Our Earth…. Billions of Years Old? or a Few Thousand Years Old?
Is the Earth really billions of years old?
A continued presentation of the evidence that refutes the idea of a long age earth. Considering the Earth is “running down” then it must be running down at a certain rate, and if so taking in the matter of Uniformitarianism we can assume it is running down at a rate that has been constant since the beginning, so it is just a matter of backing up time to see the effect or history of certain aspects of the Earth and Cosmos.
Let’s start with Bible statements about our Earth:
The earth was designed for biological life (Isaiah 45:18). Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn’t exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.
The earth free-floats in space (Job 26:7), affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true – “He hangs the earth on nothing.”
The earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22). At a time when many thought the earth was flat, the Bible told us that the earth is spherical.
Scripture assumes a revolving (spherical) earth (Luke 17:34-36). Jesus said that at His return some would be asleep at night while others would be working at day time activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring simultaneously
The oceans…
Oceans contain springs (Job 38:16). The ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the “springs of the sea.” Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors! Springs of the Ocean (ICR)
There are mountains on the bottom of the ocean floor (Jonah 2:5-6). Only in the last century have we discovered that there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea.
Ocean currents anticipated (Psalm 8:8). Three thousand years ago the Bible described the “paths of the seas.” In the 19th century Matthew Maury – the father of oceanography – after reading Psalm 8, researched and discovered ocean currents that follow specific paths through the seas! Utilizing Maury’s data, marine navigators have since reduced by many days the time required to traverse the seas.
Hydrological cycle described (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Jeremiah 10:13; Amos 9:6). Four thousand years ago the Bible declared that God “draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man” (Job 36:27-28). The ancients observed mighty rivers flowing into the ocean, but they could not conceive why the sea level never rose. Though they observed rainfall, they had only quaint theories as to its origin. Meteorologists now understand that the hydrological cycle consists of evaporation, atmospheric transportation, distillation, and precipitation.
The Continents
The continents were created as one large land mass (Genesis 1:9-10). Many geologists agree there is strong evidence that the earth was originally one super continent – just as the Bible said way back in Genesis.
Continental drift inferred (Genesis 7:11). Today the study of the ocean floor indicates that the landmasses have been ripped apart. Scripture states that during the global Flood the “fountains of the great deep were broken up.” This cataclysmic event apparently resulted in the continental plates breaking and shifting.
Ice Age inferred (Job 38:29-30).
Prior to the global Flood the earth was apparently subtropical. However shortly after the Flood, the Bible mentions ice often – “By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen” (Job 37:10). Evidently the Ice Age occurred in the centuries following the Flood.
Environmental devastation
of the planet foreseen (Revelation 11:18). Though evolution imagines that things should be getting better, the Bible foresaw what is really occurring today: pollution, destruction and corrupt dominion.
Pest control (Leviticus 25:1-24).
Farmers are plagued today with insects. Yet God gave a sure-fire remedy to control pests centuries ago. Moses commanded Israel to set aside one year in seven when no crops were raised. Insects winter in the stalks of last year’s harvest, hatch in the spring, and are perpetuated by laying eggs in the new crop. If the crop is denied one year in seven, the pests have nothing to subsist upon, and are thereby controlled.
Soil conservation (Leviticus 23:22).
Not only was the land to lay fallow every seventh year, but God also instructed farmers to leave the gleanings when reaping their fields, and not to reap the corners (sides) of their fields. This served several purposes: 1) Vital soil minerals would be maintained. 2) The hedge row would limit wind erosion. 3) The poor could eat the gleanings. Today, approximately four billion metric tons of soil are lost from U.S. crop lands each year. Much of this soil depletion could be avoided if God’s commands were followed.
And finally: Radical environmentalism foreseen (Romans 1:25).
Two thousand years ago, God’s Word stated that many would worship and serve creation rather than the Creator. Today, nature is revered as “Mother” and naturalism is enshrined.
What has modern Science discovered about our planet?
Let’s see if science contradicts scripture…
Since in origin science theories do not lend themselves to the principle of falsification as do the ones in operation science, they must be investigated and evaluated based on their plausibility. But how, then, does one go about determining whether an origin-science scenario is plausible?
