soon run down.
3. Oil, Gas, and Coal are not all biologically derived.
4. The number of "kinds" of life can only stay the same or decrease with time.
5. All species in "flood deposits" alive before Noah and therefore on the ark.
6. The Bible is all true, and there is no need to read in to it things beyond its obvious meaning. If the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.
DAY-AGE (OLD EARTH) CREATIONISM
...Root Positions
1. Life Could Not Have Started by Chance.
2. Without many miracles, macro-evolution could not and did not happen.
3. God's days are ages and the earth is 4.5 to 5 billion years old.
...Ramifications
1. Nature does not lie, and it shows an old earth. "Young" data is explainable.
2. God can make things to really last.
3. Time is of no matter for a timeless God to make just the right world for us.
4. God created new genera of plants and animals as late as the sixth day.
5. The Bible is all true, but we must interpret scripture by scripture and nature to fully grasp its meaning. All truth is God's truth.
THEISTIC EVOLUTION
...Root Positions
1. Life Could Not Have Started by Chance.
2. God could and did make macro-evolution happen. -Chance could not.
3. God's days are ages and the earth is 4.5 to 5 billion years old.
...Ramifications
1. Nature does not lie, and it shows an old earth. "Young" data is explainable.
2. God can make things to really last.
3. Time is of no matter for a timeless God to make just the right world for us.
4. God created new genera of plants and animals as late as the sixth day.
5. The Bible is true. However, truthful simplifications expressed to a pre-scientific people in artistic poetry do not have the accuracy of dry scientific data. God's explanation to Moses of the complex scientific processes is analogous to a scientist's explanations to his beloved young child.
GAP THEORY
Same as Theistic evolution except that Genesis does not record creation. Since the Hebrew word "was" can also be "became", it records the remaking of the heavens and earth after a pre-Adamic destruction of the previous inhabitants.
Scripture Arguments for a Young Earth
In the Old Testament, all agree that the word "day" with a number by it elsewhere always means 24 hours.
1. Scripture says the earth is young; so an old earth is contrary to God's Word.
1a. Everywhere else in scripture day means either 24 hours or else a short period of time (Day of the Lord). Making day an "age" here is not its plain meaning.
1b. 2 Pet 3:8, though it may mean a day is as 1,000 years, only pushes back creation 6,000 years more.
1c. Speaking of 2 Peter, 2 Peter 3:3-7 seems to be a clear statement of scoffers' belief in uniformitarianism. Most who hold to an old age of the earth are uniformitarians.
1d. Psalm 90:4 does not necessarily refer to creation.
1e. The years in the genealogies from Adam to Abraham, added up, give Adam's time as ~4000 B.C. Even allowing that the Bible has occasional gaps in genealogy, it is unreasonable to say there are 10,000's of years between each name. This would be against the words' plain meaning.
1f. 1 Timothy 1:4 does not explicitly refer to creation, and while we are commanded not devote ourselves to genealogies, certainly none of the Bible can be ignored.
2. Interpreting scripture says that the earth is young.
2a. If plants were created on the third day, and the sun was created on the fourth day, the plants would have all died if the days were ages.
2b. By parallelism, Job 38:4-7 refers to "Sons of God." Morning stars may not necessarily refer to inanimate stars.
2c. If the sun, moon, and stars were not made on the fourth day, that contradicts the plain sense of Gen 1:14-18.
2d. Adam could have named all the animals in less than 24 hours if he had good intelligence and memory. He did not necessarily name every species, but perhaps every genus.
2e. If the winged creatures including insects were created on the fifth day, and insects are essential for pollination of many species of plants, those plants could not reproduce if days were ages.
2f. When Adam first saw Eve, perhaps he said "at last" because he was through trying to find a helper among the animals.
2g. Romans 5:12-14 and 8:19-22 say that death came through sin and creation was corrupted too. Thus all carnivores ate meat after the fall.
2h. Genesis certainly refers to the founding of the generations of all life, so the use of Toledah is appropriate.
3. Applying Scripture Indicates the Earth is Young.
3a. If man was not on the earth for 99.98% of its history, God must not think very much of man.
3b. If God had to take a long time to make everything, what does that say about God's power?
3c. If many have read the Bible and always thought God took a short time, what does that say about God's guidance and possibly God's integrity?
Scripture Arguments for an Old Earth
In the Old Testament, the word "day" with a number by it only occurs in Leviticus, and the context has nothing to do with creation.
A "day" in Hebrew does not always mean 24 hours.
Genesis 2:4 says "in the day (singular) that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" (NKJV). The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.30 says the Hebrew here is "(beyom, lit., 'in the day,' and idiom for 'when')".
The Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12-21; 13:6,9; Obadiah 15; Amos 5:18-20, etc.) has to be more than 24 hours because it includes the Second Coming and final judgment according to The New International Dictionary of the Bible p.258. The Day [singular] of the Lord here included the period of the Tribulation and the millennial kingdom according to the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.430.
The Day of salvation in Isaiah 49:8.
