Evolution Cruncher Chapter 4
THE AGE OF THE
EARTH
Why
the Earth is not millions of years old
This chapter is based on
pp. 153-179 of Origin of the Universe (Volume One of our three-volume
Evolution Disproved Series). Not included in this chapter are at least
15 statements by scientists. You will find them, plus much more, in the
3 Volume Encyclopedia on this site.
How old is Planet Earth?
This is an important question. Even though long ages of time are not a
proof of evolution, yet without the long ages evolution could not occur
(if it were possible for it to occur).
Actually, there are many
evidences that our world is
quite young. Here are some of them: that
our world is quite young. Here are some of them:
First we shall consider EVIDENCE
FROM THE STARS that the universe itself is quite young:
I - STAR
CLUSTERS—There are
many star clusters in the universe. Each one is a circular ball composed
of billions upon billions of stars, each with its own orbit. Science
tells us that some of these clusters—with their stars—are moving
so rapidly, together, in a certain direction that it should be
impossible for them to remain together if the universe were very old.
2 - LARGE
STARS—Some stars are so
enormous in diameter that it is thought that they could not have existed
for even a few million years, otherwise their initial larger mass would
have been impossibly large. These
massive stars radiate energy very rapidly—some as much as 100,000 to 1
million times more rapidly than our own sun. On the hydrogen basis of
stellar energy, they could not have contained enough hydrogen to radiate
at such fast rates for long ages, because their initial mass would have
had to be far too gigantic.
3 -
HIGH-ENERGY STARS—Some
stars are radiating energy so intensely that they could not possibly
have survived for a long period of time. This
includes the very bright O and B class stars, the Wolf-Rayfert
stars, and the P Cygni stars. Radiation levels of 100,000 to
1 million times as much as our own sun are emitted by these stars! Yet,
by the standard solar energy theory, they do not contain enough hydrogen
to perpetuate atomic fusion longer than approximately 50,000 to 300,000
years.
4 - BINARY
STARS—Many of the
stars in the sky are binaries: two stars circling one another. But many
of these binary systems point us to a young age for the universe,
because they consist of theoretically "young" and
"old" stars circling one another.
5 -
HYDROGEN IN UNIVERSE—According
to one theory of solar energy, hydrogen is constantly being converted
into helium as stars shine. But hydrogen cannot be made by converting
other elements into it. *Fred Hoyle, a leading astronomer, maintains
that, if the universe were as old as Big Bang theorists contend,
there should be little hydrogen in it. It would all have been
transformed into helium by now. Yet stellar spectra reveal an
abundance of hydrogen in the stars, therefore the universe must be
youthful.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE FROM OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
that our solar system
is quite young:
6 - SOLAR
COLLAPSE—Research
studies indicate that our sun is gradually shrinking at a steady rate of
seconds of arc per century. At its rate of shrinkage, as little as
50,000 years ago the sun would have been so large that our oceans would
boil. But in far less a time than 50,000 years, life here would have
ceased to exist. Recent studies have disclosed that neither the size
of the sun, nor our distance from it, could be much greater or
smaller—for life to be sustained on our planet.
"By analyzing data
from Greenwich Observatory in the period 1836-1953, John A. Eddy
[Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and High Altitude
Observatory in Boulder] and Aram A. Boornazian [mathematician with S.
Ross and Co. in Boston] have found evidence that the sun has been
contracting about 0.1% per century during that time, corresponding to a
shrinkage rate of about 5 feet per hour. And digging deep into
historical records, Eddy has found 400-year-old eclipse observations
that are consistent with such a shrinkage."— *"Sun is
Shrinking," Physics Today, September 1979.
Extrapolating back,
100,000 years ago, the sun would have been about twice its present size,
making life untenable.
7 - SOLAR
NEUTRINOS—In 1968 it
was discovered that the sun is emitting hardly any neutrinos. This
evidence points directly to a very youthful sun. These neutrinos
ought to be radiating outward from the sun in very large amounts, but
this is not occurring. This fact, coupled with the discovery that the
sun is shrinking in size, point to a recently created sun.
8 -
COMETS—Comets,
journeying around the sun, are assumed to have the same age as our world
and solar system. But, as *Fred Whipple has acknowledged, astronomers
have no idea where or how comets originated. Yet we know that they
are continually disintegrating. This is because they are composed of
bits of rocky debris held together by frozen gases and water. Each
time a comet circles the sun, some of the ice is evaporated and some of
the gas is boiled away by the sun’s heat. Additional material is lost
through gravitational forces, tail formation, meteor stream production,
and radiative forces. The most spectacular part of a comet is its tail,
yet this consists of material driven away from its head by solar energy.
All the tail material is lost in space as the comet moves onward.
A number of comets have
broken up and dissipated within the period of human observation. Some of
those regularly seen in the nineteenth century have now vanished. Others
have died spectacularly by plunging into the sun.
Evidently all the comets
should self-destruct within a time frame that is fairly short.
Careful study has indicated that the effect of this dissolution process
on short-term comets would have totally dissipated them within 10,000
years.
There are numerous comets
circling our sun, including many short-term ones, with no source of new
comets known to exist.
9 - COMET
WATER—It has only
been in recent years that scientists have discovered that comets are
primarily composed of water, and that many small comets are
continually striking the earth. Yet each strike adds more water to our
planet. Scientific evidence indicates that, if the earth was
billions of years old, our oceans would be filled several times over
with water.
10 - SOLAR
WIND—As the sun’s
radiation flows outward, it applies an outward force on very, very small
particles orbiting the sun. All of the particles smaller than 100,000th
of a centimeter in diameter should have long ago been "blown
out" of our solar system,
if the solar system were billions of years old. Yet research studies by
satellites in space have shown that those small particles are abundant
and still orbiting the sun. Therefore our solar system is quite young.
11 - SOLAR
DRAG—This is a
principle known as the "Poynting-Robertson Effect." Our
sun exerts a solar drag on the small rocks and larger particles (micrometeoroids)
in our solar system. This causes these particles to spiral
down into the sun and be destroyed. The sun, acting like a giant
vacuum cleaner, sweeps up about 100,000 tons [82,301 mt] of
micrometeoroids each day. The actual process by which this occurs has
been analyzed. Each particle absorbs energy from the sun and then
re-radiates it in all directions. This causes a slowing down of the
particle in its orbit and causes it to fall into the sun. At its
present rate, our sun would have cleaned up most of the particles in
less than 10,000 years, and all of it within 50,000 years.
Yet there is an abundance
of these small pieces of rock, and there is no known source of
replenishment. This is because each solar system would lock in its own
micrometeoroids so they could not escape to another one, and the gravity
on each planet and moon would forbid any of its gravel to fly out into
space.
Next we shall consider EVIDENCE
FROM THE OTHER PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM that the solar system is
quite young:
12 -
COMPOSITION OF SATURN’S RINGS—*G.P.