Very simply, the principles of causality and uniformity can be employed. By “cause” we mean the necessary and sufficient condition that alone can explain the occurrence of a given event. By principle of uniformity we mean that the kinds of causes that we observe producing certain effects today can be counted on to have produced similar effects in the past.
In other words, what we see as an adequate cause in the present, we assume to have been an adequate cause in the past; what we see as an inadequate cause in the present, we assume to have been an inadequate cause in the past.
In this same fashion when we see something occurring at a given rate today, it doesn’t necessarily mean it was at the same rate in the past, but it does mean it was occurring.
In other words, things could be changing faster or slower than in years past, or most likely the same, and even if it has changed we wouldn’t expect it to be dramatic, such in the change in population growth in the past 90 years, which is effected by external human causes such as abortion, longer life spans, eradication of disease, and etc.
There are several areas to compare when we look at our earth and cosmos. Today we will take a look at a number of these issues which affect our cosmos, and our Earth.
Uniqueness of the Earth
The existence of a creation necessitates the reality of a Creator. Intricate design requires a careful and intelligent Master Designer; a watch needs a watchmaker. This pure and simple logic.
Let us suppose when the astronauts landed on the moon that they found a highly advanced computer system situated among the rocks.
Would it be reasonable and logical for them to conclude that it just happened to “evolve” through the fortuitous collisions of meteorites with local terrestrial rock formations or through some other such accidental event? Or would it be more logical to conclude that it was carefully designed and built by an intelligent creator?
Common sense dictates the latter explanation, of course!
What about the chance occurrence of a blender transforming itself into the Apollo 16 moon rocket? Is this preposterous, insensible, ridiculous, and absurd?
No more so than saying out of accidental combinations of molecules, which somehow came into existence, man was accidentally assembled.
Similarly, the evidence that God designed the earth-sun system far outweighs any possibility that it all just just happened to come together by mere chance.
We will now consider a few features of the earth-sun system which appears to be specifically and very carefully designed for the unique purpose of supporting life.
The earth is positioned at just the right distance from the Sun so that we receive exactly the proper amount of heat to support life. The other planets of our solar system are either too close to the sun (too hot) or else too far (too cold) to sustain life.
Any appreciable change in the rate of rotation of the earth would make life impossible. For example, if the earth were to rotate at 1/10th its present rate, all plant life would either be burned to a crisp during the day or frozen at night.
Temperature variations are kept within reasonable limits due to the nearly circular orbit of the earth around the Sun.
Temperature extremes are further moderated by the water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that produce a greenhouse effect.
The moon revolves around the earth at a distance of about 240,000 miles causing harmless tides on the earth. If the moon were located 1/5th of this distance away, the continents would be completely submerged twice a day…considering the moon is moving away at 1.6 inches per year, 2 billion years ago, it would have been 1/5th closer and life would have been impossible.
The thickness of the earth’s crust is fatal to the theory of the great age of the earth, required by evolution. The thickness of the earth’s crust and the depth of the oceans appear to be carefully designed. Increases in thickness or depth of only a few feet would so drastically alter the absorption of free oxygen and carbon dioxide that plant and animal life could not exist.
The earth’s axis is tilted 23 1/2% degrees from the perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. This tilting, combined with the earth’s revolution around the sun, causes our seasons, which are absolutely essential for the raising of food supplies… again what controls this tilt?
the moon.
The earth’s atmosphere (ozone layer) serves as a protective shield from lethal solar ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise destroy all life.
The Earth’s atmosphere also serves to protect the earth from approximately 20 million meteors that enter it each day at speeds of about 30 miles per second! Without this crucial protection the danger to life would be immense.
The earth is the perfect physical size and mass to support life, affording a careful balance between gravitational forces (essential for holding water and an atmosphere) and atmospheric pressure. Gravitation requires the computation of countless millions of the most complex and difficult problems, every instant, by the divine mind.
The attraction of all matter for all other matter is in proportion directly to the mass and inversely to the square of the distance. The exact weight of every object is determined by the attraction of the earth and every particle thereof, the mountain that may be nearby, the elevation and altitude of the place, the attraction of the sun and the moon, and every star in heaven, even though too small to be computed by man,–all these are computed precisely by the divine mind. These innumerable calculations prove that God is everywhere. We are continually in the immediate awesome presence of an Infinite God.
