The Age of the Earth — Does it Really Matter? - Part Two

by Jay Seegert - Article Link
Sep 1 2014

An excerpt from  Let There Be Light

[The following is a continuation of the article in the TBC August 2014 issue by Jay Seegert of the Creation Education Center. Jay now takes a closer look at the various scientific methods of observation regarding the age of the earth.]

Earth’s Magnetic Field

The earth is like a giant magnet, and scientists have been measuring its strength for more than 170 years. From these measurements, they have determined that the earth’s magnetic field has a half-life of about 1,400 years. This simply means that every 1,400 years, it loses half of its strength. The most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is not related to the future of the field but its past. About 1,400 years ago, the magnetic field would have been twice as strong as it is today. Going back another 1,400 years (c. 800 B.C.) it would be four times as strong. A greatly increased magnetic field means a greatly heated core in the earth (due to frictional effects of electrical currents within the core). So how far back could we possibly go? ...A plausible limit is about 10,000 years. Much beyond that, and the earth’s structure would not be able to withstand the heat. So could the earth actually be billions of years old?  Not according to its magnetic field. (Note: some have attempted to counter this by reference to “magnetic reversals.” However, the actual evidence shows that these reversals happened relatively quickly—related to the flood—and are in no way a valid counter-argument.)

Radiohalos

At currently measured rates, it would take billions of years for Uranium 238 (238U) to completely decay into its final daughter element, Lead 206 (206Pb). As mentioned in part 1 of this series, the implied assumption is that the rate of decay has been constant (equal to the current rate) throughout the entire history of the earth....However, there is compelling scientific evidence to reject this assumption.

Unlike Uranium, the element Polonium (produced during the decay of Uranium) decays very rapidly. Uranium decay produces three isotopes (versions) of Polonium: 218Po, 214Po and 210Po. These three elements have half-lives of just 3.1 minutes, 164 micro-seconds, and 138 days, respectively. This means that these elements decay very quickly, not over millions or billions of years, but in days, minutes, or fractions of a second!

Why does any of this matter? Scientists have discovered numerous examples of Polonium “halos” within granite rocks. When Polonium decays, the radioactivity damages the surrounding structure (biotite—a mica mineral) and leaves a spherical pattern. The general term for these patterns is “radiohalos,” short for “radioactive halos.” Polonium halos are radiohalos specifically formed by Polonium decay. So where is this all leading? The radiohalos can only form in hardened rock, but Polonium decays very quickly. If it truly took millions or billions of years for the Uranium to decay and millions of years for the rocks to cool, the Polonium halos would not form. The rocks must have formed and cooled in much less time.

The existence of Polonium halos indicates that 100 million years of Uranium decay were necessary to produce enough Polonium to create these halos. However, since Polonium decays so quickly, it shouldn’t have left any record in the rocks (which supposedly were still in the process of cooling for millions of years). But the halos  are  there! This is evidence of accelerated radioactive decay rates. It appears that 100 million years of decay took place in a number of days! This would account for the appearance of the halos and would also indicate that Uranium decay was accelerated approximately 1 billion times the current rate—evidence of a young earth and against the assumption of constant decay rates.

Polystrate Fossils

Polystrate fossils are fossils (usually trees) that extend through multiple layers of rock that were supposedly deposited over multiplied thousands or millions of years....If those layers were truly laid down over such a long period of time, the trees would have rotted long before ever getting completely buried and thus would never turn into a fossil! It’s interesting that when we find these trees (and there are many of them), we generally don’t find the root systems intact, meaning that these trees were not growing there; they were catastrophically uprooted from their original location and  rapidly deposited .

Helium Abundance in Minerals

When uranium (U238) decays into lead (Pb206), it goes through a series of “steps” during the process. It releases helium (He) 8 different times. This helium is “slippery” and easily escapes from the rock in which the uranium exists, out into the atmosphere. If the rocks are millions or billions of years old, we would not expect to find much helium within because it would have escaped long ago. Conversely, we should find quite a bit of helium in the atmosphere, since most helium atoms cannot reach the necessary velocity to escape the earth’s gravitational pull. In reality, we find much more helium in the rocks than should be expected and not much at all in the atmosphere! Recent research on this (by the RATE Group from the Institute for Creation Research) has shown that not only does this limit the age of the rocks and atmosphere to a number of thousands of years, but it also shows evidence of accelerated radiometric decay—billions of years worth within a very short burst of time (or a few bursts of time—similar to the previous “radio halo” example). [See www.icr.org/rate]

Millions of Years to Form?

