Just for an interesting change of pace and to show that Starise's assertion that there isn't enough evidence to prove that the Earth is ancient, is frankly ridiculous, I'm going to present a Christian's response to Young Earth arguments. He doesn't tackle the evolution vs. creationism debate but he does show that YEC arguments are based on fallacy and dated information consistently. The idea that there is any science behind a young earth interpretation is just plain incorrect. This has been recognized time and time again by not only individual courts around the United States but also by the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court. I'm sure Starise will say that it's all a part of some anti Christian conspiracy but most of us know better. The facts simply are the facts and the fact is that YEC is nothing but pseudoscience dressed up as science for those of us who are ignorant of what science actually is. This has been proven time and time again and I feel comfortable saying that this trend will continue. Refer to my post on page 14 to see a Republican Christian judges perspective on the lack of science behind not only Young Earth arguments, but creationism arguments in general. I won't post the entire article because it's really long, but you can find it here if you're so inclined:
Is There Really Scientific Evidence for a Young Earth?
I'm only posting the sections relevant to the age of the Earth and the claims of "Flood Geology" but you can find pretty much every YEC argument debunked by one of their own (a Christian) in this article:
Claims of "Flood Geology"
It is beyond the scope of this fact sheet to comment on the nature of the Great Flood described in chapters 6 through 8 of the Book of Genesis. However, it is appropriate from a scientific point of view to address the common young-Earth paradigm of "Flood Geology," which makes the single event of the Flood into the cause of practically all geological activity observed today. The Bible does not, in fact, require that all Phanerozoic rocks were formed by the single cataclysm of the Genesis Flood, and "Flood Geology" is not tenable from a scientific perspective either. Following are some claims made by the
Defender's Bible in support of "Flood Geology":
Marine Fossils on Mountaintops [DB 1515 (71)] Due to the uplift of mountains through Plate Tectonics, many surfaces that are currently several thousand feet in altitude were once near sea level. Tectonic forces are easily powerful enough to accomplish this over millions of years. Therefore, the detection of marine fossils at such high altitudes is no great surprise, and does not necessarily provide evidence for global flood.
Raised Shorelines and River Terraces [DB 1516 (82)] The weight of a glacier, or sometimes a deep lake, can form a depression in the Earth after only a few thousand years (the Earth's mantle has a viscosity much greater than "Silly Putty" but exhibits similar properties over timescales of several thousand years or more). Raised shorelines in Canada, Scandinavia, and Utah came about when such a depression was followed by removal of the weight because the glacier melted (or, in Utah's case, Lake Bonneville was drained). The depression then slowly rebounds, much like a depression made in a bowl of Jell-O will rebound after several hours. The rate of uplift, and thus the viscosity of the mantle, can be calculated by using various methods to date the shorelines, and the results are consistent around the world (adding to their credibility). Furthermore, shorelines near the center of the formerly depressed areas are now raised much higher than shorelines near the edges. This is expected from the isostatic rebound model, but it is inexplicable to the "Flood Geology" hypothesis, which assumes that all of the shorelines are vestiges of a single high water level.
Evidence of Former Worldwide Warm Climate [DB 1515 (72)] We know from paleomagnetism (which is able to determine a rock's latitude at the time it solidified) and from plate tectonics that landmasses which are now at high latitudes (including Antarctica) were all much closer to the Equator at one time or another. Therefore, warm-climate fossils found in these places are not surprising, and do not necessarily provide evidence for a global pre-Flood tropical climate. Futhermore, fossil evidence of cold climates are found in areas that are now warm, also contradicting this claim.
Polystrate Fossils [DB 1516 (87); OAB 71] Most so-called "polystrate fossils" are tree trunks that were buried as they grew by several layers of mud in relatively quick succession. That they were buried in place is attested to by the way in which their root systems often extend into the surrounding sediment. Far from supporting "Flood Geology," these buried forests (which often grew with many meters of supposedly Flood-deposited sediment
below them) were recognized in the 19th century as strong evidence against it. Although some fossilized tree trunks may have been transported by water, rather than buried as they grew, this does not support "Flood Geology" either, since local floods could easily have accomplished the same task.
