Creation vs. Evolution:
determining the basis of the geologic scale of Earth
My friend Chad Marbut is an excellent illustrator. He is also a devout Christian. In doing so, he has created many interesting and spiritually moving designs and illustrations. One in particular really got me thinking. On a T-shirt, covering the front, was an illustrative, cartoon gorilla scratching his head. He looked incredibly comical, and obviously confused. Just below the image, there was but one word: “Grandpa,” followed by a question mark—GRANDPA?
While interpreting this design, one must consider just what it is asking. Is the world as we know it, created by a supreme being in six short days, really in question? Is there doubt that the world could miraculously develop at alarming rates? Were there huge amounts of sedimentary deposits believed by scientists to have taken millions of years piled up in a matter of one year of mass flooding? Could the Mountain of Ararat have formed in less than one year to prepare for the landing of Noah’s Ark after the great one- year flood? Well, according to one of the founders of the modern creationists movements, Hydrologist and Ph. D., Henry M. Morris, a worldly recognized Creation Scientist, it could.
The top two kilometers of Mt. Ararat’s 5.2 kilometer height is a volcano built over deformed sedimentary rocks. Consequently, the creationists’ ideology requires that the entire volcanic growth took place very late in the one-year flood. This volcano had to violate all laws of thermal physics in order to cool completely, in just a few months, in time for the ark to land on it.
While reading an article entitled Creationism’s Geologic Time Scale, I have been made aware of the many problems with the creation-vs-evolution arguments. Because of my geologic education and knowledge, I am aware of the near ludicrisy of facts that some of the creationists believe.
To believe that God, our saviour and Lord, the highest being amongst Christian belief, is the soul creator of our fine planet, settles well with me; it’s just when the creation scientists argue with documented logic, proven and proven again logic, that I am bewildered. To have vast amounts of documentation describing and implementing the way the Earth was formed seems dangerously naive and shallow. Who are the followers of Jesus really trying to convince, the few, sporadic believers of the not-so-well-documented, and often vague works of a creationist, or, the proven theories and factual data that is the well defined geologic scale that we have known for decades. With the two theories in harsh debate since the discovery of Plate Tectonics in the early sixties, it is overwhelming to see the presented beliefs and meager hypotheses that are trying to argue with proven facts.
To not put faith in the “Biblical” way of creationism does not make me a bad Christian. Nor does it make me a non-believer that the good Lord above could have done such mass perfection in a matter of six days; it simply implies that he created in a much broader time period than the creationists suggests, just 6,000 years-ago. Millions to thousands in one array of debates seems a little hard to grasp. For instance, creationists feel that the vast Yellowstone forests were ash buried, developed into soil, then grew into a new mature forest in less than one-half-year. Scientific proof of the rings on petrified trees count up to and higher than two-hundred-years-old in and amongst themselves, not even mentioning the ten to twenty-seven layers of these forests that are easily identifiable and documented in soil samples there. I am sure even a devout Christian has to have doubts when presented with this much disproving evidence (Wise, 166).
Trying to forget reverent reasoning and rationale, let’s incorporate another very powerful facet—money. Perhaps the richest element of our finely created planet is oil. Not just how we purchase it, use it, burn it, and save it, but how about the search for more of it? The oil industry spends billions upon billions of dollars searching the globe for answers and the existence of their beloved crude. The oil industry consists of a large group of the most hard-headed realists known, who constantly test geologic and paleontologic predictions with drillings currently at a worldwide rate of about a meter per second and who, after a century’s experience, continue to delude themselves by pouring untold billions of dollars into such exploration (Wise, 166).
Did the Christian God of all create and execute a perfectly functioning planet in six days and have its entire developing stages slow to a bare “scientific” minimum only after the discoveries of documenting and figuring geologic time transpired? Probably not. However, I do believe, being a Jesus follower and reader of the Bible, that God did create our vast, perfectly functioning domain; I might even agree with you about doing something so wonderful and perfect in six-days to start the geologic processes, but, one cannot deny the way the facts are proven—the Earth is old—about 4.6 billion-years-old; accept it, and we as less naive Christians can move on.