The two primary constituents of the earths’ atmosphere are nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (20%). This delicate and critical ratio is essential to all life-forms
The earth’s magnetic field provides important protection from harmful cosmic radiation.
The earth is uniquely blessed with a bountiful supply of water, which is the key substance of life due to its remarkable and essential physical properties.
Many other examples of this type could be cited that would also support the idea that the earth was created and carefully designed for a purpose. Such numerous perfect and complex combinations of interrelated conditions and factors essential to delicate life-forms unequivocally point to intelligent purposeful design.
To believe that such an intricately planned and carefully balanced life support system is the result of mere chance is absolutely senseless. Surely, the honest and objective observer has no other recourse than to conclude that the earth-sun system has been carefully and intelligently designed by God for man.
As it is written: “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Ps. 115:16)
But we are going to consider more of the interesting facts of Earth.
While we may feel motionless on Earth, we are actually on such a wild ride that it is difficult to comprehend. The Earth is rotating on its axis at a speed of over 1,000 miles an hour at the equator.
In addition, the Earth is revolving around the Sun at about 67,000 mph. In fact, during the course of an average human’s life span, the Earth will complete 70 trips around the Sun, traveling some 41 billion miles!
The earth with its satellite, is traveling around the sun at the rate of 18.5 mi. per second–75 times as fast as a cannon ball,–bearing a load of 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons, and arriving at a given point in its orbit, on exact time every tropical year.
It has arrived so promptly on time following its elliptical course, at such a rate that the radius vector, a line from the sun to the earth, passes over equal areas in equal times, furnishing every moment an perplexing problem difficult for a scholar to solve. The orbit is so vast that it varies from a straight line, but 4 in. in 666 mi., the distance from Philadelphia to Chicago.
THE AGE OF THE EARTH
Scientific Principles Gravity, Space Dust, Mud, and the Moon
Space Dust
There are several things science knows and admits to, things we can measure, such as decreasing gravity, and the annual amount of “Space Dust” that falls on the earth every year.
Satellite observations suggest that 100-300 metric tons of cosmic dust enter the atmosphere each day.
The Earth weighs 1.317 × 10^25 lbs or 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds
300 x 2,000 (the weight of a ton) = 600,000 X 365 = 219,000,000 per year X 1,000,000 years = 219,000,000,000.000
If the earth is a million years old, and they are now talking billions of years, then ¼ of the earth is accumulated space dust. Hmmmm
That means if it is 3 ½ billion years old as they are now saying, then that would be 776,000,000,000.000,000,000 pounds of space dust that accounts for the current weight of the earth. That means the earth was a very small planet until that space dust started to fall…
Long before man ever set foot on the moon, some scientists had argued that there did not appear to be enough cosmic dust in the surface layers of the earth to account for the supposed billions of years of earth’s history. However, proponents of “long ages” argued that extensive wind and water erosion had masked the assumed presence. It was felt that the missing cosmic dust would turn up somewhere, perhaps in the deep sediment layers of the oceans. So far it has not.
So, when the astronauts went to the moon, they were rightfully worried they would sink quite a way into the “space dust” as it collects as much as the earth. I was watching this first moon landing and it was a major concern, literally everyone holding their breath while the lunar landed out of fear it would sink hundreds of feet into the surface… it didn’t happen, in fact only a few inches, enough to account for about 6,000 years.
So in the final analysis there isn’t enough space dust on either the moon or the earth to support the theory of a long earth/ universe theory.
Speaking of the Moon
Another aspect of the Moon is that it is moving away from the Earth, Scientists calculate at 1.6 inches per year, however, if we go back 2 billion years, the moon would have been 50,000 miles closer than it is now.
Consider this, the Moon is approximately 234,000 to 239,000 miles away from the Earth, and controls the sea currents/ waves, affects the gravity, and the tilt of the Earth, and that 2 billion years ago it would have been 20% closer to the earth, the Earth would have been in constant turmoil, with tidal wave as the normal day to day weather condition.