A Day of judgment for the proud and lofty in Isaiah 2:12.
In possibly other places the Hebrew word for day can mean more than 24 hours in other places too Examples are Genesis 35:3, 1 Samuel 8:8, 1 Chronicles 17:5, 2 Chronicles 6:5; Psalm 8:18; Jeremiah 17:18; Amos 3:14; Obadiah 11-14; Micah 2:5; 7:12; Zephaniah 1, etc..
1. Scripture says the earth is greater than 10,000 old and allows a great age.
1a. Can God's day be a long time? If not, then we have to cut 2 Pet 3:8 out of our Bibles.
1a. In Isaiah's and Hosea's, "day" could mean period of time
as well as 24 hours.
Hugh Ross The Fingerprint of God Promise Publishing Orange Ca. 92667 1989 p.146-154.
1b. Since God obviously had 2 Peter 3:8 written for us to read and believe, and the context is creation, then saying one creation day is 24 hours contradicts 2 Peter 3:8. Should we disbelieve God? Since a day is like (not equal to) 1000 years, then that means a day of God can be an age.
1c. While 2 Peter 3:3-7 does probably refer to modern uniformitarians, Christians should base their beliefs on truth and not just react to unbelievers. When believers deny truthful things, Satan can use that to harden the unbelief of non-Christians.
1d. Psalm 90:4 is a second warning that a Day of God in scripture is not to be taken as 24 hours. Since this refers to God's days in general, it certainly also applies to creation. Since 1,000 years is compared to both a day and a watch in the night for God, that also emphasizes like, not equal.
1e. While all scripture is accurate and true, scripture many times has imprecision. See Matt 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1 and John 20:1 for an example. 1 Tim 1:4 may be telling us that more precision should not be assumed for the genealogies than is really there. The names may be thought of as founders of dynasties and cultures rather than just sons.
1f. 1 Tim 1:4 indicates that less attention should be paid to genealogies than other parts of scripture. Other genealogies have gaps Cainan in Luke 3:33 is mentioned in Genesis in Septuagint but not in Hebrew, and Matt 1:2-13 omits Ahaziah, good king Joash, Amaziah, and Pedaiah. Since son can mean descendent in Hebrew, there is not a problem.
2. Interpreting Scripture Indicates the Earth May be Old
2a. If one of God's days must be only 24 hours, then 2 Peter 3:8 is wrong. If a day was 1,000 years, then recent creationists have the same difficulty. The answer to this dilemma is that the sun was not needed for plants, since light had already been created.
2b. Job 38:4-7 indicates stars (and Sons of God) were already created when the earth was being formed. Therefore the fourth day is not when they were first created. More likely, it is the day they first appeared in the expanse from the earth's viewpoint. Since this is so for the stars, it is probably the same for the moon and sun too.
2c. While this is not the plain sense of Gen 1:14-18, Gen 1:14-18 allows this, and the plain sense goes against the plain sense of Job 38:4-7.
2d. Adam must have had a computer to within 24 hours name all the 18,800 current species of birds and land animals. Perhaps that is how the forbidden fruit got confused with an Apple!
2e. The first plants probably did not need insects, and plants that did need insects came about later by speciation.
2f. When Adam first saw Eve, said "at last" or "finally" (Heb happa'am). A long time must have passed since Adam started looking for a mate.
2g. Romans 5:12-14 and 8:19-22 refer to man's spiritual death and expulsion from Eden. Fossils of many carnivores lived long before man.
2h. Gen 2:4 uses the Hebrew word Toledah "generations" to describe the creation. Toledah never means a short period.
3. Applying Scripture Allows the Earth to be Old
3a. If God took so long to prepare the earth for man before He was made, God must really value man.
3b. If instead of acting quickly God took his time (4.6 billion years) to create the earth, then surely time means nothing to God.
3c. If God (or Satan) gave so many false clues showing the earth is old, what does that say about God's integrity?
NATURAL ARGUMENTS FOR A YOUNG EARTH (37/76)
Arguments that can be effectively refuted are italicized.
Galactic and Stellar Arguments (13)
1. Breakup of Galactic Clusters - (Local group has 24 galaxies)
1a. Galaxies never appear to occur singly
Galaxies appear as edges of giant "soap bubbles"
2. Breakup of Galaxies (100 billion stars per galaxy)
2a. Spiral Arms
2b. Whole galaxy should be flying apart if old
2c. Decay lines of galaxies
2d. Lack of proof of existence of field galaxies
"Full Frontals" in Upfront in Discover Nov. 1990 p.10.
Flamstead, Sam "When Galaxies Collide" Discover Feb 1990 pp.50-57.
3. Breakup of star clusters
4. The ultra-smoothness of background radiation is a major problem in the Big Bang Theory.
5. New stars from grain formation would take longer than billions of years
5a. Many stars have been observed to die, but no new ones seen
6. If hydrogen has been converted to helium in stars for 11 billion years, why is there still so much hydrogen?
7. White dwarfs 1/2 the sun's mass would take too long to form, yet they exist. Mathematical models of white dwarf formation plus stars that are in various stages of white dwarf formation.