Kuiper reported, in 1967, that the trillions of particles in the
rings circling the planet Saturn are primarily composed of solid
ammonia. Since solidified ammonia has a much higher vapor pressure than
even ice, reputable scientists recognize that it could not survive long
without vaporizing off into space. This is a strong indicator of a
young age for Saturn’s rings.
13 -
BOMBARDMENT OF SATURN’S RINGS—Meteoroids
bombarding Saturn’s rings would have destroyed them
in
far less than 20,000 years.
14 - MORE
RING PROBLEMS—NASA
Voyager treks have disclosed that Jupiter and Uranus also have rings
encircling them! (In addition, a 1989 Neptune fly-by revealed that it
also has rings—four of them.) These discoveries have only augmented
the problem of the evolutionists, for this would indicate a young age
for those three planets also.
15 -
JUPITER’S MOONS—The
Voyager I space probe was launched on September 5, 1977. Aimed at the
planet Jupiter, it made its closest approach to that planet on March 5,
1979. Thousands of pictures and thousands of measurements were taken of
Jupiter and its moons.
Io is
the innermost of the four original "Galilean moons," and was
found to have over sixty active volcanoes!
These
volcanoes spew plumes of ejecta from 60 to 160 miles [97 to 257 km]
above Io’s surface. This is astounding.
Nothing on our planet can
match this continuous stream of material being shot out by Io’s
volcanoes at a velocity of 2000 miles per hour [3218 km per hour]! The
usual evolutionary model portrays all the planets and moons as being
molten 5 billion years ago. During the next billion years they are said
to have had active volcanoes. Then, 4 billion years ago, the volcanism
stopped as they cooled. Io is quite small, yet it has the most active
volcanoes we know of. Obviously, it is quite young and its internal heat
has not had time to cool.
16 - MOONS
TOO DIFFERENT—If all four
moons of Jupiter’s "Galilean moons" evolved, they should be
essentially alike in physical characteristics. The
theorized millions of years they have existed should cause them to have
the same amount of volcanoes and impact craters, but this is not so. In
contrast, a recent creation would explain Io’s volcanoes and the
variety of other surface features.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM OUR OWN MOON
that it is quite young:
17 - MOON
DUST—Although most
people do not know it, one of the reasons so much money was spent to
send a rocket to the moon was to see how thick the dust was on its
surface!
Evolutionists had long held
to the fact (as we do) that the earth and moon are about the same age.
It is believed, by many, that the earth and its moon are billions of
years old. If that were true, the moon would by now have built up a
20-60 mile [32 to 97 km] layer of dust on it!
In *Isaac Asimov’s
first published essay (1958), he wrote:
" . . I get a picture,
therefore, of the first spaceship [to the moon], picking out a nice
level place for landing purposes, coming slowly downward tail-first and
sinking majestically out of sight."—*Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Science:
A Thirty-Year Retrospective (1989), xvi-xvii.
In the 1950s, *R.A. Lyttleton, a highly respected astronomer, said this:
"The lunar surface is
exposed to direct sunlight, and strong ultraviolet light and X-rays
[from the sun] can destroy the surface layers of exposed rock and reduce
them to dust at the rate of a few ten-thousandths of an inch per year.
But even this minute amount could, during the age of the moon, be
sufficient to form a layer over it several miles deep."—*R.A.
Lyttleton, quoted in R. Wysong, Creation-Evolution Controversy, p. 175.
In 5 to 10 billion years, 3
or 4/10,000ths of an inch per year would produce 20-60 miles [32-97 km]
of dust. In view of this, our men at NASA were afraid to send men to the
moon. Landing there, they would be buried in dust and quickly suffocate!
So NASA first sent an unmanned lander to its surface, which made the
surprising discovery that there was hardly any dust on the moon! In
spite of that discovery, Neil Armstrong was decidedly worried about this
dust problem as his March 1970 flight in Apollo 11 neared. He feared his
lunar lander would sink deeply into it and he and Edwin Aldrin would
perish. But because the moon is young, they had no problem. There is
not over 2 or 3 inches [5.08 or 7.62 cm] of dust on its surface! That is
the amount one would expect if the moon were about 6000-8000 years old.
*Dr. Lyttleton’s facts
were correct; solar radiation does indeed turn the moon rocks into dust.
With only a few inches of dust, the moon cannot be older than a few
thousand years.
It is significant that
studies on the moon have shown that only 1/60th of the one- or
two-inch dust layer on the moon originated from outer space. This
has been corroborated by still more recent measurements of the influx
rate of dust on the moon, which also do not support an old moon.
18 - LUNAR
SOIL—Analysis of
lunar soil negates the possibility of long ages for the moon’s
existence. The dirt on the moon does not reveal the amount of
soil mixing that would be expected if the moon were very old.
19 - LUNAR
ISOTOPES—Many wonder
what value there has been in collecting moon rocks. One of the most
surprising moon rock discoveries is seldom mentioned: Short-lived
Uranium 236 and Thorium .230 were found in those stones! Short-term
radioactive isotopes do not last long; they quickly turn into their end
product, which is lead. If the moon were even 50,000 years old, these
short-life radioisotopes would long since have decayed into lead.
But instead they were relatively abundant in the moon rocks! The
importance of this should not be underestimated. The moon cannot be
older than several thousand years.
20 - LUNAR
RADIOACTIVE HEAT—Rocks
brought by Apollo teams from the moon have been dated by the various
radiometric methods. A variety of very conflicting dates have
resulted from these tests. But the factor of relatively high
radioactivity of those rocks indicates a young age for the moon:
21 - LUNAR
GASES—Several inert
gases have been found on the surface of the moon. Scientists believe
that these gases came from the sun, in the form of "solar
wind." Mathematical calculation reveals that, at today’s
intensity of solar wind, the amount of inert gases found on the moon
would be built up in 1000 to 10,000 years, —and no longer. These
calculations are based on Argon 36 and Krypton 84 concentrations. Even
20,000 years ago would be far too lengthy a time. Therefore the moon
could not be older than about 6000-10,000 years.
22 - LUNAR
PHENOMENA—A growing
collection of data of transient lunar activity (moon quakes, lava flows,
gas emissions, etc.) reveals that the moon is not a cold, dead body. It
is still adjusting to inner stresses and is not yet in thermal
equilibrium. Yet, all things considered, if the moon were very old it
should not show such thermal activity.
23 - LUNAR
RECESSION—Scientists
have discovered two interesting facts: (1) the moon is already far
too close to the earth, and (2) it is gradually moving farther
away from us. This is called recession of the moon. Due to
tidal friction, the moon is slowly spiraling outward away from planet
earth! Based on the rate at which the moon is receding from us, the
earth and the moon cannot be very old. This is an important point and in
no way can be controverted. The present rate of recession clearly
indicates a young age for the earth-moon system. If the moon were
older—even 20 to 30,000 years old,—it would at that earlier time
have been so close that it would have fallen into the earth!