We all know that it takes millions of years to form oil… And the same goes for coal… And diamonds—millions of years…right? WRONG!

Oil supposedly formed over millions of years from the breakdown of organic material buried within the earth. However, scientists today are able to produce oil in a matter of minutes in the laboratory ( Discover,  May 2, 2003). It takes the right materials and conditions—not the magic of millions of years. The main ingredients are organic material, pressure, heat, and water. This is exactly what the flood would have provided! Lots of water burying tons of organic material, forming huge layers of sediment, creating tremendous pressure, which in turn created great amounts of heat.

More recent studies have indicated that oil may even be forming today by non-biotic ( abiotic ) methods. According to WorldNetDaily.com (2/1/08) “ hydrocarbons are naturally produced on a continual basis throughout the solar system, including within the mantle of the earth. The advocates believe the oil seeps up through bedrock cracks to deposit in sedimentary rock. ”

The same goes for coal. Argonne National Laboratories has proven that coal can be formed under natural conditions in a matter of weeks. Some laboratories have even produced it within hours under special conditions. (http://www.creationworldview.org/articles_view.asp?id=51—last accessed 1/25/09)

Scientists have also been able to create diamonds that are indistinguishable from natural diamonds, using carbon dioxide, metallic sodium, high pressure, and a temperature of 440ºC, in just 12 hours!

Carbon-14 Levels

Carbon-14 (C14) dating is a method that is used to measure the age of things that were once living (fossil bones, remains of skin, etc.). C14 is a radioactive (unstable) form of Carbon. It slowly decays back into Nitrogen-14 (where it originally came from). Scientists measure the amount of C14 in a specimen to determine how old it is (or more specifically, how long ago it died). Space doesn’t permit a detailed explanation of how this method works, but I want to expose a few myths that most of us have grown up believing. (For more information, see our booklet entitled  What Exactly is Carbon-14 Dating? )

Dinosaurs supposedly became extinct 65 million years ago. If that were the case, their bones should have no evidence of C14, because all measurable amounts would have decayed away in less than 100,000 years. As a surprise to evolutionists, scientists have found C14 in some dinosaur bones, indicating that they have not been around for millions of years. (For more information on dinosaurs, see  Dinosaurs—Where Do They Fit in the Bible? )

With coal supposedly being millions of years old, you wouldn’t expect to find any amount of Carbon-14 remaining, but surprisingly, no coal sample has ever been found to be completely void of C14.

Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man and are extremely impervious to contamination. Allegedly millions to billions of years old, they also should not contain any C14, but recent studies have shown that they do, dispelling the idea of vast ages.

Decay of Biological Material 

Biological material is certainly not as resilient as geologic material, such as granite, and is especially susceptible to decay. In spite of the fact that researchers say that DNA cannot survive in its natural environment for more than 10,000 years, we have discovered it in places where it “ought not be”! One example is in insects that were imbedded in amber. Another was in some dinosaur bones. (They’ve even found dinosaur bones with blood cells and soft tissue, un-decomposed! But dinosaurs are supposed to be at least 65 million years old!) Lastly, they have evidently revived bacteria (supposedly 250 million years old) with completely undamaged DNA [ Nature  407:897-900 (19 October 2000)]. This is a huge conundrum for evolutionists but fits very comfortably with a young earth.

Folded Mountains

Have you ever tried folding rocks?…I haven’t either. It’s interesting to note, however, that there are a number of places on earth where we see great “folds” in solid rock. How did this occur? Experiments have shown that if there is enough pressure and heat, rocks can fold to some extent. In these cases, the rocks show evidence of having experienced great amounts of heat. However, there are many instances where the rocks show no evidence of great heat and also yield evidence that the rocks were in a “soft and plastic” state when they were folded (not having had enough time to harden). This fits perfectly with a global flood, depositing the layers rapidly that were then uplifted and deformed by subsequent tectonic movements, all before they had time to harden.