If the Earth, and solar system were 10 billion years old as many evolutionists are claiming, the moon would be rolling around on the earth, and would have to find a way to “jump” off and inch by inch find it’s way to it’s current orbit… common sense tells us this simply isn’t possible.
However, leave it to the imagination of the average evolutionist, and they must have an enormous imagination to come up with these so called facts, but they are now suggesting a big meteor hit the Earth some billions of years ago knocking a big chunk of the earth into orbit which became the moon.
The Magnetic Field
The strength of the earth’s magnetic field has been measured for well over a century. This provides scientists with exceptionally good records. In an important recent study, Thomas G. Barnes has shown that the strength of the earth’s magnetic field is decaying exponentially at a rate corresponding to a half-life of 1,400 years. That is to say, 1,400 years ago the magnetic field of the earth was twice as strong as it is now. If we extrapolate back as far as 10,000 years, we find that the earth would have had a magnetic field as strong as that of a magnetic star! This is, of course, highly improbable, if not impossible. Thus, based on the present decay rate of the earth’s magnetic field, 10,000 years appears to be an upper limit for the age of the earth.
Keep in mind that any objections to this conclusion must be based on rejection of the same uniformitarian assumption that evolutionist utilize to derive a great age for the earth. In defense of their long-age chronology, evolutionists have proposed a reversal hypothesis. They suggest that the earth’s magnetic field has remained relatively stable throughout geologic time, except for certain intervals in which it went through a reversal, dying down to zero and rising up again with the reverse polarity. The last such reversal is alleged to have occurred about 700,000 years ago.
Unfortunately for evolutionary scientists, the reversal hypothesis has absolutely no valid scientific theoretical basis. Furthermore, rock magnetization cannot be used to support these so-called reversals because there is a self-reversal process known to exist in rocks, completely independent of the earth’s magnetic field.
Finally, it is believed that the earth’s magnetic field is due to circulating electric currents in its core. If we extrapolate backward about 20,000 years, we find that the estimated heat produced by the currents would have melted the earth. Clearly, the testimony of the earths’ magnetic field is strongly in favor of a relatively young earth, not an ancient one.
The Mississippi River Delta
The Mississippi River Delta offers additional evidence to support the concept of a relatively young earth. Approximately 300 million cubic yards of sediment are deposited into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi river each year. By carefully studying the volume and rate of accumulation of the Mississippi River Delta and then dividing the weight of the sediments deposited annually into the total weight of the delta, it can be determined that the age of the delta is about 4,000 years old, (apparently began following the great flood)
Petroleum and Natural Gas
Petroleum and natural gas are contained at high pressures in underground reservoirs by relatively impermeable (resistant)cap rock. In many cases, the pressures are extremely high. Calculations based on the measured permeability of the cap rock reveal that the oil and gas pressures could not be maintained for much longer than 10,000 years in many instances. Thus, the assumption that such fossil-fuel deposits have been confined for millions of years, having not leaked out through their cap rack, becomes laughable.
Furthermore, recent experiments have demonstrated conclusively that the conversion of marine and vegetable matter into oil and gas can be achieved in a surprisingly short time. For example, plant-derived material has been converted into a good grade of petroleum in as little as twenty minutes under the proper temperature and pressure conditions. Wood and other cellulosic material have also been converted into coal or coal-like substances in just a few hours. These experiments prove that the formation of coal, oil, and gas did not necessarily require millions of years to form as uniformitarian geologists have assumed and taught.
The presence of polystrate fossils in coal beds which indicate rapid formation. Also, the type of plants involved and the texture of these deposits testify of turbulent waters, not a stagnant swamp.
Evolutionists propose that coal was formed millions of years before man evolved. However, human skeletons and artifacts, such as intricately structured gold chains, have been found in coal deposits. In Genesis 4 we learn that metalworking was already highly developed; Tubal-Cain was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. In Genesis 7 and 8, the Deluge later buried the antediluvian civilizations in the sedimentary layers of the earth’s crust.
Atmospheric Helium
Helium is a chemical element with symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas, the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements.