8. Stars need not have long lifetimes; Sirius B is white, but used to be red according to ancient astronomers
9. Existence and stability of very large stars
Massive energy losses would deplete large stars rapidly.
10. Since the temperature of the universe is not uniform, the universe is not infinitely old
11. Stellar evolution assumes the age of the stars. The age of the stars justifies stellar evolution. This is circular reasoning.
12. Since O stars burn 100,000's of times more rapidly than the sun, must be young. Yet do not have the rotation and magnetic fields expected.
13. Some fast binary stars have centers only 80,000 miles apart. This calls into question whether stars can evolve at all.
Solar System Body Arguments (17)
1. The sun's tidal forces are too strong for planets to form.
2. All planets and satellites should rotate the same direction. Venus, Uranus, Pluto, & 11 of 60 moons are backwards.
3. The sun should have 700 times more angular momentum than the planets.
4. The earth Mars Venus, and Mercury should be roughly 98% hydrogen and helium.
5. Planetary capture of our moon, Triton, and 4 moons of Jupiter.
6. The moon is receding from the earth too rapidly.
7. Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune have not cooled off; they radiate more heat than they receive. (So does the earth).
8. Sun should be depleted in 10 million years. It is shrinking 0.1% per century.
9. Evidence the sun might not be powered by thermonuclear fusion.
9a. 1/3 of expected neutrinos unless they had a small mass.
9b. Temperature (currently 5760 K)
10. A "Young Moon" is indicated by:
10a. Argon 36, Krypton 84, Thorium 230, Uranium 236.
10b. Viscosity of moon rock and height of moon's craters.
See space dust for dust accumulation on the moon.
11. Io, a moon of Jupiter
11a. Existence of a volcano on Io. Any volcanic activity on this tiny moon should have died out rapidly.
11b. Absence of any obvious meteoritic activity on Io.
12. How could methane gas escape from Titan, Saturn's moon, for billions of years?
13. All moons should spin in the plane of their planet but many do not.
14. The moon has a hot interior. It would have cooled off if it was old.
15. The present rate of icy comets hitting the earth would mean much more water than in the oceans if an old solar system. If early times, probably more icy comets than now.
16. Moon's craters would have leveled out in 10,000's of years by gravity.
17. The solar wind would blow all small particles out of the solar system, yet they are still here.
Space Dust Arguments (9)
1. Cosmic dust hitting the planets and the Moon
Dust on the Moon not deep enough
Nickel content of the earth & Oceans too low
14 million tons of meteor dust hit the earth per year. 2.5% Ni Earth's crust 0.008% Ni.
2. Comet lifetimes should be < 10,000 years.
2a. Short period comets
2b. Long period comets
2 Oort clouds with many comets probably true.
3. Extinction of Inter-planetary dust
4. Meteors not sufficiently sorted by Poynting-Robertson Effect
Chaotic motion might keep them unsorted
5. Maximum life of meteor showers
6. Experts surprised that meteorites and cosmic dust mainly just in top layers.
7. Expanding interstellar gas
8. Cosmic dust speed too low if universe billions of years old
9. Lifetime and instability of the rings of Saturn and Neptune
The Earth's Material Heat, Pressure, and Magnetism (15)
1. The atmosphere has only 40,000 years of Helium 4 from Uranium and Thorium decay. It should have more compared to Helium 3.
2. The atmosphere has too much Helium (3 & 4). It would all have diffused out in millions of years.
3. Crust and continents should be more because eroding too slow.
3a. In 3.5 billion years, should be 20-80 times more crust.
3b. Based on mountain uplift rates, if earth were a mere 55 M
years old mountains should be 5 times taller than Everest.
3c. Average depth of earth's topsoil too low.
3d. Rate of loose sediment formation indicates the earth
could not be more than 20,000 years old.
3e. Rate of sediments turning into sedimentary rock indicates
the earth could not be more than 20,000 years old.
4. Continents should be gone because they are eroding too fast
4a. Overall the continents are eroding at a rate that would level them in 25 million years.
4b. Rate of leaching of the earth's continents too high of: Calcium, Carbonate, Sodium
5. Ocean sediment and sea-water concentration unsaturated.
5a. Overall ocean sediment does not match the erosion rate.
5a1. Calcareous ooze
5b. Rates of influx from rivers into the oceans does not sat-
urate or match the amounts in the oceans.
Aluminum, Antimony, Barium, Bicarbonate, Bismuth, Calcium, Carbonate, Chlorine, Chromium,
Cobalt, Copper, Gold, Iron, Lead, Lithium, Manganese, Magnesium, Mercury,
Molybdenum, Nickel, Potassium, Rubidium, Silicon, Silver, Sodium, Strontium, Sulfate,
Thorium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Juvenile water, Zinc.
U to oceans is 10K to 5M tons /year.
5c. Rate of submarine oil seepage into the oceans.