"The moon is slowly
receding from Earth at about 4 cm [1½ in] per year, and the rate would
have been greater in the past. The moon could never have been closer
than 18,400 km [11,500 miles], known as the Roche Limit, because
Earth’s tidal forces would have shattered it."—Jonathan
Sarfati, Creation Ex Nihilo, September 1979.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM THE ATMOSPHERE
that the earth is quite young:
24 -
ATMOSPHERIC HELIUM—The
radioactive decay of either uranium or thorium produces helium. According
to evolutionary theory, these decay chains have been going on for
billions of years, and should therefore have produced a much larger
quantity of helium than is found in our world. The amount of helium
on our planet is far too small, if our world has existed for long ages.
"There ought to be
about a thousand times as much helium in the atmosphere as there
is."—*"What Happened to the Earth’s Helium?" New
Scientist, 24, December 3, 1964.
To fit the evolutionary
pattern, our atmosphere would now have to contain much more than our
present 1.4 parts per million of helium. Some evolutionists have
suggested that the helium is escaping out into space, but no evidence
has ever been found to substantiate this. Research has shown that,
although hydrogen can escape from the earth, helium is not able to reach
"escape velocity." In order to do so, the temperature of the
planet would have to be too high to support the life that evolutionists
say has been here for over a billion years.
To make matters worse, not
only are we not losing helium to outer space—we are getting more of it
from there! *Cook has shown that helium, spewed out by the sun’s
corona, is probably entering our atmosphere (Melvin A. Cook,
"Where is the Earth’s Radiogenic Helium?" Nature 179,
January 26, 1957).
Atmospheric helium is
produced from three sources: (1) radioactive decay of uranium and
thorium. (2) cosmic helium flowing into our atmosphere from space, but
especially the sun’s corona. (3) Nuclear reactions in the earth’s
crust, caused by cosmic ray bombardment.
Kofahl and Segraves
conclude that, using all three helium sources in the calculation,
earth’s atmospheric age would be reduced to 10,000 years.
In
addition to this, a worldwide catastrophic event in the past such as the
Flood could, for a short time, have unleashed much larger amounts of
helium into the atmosphere. Such an event could significantly reduce the
total atmospheric age. Helium content is a good measure, since there is
no known way it can escape from the atmosphere into outer space.
Also see Larry Vardiman,
The Age of the Earth’s Atmosphere: A Study of the Helium Flux through
the Atmosphere (1990), in which he argues that, on the basis of
atmospheric helium content, the earth cannot be over 10,000 years old.
25 -
CARBON-14 DISINTEGRATION—The
present worldwide buildup of radiocarbon in the atmosphere would have
produced all the world’s radiocarbon in several thousand years.
Yet, ironically, it is Carbon 14
that is used by evolutionary scientists in an attempt to prove that life
has existed on our planet for millions of years!
Robert Whitelaw, a nuclear
and engineering expert at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, found that the
production rate is not equal to the disintegration rate. In fact, his
calculations reveal a recent turning on of the C-14 clock,—otherwise
the two factors would be balanced. Whitelaw’s research indicates that
the clock was turned on approximately 8000 years ago. (See chapter 6,
Inaccurate Dating Methods, for more on radiocarbon dating.)
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM METEORITES
that the earth is quite young:
26 - METEOR
DUST—Meteors
are continually hurtling into the atmosphere and landing on our planet.
They are then known as meteorites. But small amounts of meteor
dust (called micrometeors and too small to see) also enter
our atmosphere and gradually settle to earth. The composition of these
materials is iron, nickel, and silicate compounds.
On the average, about 20
million meteors collide with the earth’s atmosphere every 24 hours.
It is now known that, because of meteorites
and meteorite dust, the earth increases in weight by about 25 tons [22.7
mt] each day.
We have here another
evidence of a young earth, for the amount of meteorites and meteorite
dust earlier accumulated in rock strata, in relation to the amounts
reaching the earth at present, would indicate an age in thousands of
years, not millions.
27 - METEOR
CRATERS—Meteor
craters are fairly easy to locate, especially since we now have such
excellent aerial and satellite mapping systems. For example, the meteor
crater near Winslow, Arizona, is ¾ mile [1.2 km] in diameter and
600 feet [1,829 dm] deep. Efforts have been made to locate meteor
craters in the rock strata, but without success. They always lie close
to or on the surface. This and erosional evidence indicate that all the
meteor craters which have struck the earth are all only a few thousand
years old. No larger meteors struck the earth prior to that time,
for no meteor craters are found anywhere in the lower rocks.
28 - METEOR
ROCKS—Meteorites of
various types are continually plunging into earth’s atmosphere, and
some reach the surface and are then called meteorites. Supposedly
this has happened for millions of years—yet all the meteorites
discovered are always right next to the earth’s surface! There are
no exceptions! No meteorites are ever found in the deeper
("older") sedimentary strata. If the earth were very ancient,
many should be found farther down. This is an evidence of a young
earth. It is also an indication that the sedimentary strata was rather
quickly laid down not too long in the past.
"No meteorites have
ever been found in the geologic column."—*Fred Whipple,
"Comets," in The New Astronomy, p. 207.
*Asimov’s theory is
that "crustal mixing" has removed all trace of the meteorites.
But the nickel from those meteorites should still be there littering the
earth’s surface and to be found beneath it. But this is not the case.
"For many years, I
have searched for meteorites or meteoric material in sedimentary rocks
[the geological strata] . . I have interviewed the late Dr. G.P.
Merrill, of the U.S. National Museum, and Dr. G.T. Prior, of the British
Natural History Museum, both well-known students of meteorites, and
neither man knew of a single occurrence of a meteorite in sedimentary
rocks."—*W.A. Tarr, "Meteorites in Sedimentary
Rocks?" Science 75, January 1932.
29 -
TEKTITES—Tektites are a
special type of glassy meteorite. Large
areas containing them are called "strewn fields." Although
some scientists claim that tektites are of earthly origin, there is
definite evidence that they are actually meteorites.
Every so often, a shower of
tektites falls to the earth. The first were found in 1787 in what is now
western Czechoslovakia. Those in Australia were found in 1864. They were
given the name tektites, from a Greek word for
"molten," because they appear to have melted in their passage
through the atmosphere. Tektites have also been found in Texas and
several other places. Each shower lies on the surface or in the
topmost layers of soil; they are never found in the sedimentary
fossil-bearing strata. If the earth were 5 billion years old, as
suggested by evolutionists, we should expect to find tektite showers in
all the strata. If the earth is only a few thousand years old, and a
Flood produced all the strata, we would expect to find the tektites only
in the topmost layers of the ground and not in the deeper strata. And
that is where they are.