Conclusion

We are inundated with stories of millions and billions of years from the media and scientific community, but the empirical evidence is significantly lacking. Numerous scientific indicators show that the earth cannot possibly be billions of years old, as the evolutionary model indicates, and those who won’t question the validity of this model will generally not even consider any evidence that would counter the idea of eons of time.

From a biblical perspective, the case for millions of years is not supported by the text. Furthermore, importing millions of years into Scripture causes several serious exegetical and theological problems….

Our eternal destiny is not dependent upon our belief regarding the age of the earth, but a careful and reverential study of the Bible warrants against being too quick to adopt the conventional secular thoughts in geology and astronomy, especially when they appear to oppose the straightforward reading of God’s Word. “ Let God be true, and every man a liar .” (Rom:3:4)

Perspective: The Gospel Message

As interesting or important as the subject of the age of the earth might be, there is something infinitely more significant, and it relates to your eternal destiny.

I think it’s safe to say that when your life is over and you find yourself standing (more likely kneeling) before God, He won’t be asking your opinion on the age of the earth or quizzing you about radiometric dating! At that point, there will only be one subject on the table and I wish to close with this brief thought.

The Bible clearly teaches the following:

God created everything, including mankind. (Col:1:16; Gn 1:27, Jn:1:3)

Man rebelled against God and was consequently spiritually separated from Him. This sin brought a curse, including death, to all of God’s creation. (Rom:5:12)

God’s standard is 100 percent holiness because He is 100 percent holy. However, we cannot be “good enough” to obtain this standard, no matter how hard we try. 1 Pt 1:16; Rom:3:20; Ja 2:10, Isa:64:6

The penalty for sin is death, but God has paid the price for those who fully trust in Christ. (Rom:6:23; Jn:3:16; Rom:5:8)

Contrary to popular belief, there are not “many ways” to God. (Jn:14:6, Acts:4:12)

Restoring your relationship with God comes not from “head knowledge” or acknowledging the historical existence of Jesus but as a result of repenting of your sins and placing your faith completely in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (as payment for your sins)....Here’s the personal challenge…before the day is over, ask yourself this question:

If I were to die tonight and find myself standing before God, and He asked “ Why should I let you into heaven? ” what would my response be?

Is there any rational reason that today you would not confess your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins and assurance of your eternal salvation?

“ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. ”—2 Cor:6:2

Don’t put it off another day…

“ And I’ll say to myself, ‘...Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.’”  —Lk 12:19-21

You may be sensing that you don’t know for sure what would happen to you if you were to die today and that you truly need to commit your life to Christ, but you aren’t quite sure “how” to do it. It’s not by saying some magical phrase and doing something highly mystical but simply by honestly and sincerely saying something like following:

Dear God, I know that you created me and that I have not lived according to your standards. Your word tells me that “ trying to be good enough” does not earn your favor. Because of your great love for me, you sent your Son (Jesus) to die on a cross to pay the penalty for my own sins so that I don’t have to spend eternity separated from you in judgment. I am asking today for you to forgive my sins and am accepting the free gift of eternal life that you are offering to me through your son Jesus Christ. I want to live my life in a way that is honoring and pleasing to you. When I do sin in the future, help me to confess those sins and thank you for the fact that they too are also forgiven in Jesus. Amen!

If you sincerely pray a prayer similar to the one above, you can have peace, knowing where you will spend eternity! It doesn’t mean that everything else in your life will be easy, but that you can have confidence in your own eternal destiny (and you now have a new-found relationship with the Creator of the universe, who cares for you!). Isn’t that just a bit more exciting than learning about the age of the earth? (Jn:5:24; Jn:10:28-29
; 1 Pt 5:7; Phil:4:13)

The Age of the Earth — Does it Really Matter? - Part One

by Jay Seegert - Article Link - thebereancall.org
Aug 1 2014

An excerpt from  Let There Be Light

Certain things in life seem obvious. For example, the sun rises every morning, fire is hot, and chocolate ice cream is way better than vanilla. (All right, that last one may be debatable.) In this list of “obvious things” many people would also include the idea that the earth is very, very old…in the billions of years….