6. Meandering rivers have cut through many layers of sediment.
7. The high pressure in oil and gas reservoirs would cause the fuels to diffuse out in less than 10,000 years.
8. Due to the temperature >= 313 C, the lead in zircon crystals in deep granite cores should have diffused out at a rate of 1% per 300,000 years, yet no losses are detected. Likewise for helium in zircon crystals.
9. Growth rate of river deltas such as the Mississippi.
10. The rate of cooling in the earth is too high.
11. The mechanism for sustaining and increasing the earth's magnetic field is a mystery. Electric fields would decrease and die out within 10,000 years.
Dipole monent gauss*cm3*1025 1835 8.558, 1845 8.488, 1880
8.363, 1885 8.347, 1905 8.291, 1915 8.225, 1925 8.149, 1935
8.088, 1945 8.066, 1955 8.035, 1960 8.053, 1965 8.013
Archaeological dipole moment measurements 2000 BP. (maxima)
12, 5500 BP. (Minima) 4, 10,000 BP. 12, 50MyBP 5, 100MyBP 3,
200MyBP 4, 275MyBP 14, 300MyBP 1, 375MyBP 1.2, 400MyBP. 4
During the time the dipole moment has been decreasing, the quadrapole moment has been increasing by the same amount.
Must be powered by rotation, even if the field reverses.
12. The remnant magnetism in earth rocks would have decayed away in millions of years.
13. From present rates, volcanic debris should be 10 times the volume of the earth, yet only 25% is volcanic.
14. The vast majority of the earth's "geologic column" is missing.
15. Parallel layers without erosion in between imply little time between depositions.
Radioactive Dating Arguments (11)
1. Variation in decay rates with pressure, temperature, and electric field strength.
2. Pleochroic halos of Polonium 218 indicate huge granite masses cooled within minutes or else there are unresolved problems with radiodating. Found in Scandinavia, U.S.A. India, Canada
3. Inter-bedding in the Grand-Canyon and other places.
4. Massive formations with the sequence upside down.
5. In one study over 400 out of 800 samples had inaccurate ages - K/Ar, Rb/Sr
5a. New formations, such as a 197 year old Hawaiian lava flow
the whole Island of Surtsey (10 years ago), and Mt. St.
Helens can be tested for the "age" of the brand new rocks.
5b. Lunar rocks drastically increased Argon content
6. Ages of adjacent rocks and soil differ by a billion years.
7. Carbon 14 production rate is not equal to disintegration rate
8. Still some Carbon 14 decay in Precambrian wood
9. Formation of Carbon 14 in meteorites
10. Formation of radiogenic
10a. Lead and strontium by neutron capture
10b. Decay of plutonium
10c. Decay of potassium with entrapped argon
10d. Uranium decay with initial radiogenic lead
11. Wide variation in times of geologic ages
66.4/64M -now Cenozoic
146/129 - 66.4/64 M Cretaceous
213/200 - 146/129 M Jurassic Period
250/235 - 213/200 M Triassic Period
300/270 - 250/235 M Permian Period
367/350 - 300/270 M Carboniferous
416/395 - 367/350 M Devonian
446/418 - 416/395 M Silurian Period
515/495 - 446/418 M Ordovician Period
590/530 - 515/495 M Cambrian Period
Life Arguments (11)
1. Growth rate of active coral reefs.
2. Unconsolidated state of some rocks, even very "ancient" ones.
3. Growth of the oldest living part of the earth's biosphere.
4. Present oxygen in air could be made by plants in 5,000 years.
5. An estimated 90% of all known species are living today.
6. No evidence of a very large number of mutations in fossils.
7. Human footprints and artifacts found in Utah, Kentucky, Missouri, and possibly Pennsylvania in "150-600 million years old" rock.
8. Polystrate fossils suggest rapid deposition (like Mt. St. Helens), not many ages.
9. Origin of human civilizations.
10. Human population would be astronomical if an old earth.
11. "Modern" pollen found in Cambrian Grand Canyon rocks.
NATURAL ARGUMENTS FOR AN OLD EARTH (50/65)
Arguments that can be effectively refuted are italicized.
Galactic and Solar Arguments (8)
1. Big Bang theories can explain
1a. Red Shift (Doppler Effect) The widening of the spectral bands is well explained by
intervening dust material encountered travelling long distances through space.
1b. The ratio of matter to energy
1c. The ratio of protons to neutrons
1d. The approximate present amount of the elements
2. Background Radio Frequency Radiation at 7.35 cm (3 K) supports Big Bang
3. If universe not old, then the light from galaxies millions of light years away could not be from them unless the light did not come from them or space is a Riemann space.
4. Spiral Arms of Galaxies - Computer simulations successful assuming non-radiant matter like our galaxy is known to have.
5. Star Formation - about 3 stars formed per year are observed.
6. Galaxy light Starlight takes millions of years to reach the earth. The distance is gauged by assuming the brightness is similar to our own galaxy. This alone proves an old age unless God created it recently with the appearance of age.