The tektites are found on
top of, what evolutionary theory calls, "recent" soil, not
beneath it. The evidence is clear that the tektites did not work their
way up from beneath or wash down from older sediments at a higher
elevation.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM THE GLOBE
that the earth is
quite young:
30 - EARTH
ROTATION—The spin of the
earth—which is now about 1000 miles [1609 km] an hour—is gradually
slowing down. Gravitational
drag forces of the sun, moon, and other factors cause this. If the earth
were really billions of years old, as claimed, it would already have
stopped turning on its axis! This is yet another evidence that our world
is not very old.
Lord Kelvin (the
19th-century physicist who introduced the Kelvin temperature scale) used
this slowing rotation as a reason why the earth could not be very old.
The decline in rotation rate is now known to be greater than previously
thought (Thomas G. Barnes, "Physics: A Challenge to ‘Geologic
Times,’ " Impact 16, July 1974).
Using a different
calculation, we can extrapolate backwards from our present spin rate,
and 5 billion years ago our planet would have had to be spinning so fast
it would have changed to the shape of a flat pancake. And we, today,
would still have the effects of that: Our equator would now reach 40
miles [64 km] up into the sky, and our tropical areas—and all our
oceans—would be at the poles. So, by either type of calculation, our
world cannot be more than a few thousand years old.
31 -
MAGNETIC FIELD DECAY—As
you probably know, the earth has a magnetic field. Without it, we
could not use compasses to identify the direction of magnetic north
(which is close to the North Pole). Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, a physics
teacher at the University of Texas, has authored a widely used college
textbook on electricity and magnetism. Working with data collected over
the past 135 years, he has pointed out that earth’s magnetic field
is gradually decaying. Indeed, he has shown that this magnetic
field is decreasing exponentially, according to a decay law similar
to the decay of radioactive substances.
In 1835 the German
physicist, K.F. Gauss, made the first measurement of the earth’s
magnetic dipole moment, that is, the strength of earth’s internal
magnet. Additional evaluations have been carried out every decade or so
since then. Since 1835, global magnetism has decreased 14 percent!
On the basis of facts
obtained from 1835 to 1965, this magnetic field appears to have a
half-life of 1400 years. On this basis, even 7000 years ago, the earth
would have had a magnetic field 32 times stronger than it now has. Just
20,000 years ago, enough Joule heat would have been generated to liquefy
the earth. One million years ago the earth would have had greater
magnetism than all objects in the universe, and it would have vaporized!
It would appear that the earth could not be over 6000 or 7000 years old.
(On the accompanying graph, beyond the point where the curve becomes
vertical, our planet would have had the magnetosphere power of a
magnetic star!)
"The over-all
intensity of the field is declining at a rate of 26 nanoteslas per year
. . If the rate of decline were to continue steadily, the field strength
would reach zero in 1,200 years."—*"Magnetic Field
Declining," Science News, June 28, 1980.
"In the next two
millennia, if the present rate of decay is sustained, the dipole
component of the [earth’s magnetic] field should reach zero."—*Scientific
American, December 1989.
This magnetic decay process
is not a local process, such as one would find in uranium, but
worldwide; it affects the entire earth. It has been accurately measured
for over 150 years, and is not subject to environmental changes since it
is generated deep in the earth’s interior.
If any fundamental
planetary process ought to be a reliable indicator of the earth’s age,
it should be our earth’s magnetic field—and
it indicates an upper limit of decidedly less than 10,000 years for the
age of the earth.
Most of the factors
described above would apply to the age of the earth, which appears to be
decidedly less than 10,000 years.
Most of the following items
of evidence would apply to the length of time since the Flood, which
evidence indicates may have occurred about 4350 years ago.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM BENEATH THE SURFACE
that the earth is quite young:
32 -
ESCAPING NATURAL GAS—Oil
and gas are usually located in a porous and permeable rock like
sandstone or limestone, which is sealed by an impermeable rock-like
shale. Fluids and gas can easily travel through the containing rock, but
more slowly pass out of the impermeable cap. Evolutionary theory
postulates that tens or hundreds of millions of years ago, the oil and
gas were trapped in there.
But natural gas can
still get through the shale cap. A recent study analyzed the rate of
escape of gas through shale caps. It was found to be far too rapid for
acceptance by evolutionary theory. If the world were billions of
years old, all the natural gas would already have escaped.
33 - OIL
PRESSURE—Frequently,
when oil well drillers first penetrate into oil, a geyser
("gusher") of oil spews forth. Studies of the permeability of
the surrounding rock indicate that any pressure within the oil bed
should have bled off within a few thousand years, but this obviously has
not happened yet. The excessive pressure within these oil beds
refutes the "old earth" theory and provides strong evidence
that these deep rock formations and the entrapped oil are less than
7000-10,000 years old. The great pressures now existing in oil
reserves could only have been sustained for a few thousand years.
"Why do we see an
explosive gusher when a drill strikes oil? Because oil, like natural
gas, is maintained in the earth at enormously high pressure—about 5000
pounds per square inch at a depth of 10,000 feet. Supposedly oil and gas
have been lying there for millions of years. But how could they have
lasted that long without leaking or otherwise dissipating those extreme
pressures."—James Perloff, Tornado in a Junkyard (1999), p.
136.
34 -
OIL SEEPAGE—A 1972
article, by *Max Blumer, (*"Submarine Seeps: Are They a Major
Source of Open Ocean Oil Pollution?" in Science, Vol. 176, p. 1257)
offers decided evidence that the earth’s crust is not as old as
evolutionary geologists had thought. *Blumer says that oil seepage
from the seafloor cannot be a source of oceanic oil pollution. He
explains that if that much had been regularly seeping out of the ocean
floor, all the oil in offshore wells would be gone long ago if the earth
were older than 20,000 years.
In contrast, geologists
have already located 630 billion barrels [1,002 billion kl] of oil that
can be recovered from offshore wells. But if our planet were older than
20,000 years, there would be no offshore oil of any kind to locate and
recover through oilrigs.
35 - LACK
OF ANCIENTLY DESTROYED RESERVOIRS—All
of the oil in the world must have been placed there only in the recent
past. We can know this because if long ages of time had elapsed for
earth’s history, then we should find evidence of anciently destroyed
oil reservoirs. There would be places where all the oil had leaked out
and left only residues, which would show in drilling cores! if long ages of time had elapsed for
earth’s history, then we should find evidence of anciently destroyed
oil reservoirs. There would be places where all the oil had leaked out
and left only residues, which would show in drilling cores! But such
locations are never found. Coal is found in various stages of
decomposition, but oil reservoirs are never found to have seeped away.
36 - MOLTEN
EARTH—Deep
within the earth, the rocks are molten; but, if the earth were
billions of years old, long ages ago our planet would have cooled
far more than it now has.
37 -
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS—There
are few active volcanoes today, yet at some time in the past there were
thousands of them. In
chapter 14, Effects of the Flood, we will learn that many of
these were active during the time that the oceans were filling with
water.