Even the most casual reader would recognize that there exists a significant amount of tension between a straightforward literal reading of the Genesis creation account and what most modern scientists believe about the age of the earth. The literal six-day creation account indicates that the earth is in the range of thousands of years old (perhaps 6,000 or so), while current thinking in astronomy and geology has settled upon a figure of 4.6 billion years for the earth (and about 13.7 billion years for the universe).

There’s one thing for certain…both cannot be correct….

Historically Speaking

Advances in science during the early and mid-1900s seemed to indicate that the universe did indeed have a beginning and was thus not infinitely old. Then the concept of the “Big Bang” was birthed and has become the reigning view among secular cosmologists (and even a number of Christian cosmologists) up to the present….

There were a number of significant persons in the 18th and 19th centuries who paved the way for the widespread acceptance of “millions of years” as opposed to the traditional biblical view. One of the most prominent was Charles Lyell, a Scottish lawyer who eventually became a geologist. Lyell drew upon works of his predecessors (James Hutton, in particular) to write a three-volume treatise entitled  Principles of Geology , in which he claimed that no worldwide or continental floods have ever occurred in the history of our globe. He insisted that the rock record must be explained by the same gradual processes that we observe today. Therefore, to account for the vast geologic formations that we observe would require multiplied millions of years.

Lest we be led to believe that Lyell was just following the conclusions of empirical science and that the creationists were merely exercising blind faith in the Bible, consider the following quote by Stephen J. Gould (who was one of the world’s leading evolutionists until his death in 2002, and who was no friend of creationists):

Charles Lyell was a lawyer by profession, and his book is one of the most brilliant briefs published by an advocate. …Lyell relied upon true bits of cunning to establish his uniformitarian views as the only true geology. First, he set up a straw man to demolish. In fact, the catastrophists [i.e. biblical creationists] were much more empirically minded than Lyell. The geologic record does seem to require catastrophes: rocks are fractured and contorted; whole faunas are wiped out. To circumvent this literal appearance, Lyell imposed his imagination upon the evidence. The geologic record, he argued, is extremely imperfect and we must interpolate into it what we can reasonably infer but cannot see. The catastrophists were the hard-nosed empiricists of their day, not the blinded theological apologists. (Gould, in  Natural, History , February 1975, p. 16)

Although there were other scientists around who opposed Lyell’s views, a more significant phenomenon was occurring within the church itself. Many Christian leaders, feeling somewhat intimidated, felt that it was necessary to accommodate these “new scientific discoveries” by re-evaluating the traditional view of Genesis. One attempt—the “Gap” Theory—was developed in 1814 by Thomas Chalmers (a Presbyterian Minister). This view holds that all of the newly discovered “millions of years” can be inserted between Genesis:1:1 and 1:2. There are a few different versions, but the following summarizes the standard view:

In the far distant, dateless past God created a perfect heaven and perfect earth. Satan was ruler of the earth, which was peopled by a race of “men” without any souls. Eventually, Satan, who dwelled in a Garden of Eden composed of minerals (Ezekiel 28), rebelled by desiring to become like God (Isaiah 14). Because of Satan’s fall, sin entered the universe and brought on the earth God’s judgment in the form of a flood (indicated by the water of 1:2), and then a global ice age when the light and heat from the sun were somehow removed. All the plant, animal, and human fossils upon the earth today date from this “Lucifer’s Flood” and do not bear any genetic relationship with the plants, animals and fossils living upon the earth today. (Fields,  Unformed and Unfilled , p. 7)

Another theory, espoused by George Stanley Faber (Anglican theologian), was the “day-age” theory, which is somewhat self-explanatory. It purports that each “day” of creation was actually a period of multiplied millions of years (drawing popular biblical support from 2 Peter:3:8, which states that a “day is as a thousand years.” (See also Psalm:90:4)

It isn’t possible in such a brief article to address the numerous biblical and scientific faults with each of these theories, but [it is important to understand] how prevalent they are within the church today.

To even suggest that the earth might be only thousands of years old generally causes people to think that you’ve lost all sense of reason and are out of touch with reality. It may be accompanied by statements such as “Oh, I guess you’ve never heard of ‘science’?” and “I’ll bet you also think the world is flat, too, don’t you?”… I personally believe that if the Bible doesn’t address something, either directly or indirectly, then we shouldn’t make much of a fuss over it. I am convinced, however, that the Bible does address the age of the earth and that what we believe about it has a very significant effect on how we view the authority and inspiration of Scripture as a whole…. God, being all-powerful, could have created the universe over the course of billions of years. He could also have created it in a billionth of a second. The primary question is not what He could have done, but what does He say He did?