7. Main Sequence (Red Giants, White Dwarfs, Black Holes)
7a. The number and distance of white dwarfs give an estimated age of 11 billion years.
8. Prediction and Observation of Black Holes
Solar System Body Arguments (6)
1. Age of Meteorites and the Solar System by radioactive dating.
2. Age of the Moon by radioactive dating
3. Composition of the sun and planets
Sun's size varies with a period of 79 years.
4. However the solar system formed, simulations can go forward or backward for millions of years and show that it is stable.
5. Saturn's rings have chaotic stability (with strange attractors).
6. Large number of craters on the moon, Mars, and other moons.
Meteorite and Space Dust Arguments (7)
1. Meteoritic material on moon too great for 10,000 year history.
2. The number of visible comets in ancient times is not larger than today.
3. # of meteorites that hit the moon and earth.
4. A compacted layer of space dust takes a very long time to form.
5. ~90 sites of excess Iridium at the end of the Cretaceous Period indicate one 10 Diameter km or many meteors or comets hit then.
(Sci Amer. Oct 1990 p.80)
5a. A giant post-Cretaceous meteorite has been found at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea or the Yucatan.
Yucatan 170 km diameter.
5b. Shocked mineral spherules, shocked quartz grains, and micro-diamonds
have also been found.
Expected to hit at 10 km/sec, force 1x109 Megatons significant gas leaves the atmosphere, 150 D km crater. Months unable to see due to the blockage of the sun. Nitric acid rains.
6. A giant post-Triassic meteorite has been found in Italy.
7. Massive subterranean meteor craters indicate that the rock was once on the surface. Ten's of thousands of feet of rock could not be produced in 10,000 years by a big flood, but needed millions of years to form and turn to rock.
The Earth's Material Heat, Pressure, and Magnetism (11)
1. Evidence of continental drift (even after life formed) implies time necessary for it to move slowly or miraculous suspension of acceleration forces.
1a. Has been measured by laser beams bouncing off satellites.
1b. From the magma temperature, one can accurately predict the ocean crust thickness (1320-1360 C, 6-7 km).
1c. The shape of the continents (S. America jutting into Africa etc.) is explained well by continental drift.
1d. No other theory to link the many fossil marsupials of Australia and S. America.
2. Evidence of a 350 day year in Cambrian times. Would take a long time for the earth's rotation to change like that.
3. Evidence of ancient mountains and seas.
3a. Deposits show Mediterranean Sea was desert 6m years ago.
4. There is too much sedimentary rock for "flood geology".
4a. Depth of sedimentary rock (max 7 miles deep)
Grand Canyon - 4,000 to 5,000 feet sedimentary
Large areas of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois 1 mile deep
4b. Maximum thicknesses of one period in one place
Cambrian 40,000 ft. British Columbia 586/530-515/495 MYBP
Ordovician 40,000 ft. Australia 515/495-446/418 MYBP
Silurian 15,000 ft. Britain 446/418-416/395 MYBP
Devonian huge thicknesses 416/395-367/350 MYBP
Carboniferous 367/350-300/270 MYBP
Permian huge thicknesses Texas 300/270-250/235 MYBP
Triassic 25,000 ft. the Alps 250/235-213/200 MYBP
Cretaceous 2,500 ft. near Tucson 144/129-66.4/64 MYBP
40,000 ft is 7.5 miles
5. Evaporites (massive salt deposits - Permian & other periods)
6. Movement of the earth's magnetic poles
6a. Past movement of the earth's magnetic poles
6b. Current westward drift of the earth's magnetic poles
6c. Magnetic "hiccup" in 1969.
7. Magnetic Reversals (300 in the past 170 million years)
7a. Kaiman magnetic interlude during Permian period.
8. Desert Sand Dunes - Take a 1,000's of years w/o water to form.
8a. Sahara a green grassland 7,000 years ago.
9. The change in pressure with depth of oil reservoirs with fresh water fossils matches the change in pressure of fresh water with depth, and likewise the change in Pressure of oil reservoirs with marine fossils matches the change pressure of salt water unless the reservoirs are beside faults.
10. Multiple Ice Ages had to have a long period of time
10a. Carbon/nitrogen ratios match hot and glacial periods
10b. Tillites match glacial periods
10c. Glacial lakes and deposits
10d. Mass extinctions
10e. Correlation with Milankovic forcing for earth's orbit
11. Mountain uplift takes millions of years. Mountain formation is explained very adequately by an old earth.
Note: Mercury has a magnetic field 1/100th of earth's. It rotates slowly, and may not have a liquid core, so no theory, be it young or old earth, can explain this.
Life and Fossil Arguments (13)
1. Vast Extent and Thickness of Coral Reefs.
2. If Fossil Fuels from organic matter, then earth must be old.
2a. C12 enrichment in fossil fuels and modern plants
2b. Fossils in coal and fossil wood in Athabasca tar sands
2c. Both coal and wood have a Del13C value of -25%.
2d. Vanadium in Petroleum could only be from plant material.