Another well-known reported "polystrate fossil" was a whale skeleton that was supposedly oriented vertically on its tail, cutting perpendicularly through hundreds of feet of strata. It turns out that this story was much distorted through re-telling, and that in fact the whale and the strata both dipped at the same angle of 50 degrees from the horizontal. So the "whale on its tail" was not even a "polystrate fossil" at all.
Human Footprints in Cretaceous Sediments [DB 1517 (96)] Although there are several claims of fossilized human footprints in "old" sediments, none is as credible (relatively speaking) or has received as serious consideration as the prints in the Paluxy Riverbed near Glen Rose, Texas. At this location, supposedly human footprints are interspersed with undisputed dinosaur footprints. Yet upon closer consideration, even the Paluxy footprints are highly disappointing for young-Earth advocates. The "human" footprints are too far apart to fit the stride of humans, and the footprint size is also too large. Many of the "human" prints show dinosaur features like claw marks, and most damaging of all, some trails of "human" prints continue as a path of near-perfect dinosaur prints. Recognizing the overwelming evidence, ICR president John Morris admitted in 1986 that the Paluxy footprints are probably not human but are eroded dinosaur footprints (ICR Impact #151,
Publications). However, many young-Earth advocates, including many at ICR, unfortunately are still reluctant to give up on this now-discredited claim.
Absence of Evidence of Drainage Systems in "Old" Sediments [DB 1517 (98)] Ancient riverbeds are very difficult to find and identify for two reasons. The first is that they are often eroded beyond recognition before they are buried, and the second is that they are relatively small compared to the vast size of the geologic strata burying them. For these reasons, we would not expect for very many ancient riverbeds to be discovered. On the other hand, the claim stated here, that no ancient riverbeds exist, is false -- some have been found. One example is a riverbed that was found by researchers using seismic "sonar" to search for oil (
AAPG Explorer, June 1993, p.14). Within a layer of limestone, 1670 feet below the Texas prairie, the researchers found a meandering channel in which the limestone had been eroded away. In summary, although we do not expect to find many of them due to the difficulties involved, buried ancient riverbeds are known to exist, contrary to this claim.
Modern Sightings of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat [DB 1517 (100)] No confirmed piece of evidence has ever come to light supporting the existence of remains of Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey (the Sun Pictures documentary that aired on CBS in 1993 was later found to be a hoax). In fact, the Bible doesn't even say that Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat, rather it says that it was in "the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4), which is a much larger region containing many lower-elevation hilly areas. Since the Ark would have been made of very high-quality wood in order to be able to withstand the stresses it was subjected to (given the dimensions described in Genesis), it is hard to imagine that it wasn't dismantled for building materials. In conclusion, no hard evidence has ever been given that Noah's Ark is in fact in Turkey, and reasoning from the Genesis account, it shouldn't be expected to be there anyway.
Positive Evidence for the Age of the Earth and Universe
This fact sheet is mainly concerned with exposing false lines of reasoning that are used to support the young-Earth hypothesis. Whatever one's view of the Genesis account may be, as Christians who have renounced all dishonesty and craftiness (II Corinthians 4:2), we must face up to the fact that the young-Earth hypothesis has no basis in the scientific evidence. Before closing, I will briefly mention many of the lines of evidence that indicate that the Earth and Universe are ancient. However, since this is not the focus of this fact sheet, I cannot cover the subject in detail. Further information can be found in many sources, including the books
Creation and Time by Hugh Ross (
Reasons To Believe : Where Modern Science & Faith Converge) and
A New Look at an Old Earth by Don Stoner (
http://www.answers.org/newlook). An excellent discussion, dealing specifically with the evidence for an old Earth, is a set of notes by Hill Roberts entitled
Evidences That Have Led Many Scientists to Accept an Ancient Date for Creation of the Earth and Universe (
http://lordibelieve.org/page15.html).
For many people, the idea of an ancient Earth is inextricably linked with an Evolutionary Origin of the Species. In fact, the charge is often repeated that the only reason people take old-Earth positions is because of a commitment to Evolution. On the contrary, it is important to recognize the historical fact that the evidence for an ancient Earth was recognized by geologists as early as the late 18th century, more than 50 years before Darwin published his theory. Most of these geologists were Christians who struggled with the implications of their discoveries on their faith, yet could not deny the evidence that they saw before them. Today, many Christians are similarly driven by evidence to an old-Earth view.