The Nature of Science

Observational science deals with things we can observe and test “in the present” and involves conducting repeated experiments that allow us to either confirm or refute our initial hypotheses. Producing faster computers, improving medical procedures, and designing space satellites are just a few examples of things that fall within the realm of “observational science.”

Historical science, on the other hand, deals with determining details about events that happened in the unobserved past. The whole notion of origins falls into this category. Not only were we not there to observe the “beginnings,” but we also cannot reproduce those events in the present. By the way, this applies equally to both the creation and evolutionary models. What we can do is to conduct experiments in the present and then, by using a number of assumptions about the past, formulate some logically based ideas of what occurred.

Let’s consider the simple example of a candle. We enter a room and see a candle burning on the table. How long has it been burning? (This is an “historical” question.) We were not there when the candle was initially lit, so we really don’t know for sure. We can conduct some “observational science” on the candle, (in the present) by measuring how tall the candle is right now, how fast it is currently burning, etc. In order to determine how long it may have been burning, we need to determine how tall it was to begin with and whether it has always burned at the same rate. Was it 4 feet tall? That’s a tall candle! What if it was only 1 inch taller than it is right now? What we assume about its height will affect our conclusions. The same goes for what we assume about its burn rate. Sometimes our assumptions are very reasonable and other times, we’re “off by a mile” (or a million miles!). All of the scientific methods that yield “ages” for the earth are subject to similar types of assumptions.

The Bible

Many people think that the Bible doesn’t even address the age of the earth and that therefore we shouldn’t be concerned about it either. Although you won’t find anywhere in the Bible a verse stating that “God created the Earth ‘x’ number of years ago,” it does give us enough information to provide a reasonable idea of approximately when creation took place. In particular, there are enough passages that help us quickly to determine whether we’re talking thousands or billions of years.

Let’s start with looking at the big picture. God created everything in six days (Gn 1, Ex 20:11). Some will ask, “How do we know those were actual solar days?”... We must interpret Scripture by looking at its grammatical, historical, and textual context. It’s interesting to note that God defines the word “day” (“yom” in Hebrew) the first time He uses it: Genesis:1:5 “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” This would indicate a normal solar day (day/night cycle).

The use of the phrase “evening and morning” everywhere outside of Genesis 1 always refers to a normal solar day. That’s exactly what we find in Genesis 1…“And the evening and the morning were the first day,” “And the evening and the morning were the second day,” etc. The same goes for the plural form of day—“days” (“yamim” in Hebrew)…. Again, that’s exactly what we see in Exodus:20:11 (and part of the Ten Commandments): “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” If the days were millions of years each, the basis for our week makes no sense (working for 6 periods of millions of years each, and then resting for a 7th period, also millions of years).

Genesis:1:14 states “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” If a “day” is actually millions of years…what is a “year”? This only makes sense in the context of a literal solar day.

Determining a Biblical Age

Assuming for now that the days in the creation account are literal days, we note that God said He created the earth on day one and Adam on day six. That’s a five-day difference. If we could get an idea about when Adam lived, we would then know about how old the earth is, having been created just five days prior.

It’s a matter of fact that Jesus lived roughly 2,000 years ago. When we study Scripture, we find that Abraham lived roughly 2,000 years before Christ (ca 2000 BC). How long was it from Abraham back to Adam? By looking at the genealogies between the two, we come up with roughly another 2,000 years. That takes us back to about 4000 BC, or 6,000 years ago. Some critics make the argument that these genealogies are not straightforward (e.g., names are often added, omitted, or changed). However, there exists no firm basis for these claims, so the straightforward reading should be the default until compelling contextual evidence arises to reveal otherwise.

Taking this all into consideration, the age of the earth would be approximately 6,000 years. Could it actually be 6,500 or 7,000 years old? Perhaps this might be true, and the exact age is certainly not the issue. But could it be 4.6 billion years old, biblically speaking? Not according to the text.