The greater part of the
earlier volcanism apparently occurred within a narrow band of time just
after the Flood. If it had
lasted longer, our world today would have a far larger amount of
volcanic material covering its surface. Instead we find that the Deluge
primarily laid down the sedimentary deposits.
But even today’s
volcanoes are an indication of an early age for the earth. If even the
present low rate of volcanic activity had continued for the long ages
claimed by evolutionists for earth’s history, there would be far more
lava than there now is. Only a young age for our world can explain the
conditions we see on earth’s surface now.
38 -
ZIRCON/LEAD RATIOS—This
and the next discovery were made by R.V. Gentry, and both are discussed
in detail in chapter 3, Origin of the Earth, and in his book, Nature’s
Tiny Mystery.
Zircon crystals were taken
in core samples from five levels of a very hot, dry 15,000-foot [45,720
dm] hole in New Mexico, with temperatures always above 313° C [595.4°
F]. That is more than 200° C [392° F] hotter than the sea-level
temperature of boiling water.
Radiogenic lead gradually
leaks out of zircon crystals, and does so more rapidly as the
temperature increases. But careful examination revealed that essentially
none of the radiogenic lead had diffused out of that super-heated
zircon. This evidence points
strongly to a young age for the earth. This
evidence points strongly to a young age for the earth.
39 -
ZIRCON/HELIUM RATIOS—When
uranium and thorium radioactively decay, they emit alpha
particles—which are actually helium atoms stripped of their electrons.
Analysis of the helium content of those same zircon crystals, from
that same deep New Mexico hole, revealed amazingly high helium retention
in those crystals. Yet helium is a gas and can diffuse out of
crystals much more rapidly than many other elements, including lead.
Since heat increases chemical activity, all that helium should be gone
if the earth were more than a few thousand years old.
40
- SOIL-WATER RATIO—There
is clear evidence in the soil beneath our feet that the earth is
quite young, for it is still in the partially water-soaked condition
that it incurred at the time of the Flood. This evidence indicates
that a Flood took place, and that it occurred not more than a few
thousand years ago. This is shown by water table levels (which, as you
know, we today are rapidly draining).
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM THE EARTH’S SURFACE
that the earth is quite young:
41 -
TOPSOIL—The average depth
of topsoil throughout the world is about eight inches. Allowing
for losses due to erosion, it has been calculated that it requires 300
to 1000 years to build one inch [2.54 cm] of topsoil. On this basis, the
earth could only be a few thousand years old.
42 -
NIAGARA FALLS—The
French explorer, Hennepin, first mapped Niagara Falls in 1678. From that
time until 1842, the falls eroded the cliff beneath them at a rate of
about 7 feet [213 cm] per year. More recent calculations would
indicate a rate of 3.5 feet [106.68 cm] of erosion per year. Since the
length of the Niagara Falls gorge is about 7 miles [11 km], the age
of the falls would be 5000 to 10,000 years.
But, of course, the
worldwide Flood, the existence of which is clearly established by rock
strata and other geological evidence, would have been responsible for a
massive amount of initial erosion of the falls.
There are a number of large
waterfalls in the world which plunge into gorges; and, over the
centuries past, these were dug out as the waterfall gradually eroded
away the cliff beneath it. In each instance, the distance of the cut
that has been made, in relation to the amount of erosion that is being
made each year by the falls, indicates only a few thousand years since
the falls began.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM THE OCEANS
that the earth is quite young:
43 - RIVER
DELTAS—Did you ever
see an air-view photograph of the Mississippi River delta? You can find
an outline of it on any larger United States map. That river dumps 300
million cubic yards [229 million cubic meters] of mud into the Gulf of
Mexico every year, at the point where the river enters the gulf. For
this reason, the State of Louisiana keeps becoming larger. Yet, for
the amount of sediment dumping that occurs, the Mississippi delta is not
very large. In fact, calculations reveal it has only been forming
for the past 4000 years.
The Mississippi-Missouri
river system is the longest in the world and is about 4221 miles [6,792
km] in length. Because, below Cape Girardeau, flatland inundation along
the Mississippi has always been a problem, over a hundred years ago,
Congress commissioned *General Andrew A. Humphreys to make a survey of
the whole area. It was completed in 1861. The English evolutionist,
*Charles Lyell, had earlier made a superficial examination of the river
and its delta, and declared the river system to be 60,000 years old
since, he said, the delta was 528 feet [1609 dm] deep.
But Humphreys showed
that the actual depth of the delta was only 40 feet. Below that was
the blue clay of the Gulf, and below that, marine fossils. His discovery
revealed that the lower Mississippi valley used to be a marine estuary.
Using Lyell’s formula for age computation, Humphreys arrived at an age
of about 4620 years, which would be approximately the time of the
Genesis Flood.
Less data is available for
other world river systems, but what is known agrees with findings about
the age of the Mississippi delta.
Ur of the Chaldees was a
seaport several thousand years ago. Today it is almost 200 miles [322
km] from the Persian Gulf. That distance was filled in as delta
formation by fill from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Archaeologists date the seaport Ur at 3500 B.C. Assuming that date, the
delta formed at 35 miles [56 km] for every 1000 years.
According to evolutionary
theory, everything occurs at a uniform rate
and
the earth is billions of years old. But then 80,000 years ago, the
Persian Gulf would have reached to Paris! At the same rate of delta
formation, 120,000 years ago the Gulf of Mexico would have extended up
through the Mississippi River—to the North Pole!
44 - SEA
OOZE—As fish and plants
in the ocean die, they drop to the bottom and gradually form an ooze, or
very soft mud, that is built up on the ocean floors.
This
occurs at the rate of about 1 inch [2.54 cm] every 1500 years. Measuring the
depth of this ooze, it is clear that the earth is quite young.
45 -
EROSION IN THE OCEAN—If
erosion has been occurring for millions of years, why, below sea level
in the oceans, do we find ragged cliffs, mountains not leveled, oceans
unfilled by sediments, and continents still above sea level?
An excellent example of
this is the topology of Monterey Bay, California. It is filled with
steep underwater canyons—so steep that small avalanches occur on them
quite frequently. (See *"Between Monterey Tides," National
Geographic, February 1990, pp. 2-43; especially note map on pp.
10-11.) If the earth were as old as the evolutionists claim, all this
would long ago have been flattened out.
46 -
THICKNESS OF OCEAN SEDIMENTS—About
29 billion tons [26.3 billion mt] of sediment is added to the ocean each
and every year. If the
earth were billions of years old, the ocean floor would be covered by
sediments from land measuring 60 to 100 miles [96.5 to 160.9 km] thick,
and all the continents would be eroded away. But, instead, we find only
a few thousand feet of sediment in the ocean, and no indication that the
continents have eroded away even once. Calculations on the thickness of
ocean sediments yield only a few thousand years for our planet.