When one reads the Biblical, Book of Genesis, there is writings indicating the creation process done by God’s ample hands in six days. It tells of a great flood that entirely engulfed the Earth; water that originated from the vast fountains from the center of the planet, leaving only Noah and his mighty Ark survivors to carry on lifeforms that were already existing on the globe. These writings are not my conflicts with the “New Earth” creationists; they seem comprehendable and plausible with a good Christian mind. However, these words, these meager suggestions of the beginning of our planet, cannot be used as fuel for every conflict and Biblical barrier that modern science has developed for us. I understand the reasoning for the new Earth creationists to want to hold onto their cultures, their beliefs, and their presumed thoughts of how the planet was developed. I also understand why they would seem argumentative and unruly when questioned about their faith and beliefs in their one, true God.
Perhaps it is this indifference of modern discoveries and ancient Christian beliefs that will inspire others to seek the truth of “How our Planet was Developed” and lead them down a less trampled upon system of facts and faith—a system of humans and Christians working together—forming a basis for all to learn from without the infringement of emotions, cultures, and beliefs.
Whether the sun and the stars were here before the Earth, or after; the land plants before the sun, or vice versa; whether the first life forms were plants or marine organisms; insects before fish or not, we must consider that the Christian God, at least the one that I put a lot of faith in, would not like for his followers to argue or disagree. I also feel as if my God would not have made it possible for the new age of radiometric dating to even exist without good intentions. So, what if the modern-day scientists are right? What if the Earth is indeed over four-billion-years old? Have we really suffered upon knowing this? Why must we put so much stock in trivial understandings when we can search, research, and discover the vast greatness of our planet that God has created for us? Is it really set in stone that the six-days God worked to create the Earth equal
the same amount of time elapsed as in our twenty-four hour days, or were His days just a tad longer?
My God, my Christian beliefs, and my rationalized reasoning all are considered when sitting through a lecture on the age of volcanic materials that make up the Appalachian Mountain chains—becoming knowledgeable and learned of His fine creation, however long it took, does nothing but enhance the appreciation and fondness that keeps me awestruck and faithful throughout my daily life. Facts outdo myths in a contemporary society. It is time to challenge the Creationists to defend in all regards what they call
science—humorous absurdities and all (Wise, 172).
Facts and Information gathered and interpreted from the article by Donald U. Wise: Creationism’s Geologic Time Scale, found in the American Scientist Journal: volume 86: March/April: 1988
religion 100—religion in the real world paper—embree: instructor—21, october 1999
My friend Chad Marbut is an excellent illustrator. He is also a devout Christian. In doing so, he has created many interesting and spiritually moving designs and illustrations. One in particular really got me thinking. On a T-shirt, covering the front, was an illustrative, cartoon gorilla scratching his head. He looked incredibly comical, and obviously confused. Just below the image, there was but one word: “Grandpa,” followed by a question mark—GRANDPA?
While interpreting this design, one must consider just what it is asking. Is the world as we know it, created by a supreme being in six short days, really in question? Is there doubt that the world could miraculously develop at alarming rates? Were there huge amounts of sedimentary deposits believed by scientists to have taken millions of years piled up in a matter of one year of mass flooding? Could the Mountain of Ararat have formed in less than one year to prepare for the landing of Noah’s Ark after the great one- year flood? Well, according to one of the founders of the modern creationists movements, Hydrologist and Ph. D., Henry M. Morris, a worldly recognized Creation Scientist, it could.
The top two kilometers of Mt. Ararat’s 5.2 kilometer height is a volcano built over deformed sedimentary rocks. Consequently, the creationists’ ideology requires that the entire volcanic growth took place very late in the one-year flood. This volcano had to violate all laws of thermal physics in order to cool completely, in just a few months, in time for the ark to land on it.
While reading an article entitled Creationism’s Geologic Time Scale, I have been made aware of the many problems with the creation-vs-evolution arguments. Because of my geologic education and knowledge, I am aware of the near ludicrisy of facts that some of the creationists believe.
To believe that God, our saviour and Lord, the highest being amongst Christian belief, is the soul creator of our fine planet, settles well with me; it’s just when the creation scientists argue with documented logic, proven and proven again logic, that I am bewildered. To have vast amounts of documentation describing and implementing the way the Earth was formed seems dangerously naive and shallow. Who are the followers of Jesus really trying to convince, the few, sporadic believers of the not-so-well-documented, and often vague works of a creationist, or, the proven theories and factual data that is the well defined geologic scale that we have known for decades. With the two theories in harsh debate since the discovery of Plate Tectonics in the early sixties, it is overwhelming to see the presented beliefs and meager hypotheses that are trying to argue with proven facts.