Scientific Evidence

Although some dating methods yield ages in the billions of years (e.g., radiometric dating techniques), there are more than 100 methods that yield ages far too young to accommodate secular geology and the accompanying evolutionary story….

One of the major premises behind almost any dating method is the assumption of a constant process rate throughout the entire past. For example, in the case where uranium (U238) decays into lead (Pb206), it is assumed that the observed rate of uranium decaying into lead has been constant for billions of years, even though no one was around to measure it. Most creationists do not agree that to assume a constant decay rate is well founded. However, for argument’s sake, even if we assume that most rates were constant, some methods…yield vastly younger ages.

A few scientific methods of observation are listed here for your consideration:

The Magnetic Field of the Earth • Radiohalos • Polystrate Fossils • Helium Abundance in Minerals • Formation of Oil, Coal, Diamonds • Carbon-14 Levels • Decay of Biological Material • Folded Mountains

[In the next issue, we will take a closer look at each of these methods and provide further evidence for the author’s conclusion about the age of the earth.]

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham - HD

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham - HD

Streamed live on Feb 4, 2014

Is creation a viable model of origins in today's modern, scientific era? Leading creation apologist and bestselling Christian author Ken Ham is joined at the Creation Museum by Emmy Award-winning science educator and CEO of the Planetary Society Bill Nye.

The Key to the Age of the Earth

by Terry Mortenson Ph.D. Source Link

April 16, 2007

I have noticed a strange phenomenon in books written by Christians who say they believe the Bible but who attempt to squeeze millions of years of earth history into or before the six days of creation described in Genesis 1. Most of these Christians ignore the account of Noah’s Flood in Genesis 6–9 and its implications for understanding the geological history of the earth.

Missing the Disconnection

I clearly remember separate conversations I recently had with two of my former seminary professors. Both men are justly respected for their thorough scholarship and their commitment to the inerrant Word of God. Both believe that Noah’s Flood was global, but both also accept the idea of billions of years of earth history because geologists have supposedly proven it from the rock record. Like so many conservative Bible scholars, they have only a superficial understanding of geology and of the biblical and scientific evidence for a 6,000-year-old creation. They had never thought through the implications of Noah’s Flood on their belief in billions of years. So, why is the Flood so crucial to the question of the age of the earth?

A New Belief

Millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River was once the standard explanation for the formation of Grand Canyon. Even some evolutionary geologists reject that view today, attributing the Canyon’s formation to many catastrophic floods. But their worldview can’t accept the single global Flood of Noah’s day and its after effects.

We need to realize that for the first 1,800 years of church history virtually all Christians believed that Noah’s Flood was a global catastrophe. It was not until the early nineteenth century that Christians began to abandon this belief, as deistic and atheistic geologists developed new hypotheses of earth history involving millions of years.

As they looked at the thousands of feet of rock layers and fossils worldwide, many early geologists, both Christian and non-Christian, simply assumed that the Flood could not have produced them. Based on this and other antibiblical assumptions, they invented theories that those rock layers and fossils had formed long before man came into existence. They proposed two groups of theories. Some said the rocks were formed by a succession of regional or global catastrophic floods separated by long ages of time (a view known as “catastrophism”). Others said the rocks were formed by slow, gradual processes of sedimentation and erosion (a view known as “uniformitarianism”).

These old-earth geologists didn’t do any experiments to show whether the Flood waters could have produced these rock layers. And because they didn’t pay careful attention to Scripture, they had inaccurate views of the duration, violence, and complex nature of the Flood. One result of their theories was that people began to believe that Noah’s Flood didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t global, or that it left no surviving geological evidence.

The Evidence

But think about it. A global, year-long, catastrophic Flood did happen at the time of Noah. We can say this with confidence because of the clear authority of the historical record in Genesis. We can also confidently assert that such a catastrophe would have left a massive amount of geological evidence, more than any event before or since. It would have produced vast sedimentary deposits, burying billions of land, air, and sea creatures along with much of the vegetation. And it would have done so on the entire planet. Then as the waters receded with great power from the continents, they would have eroded many of the sediments laid down in the first half of the Flood and redeposited them elsewhere.

