Several problems
beg for resolution as believers in a young earth and young universe examine the
modern findings of astronomers and geologists. Some news, such as the Decorah
impact crater discovered in Iowa has recently been publicized. Decorah has the
telltale remains of an asteroid impact 450 million years ago. Do we dismiss
such scientific revelations as pure hokum? Are unique layers of shale filling
the crater to a depth of 300 feet of recent origin? On analysis, the story
needs some explanation for those who sincerely believe our earth is less than
10,000 years old.
The 3.5 mile wide
crater is now filled with shale which conducts electricity differently than any
surrounding rocks and also possesses gravity anomalies. The shale was formed from
sedimentary deposits in an ancient sea which subsequently covered the crater
atop layers of shocked quartz crystals, a sure indicator of a giant impact.
Taken together, these features clearly outline the shape and depth of the
ancient crater. There is little doubt of the crater’s existence or of its
cause. The idea that the feature is young is unquestionably false.
What about Meteor
Crater in Arizona? If the earth’s age is less than 10,000 years, the evidence
of the meteor’s age of perhaps 50,000 years must be rejected. And what of the
pock-marked, cratered surface of the moon? If the “late heavy bombardment” of
the earth/moon system 3.9 billion years ago with numerous asteroids and comets were
of recent origin, recent creation believers would find it necessary to explain
the bombardments within a young-earth paradigm. If production of moon craters is
a recent phenomenon on a recently created moon, earth craters on our
gravity-strong earth would have been even more frequent. The collisions with
earth would have been noted in the historic records of our culture. More
likely, the heavy bombardment of space debris would have destroyed all newly
created life.
The Answers in
Genesis organization presents dinosaurs as recently created inhabitants of
Noah’s ark. Humans coexisted with the dinosaurs, AiG claims. There is no credible
historic account of human interactions with dinosaurs, according to scripture
or other historic records. Radiometric dating of dinosaurs and the strata in
which they were embedded puts them on earth many millions of years ago.
Evidence for dinosaurs’ existence on earth from 66 to 210 million years ago is
overwhelming.
Some of the most
persuasive evidence for the old age of the universe is light travel speed. The
age of objects in our universe is millions or billions of years as calculated
by the speed of light flowing from those distant objects and our knowledge of
known distances to them. There is no uncertainty concerning these ages. If
young earth believers disregard such evidence, claim light speed has changed, or
declare the findings of science illusory, they could embrace alternate
interpretations to fit their preferences. Young earth creationists would then
be forced to embrace a different interpretation of the timeline of earth
history in opposition to mainstream science.
Preservation of
young earth beliefs is an effort to preserve the integrity of God’s word. Taken
at face value this effort is worthy of praise. Supporting beliefs attached to
this praiseworthy goal, however, diverge widely from many findings of
mainstream science. Therefore, young earth creationist believers hold many
findings of mainstream science in contempt. One of the reasons for this
contempt is the embrace of macro-evolution by the mainstream science community.
This blog has repeatedly urged critical analysis of mainstream science on
occasions. The evolutionist view of common ancestry, particularly molecules to
man evolution, is a marked exception to the confidence we should accord to
mainstream science. This exception triggers YEC lack of confidence in other
totally reliable findings of science.
Young earth
creationists hold a singular interpretation of the timelines of creation
history according to the Genesis account. Alternate timelines of creation
history are permissible according to other literal interpretations of Genesis
timeframes of day (“yom”) but are not acceptable to young earth believers. Their claim that the earth is young relates
to their assertion that creation events took place several thousand years ago.
They say God created the world in six days less than 10,000 years ago and
devastated the earth except for the inhabitants on the ark by a worldwide flood
covering even the highest mountains approximately 4,000 years ago. The original
creation was paradisiacal. Sin committed by Adam and Eve caused spiritual alienation
from God, but it also ruined the paradise. The physical operation of our earth
was forever changed at the moment of Adam’s sin. All animal and human death
originated with Adam’s sin for the first time in this universe according to the
established young earth belief system.
Robert J.
Schneider, formerly of Berea College, Kentucky, wrote a thoughtful analysis of
the renewed embrace of young earth beliefs beginning in the late 1950s. “This
contemporary creationist movement has had a widespread influence among American
Protestant Christians because it offers an alternative worldview that provides
security and certainty for believers living in the midst of a secularized American
culture undergoing rapid changes in technology and troubling changes in social
behavior.” Many believers in young earth creationism would do well to
investigate the renewal of young earth fervor in the late 1950s and early 1960s
along with its roots in the widespread influence of the Seventh Day Adventist
Charles McCready Price (1870-1963). My previous posts bring focus to those
early days of the birth of the modern young earth creationist movement:
