Not so Irrefutable Evidences of a Young Earth

Young Earth Creationists (YEC) have made many lists of what are advertised as top reasons to believe in a young Earth from science.  Sometimes it’s a “top ten” list.  Sometimes it’s like the top 40 or the top 100.  Many of the lists have many of the same examples. Young Earth creationist, Paul Humber put out a booklet with 50 claims to support his interpretation of a Young Earth from scripture: “Reasons to Affirm a Young Earth”.  He has 43 reasons that reflect science and seven lines of evidence that he calls from “Bible and Church”.  This list covers a range of examples often used to support the claim that science points to a young Earth. 

An overwhelming majority of scientists consider it proven that the universe and nature developed over what is known as deep time, a term used to describe the vast expanse of geologic and cosmic time, which is measured in billions of years.  Truth is not something determined by a poll of people, scientists or not.  If the interpretations of YEC vs. the consensus of the scientific community were close, it might be difficult to resolve the question.  Here that is not the case.   The YEC proposal is over 2 million times younger than the ages accepted in science.  That simplifies matters.  We might find it difficult to conclusively resolve small differences, but the data from nature should be clear.

The YEC understanding of the age of the Earth comes directly from their interpretation of the book of Genesis.  Starting with the Bible is normally a good thing, but many recognize other options for how the creation accounts in Genesis can be interpreted.   Historically the prevailing views of theologians have been challenged several times by discoveries that did not fit their interpretations.  The discovery of a new world that was inhabited by people that were not obvious descendants of the old world forced new thinking, but Christians recognized that the newly discovered people were fully human and in need of Jesus.  The discovery that the stars don’t all revolve around the Earth was challenging, but Christians over time recognized that the Bible was not really addressing the solar system or the physical movement of the planets.  Accepting the orbits around the Sun or the existence of galaxies had no impact on the theology of the Creator except to make Him larger and more incredible.  Historically, when people began to study those funny features that we now call fossils, it placed another question in the minds of theologians. It was soon clear that many of the fossils were from animals that did not live in modern times. How could they reconcile this with a good creation? Christians largely would come to understand that while what the Bible says is true, it does not give exhaustive truth about the history of the Earth.  Just as the Bible did not discuss the Earth orbiting the Sun or  people in the Americas, it did not discuss dinosaurs or saber-toothed tigers.

Some theologians and “natural philosophers”, as scientists were known as. proposed that all of these fossil creatures must have perished in Noah’s flood. A simple reading of the text in Genesis made it seem that the Earth had to have been all covered by a global catastrophic flood.  In the absence of a developed answer from science, it was easy to think of the Bible as teaching that the Earth is approximately 6,000 years old and that most of the rocks with all of these confusing fossils were laid down during Noah’s flood.

Christians now debate the age of the Earth, but the majority recognize that this has no impact on the most critical theological issues, those that impact salvation and our reconciliation with God.  We can worship together with those who hold different views on this issue.   That is not to say that it is not important.   If the Earth is really young, then scientists need to find a way to resolve all of the apparent contradictions that they have with the data they use every day.   If the Earth really is ancient and God chose to create the universe over deep time, then this should be recognized and taught.   If that is the case, then Christians should not be teaching a false position or putting up barriers that make it difficult for those learning science to accept the truth of the Bible.

In most of my posts on the age of the Earth, I have tried to present positive evidence showing that the Earth is ancient. I have presented a number of observations from nature that are difficult or impossible to reconcile with flood geology or a young Earth.  Some non-scientists believe that there is evidence that shows both that the Earth is young and evidence that the Earth was created over deep time.  Is it true that there is no old earth explanation for the claims made by YEC authors?  In this series of posts, I will take Paul Humber’s Young Earth evidences and examine them to see if they are solid.  As a geologist, I will start with a set of claims from the “Geology” section of Humber’s booklet.

Refutable “Irrefutable” reasons to believe in a Young Earth