2e. Explanation of why Mideast and Caribbean have oil
2f. The Siljan Ring Deep Test in Sweden found no petroleum.
3. Too many fossils in fossil graveyards if earth is young.
3a. If all Karroo S. African fossils lived in the world within a few thousand years, the area would be covered with large animals 3 ft thick.
3b. Graveyards also in Lincoln County, Wyoming, Florissant, Colorado.
"Mass Mortality in the Sea" Treatise on Marine Ecology and
Paleoecology I (New York: Geol. Soc. of America, 1957)
pp.941-1010) by Margaretha Brongersma-Sanders
4. The great number of index fossils that agree with each other and with radiometric dating. Flood stratification cannot explain, and even the most optimistic estimates for the rate of micro-evolution cannot be reconciled in a few 1,000 years.
4a. Why are __________ such good index fossils if _________ is not a geologic age?
Graptolites - Ordovician, Silurian Corals - Cambrian, Ordovician
Foraminifera - U.Cambrian - present Trilobites - Cambrian
Fusilinids - Carboniferous - Permian Glossoptera -
Conodonts - Cambrian - Permian Pigs & Swine - Miocene
Ostracods - Permian Siliceous Plankton - U.Camb. - present
4b. Ancestral crocodilia (over 80 genera) are found in just the right periods.
4c. If a young earth, why are the 700 species and 89 families of archaeocyathids never
after the Cambrian period?
4d. If a young earth, why are the "weird" forms of Pre-Cambrian life never found later?
4e. If a young earth, why are the 84 genera of reef-making stromatoporoids never found
except in Ordovician - Devonian rocks?
4f. If a young earth, why are the 10,000 species (1,500 genera) of trilobites found in the
Paleozoic if modern bottom dwelling crustaceans are not?
4g. If a young earth why are 780 species of conodonts never found above Paleozoic rocks?
5. "Flood deposits" is a poor explanation for the high degree of stratification of fossils, even besides the index fossils. There had to be long periods of time.
6. The explosion of Life in the Cambrian Period. This occasion, and the fact that all but the jellyfish died out is hard to explain in just a few thousand years.
7. The Catastrophism of the Permian Period. Extinction of half of all families of animals, and the rise of so many new families at the close of the Permian Period is hard to reconcile with a few thousand years before the great sea creatures, much less man, were created.
8. If macroevolution occured, by necessity the earth would have to be billions of years old.
9. If even microevolution occured, the earth would have to be at least a million years old due to too many extinctions: i.e. Ammonites, Birds, Conodonts, Dinosaurs, Fish, Sponges.
10. Early Human Civilizations and Habitation
10a. Egyptian and Sumerian history both go back to 5,500 years ago.
10b. Even assuming that C14 is only a relative measure, there is too much pre-history in
Europe, Africa, and Asia prior to 3,000 B.C..
11. The # of large animals that existed is very great. If recent creation, then species became extinct very rapidly before the flood, or else they became extinct after the flood. If they became extinct after the flood, then Noah's ark did not have room for at least 64 species of elephant and rhino like creatures, and many large dinosaurs even if only infant animals boarded the ark. Today there are 4,500 species of mammals and 8,600 species of birds. Even if some speciation occurred after the flood, it is hard to conceive that >50% of the species were first created after the flood. Many must have died out long before the flood.
12. Carbon/Oxygen ratios correlate well with glacial deposits. Repeated layers of glacial deposits require a long time to lay down.
13. Protein amino acid racemization clock indicates some bones 10,000's of years old.
Radioactive Dating (20)
1. C14 - tree ring sequences in Ireland, Germany, & Arizona. They correlate with each other and lake varves as well as with themselves. (See Klein et al. 1982 and Pearson et al. 1986)
1a. Sequoia gigantea tree rings, back to 1500 B.C.
1b. 80 Bristlecone pine samples 4100 B.C.-1500 B.C. 6-9% error
1c. Oak tree ring sequences in South Germany, North Germany, Ireland, E.Anglia &
Lancashire England.
Note: Over 15,000 Radiocarbon Samples have been taken
2. Correlation of Lake Varves with Carbon 14 dating.
3. Pb207/Pb206 - usually gives values within 15% of K40/Ar40
3a. Most Meteorites give Pb207/Pb206 ages 4.555 b years.
