30 July 2023 AM – 2 Peter 3:5-6 – Worldview – Scott Childs
Introduction: Geology is, “A science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks.” WordWeb. Evolutionists, who claim that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, base their theory largely on their interpretation of rock layers and fossils. When a Creationist argues that the earth is only about 6,000 years old, he is considered ignorant.
Does the Bible say anything about geology? Yes, it does. The Genesis flood (Genesis 6-7) has much to say about geology. If the flood explains much of what we find in geology, why is there such a debate? Peter explains. (2 Peter 3:5-6) “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:” Those who reject the biblical flood, and all the evidence that it left behind, are willingly ignorant.
Transition: This morning, I will give you a brief overview of the subject and attempt to give you helpful answers that will strengthen your faith.
1. Summary of the Evolutionists Theory of Geology
a. Uniformitarianism
1) Uniformitarianism is the claim that, “The fossils and the rocks and the other features of the earth’s crust formed slowly over vast aeons of time by the same processes now at work in the earth” Henry Morris,Scientific Creationism, p.91
2) “… the Scottish geologist, James Hutton, … maintained that the present is the key to the past and that, given sufficient time, processes now at work could account for all the geologic features of the Globe.” S.C., p.92
b. Geologic time scale
1) Scientists use an alleged geologic time scale to date rocks. Henry Morris states that scientists do NOT use a rock’s appearance, type, mineral content, structural features, adjacent rocks, vertical superposition, radiometric dating, or total fossil contents to date rocks. “How, then, are rocks actually dated? What is it that determines the geologic ‘age’ to which a given rock formation is assigned? The answer is index fossils!” S.C. p.132-134 These are fossils characteristically abundant in each sedimentary stratum.
3) “Fossils are used as the only key for placing rocks in chronological order. The criterion for assigning fossils to specific places in that chronology is the assumed evolutionary progression of life; the assumed evolutionary progression is based on the fossil record so constructed.” S.C., p. 136 This is circular reasoning.
2. Summary of the Creationists Theory of Geology
a. Catastrophism
1) “The theory that changes in the earth’s crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent and unusual events.” Oxford Dictionary
2) The earth’s history contains catastrophes that altered the rate and way that things happened. This is the opposite to the slow, gradual, uniform theory of uniformitarianism.
b. The Flood
1) Creationists believe that the catastrophes (i.e., sudden violent changes) that took place during the flood left behind all the global sedimentary layers, fossils, coal, oil and canyons we see today.
2) Turn to and read Genesis 7:11-12, 17-24.
3) Four times (Genesis 7:18, 19, 20, 24), we read that the waters prevailed. This word means to be mighty, powerful, or insolent. This violent action lasted for 150 days – five months (Genesis 7:24).
4) Explosions from the earth’s crust spouted water and debris high into the atmosphere. It is likely that the vapour canopy over the earth then emptied its water on the earth for 40 days and nights. The water from within the earth and from the sky covered the globe to a depth of at least 7 m above the highest mountain. (Mountain height may have been low, as none of the present mountains existed then). Earthquakes, eruptions and volcanos caused the water to rush back and forth violently, creating gigantic tsunamis and powerful cyclone activity over the entire globe.
5) Evidence left after a local flood, cyclone or tsunami gives us a tiny picture of the destruction caused by the 5-month violent catastrophe of the Genesis flood.
6) We would expect to see continent-wide sediment layers like the Great Australian Bite, laid down rapidly, quickly burying billions of creatures as fossils (generally ocean creatures and small ones first). This would leave huge deposits of coal from vegetation, deposits of oil from sea creatures swept together in masses, thick beds of D.E. (i.e., billions of microscopic seashells), rapidly formed canyons, sedimentary pinnacles, Ayers Rock (upturned sandstone strata) and high mountains as oceans settled.
2) Rapidly buried plants and animals – fossils, fossil graveyards
3) Rapidly deposited sediment layers all across the continents.
4) Long transport distance of sediments.
5) Rapid or no erosion between sediment layers.
6) Whole rock layer sequences deposited rapidly in secession – folded, bent layers.
b. Radiometric dating methods are unreliable.
1) Radiometric dating often yields inconsistent results.
2) Recently formed rocks from volcanos often produce old age dates.
3) These dating methods require a closed system (nothing added or subtracted) which is impossible to determine.
4) Dates are ultimately based on evolutionary theory.
5) “It is commonly asserted that the fossil record provides the best evidence for evolution happening on the earth. It is important to remember that the geologic evidence is the same for everyone—it is the interpretation that differs. The fossil record is no different. The evidence exists in the present, and the interpretations are about the past. No fossil, rock layer, or dating method can ever prove that evolution did, or did not, happen. The same is true for creation.” https://answersingenesis.org/geology/geologic-time-scale/unlocking-the-geologic-record/
1) Very Little Sediment on the Seafloor. It is increasing constantly.
2) Bent Rock Layers. I have seen them.
3) Soft Tissue in Fossils. This should not exist if millions of years old.
4) Faint Sun Paradox (Sun getting warmer, thus, once colder)
5) Rapidly Decaying Magnetic Field. The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that protects living things from solar radiation. Without it, life could not exist. If long an old earth, it would be gone.
6) Helium in Radioactive Rocks. Helium diffuses so rapidly that all the helium should have leaked out in less than 100,000 years.
7) Carbon-14 in Fossils, Coal, and Diamonds. Carbon-14 decays so quickly—with a half-life of only 5,730 years—that none is expected to remain in fossils after only a few hundred thousand years.
8) Short-Lived Comets. The sun’s heat evaporates them.
9) Very Little Salt in the Sea. Sea salt is increasing, but there is not enough for billions of years.
10) DNA in “Ancient” Bacteria. It is very similar to modern bacterial DNA.
Conclusion: We cannot observe, repeat or test the formation of ancient rock layers. Therefore, dating or determining exactly what took place in their formation is not possible without divine revelation.
However, God has given us a reliable revelation in Genesis 7. We would expect that a global catastrophic flood would produce results like those found in the sedimentary rock layers, fossil graveyards, coal and oil deposits, bluffs, pinnacles, and canyons all around the world. Do not be led astray by evolutionary, old earth, circular reasoning.