After hydrogen, helium is the second lightest and second most abundant element in the observable universe, being present at about 24% of the total elemental mass, which is more than 12 times the mass of all the heavier elements combined. Its abundance is similar to this figure in the Sun and in Jupiter. This is due to the very high nuclear binding energy (per nucleon) of helium-4 with respect to the next three elements after helium. This helium-4 binding energy also accounts for why it is a product of both nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. Most helium in the universe is helium-4, and is believed to have been formed during the Big Bang. Large amounts of new helium are being created by nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars.
Another excellent evidence for a young earth is provided by the small amount of helium in our present-day atmosphere. Evolutionists maintain that the radioactive decay processes of uranium and thorium that produce helium have been occurring in the earth’s crust for billions of years. But if this decay has been going on for billions of years, the earth’s atmosphere should contain much more than the present 1 part in 200,000 of helium.
The common explanation offered for the absence of the required helium is that it has been escaping out through the exosphere. But there is no evidence to support this assumption and, in fact, recent data indicate that helium cannot escape into space the way hydrogen does.
To make matters worse for evolutionists, it is also probable that helium is actually entering the atmosphere from outer space by means of the sun’s corona.
Realistic calculations based on available figures disclose that the amount of time required for natural alpha decay processes to have produced the observed helium is approximately 10,000 years.
Pleochroic Halos
Radiohalo’s or pleochroic halos are microscopic, spherical shells of discoloration within minerals such as biotite (a black, dark brown, or greenish black variety of mica) that occur in granite and other igneous rocks.
The shells are zones of radiation damage caused by the inclusion of minute radioactive crystals within the host crystal structure.
Creationists point to evidence from the study of rapidly decaying radioactive elements and pleochroic halos to support their belief that creation was sudden and complete.
Robert Gentry, the world’s leading authority on radiohaloes has studied the mysterious case of polonium radiohaloes extensively and reached some startling conclusions that confirm the creationist’s viewpoint.
Polonium 218 has been considered a daughter element of the natural decay of uranium, but through the works of Dr. Gentry and other researchers, polonium halos have been found in mica and fluorite without any evidence of parents.
In other words, it was primordial- present in the original granite from the very beginning. Also, and most significantly, polonium halos should not exist because of their extremely short half-lives. Polonium 218 has a half-life of only three minutes. If the evolutionist’ interpretation was correct and the rock formations gradually cooled over millions of years, the polonium would have decayed into other elements long ago.
Thus, the evidence clearly points to an instantaneous crystallization of the host basement rocks of the earth concurrent with the formation of the polonium. Simply stated, the presence of polonium radiohaloes is one of the greatest blows to evolutionary thinking because it speaks so eloquently of instantaneous creation.
While these facts raise absolute havoc with the evolutionary framework, they are in complete harmony with the creationists’ viewpoint.
As the Scriptures record “the evening and morning were the first day” (Gen1:5). The deliberate and emphatic repetition of this phrase throughout Genesis 1 clearly indicates that these were literal 24-hour creative periods.
The creation was accomplished in six literal days not through billions of years of gradual development (Exodus 20:11).
How appropriate are the words of the psalmist at this juncture: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth… For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:6, 9).
Meteoric Material
If the geologic column was deposited uniformly over billions of years, why is it the case that only the surface rock layers provide meteoric evidence? One would not expect to find billions of years of geologic deposits without finding any evidence of meteor strikes. Yet there is no evidence of meteor strikes including huge craters below the surface. Uniformitarianists are notably silent on this matter.
Creationists view these finds as evidence for a young earth.
Do you remember this law?
Uniformitarianism is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
The Rotation of the Earth
The rotation of the earth is gradually slowing due to the gravitational drag forces of the sun, moon, and other factors. If the earth is billions of years old, as uniformitarian geologists insist, and it has been slowing down uniformly, then its present rotation should be zero!
Furthermore, if we extrapolate (to infer (values of a variable in an unobserved interval) from values within an already observed interval) backward for several billion years, the centrifugal force would have been so great that the continents would have been sent to the equatorial regions and the overall shape of the earth would have been more like a flat pancake.
But, as is commonly known, the shape of the earth is spherical; its continents are not confined to the equatorial regions, and it continues to rotate on its axis at approximately 1,000 mph at the equator. The obvious conclusion is that the earth is not billions of years old.