4. Th232/Pb 208 Dating
5. U235/Pb 207 + He4 (uranite, zircon)
6. U237/Pb 205 (monazite, U bearing rock)
7. U238/Pb 206 + He4 Dating
8. K40/Ar40 - most arg's. (atmosphere contamination, etc.) answered by looking at moon K40/Ar40 dating
(muscovite, micas, phlogapite, lepidolite, orthoulase
saridine, biotite, glauconite, potash, some feldspars)
glauconite prone to weathering, not basalt. Micas lose Argon if temp >=200 C even for brief periods
9. K40/Ca40 (sylvite)
10. Ar40/Ar 39
AN OLD EARTH TIMETABLE
0 Zero before present defined as 1950 A.D..
1,820 First New Testament manuscript
1,900 Dead Sea Scrolls
2,000 Jesus Christ born
4,000 Abraham lived
5,000 Beginning of Egyptian & Chinese culture
5,050 Oldest C14 Tree Ring Calibrations
5,500 Start of Sumerian city-states
30,000 Neanderthals gone from Europe
35,000 Modern men enter Europe
35,000 Explosion of modern man and first art work
75,000-12,000 Würm Ice-Age (last Ice-age)
90,000 First modern men
200-125K Riss Ice-Age (most severe Ice-age)
3.5 M Australopithecus afariensis (Lucy)
66.4/64M -now Cenozoic
144/129 - 66.4/64 M Cretaceous
213/200 - 144/129 M Jurassic Period
250/235 - 213/200 M Triassic Period
300/270 - 250/235 M Permian Period
367/350 - 300/270 M Carboniferous
414 M First known land animals -Day 6
416/395 - 367/350 M Devonian Period (The Age of Fishes)
446/418 - 416/395 M Silurian Period
470 M First known land plants
515/495 - 446/418 M Ordovician Period
586/530-515/495 M Abundant Sea life/predators -Day 5
2 B Porphyrin-Vanadium complexes likely photosynth.
3-3.5 B CO2 in air changed to O2 -Day 4
3.5 B Multicellular photosynthetic stromatolites -Day 3
3.98 B Earth cool enough for oceans -Day 2
4.2 B Oldest dated rocks on the earth
4 - 4.8 B Moon formed, mysteriously
4.6 - 4.8 B Earth, sun, and our solar system formed -Day 1
10.3 +/- 2.2 B Galaxy Formed (estimated from .white dwarfs)
11-20 B give or take a few billion Universe formed
700,000 years Atoms Temp. 4000 K
34 min 40 sec 69% protons/electrons, 31% neutrinos Temp=3x108K
3 minutes and 2 sec First Helium nuclei Temp=6x109K
10-2 sec First protons and neutrons Temp=1011K
List of References
Ambrose, E.J. The Nature and Origin of the Biological World Halsted Press 1982.
Barnes Thomas G. Origin and Destiny of the Earth's Magnetic Field Creation Life Publishers 1973.
Boslough, John Stephen Hawking's Universe Avon Books 1980.
Bremer, Kare "The Limits of Amino Acid Sequence Data in Angiosperm Phylogenetic Reconstruction" Evolution vol. 42 no.4 1988 pp.795-803.
Burgin, Toni, Olivier Rieppel, P. Martin, Sander and Karl Tschanz "The Fossils of Monte San Giorgio" Scientific American June 1989 pp.74-81.
Cairns-Smith, A.G. Genetic Takeover and the Mineral Origins of Life Cambridge Univ. Press 1982.
Carroll, Robert L. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution W.H. Freeman and Company 1988.
Constable, George and Time-Life Books eds. The Neanderthals Time-Life Books 1973.
Crick, Francis Life Itself Simon & Schuster 1981.
Darwin, Charles The Origin of Species A Mentor Book 1958.
Davis, Percival, Dean H. Kenyon, and Charles B. Thaxton Of Pandas and People Haughton Publishing co. 1989.
Day, William Genesis on Planet Earth 1979.
Denton, Michael Evolution: A Theory in Crisis Adler and Adler 1986.
Dillow, Joseph C. The Waters Above: Earth's Pre-flood Vapor Canopy Moody Press 1981.
Fairbridge R.W. (ed) Encyclopedia of Atmosphereic Sciences and Astrogeology, The Reinhold Pub. Corp. 1967.
Fasman, Gerald D. (ed) CRC Practical Handbook of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology CRC Press 1989.
Faure, G. Principles of Isotope Geology John Wiley & Sons 1977. pp.310-313.
Flamstead, Sam "When Galaxies Collide" Discover Feb 1990 pp.50-57.
Fox, Sidney Science and Creationism 1984 pp.194-239.
Fox, Sidney W. and Klaus Dose Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life Revised Ed. Marcel Dekker Inc. 1977.
Frair Wayne, and Percival Davis A Case for Creation 3rd Ed. Moody Press 1983.
"Full Frontals" in Upfront Discover November 1990 p.10.
Describes computer software to model galaxies
Gish, Duane T. Evolution The Fossils Say No! 2nd ed. Creation Life Publishers 1973.
Gish Duane T. Speculations and Experiments Related to the Theories on the Origin of Life: A Critique Institute for Creation Research 1972.
Goldsmith, Donald and Tobias Owen The Search for Life in the Universe Benjamin/Cumings Pub. Co. 1980.
Gould, Stephen Jay The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History W.W. Norton and Company 1980.
Gould, Stephen Jay Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes W.W. Norton and Company 1983.
Gould, Stephen Jay The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History W.W. Norton and Company 1985.
Gutfreund, H. (ed) Biochemical Evolution Cambridge University Press 1981.