I will now briefly outline some important lines of evidence for an ancient age for the Earth and Universe. For more detail, please see the references cited above, especially Roberts' notes.
- Observed large formations that could not have formed quickly River delta deposits cannot form underwater, and thus could not have been acccelerated by Noah's Flood. The rate of coral reef growth is inherent in the organisms that build the reef, and also would not be affected by Noah's Flood. Both are observed in volumes that would take at least hundreds of thousands of years to accumulate. The formation of stalactites in caves requires small amounts of water, increasing the flow of water will stop the carbonate precipitation rather than increase it (quick-forming stalactites under artificial concrete structures are due to an entirely different chemical process). A 3-meter stalactite would take 30,000 years to form. In addition, the cooling of large underground granite batholiths, as well as the formation of metamorphic rocks, requires much more than 10,000 years.
- Continuous records of various Earth processes Annual layers in ice deposits in Greenland, and especially in Antarctica, are observed which give records of the climate in the year each layer was deposited. The upper layers of these deposits correlate with other methods of measuring recent climate, but from there the layers continue to give a continuous record of the yearly climate for the past 160,000 years (see C. Lorius et al, Nature, v.316, pp.591-596 (15 Aug 1985); J. Jouzel et al, Nature, v.329, pp.403-408 (1 Oct 1987); J.M. Barnola et al, Nature, v.329, pp.408-414 (1 Oct 1987)). Among the many discernable patterns, the 26,000-year climate cycle due to the precession of the Earth's rotation axis (that is, the Earth "wobbles" like a top, and the rate of its 26,000-year cycle can be calculated from physics alone) is clearly visible throughout the 160,000-year record. This refutes the young-Earth claim that perhaps the lower layers of the ice cores were built up quickly due to large precipitation rates from Noah's Flood. A young-Earth attempt to explain away this evidence (ICR Impact #226, Publications) talks mostly about issues that are irrelevent to the Antarctic data, and its only attempt to challenge the above-cited data is to quote a statement from 1972 that deeper annual layers are more difficult to measure, a difficulty that was solved by superior technology by 1985. It is important to note that, if this is a case of "apparent age", God would have not only created these layers for no apparent reason, but would have "written" into the ice a climate record that cannot be trusted. Such a theory results in serious difficulties with the truthfulness of God. A similar situation applies to sedimentary varves (annual layers from lake sediments). Varves in Utah's Green River Formation give several million years of unbroken history. Evaporite deposits, in which one layer is formed each time a shallow body of water is evaporated dry, also contain records at least hundreds of thousands of years long. Finally, paleomagnetism, the science that studies the reversals of Earth's magnetic field as recorded in rocks, has worked out a consistent history of Earth's magnetic field stretching back hundreds of millions of years, correlated across the entire globe.
- Formations that could not form underwater According to the prevailing young-Earth hypothesis, all sedimentary rocks are the result of Noah's Flood. Yet several kinds of deposits are found inter-bedded with sedimentary rocks that could not possibly form underwater. These include sedimentary varves, glacial deposits, evaporite deposits, and sand dune deposits.
- Record of shorter days in the past One species of rugose coral forms both daily and yearly layers. Specimens of this coral from Devonian strata (360 to 410 million years old) show that the Earth's year was 400 days long when the coral was alive! This is a dramatic confirmation of both Planetary Science and Geology (see Deceleration of the Earth by tidal friction, above), but inexplicable for the young-Earth hypothesis.
- Radioisotope Abundances All radioactive isotopes with half-lives greater than 75 million years are found on Earth, while not a single radioactive isotope with a smaller half-life is found in nature (except for a few which are found as decay products). This supports the claim that the Earth is old enough for the shorter-lived isotopes to have decayed away (which takes many times the half-life), but it would be a strange coincidence indeed if the young-Earth hypothesis were correct. Furthermore, we have very clear evidence that several of these short-lived radioisotopes did in fact exist early in the Solar System's history (aluminum-26 being the most abundant and well-known). Since Al-26 is known to have existed in the past (due to detected excesses of its decay product, Mg-26, in ancient meteorites), and has completely decayed away since the beginning of the Solar System, the age of the Solar System is demonstrated to be at least many times the half-life of Al-26 (which is 26,000 years). Among the radioisotopes for which the same argument applies are hafnium-182 and palladium-107, with half-lives greater than 10 million years.
