Dr. Jack L.
Arnold
The Evolutionary Theory (Age of the Earth)
Genesis 1:1-31
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Evolution is a theory not a fact. What folks fail to
understand is that science has solved none of the basic problems of existence
such as origins, gravity, light, atoms life, etc. True science and the Bible
will never contradict.
B. All science is based on hypothesis and is always subject to
change based on new information. Therefore, science can never set forth absolute
truth. The scientific method can produce data that has the appearance of truth,
but it is only relative truth that is subject to change with further testing.
It cannot be denied that science produces facts, whether right or wrong, and these facts must be dealt with adequately by the Bible interpreter.
II. UNIFORMITARIANISM THE BASIS FOR ALL INORGANIC EVOLUTION
A. Definition.
Uniformitarianism is an assumption that physical causes and effects in
all ages have been only and always the same as those which
we observe today.
B. Reason.
Evolutionists assume uniformitarianism because it is essential for their
system. An evolutionist needs an old earth to support his theory that there is
evolution from one species to another, Most evolutionists believe that for a
new species to arise takes at least five hundred million years. They work on
the theory that given enough time anything can happen.
C. Results.
Uniformitarianism has permitted geologists to put together a geologic
column, which includes various types of earth layers or strata. The first layer
was deposited about a billion years ago, and subsequent layers at intervals of
hundreds of millions of years. During these long periods, organic evolution
somehow took place producing various types of plants and animals. Consequently,
in the lower strata we find fossil remains of simple forms of life, and in the
top-most layers the more complex. The geologic column beginning with the oldest
to the youngest is: Archaean (undateable), Cambrian 1,000,000,000
years), Ordovician (900,000,000 years), Silurian (800,000,000
years), Devonian (700,000, 000 years), Boniferous (6,000,000,000
years), Permian (500,000,000 years), Triasaic (400,000,000
years), Jurassic (300,000,000 years), Cretaceoua (200,000, 000
years), Teritiary (100,000,000 years), Pleistocene (10,000,000
years) and present. NOTE: Beginning somewhere in the Cambrian period, primitive
life had its beginnings and then life evolved through sea life, reptiles,
mammals and then man. According to the evolutionists, man is at least 10
million years old.
D.
OBJECTIONS TO UNIFORMITARIANISM
1. It is pure assumption that all things
have been uniform, for science really does not know one way or the other.
2. There is no place on the whole earth
where all the geologic column can be seen as a unit.
In fact, there is no spot where more than two or three layers are found one
above the other.
3. The order of the strata is not the same
in all places where they are found lying one above another.
In fact, in many places there is an upside down condition of rocks. Sometimes
the oldest strata is found on the top level.
4. The real fallacy of the system is that
fossils are first arranged according to the strata in which they are found and
the strata are then arranged according to the fossils found in them. Or in
other words, they date the fossils by the strata and the strata by the fossils.
III. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY ON THE AGE OF THE
EARTH
A. Introduction.
Some evolutionists have placed the age of the earth at 45 billion years
old. Some who are more conservative speak of the world to be only 1.2 million
years old. Whatever methods they may use to date the earth, they are all based
on uniformitarianism.
B. Outmoded Methods of Dating the Earth
1. Cooling the EarthÕs Crust. Assuming that the crust of the earth
was once molten, an estimate of the time required for it to cool to its present
state of temperature can be made. An answer of a few billion years is obtained. OBJECTION. Assuming creation, God could have created the earth without
the
molten
process, or at various stages of cooling.
2. Salinity of the Ocean. The
present amount of salt in the oceans and the rate at which salt has been
carried to the oceans allows calculations which give
an age for the oceans of the order of a billion years. OBJECTION. Why could not
have God made the sea salt from the beginning?
3. Sedimentation of Rocks. The rate
at which igneous rocks (rocks crystallized from molten materials) have been
changed into sedimentary rocks yields an estimated age for the earth of a few
billion years. OBJECTIONS: (1) God in the original creation could have made
igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks all at once with the appearance of age; (2)
It can be proven that even now sedimentation does not take place at the same
rate all over the earth. Climate and environmental conditions are definite
factors.
4. Recession of the Moon. The moon
is gradually moving away from the earth. Studies of the rate of this movement
coupled with the assumption that the moon started from a position very close to
the earth yield a time of some few billions of years ago for the beginning
process. OBJECTION. They must assume the original position of the moon to the
earth. God when he created the universe could have put the moon at any distance
from the earth and the rate of movement at one time could have been greater
than it is now.
5. Speed of Light. Mathematically it is possible to
calculate the time it takes light to travel from distant stars to earth and it
amounts to millions of years. OBJECTION: God who made the stars could have made
the light to fall on the earth at the moment of creation. Also God could have
speeded up the light to any degree He chose.
C. Popular Methods of Dating the Earth
1. Radio-active Dating. Radioactivity is a process in which
certain elements spontaneously give off rays and particles and are thereby
changed into other elements which are called decay products
or daughter elements. This process serves as a time clock because the rate of
decay is quite regular and is not influenced by environmental forces such as
heat, light or pressure. The rate of decay for each radioactive element can be
accurately determined. Some of these radioactive dating methods are uranium
turning to lead, uranium turning to helium or potassium turning to argon. By
this method, scientists have claimed the earth to be over five billion years
old.