Hargraves, R.B. Chapter 2 "Precambrian Tectonic Style: A Liberal Uniformitarian Interpretation" in Kröner, A. (Ed) Precambrian Plate Tectonics Elsevier 1981.
Jastrow, Robert God and the Astronomers. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1978
Kluger, Jeffrey "Tripping Over History" Discover December 1990 pp.40-41.
Kröner, Alfred "Evolution, Growth and Stabilization of the Precambrian Lithosphere" in Structure and Evolution of the Continental Lithosphere Physics and Chemistry of the Earth Volume 15 Pollack H.N. and V.R. Murthy (eds.) Pergamon Press 1984.
Lammerts, Walter E. Why Not Creation? Baker Book House 1970.
Lehninger, Albert L. Biochemistry Worth Publishers Inc. 1970.
Loutrup, Soren Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth
Margulis Lynn (ed) Origins of Life Proceedings of the First Conference Gordon and Breech, Science Publishers (1970) pp.231-232.
Morris Henry M. The Biblical Basis for Modern Science Baker Book House 1984
Morris, Henry M. Science, Scripture and the Young Earth Institute for Creation Research 1983.
"Moth Mutants" in Upfront in Discover November 1990 p.20.
Peppered moths turned to black, now turning back to Peppered
Prehistoric Times Readings from Scientific American W.H. Freeman and Company 1983.
Prideaux, Tom and Time-Life Books Eds. Cro-Magnon Man Time-Life Books 1973.
Ross, Hugh The Fingerprint of God Promise Publishing Co. 1985.
Sagan, Carl Intelligent Life in the Universe Holden-Day Inc. 1966.
Segraves Kelly L. Jesus Christ Creator Creation-Science Research Center 1973.
Shapiro, Robert Origins: A Skeptics Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth Bantam Books 1986.
Slusher, Harold S. Critique of Radiometric Dating Institute for Creation Research 1973.
Slusher, Harold S. and Thomas P. Gamwell Age of the Earth Institute for Creation Research 1978.
Slusher, Harold S. Age of the Cosmos Institute for Creation Research 1980.
Slusher, Harold S. The Origin of the Universe 2nd ed. Institute for Creation Research 1980.
Slusher, Harold S. and Stephen J. Robertson The Age of the Solar System Revised ed. Institute for Creation Research 1982.
Strohler, Arthur N. Science and Earth History Prometheus
Taubes, Gary "The Great Annihilator" Discover June 1990 pp.68-72.
Taylor, Paul S. The Illustrated Origins Answer Book Eden Productions 1990 P.O. Box 41644 Mesa, Arizona 85274-1644.
Thaxton, Charles B., Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olsen The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories Philosophical Library, Inc. 1984.
Van Till, Howard J., Davis A. Young, and Clarence Menninga Science Held Hostage InterVarsity Press 1988.
Whitcomb, John C. The Early Earth revised ed. Baker Book House 1986.
Whitcomb, John C. Jr. and Henry M. Morris The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications Baker Book House 1961.
Whitcomb, John C. Jr. The World That Perished Baker Book House 1973.
White, Robert S. White and Dan P. KcKenzie "Volcanism at Rifts" Scientific American July 1989 pp.62-71.
Yockey, Hubert P. The Mathematical Foundations of Molecular Biology Cambridge University Press 1989.
Astrophysical Journal 315 age of Galaxy
Rebuttals to a Young Earth Theory
Discover June 1990 "The Great Annihilator by Gary Taubes pp.68-72. A "furnace" fueled by anti-matter is putting out the energy of 10,000 suns as gamma rays in the center of our galaxy. It would have a mass between 3 million and 100 million suns. Alternately, it could only be 1000 solar masses.
Discover Feb 1990 "When Galaxies Collide" by Sam Flamsteed pp.50-57. Modelling by Joshua Barnes. Almost every galaxy has had almost 1 close encounter with another galaxy. When dark matter, which makes up most of the mass of galaxies, is taken into account, the simulations work. Computer model uses 32768 points per galaxy. Accurately explains elliptical galaxies.
Richard Durison Indiana Univ. Simulations of Star Formation. If spin two great, then binary stars, but simulation showed spiral arms. Discover Dec. 1989
Sci. Amer "Volcanism at Rifts" Robert S. White and Dan P. KcKenzie July 1989 pp.62-71.
Volcanism in the ocean quietly makes 20 km^3 new ocean crust per year. Magma varies from 1,320 to 1360 C. From the magma temperature one can accurately predict the ocean crust thickness.
Every 30 million years ago massive amounts (10 milion m^3) This is caused by local mantle temperatures 100-200 C hotter than usual. - model
We do not know why magnetic reversals occur, but there seems a correlation between them and the appearance of mysterious Tektites. Reversals at 2.01 million, 1.87 million and 730,000 years ago reversals and extreme cold. 730,000 meteorite impact.
For more info please contact Christian Debater™ P.O. Box 144441 Austin, TX 78714 www.BibleQuery.org
by Steven M. Morrison, PhD.