No. As we shall see, even if the earth were 4.5 billion years old, that is not enough time.
On the other hand, there is ample evidence that it is young. And why not? A miracle-working, Infinite, Omniscient, Eternal Creator doesn’t need long stretches of time.
Time is important to humans. It is especially important to evolutionary philosophers in that there cannot be both an eternal God and an eternal universe. Since evolutionary philosophy is oriented to make God unnecessary, one would expect evolutionists to insist on a very old universe – an eternal one that cycles back and forth between Big Bang and collapse. One which creates and recreates itself, and all that is in it, without God being necessary.
But God is eternal, not the universe. Furthermore, He exercised His miraculous, creative powers in only six short days, so He says; and it does not seem to be very long ago, if the Bible is considered historical. Thus one would not expect creationists to insist on an extremely old universe.
Vast Stretches of time are essential to evolutionists. Barely 100 years ago this was not so. Believers and even most nonbelievers thought the earth and universe were young and that God created them. However, under the dominating influence of evolutionary philosophers, “The earth increased in age 40 million years each year between 1868 and 1968” – so says a caption in the American Museum of Natural History in New York city. That makes 4 billion plus years – in only 100+ years! Of course, it didn’t “age” that quickly. It only became that old in some men’s minds over the past century.
We cannot just brush aside the issue of the amount of time, since it is so basic to evolutionary philosophy. But is 4.5 billion years “enough time for natural selection, as it is seen through the eyepieces of Darwinism or neo-Darwinism, to operate and give rise to the observed phenomena of nature?” The answer to this very question was “No!” when it was asked of four probability mathematicians from MIT, Los Alamos and the University of Paris. They concluded that “the probability that we are here now, if natural selection had to choose from all the blindingly large number of alternative systems (10325 possible proteins, each consisting of 250 amino acids) by means of the mechanisms described in current evolutionary theory, is virtually zero.” (Scientific Research, 11/67, p.59,60.) There has not been enough time! There never will be.
Unquestionably the earth and universe do look old to many people. But, that’s the way it is with miracles. They eliminate time. Take Jesus’ first miracle of changing water to wine, for instance. This miracle eliminated the whole process of growing grapes, harvesting, and storing the juice. Instead of it taking several months as we
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are used to, there was water one instant and wine the next. The process of change is eliminated in miracles. When man was created, he was mature, but he was not “old.” Without going into more detail, this is what happened in the whole universe on an infinitely grander scale when God created it. It might seem old, but He told us it isn’t. Let us look briefly at some evidences that the earth/universe may actually be quite young.
Many scientific evidences limit the age of the earth/universe
Whole books have been written about these. In this short space we will only mention some of them.
Fossil formation is, of necessity, rapid. It cannot take millions of years. Creatures must be buried in sediments, before they can rot and lose their” shape, in a matter of hours or a few days at most.
Decay of the earth’s magnetic field. Although this has been played down by those opposed to creationism, the Magnetic Field Satellite confirmed it recently (Science News, 6/28/80, p.407) reporting that, at the present rate of decay, the field strength would be virtually zero in only 1200 more years. And no one has been able to suggest a mechanism which might rebuild it. A recent article like that of May, 1988 in Scientific American offers only unproven clues based on what are thought to be magnetic field reversals.
Formation of river deltas. None of these have taken more than a few thousand years to form. Herodotus mentions that the mouth of the Nile was 150 miles inland from where it is today at the beginning of Egyptian history; that is, near Cairo. In other words, 5000 years ago, it was just beginning to form. The mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates were 150 miles inland from the Persian Gulf (northward) at the epitome of the city of Ur in Abraham’s time, 4000 years ago. Studies done on other river deltas indicate very young ages, not millions of years. Use caution in evaluating enormous lengths of time reported by researchers. The standard should be those deltas which can be researched in connection with historical records.
Here are several other evidences which limit the age of the earth/ universe: pleocroic halos, moon dust accumulation, a “rapidly” shrinking sun, the recession of the moon from the earth, slowing down of the earth’s rotation, the age of comets, atmospheric C14 lack of equilibrium, (and many others).
If enough factors limit the age of the earth/universe, then indicators for long ages must be reexamined as to their validity.
So we end with the thought that everything depends on what one believes. An eternal, miracle-working God does not need long ages to create the universe. (So He claims in Genesis 1.) Neither does an age-old (eternal) universe need a God. It can do everything He does. Which shall we choose?
A final thought to ponder
In II Peter 3:13 and in Revelation 21:1–6, as well as many other places, the Bible speaks of a new heaven and earth created by God. All Christians hope to be in them. However, none expect to wait very long for Him to create them. In fact, even those who are convinced the original creation took millions of years expect the new heaven and earth to be created quickly.
If that is so, then what is the problem with the very same miracle-working Creator finishing His first creation in only six days not long ago, as He said He did?
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The Stones Cry Out