OBJECTIONS
a. One must assume that no part of the
daughter element was originally in the rock. Yet the same God who created the
mother element could have put the daughter element in the rock at the same
time.
b. All
the common minerals of igneous rocks except quartz weather readily.
c. Elements may enter a rock through time
such as oxygen, water and carbon dioxide which would affect the
dating process.
d. A world flood, as the Bible claims,
would have had a big effect upon missing the elements in rocks.
2. Radio-Carbon Dating (Carbon-14): Carbon-14 is radioactive
carbon and forms with oxygen (02) forming carbon dioxide (CO2). It is then
absorbed by the waters of the earth and is used by growing plants. In the
plants it becomes a part of the structure. Animals that feed upon the plants
also take C-14 into their structure. Carbon-14 is one of the several
radioactive materials which our own body contains. As
soon as a living thing dies, fresh C-l4 is no longer taken into it and the
radiocarbon begins to lesson. Thus the older the organic material the less the
radiocarbon left in it.
OBJECTIONS:
a. It has to be assumed that the amount of
C-14 and C02 has always been uniform or equal but this cannot be proven. We
have proof that radiocarbon was reduced because of the industrial
revolution and during various volcanic eruptions and these would affect
radio—carbon dating somewhat.
b. Assuming the biblical record to be
accurate, it speaks of water vapor enveloping the earth at the original
creation (Gen. 1:7; 2:6). The water canopy would have certainly filtered out
much of the Carbon-14. If the water vapor fell on the earth during the Flood, it
would seem reasonable to assume the cosmic radiation really began
as we know it today at that point. This would cut the things dated by radio-carbon to practically nothing.
c. From science and from the Biblical
record, we have much reason to believe that the earth had luxuriant
vegetation. This would definitely affect the amount of carbon-dioxide
in the atmosphere. It is not unreasonable to question whether all things have
been uniform.
d. Carbon 14 dating is only reliable up to
around 25,000 years. POINT: Enoch
in the book Evolution or Creation says,
Thus to the question
how old is the earth or how old is a particular fossil, no reliable scientific
answer can be given. There is no dependable method of dating which can
scientifically prove the correct or even approximate age of rock more than 4 to
5,000 years! (p. 36).
IV. CREATIONISTS ANSWERS TO THE EVOLUTIONISTS ON THE AGE OF THE
EARTH
A. Rejection of Uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism is not provable by
observable processes. It is simply a theory that has never been proved. The
real age of the earth is open to dispute
B. Appearance Age. Since God created by a direct act, this
necessitates the appearance of age (i.e. Adam and Eve were created as adults,
not children; they had the appearance of age even though in time they were
young). NOTE: At this point, an evolutionist might say that God has deceived us
if things have an appearance of age. John C. Whitcomb, Jr. in his book Creation
According to GodÕs Word answers this problem,
To this rather common objection, we need only reply
that Cod has not deceived us in such matters if He has given us a Book to tell
us what He has done. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we reject the
written record of His creative and miraculous works in history. (p. 8).
C. Gaps in Genealogies. Based on a strict interpretation of the genealogies of
Genesis 5 and 11, the Anglican Archbishop Ussher, around 1650 AD, placed the
age of the earth about 6,000 years with the date of creation being 4004 B.C.
This date was placed in the King James Bible about 1701 A.D. Ussher came to
this position by adding up the life spans of the men listed in Genesis 5 and 11
and in other parts of the Old Testament, tracing it back to Adam. NOTE: Actually the Hebrew manuscripts
of Genesis carry no date of creation. Neither the scientist nor the creationist
can fix the date of the beginning.
NOTE: Perhaps there are
great gaps in the genealogies. They may not be based on father-and-son
relationships. Moses did not need to list every person in the direct line. Also
it is not explicitly stated anywhere the lists are given for the purpose of
enabling us to compute the age of the earth. Gleason L. Archer, Jr., in the
book Survey of Old Testament Introduction, says,
The genealogies recorded only the most prominent
members of the ancestry of Abraham, omitting an undetermined number of links
(although presumably not as many links as actually are named in the lists
concerned). A variation of this view would construe the formula ÒA begat BÓ as
meaning either B himself or some unnamed ancestor of B (perfectly allowable in
Hebrew parlance, since grandfathers are occasionally said to have begotten
their grandsons; at least BilhahÕs grandsons are spoken of as her sons in I
Chron 7:13). The ages of the patriarchs who lived several centuries (even 900
years or more) would be understood as the actual lifetime of the individuals
named.
POINT: The gaps in the
genealogies may allow the Bible scholar to go back as far as ten to fifteen
thousand years as the original date of creation.
D. CONCLUSION: Creationists cannot be sure of the earthÕs age,
but the evidence rests with the fact that the earth is very young.
V. WHY IS EVOLUTION SO POPULAR?
A. The thinking of the day is secular rather than Biblical and
evolution is attractive to the secular mind.