The
average depth of sediments on the ocean floor is only a little over ½
mile [.804 km]. But if
the oceans were billions of years old, the rate of sediment deposit from
the continents would have resulted in a minimum of 60 miles [96.6 km] of
sediments, on the ocean floors, and closer to 100 miles [160.9 km].
Plate
tectonics theory (chapter 20, Paleomagnetism [omitted from this
book for lack of space; you will find it in chapter 26 on our website])
declares that gradually subducting plates bury themselves deep into
the earth, carrying with them the sediments on top of them. But,
according to that theory, this would only remove about 2.75 x 1010
tons [2.49 mt x 1010]
per year, or merely 1/10th of the annual new sediments being added from
the continents!
The 60 miles [96.6 km] of
ocean sediments needed by the evolutionists for their theory is
hopelessly missing.
47 - OCEAN
CONCENTRATIONS—We have a
fairly good idea of the amount of various elements and salts that are in
the oceans and also how much is being added yearly by rivers,
subterranean springs, rainwater, and other sources.
A
comparison of the two factors points to a young age for the ocean and
thus for the earth.
Of the 51 primary chemical
elements contained in seawater, twenty could have accumulated to their
present concentrations in 1000 years or less, 9 additional elements in
no more than 10,000 years, and 8 others in no more than 100,000 years.
For example, the nitrates in the oceans could have accumulated within
13,000 years.
48 - GROWTH
OF CORAL—Coral in the
ocean grows at a definite rate.
Analysis
of coral growth in the oceans reveals that ours is a young world.
"Estimated old ages
for the earth are frequently based on ‘clocks’ that today are
ticking at very slow rates. For example, coral growth rates were for
many years thought to be very slow, implying that some coral reefs must
be hundreds of thousands of years old. More accurate measurements of
these rates under favorable growth conditions now show us that no known
coral formation need be older than 3,500 years (A.A. Roth, ‘Coral
Reef Growth,’ Origins, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1979, pp. 88-95)."—W.T.
Brown, In the Beginning (1989), p. 14.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM LIVING THINGS
that the earth is quite young:
49 - TREE
RINGS—The giant
sequoias of California have no known enemies except man. And only
recently did man (with his saws) have the ability to easily destroy
them. Insects do not bother them, nor even forest fires. They live
on, century after century. Yet the sequoias are never older than about
4000 years. These giant redwoods seem to be the original trees that
existed in their timber stands. Sequoia gigantea, in their groves
in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, never have any dead trees
("snags") among them. Unless man cuts them down, there is no
evidence that they ever die!
The University of Arizona
has a department that specializes in tree dating. *Edmund Schulman of
its Dendrochronological Laboratory discovered a stand of still older
trees in the White Mountains of California. These were bristlecone pines
(Pinus longalva).
Beginning in 1978, Walter
Lammerts, a plant scientist, spent several years working with
bristlecone pine seedlings in their native habitat of Arizona. He
discovered that the San Francisco Mountain region, in which they grow,
has spring and fall rains with a very dry summer in between. Working
carefully with the seedlings, and giving them the same type of
watering and other climatic conditions that they would normally
receive,—he found that much of the time the bristlecone pines produce
two growth rings a year. This is an important discovery, for it would
indicate that the sequoias—not the bristlecone pines—are probably
the oldest living things on earth.
Think of it! Today we have
just ONE generation of the Sequoia gigantea! Both the parent
trees and their offspring are still alive. There is no record of any
tree or other living thing that is older than any reasonable date given
for the Genesis Flood. In the case of the giant sequoias, there is no
reason why they could not have lived for many thousands of years beyond
their present life span.
For additional information
on tree ring dating, see chapter 6, Inaccurate Dating Methods.
50 -
MUTATION LOAD—Before
completing this section on the evidence from living things, it is of
interest that one researcher, *H.T. Band, discovered in the early 1960s
that natural selection was not eliminating the "genetic
load" (the gradually increasing negative effect of mutation on
living organisms). Thus mutational defects are accumulating, even
though some are only on recessive genes. Calculations, based on
genetic load, indicate that life-forms could not have continued more
than several thousand years—and still be as free from mutational
defects as they now are.
Much more information on
mutations, including a more complete discussion of genetic load, will
be given in chapter 10, Mutations.
Next we shall consider
EVIDENCE
FROM CIVILIZATION
that the earth is quite young:
(The information given in
this section is somewhat paralleled by material to be found in Ancient
Cultures and As Far Back as We Can Go, near the end of chapter
13, Ancient Man. Additional material will be found there.)
51 -
HISTORICAL RECORDS—If
mankind has been living and working on Planet Earth for millions of
years, why do we find records of man only dating back to about 2000-3500
B.C.? And these records, when found, reveal the existence of highly
developed civilizations.
As is shown more fully in
chapter 13, Ancient Man, the writings, language, and cultures of
ancient mankind started off fully developed—but are not found to have
begun until about 2000-3000 B.C.
(1) Early Egyptian Records.
The earliest historical books are those of the Egyptians and the
Hebrews. The historical dates assigned to the beginnings of Egyptian
and Sumerian history are based primarily on king-lists. The earliest
records are the Egyptian king-lists, dating from about the First Dynasty
in Egypt, between 3200 and 3600 B.C. But internal and external evidence
indicates that these dates should be lowered. An Egyptologist writes:
"We
think that the First Dynasty [in Egypt] began not before 3400 and not
much later than 3200 B.C. . . A. Scharff, however, would bring the date
down to about 3000 B.C.; and it must be admitted that his arguments are
good, and that at any rate it is more probable that the date of the
First Dynasty is later than 3400 B.C., rather than earlier."—*H.R.
Hall, "Egypt: Archaeology," in Encyclopedia Britannica, 1956
edition, Vol. 8, p. 37.
The problem with First
Dynasty dates is they are based on the king-lists of Manetho,
an Egyptian priest who lived many centuries later, in 250 B.C.
Manetho’s writings have only been preserved in a few inaccurate
quotations in other ancient writings. Barton, of the University of
Pennsylvania, points out the problem here:
"The number of years
assigned to each [Egyptian] king, and consequently the length of time
covered by the dynasties, differ in these two copies, so that, while the
work of Manetho forms the backbone of our chronology, it gives us no
absolute reliable chronology."—George A. Barton, Archaeology
and the Bible, p. 11.
Confusion in regard to
Egyptian dating has continued on down to the present time.
"In the course of a
single century’s research, the earliest date in Egyptian
history—that of Egypt’s unification under King Menes [first king of
the first Egyptian dynasty]—has plummeted from 5876 to 2900 B.C., and
not even the latter year has been established beyond doubt. Do we, in
fact, have any firm dates at all?"—Johannes Lehmann, The
Hittites (1977), p. 204.
