The Verdict of Reason
We continue with the detour in this series with our ‘Science Guy’, biology professor Jerry Zeis taking on one of the very controversial subject of the Earth’s age. His perspective may surprise you.
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH ?
Jerry Zeis
Scientists state that the universe is a little over 14 billion years, The Earth nearly 5 billion, the Moon slightly less, and life on this planet reaches back over 1 billion years. Most scientists agree on these dates within 10%. The Holy Scriptures say otherwise. Which to believe? Last week we spoke that Science gathers facts, but the scripture tells the truth. Facts can be misinterpreted. The truth cannot be. First, a few key terms. A creationist is a person who believes that the universe was created, succinctly, created by God, or other intelligent being, It is not a random occurrence. Long ages, refers to the above notion of millions and billions of years. Finally, a Young earth refers to the bible stating that the Earth is about 6,000 years old. This can be calculated using genealogies to take us to the time of the first temple, and then cross referenced with other rulers of the day, and/or archeological evidence.
There are several theories that state that the bible can be meshed with science to read as billions of years. This is not what the bible states. It is simply trying to get the truth to line up with the facts. The facts need to line up with the truth! A gap theory says that between day one and two are billions of years. Take a simple reading of scripture in Genesis 1:3-5. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”
It is obvious that the author tried extra hard to avoid controversy by saying day and night make up one day. All six days of creation state, there were day and night on the ____ day. No one would ever speak that way. Redundancy would not be needed to that degree, but here it was used and is still controversial! For further clarification, here are some verses of the bible that point to a seven day creation. Moses wrote “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the [seventh] day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:11)
Jesus referred to this divine example when He said that .The Sabbath was made for man.” (Mark 2:27) again, Jesus said in Mark 10:6 “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” Look at the phrase from the very beginning, it doesn’t say after 99.9% of history. On another occasion, speaking especially of Adam’s son Abel, He referred to “the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world.” (Luke 11:50-51), thereby acknowledging that Abel was the first prophet, martyred in the very first generation—not 4.6 billion years after the formation of the earth. Jesus also said that Satan, using Cain to slay Abel, “was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44). So I have written this brief article to show once again that the Lord Jesus Himself believes in recent creation and the young earth. Assuming that a Christian is a person who believes in the deity and inerrant authority of Christ, it would seem that this fact should be sufficient to convince him. The above excerpts were taken from Henry Morris Ph.D. at the Institute of Creation Research.[i]
In upcoming weeks I will look at what scientists feel are foundation stones that make billions of years plausible. They have facts, but their worldview clouds judgment to fit in with prior theories. They just continually build another layer of cards, on top of already a shaky foundation. I cannot use science to prove their errors, just as they cannot use science to disprove a young earth. Science and the scientific method are about observed and reproducible proofs. I was not around before my birth. I cannot say true or false. I cannot prove that Julius Caesar walked this earth. I was not there to prove it. His name is in record books, his face is on coins, but that does not give 100% proof. I trust scientists and historians before me. But as we go into pre-history, nothing can be 100% proven. That is the meaning of words like prehistoric, ‘before recorded times.’ I am a Christian, so I believe Jesus wrote the bible, and in John 1:1 it states that in the beginning Jesus was there, and He was the Word. That is the best proof possible.
The first point I would like to tackle is radioactive carbon-14 dating. First the background in scientific terms, Carbon comes in three types, Carbon 12, 13, and 14. (Any beyond this is inconsequential for this discussion.) Carbon 14 has too many neutrons and is radioactive. That means it will turn into Nitrogen to stabilize itself. Half-life is the time it takes for a radioactive element to have ½ of it stabilize. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years.
Simple English – If I had 1,000 carbon 14 atoms, in 5730 years, I would have about 500, 5730 years after that about 250. It is similar to coin flipping. Statistical averages when I say about. All living things are made of carbon and 1 part out of every trillion (ppt) carbon in the air as carbon dioxide is radioactive. That means in 5730 years, your corpse will be ½ ppt C-14. After death new carbon will not enter the body and Scientists believe that you can extrapolate backwards up to about 40,000 years based on those two facts. The half-life of carbon and that all things started at 1 ppt radioactive carbon. Those assumptions on the surface appear acceptable, but here are a few fallacies. You learned in high school science nothing short of an atom bomb can change one element to another, such as carbon into nitrogen. Carbon 14 is made when radiation from the sun strikes the earth and way up in the atmosphere, nitrogen turns into radioactive carbon dioxide, then it is absorbed into plants, and becomes part of the food chain. Hence you and I are 1 ppt Carbon-14. Radioactivity was found at the start of the 20th century. How do we know how much carbon 14 was in the air 500 years ago? 5,000? No one measured it. As a matter of fact it has changed by over 20% in the last few hundred years. That makes it an assumption and not good science. The sun is getting stronger in the last 50 years, was this trend steady and uniform? When God created the Earth 6,000 years ago, maybe there was no Carbon 14 in the atmosphere, then anything from before the time of Noah would be over 40,000 years. It has been noted that the current production of C-14 is greater than its decay. Assuming any extrapolation is poor since it is not in equilibrium.
To speed up the questionable interpretations of data, here are some rapid fire points. Coal takes millions of years to form. There should not be any C-14 in it. Yet it has been found. Coal has been found with nails, even a spark plug! Science just dismisses these instances as anomalies. How many anomalies does it take before science needs to take another look? C-14 dating has changed the entire ancient Egyptian dating system, but why does that hold more water than other dating techniques? Perhaps the C-14 was the anomaly. Here comes the start of circular reasoning. How to find previous C-14 levels? Ice cores? Tree rings? Whatever calibration method is used, there are assumptions that go into the science. Anything beyond 5,000 years is not recorded, and cannot give proof, it was pre-recorded history. Clams and mussels regularly give extra old dates due to getting carbon from limestone and not just recent living tissues. The worldview tells you what data to accept, and what to throw out as anomalies. If you don’t like the answer, it is just labeled contamination and redone until it gives an answer that is acceptable. Then consensus among trade journals and fellow scientists actually determines what gets published. New ideas are rare. If new ideas are not accepted, then no grant monies and you become an outlier. Radical ideas are not even published. In conclusion, the truth of God is the only direct historical evidence that can be believed fully. Facts are not proof. Genesis is not a bunch of fables that turns into a history book at chapter 12 with Abraham. If you only believe part of the book, you are making your own religion. Next time we will look at some biology questions.
[i] Henry Morris PhD, Did Jesus Teach Recent Creation?, Institute of Creation Research, Acts & Facts 34 (6), 2005
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