To not put faith in the “Biblical” way of creationism does not make me a bad Christian. Nor does it make me a non-believer that the good Lord above could have done such mass perfection in a matter of six days; it simply implies that he created in a much broader time period than the creationists suggests, just 6,000 years-ago. Millions to thousands in one array of debates seems a little hard to grasp. For instance, creationists feel that the vast Yellowstone forests were ash buried, developed into soil, then grew into a new mature forest in less than one-half-year. Scientific proof of the rings on petrified trees count up to and higher than two-hundred-years-old in and amongst themselves, not even mentioning the ten to twenty-seven layers of these forests that are easily identifiable and documented in soil samples there. I am sure even a devout Christian has to have doubts when presented with this much disproving evidence (Wise, 166).
Trying to forget reverent reasoning and rationale, let’s incorporate another very powerful facet—money. Perhaps the richest element of our finely created planet is oil. Not just how we purchase it, use it, burn it, and save it, but how about the search for more of it? The oil industry spends billions upon billions of dollars searching the globe for answers and the existence of their beloved crude. The oil industry consists of a large group of the most hard-headed realists known, who constantly test geologic and paleontologic predictions with drillings currently at a worldwide rate of about a meter per second and who, after a century’s experience, continue to delude themselves by pouring untold billions of dollars into such exploration (Wise, 166).
Did the Christian God of all create and execute a perfectly functioning planet in six days and have its entire developing stages slow to a bare “scientific” minimum only after the discoveries of documenting and figuring geologic time transpired? Probably not. However, I do believe, being a Jesus follower and reader of the Bible, that God did create our vast, perfectly functioning domain; I might even agree with you about doing something so wonderful and perfect in six-days to start the geologic processes, but, one cannot deny the way the facts are proven—the Earth is old—about 4.6 billion-years-old; accept it, and we as less naive Christians can move on.
When one reads the Biblical, Book of Genesis, there is writings indicating the creation process done by God’s ample hands in six days. It tells of a great flood that entirely engulfed the Earth; water that originated from the vast fountains from the center of the planet, leaving only Noah and his mighty Ark survivors to carry on lifeforms that were already existing on the globe. These writings are not my conflicts with the “New Earth” creationists; they seem comprehendable and plausible with a good Christian mind. However, these words, these meager suggestions of the beginning of our planet, cannot be used as fuel for every conflict and Biblical barrier that modern science has developed for us. I understand the reasoning for the new Earth creationists to want to hold onto their cultures, their beliefs, and their presumed thoughts of how the planet was developed. I also understand why they would seem argumentative and unruly when questioned about their faith and beliefs in their one, true God.
Perhaps it is this indifference of modern discoveries and ancient Christian beliefs that will inspire others to seek the truth of “How our Planet was Developed” and lead them down a less trampled upon system of facts and faith—a system of humans and Christians working together—forming a basis for all to learn from without the infringement of emotions, cultures, and beliefs.
Whether the sun and the stars were here before the Earth, or after; the land plants before the sun, or vice versa; whether the first life forms were plants or marine organisms; insects before fish or not, we must consider that the Christian God, at least the one that I put a lot of faith in, would not like for his followers to argue or disagree. I also feel as if my God would not have made it possible for the new age of radiometric dating to even exist without good intentions. So, what if the modern-day scientists are right? What if the Earth is indeed over four-billion-years old? Have we really suffered upon knowing this? Why must we put so much stock in trivial understandings when we can search, research, and discover the vast greatness of our planet that God has created for us? Is it really set in stone that the six-days God worked to create the Earth equal
the same amount of time elapsed as in our twenty-four hour days, or were His days just a tad longer?
My God, my Christian beliefs, and my rationalized reasoning all are considered when sitting through a lecture on the age of volcanic materials that make up the Appalachian Mountain chains—becoming knowledgeable and learned of His fine creation, however long it took, does nothing but enhance the appreciation and fondness that keeps me awestruck and faithful throughout my daily life. Facts outdo myths in a contemporary society. It is time to challenge the Creationists to defend in all regards what they call
science—humorous absurdities and all (Wise, 172).
Facts and Information gathered and interpreted from the article by Donald U. Wise: Creationism’s Geologic Time Scale, found in the American Scientist Journal: volume 86: March/April: 1988
religion 100—religion in the real world paper—embree: instructor—21, october 1999
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