It is difficult to obtain
exact clarity when examining ancient Egyptian texts. A number of
Egyptologists think that Manetho’s lists dealt not with a single
dynasty—but with two different ones that reigned simultaneously in
upper and lower Egypt. This would markedly reduce the Manetho dates.
Manetho’s king-lists give
us dates that are older than that of any other dating records anywhere
in the world. But there are a number of scholars who believe that (1)
the lists deal with two simultaneously reigning sets of kings, (2) that
they are not numerically accurate, and (3) that Manetho fabricated
names, events, numbers, and history, as did many ancient Egyptian
Pharaohs and historians, in order to magnify the greatness of Egypt or
certain rulers. For example, it is well-known among archaeologists
and Egyptologists that ancient Egyptian records exaggerated victories
while never mentioning defeats. The Egyptians had a
center-of-the-universe attitude about themselves, and they repeatedly
colored or falsified historical reporting in order to make themselves
look better than other nations around them.
In contrast, it is
highly significant that well-authenticated Egyptian dates only go back
to 1600 B.C.! Experts, trying to unravel Egyptian dating problems,
have come to that conclusion.
"Frederick Johnson,
coworker with Dr. Libby [in the development of, and research into,
radiocarbon dating], cites the general correspondence [agreement] of
radiocarbon dates to the known ages of various samples taken from tombs,
temples, or palaces out of the historical past. Well-authenticated dates
are known only back as far as 1600 B.C. in Egyptian history, according
to John G. Read (J.G. Read, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 29, No.
1, 1970). Thus, the meaning of dates by C-14 prior to 1600 B.C. is
still as yet controversial."—H.M. Morris, W.W. Boardman, and
R.F. Koontz, Science and Creation (1971), p. 85.
Because cosmologists,
chronologists, historians, and archaeologists heavily rely on Egyptian
dates for their theories, Egyptian dating has become very important in
dating the ancient world, and thus quite influential. This is because it
purports to provide us with the earliest historical dates.
There is evidence available that would definitely lower archaeological
dates, and bring them into line with Biblical chronology.
We planned to include a
more complete study on this subject in chapter 21, Archaeological
Dating, but we had to omit it for lack of space. However, you will
find it in chapter 35 on our Encyclopedia.
(2) The Sumerians.
The Sumerians were the first
people with written records in the region of greater Babylonia. Their
earliest dates present us with the same problems that we find with
Egyptian dates. *Kramer, an expert in ancient Near Eastern
civilizations, comments:
"The dates of
Sumer’s early history have always been surrounded with
uncertainty."—*S.N. Kramer, "The Sumerians," in
Scientific American, October 1957, p. 72.
(We might here mention that
the carbon-14 date for these earliest Near Eastern civilizations is not
3000, but 8000 B.C. In chapter 6, Inaccurate Dating Methods, we
will discover that radiocarbon dating seriously decreases in reliability
beyond about 1500 years in the past.)
52 - EARLY
BIBLICAL RECORDS—(*#1/10
Ancient Historical Records*) The Bible is valid history and
should not be discounted in any scientific effort to determine dates of
earlier events. The Bible has consistently been verified by authentic
historical and archaeological research. The Bible is valid history and
should not be discounted in any scientific effort to determine dates of
earlier events. The Bible has consistently been verified by authentic
historical and archaeological research. (For an in-depth analysis of
a primary cause of apparent disharmony between archaeological and
Biblical dates, see chapter 35, Archaeological Dating, on our
website).
It is conservatively
considered that the first books of the Bible were written by Moses
c.1510-1450 B.C. (The date of the Exodus would be about 1492 B.C.) Chronological
data in the book of Genesis would indicate that Creation Week occurred
about 4000 B.C., and that the date of the Flood was about 2348 B.C.
Some may see a problem with
such a date for the Genesis Flood. But we are dealing with dates that
are quite ancient. The Flood may have occurred at a somewhat earlier
time, but it may also be that the earliest-known secular dates should be
lowered somewhat, which is probably the case here. It is well to
remember that, in seeking to corroborate ancient dates, we can never
have total certainty about the past from secular records, such as we
find in Egypt and Sumer.
53 -
ASTRONOMICAL RECORDS—Throughout
ancient historical writings, from time to time scholars come across
comments about astronomical events, especially total or almost total
solar eclipses. These are much more accurate time dating factors!
Because of the infrequency of solar eclipses at any given location and
because astronomers can date every eclipse going back thousands of
years, a mention of a solar eclipse in an ancient tablet or manuscript
is an extremely important find!
A solar eclipse is strong
evidence for the dating of an event, when ancient records can properly
corroborate it.
We can
understand why the ancients would mention solar eclipses since, as such
rare events, they involve the blotting out of the sun for a short time
in the area of umbra (the completely dark, inner part of the shadow cast
on the earth when the moon covers the sun). Yet, prior to 2250 B.C.,
we have NOT ONE record of a solar eclipse ever having been seen by people! This is a
very important item of evidence establishing a young age for the earth.
"The earliest Chinese
date which can be assigned with any probability is 2250 B.C., based on
an astronomical reference in the Book of History."—*Ralph
Linton, The Tree of Culture (1955), p. 520.
54 -
WRITING—The oldest
writing is pictographic Sumerian inscribed on tablets in the Near East.
The oldest of these tablets have been dated at about 3500 B.C.
and were found in the Sumerian
temple of manna.
The earliest Western-type
script was the proto-Sinaitic, which appeared in the Sinai peninsula
about 1550 B.C. This was the
forerunner of our Indo-Aryan script, from which descended our present
alphabet.
55 -
CIVILIZATIONS—It is
highly significant that no truly verified archaeological datings
predate the period of about 3000 B.C. When larger dates are cited,
they come from radiocarbon dating, from methods other than written human
records, or from the suspect Manetho’s Egyptian king-list.
56 -
LANGUAGES—Mankind is so
intelligent that languages were soon put into written records, which
were left lying about on the surface of the earth.
We
know that differences in dialect and language suddenly developed shortly
after the Flood, at which time men separated and traveled off in groups
whose members could understand one another (Genesis 11:1-9).
The records of ancient
languages never go back beyond C. 3000 B.C.
Philological and linguistic studies reveal that a majority of them
are part of large "language families," and most of these
appear to radiate outward from the area of Babylonia.
For example, the Japhetic
peoples, listed in Genesis 10, traveled to Europe and India, where they
became the so-called Aryan peoples. These all use what we today call the
Indo-European Language Family. Recent linguistic studies reveal
that these languages originated at a common center in southeastern
Europe on the Baltic. This would be close to the Ararat range. *Thieme,
a Sanskrit and comparative philology expert at Yale University, gives
this estimate:
"Indo-European, I
conjecture, was spoken on the Baltic coast of Germany late in the fourth
millennium B.C. [c.3000 B.C]."—*Paul Thieme, "The
Indo-European Language," in Scientific American, October 1958, p.
74.
