AGE OF THE EARTH — Most scientists believe the earth to be about 4.5 billion years old, based upon radiometric dating. The Bible records that life was created by a special act of God somewhere between 6,000 and 7,500 years ago, depending upon the ancient manuscripts used. The somewhat ambiguous “and the world was void and without form” of Genesis 1:2 might suggest that the planet itself was created at an earlier time; however, God does not require material to create from, being the Creator of matter itself. And in any case, this older aged rock would not solve fossil dating problems, as layers between fossils are at issue. Some possible suggestions as to why rocks appear old: (1) God made a mature world for Adam and Eve, with plants, animals and even mankind themselves as mature and apparently older; perhaps He made the rocks with apparent age (to increase their usefulness as a resource?), (2) God avoided making rocks that were strongly radioactive as a safety precaution for His creatures or (3) At sometime after their creation (perhaps at the Flood) some unknown process sped up the decay rates of rocks, giving them the false appearance of great age.

RADIOMETRIC DATING — Often cited as the strongest evidence against a recent creation, the method of dating the age of rocks by measuring parent versus daughter isotopes. Many elements in igneous rocks break down over time (from “parent” materials into “daughter” materials) at speeds dependent upon the stability of their isotopes. This decay begins at the rock’s formation. These apparent decay-produced ratios are consistent enough throughout the earth’s geologic column to support a model of age measurement. That model is based upon three assumptions: #1 Rates of decay are constant. #2 The materials have not been contaminated ( it’s a “closed system”). #3 The initial ratio between parent and daughter isotopes is known. These assumptions are maybe somewhat challengeable (#2 and #3 especially), but as yet no creationist argument seems adequate.

ISOTOPES — The different forms that elements come in, dependent upon the number of neutrons in the nucleus, affecting weight and stability. Carbon 14 is an isotope of carbon, for example. It is less stable than the more common form of carbon, Carbon 12.

CARBON 14 DATING — A method of dating organic material. It is useful in determining dates in the thousands of years, but not older, since the “half life” of Carbon 14 is only 5730 years, meaning that easily measurable quantities don’t exist, according to standard models, after about 50,000 years. This method also assumes conditions to have remained the same in the world, both in the atmosphere and in the total amount of organic carbon available. The Biblical Flood would have disturbed the carbon content of the atmosphere, and since much carbon material became coal and oil following the Flood, organic materials from before the Flood would give false older readings.

View the Glossary