Our minds are boggled when we try to imagine the geological devastation. The worst floods since then are like a Sunday school picnic on a sunny day compared to Noah’s Flood. The geological features of the earth today are exactly what we should expect to result from such a complex, destructive event. To say that Noah’s Flood left no geological evidence or that it was all erased by the relatively miniscule processes of geological change since this unique event is an absurdity of the highest order.

The Choice

This small-scale example helps us understand how a global flood can drastically affect geology.

The floodwaters (above) of the Canyon Lake Spillway along the Guadalupe River in Texas were moving at 107,000 ft3/sec (normal 175 ft3/sec). After the waters receded, carved bedrock was the result of the rushing water (below).

So, either the rock record is the evidence of millions of years, or it is largely the evidence of Noah’s Flood. It can’t be both. If we believe what the geological establishment says—that the earth is billions of years old and shows no sign of a worldwide Flood—then that belief contradicts our belief in Noah’s Flood. If we accept God’s inspired, inerrant testimony regarding the Flood, we cannot logically believe in millions of years. Noah’s Flood truly washes away millions of years.

While researching the early nineteenth century developments in geology, I often wanted to pound the table in protest as I read the writings of the old-earth geologists and saw how they ignored the biblical text (especially on the Flood) but declared authoritatively that their theories did not conflict with the Bible. At other times, I almost wept with tears of joy as I read the biblically sound, geologically informed, and compelling arguments of a handful of Christians, known as the “Scriptural geologists,” who back then were refuting these old-earth myths. Sadly, most of the church followed the secular thinking of old-earth geologists and ignored or superficially dismissed the arguments of the Scriptural geologists.1

The debate about the age of the earth is ultimately a question of whose word we are going to trust: the all-knowing truthful Creator who has given us His inerrant book (the Bible) or finite, sinful creatures who give us their books that contain errors and therefore are frequently revised. If you firmly trust and carefully read the Bible and become informed on creationist interpretations of the geological record, you can easily see how the rocks of the earth powerfully confirm the Bible’s teaching, both about Noah’s Flood and a young earth.

Dr. Terry Mortenson is a well-known speaker, researcher, and writer. He earned his doctorate in history of geology from England’s University of Coventry and his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He worked for 25 years in Eastern Europe and other countries for Campus Crusade for Christ.

Are Fossils the Result of Noah’s Flood?

by John Morris, Ph.D.

Uniformity’s slogan, “the present is the key to the past,” reflects the popular view of the origin of the features in the rock and fossil record. I think the great Flood of Noah’s day is a better explanation.

First note that very few fossils are forming today and then only in the case of rapid burial by water. For instance, what happens to a fish when it dies? It decays and is eaten by scavengers. Yet many fish fossils are so exquisitely preserved that even the scales and organs are preserved. Obviously there was no time for decay and bacterial action. We can certainly say that something extraordinary happened to form the fossils.

Furthermore, most fossils occur in huge fossil graveyards where things from different habitats are mixed together in a watery grave. Marine invertebrates are the predominant type of fossil, but these are found on the continents within catastrophically deposited rock units.

Of the several different kinds of fossils listed below, each one requires rapid burial and circumstances which are seldom, if ever, at work today. The great Flood of Noah’s day, which destroyed a world full of life, triggered a series of events that would explain most fossils.

Mineralization: This happens by partial or entire replacement of an organism by minerals, usually one molecule at a time as the organism decays. Time is involved but not before burial. Petrification occurs when the replacing mineral is silica.

Carbonization: Living things consist of high carbon content. When buried under extraordinary circumstances, only the carbon remains, forming thick coal bands as well as leaving thin carbon residues in the host rock. Rapid isolation and heating is required.

Impressions: These common fossils occur when the entire organism is replaced by the same material as the host rock leaving only the form of an organism. The preserved detail indicates no time for decay.

Ephemeral markings: Worm burrows, animal tracks, coprolites, and rain-drop impressions are extremely fragile and need rapid lithification to be preserved.

Hard parts: Broken bones and shells are usually found. For instance, limbs ripped from dinosaurs, found in fossil graveyards, are the rule.

Soft parts: Obviously flesh, feather, skin, scales, plant tissue, color, and even smell will only last for a very short time without rapid burial.

This article originally appeared on the Institute for Creation Research website at www.icr.org/article/504/. Reprinted and condensed with permission from Dr. John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research.