For more information on
languages, see chapter 13, Ancient Man.
57 -
POPULATION STATISTICS—Our
present population explosion is especially the result of improved
sanitary conditions at childbirth and thereafter. In earlier centuries,
many more children died before the age of three.
It is thought that the
period between 1650 and 1850 would be a typical time span to analyze
population growth prior to our present century, with its many
technological advantages. One
estimate, based on population changes between 1650 and 1850, provides us
with the fact that at about the year 3300 B.C. there was only one
family!
"The human population
grows so rapidly that its present size could have been reached in less
than 1% (3200 years) of the minimum time assumed (½ million years) for
man on the basis of radiometric dating."—Ariel A. Roth,
summary from "Some Questions about Geochronology," in Origins,
Vol. 13, No. 2, 1886, pp. 59-60.
The rate of world
population growth has varied greatly throughout history as a result of
such things as pestilences, famines, wars, and catastrophes (floods,
volcanoes, earthquakes, and fires). But with all this in mind, estimates
generally focus on 300 million as the population of the earth at the
time of Christ. Based on small-sized families, from the time of the
Flood (c. 2300 B.C.) to the time of Christ, the population by that time
would have been about 300 million people.
If, in
contrast, the human race had been on earth for one million years, as the
evolutionists declare, even with a very low growth rate of 0.01 (1/100)
percent annually, the resulting population by the time of Christ would
be 2 x 1043
people (2 x 1043 is the
numeral 2 followed by 43 zeros!). A thousand solar systems, with nine
planets like ours could barely hold that many people, packed in solid!
58 - FACTS
VS. THEORIES—In 1862,
*Thompson said the earth was 20 million years old. 20 million years old. Thirty-five
years later, in 1897, he doubled it to 40 million. Two years
later, *J. Joly said it was 90 million. *Rayleigh, in 1921, said
the earth has been here for 1 billion years. Eleven years later,
*W.O. Hotchkiss moved the figure up to 1.6 billion (1,600,000,000).
*A Holmes in 1947 declared it to be 3.35 billion (3,350,000,000);
and, in 1956, he raised it to 4.5 billion (4,500,000,000). Just
now, the age of the earth stands at about 5 billion years. Pretty
soon, someone will raise it again.
"These dates for the
age of the earth have changed, doubling on average every fifteen years,
from about 4 million years in Lord Kelvin’s day to 4500 million
now."—*Michael Pitman, Adam and Evolution (1984), p.
235.
"Dr. A.E.J. Engel,
Professor of the California Institute of Technology, comments that the
age for the earth accepted by most geologists rose from a value of about
50 million years in 1900 to about 5 billion years by 1960. He suggests
facetiously that ‘if we just relax and wait another decade, the earth
may not be 4.5 to 5 aeons [1 aeon = 1 billion years], as now suggested,
but some 6 to 8 or even 10 aeons in age.’ "—H.M. Morris,
W.W. Boardman, and R.F. Koontz, Science and Creation (1971), p. 74
[referring to *A.E.J. Engel, "Time and the Earth," in American
Scientist 57, 4 (1969), p. 461].
Those long ages were
assigned primarily because of a 19th-century theory about rock strata
(see chapter 12, Fossils and Strata) and supposedly confirmed by
radioactive dating (the serious problems of which are discussed in the
next chapter).
In this chapter, we have
seen a surprising number of solid evidences for a young earth. They all
point to a beginning for our planet about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
The young earth evidence is
powerful. As discussed in this
chapter, (1) ultraviolet light has only built up a thin layer of moon
dust; (2) short half-life radioactive non-extinct isotopes have been
found in moon rocks; (3) the moon is receding from earth at a speed
which requires a very young earth;—and on and on the solid evidence
goes, throughout the remainder of the chapter you have just completed.
Read it again. It is solid and definite. (4) The lack of ancient human
records on solar eclipses is alone enough to date man’s existence on
the earth. Men are so intelligent that, in various places on earth, they
have always kept written records—yet such records do not exist prior
to about 4300 years ago.
The
evidence for creation science is clear and forthright.
In a word, it is
scientific
EVOLUTION COULD NOT DO
THIS
The sponge is a creature which lives in
many parts of the world, and is regularly harvested in the Gulf of
Mexico. This little fellow has no heart, brain, liver, bones, and hardly
anything else. Some sponges grow to several feet in diameter; yet you
can take one, cut it up in pieces, and squeeze it through silk cloth,
thus separating every cell from every other cell, and then throw part or
all of the mash back into seawater. The cells will all unite back into a
sponge! yet a sponge is not a haphazard arrangement of cells; it is a
complicated structure of openings, channels, and more besides.
Yes, we
said they have no brains; but now consider what they do: Without any
brains to guide him, the male sponge knows—to the very minute—when
the tide is about to begin coming in. Immediately he releases seed into
the water and the tide carries them in. The female sponge may be half a
mile away, but she is smart enough (without having any more brains than
he has) to know that there are seeds from the male above her in the
water. Immediately recognizing this, she releases thousands of eggs
which float upward like a cloud and meet the male sperm. The eggs are
fertilized and new baby sponges are eventually produced. Really, now,
Uncle Charlie, you never explained the origin of the species. Can you
explain anything else about them?
CHAPTER
4 - STUDY AND REVIEW QUESTIONS
THE AGE OF THE EARTH
GRADES 5 TO 12 ON A GRADUATED SCALE
1
- Working with your class, make some tree ring samples and date them.
2 - Do you live near any
of the types of evidences listed in this chapter? Name them.
3 - On a map of the
world, find where some of the things which are evidences of a young
earth are located.
4 - Out of all the
evidences given in this chapter, which show that our planet is quite
young? Which five do you consider to be the best? Memorize them, so you
can later tell them to others.
5 - Which five do you
consider to be the most surprising? Why?
6 - Why is it that no
historical records of any kind go back beyond only a few thousand years
B.C.?
7 - Scientists were
certain that there should be an extremely thick layer of dust on the
moon. Why did they find almost no dust on the moon?
8 - List seven of the
strongest reasons from the other planets that indicate a youthful age
for our solar system.
9 - List three of the
best evidences from our moon that our world is only a few thousand years
old. Which one do you consider to be the best? Why?
10 - Which evidence from
natural gas and oil do you consider to be the best? Why?
11 - Why do
evolutionists find it necessary every few years to keep dramatically
increasing the supposed age of the earth and the universe?
12 - How many of the
large number of evidences given in this chapter would be sufficient to
prove that the earth is not very old?
13 - Why is the decay of
earth’s magnetic field such a powerful argument in favor of a young
earth only a few thousand years old?
14 - Write a report on one "early
earth" evidence which especially interested you. After completing
it, explain it orally in class.
You have just completed
Chapter 4 THE
AGE OF THE EARTH
NEXT—
Go to the next file in
this series,
Chapter 5 The Problem of
Time
|