TORNADO OF MORAL RELATIVISM

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How can we be sure our children won’t be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14)?

Our grandchildren are growing up in a whole different culture to us. They are going to have to deal with issues that we didn’t have to, what can we do?”

We need to first understand what happened. We need to deal with the foundational issue. It started 6,000 years ago in a garden. Satan said to Eve:

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3

Note what the apostle Paul says: The devil is using the same method on you, on your kids, on your grandkids, as he used on Eve to get you to a position of not believing the authority of God’s Word.

The Genesis 3 attack—“Did God really say?” And notice the next part, “And you will be like God.” You decide the truth for yourself. That is one of the problems we see through the whole Bible.

What is the method? To create doubt regarding the Word of God. It is an attack on the Word of God.

Here is the problem, our sinful nature leads us to trust man’s word rather than God’s Word. We want to be our own god and decide right and wrong for ourselves. Our churches need to be laying this foundation and teaching people about our sinful nature and understand the fact of what happened was this . . .

A battle began between two religions about 6,000 years ago, Man’s Word vs. God’s Word. It is the same battle today, the same in Luther’s day, and the same in Peter and Paul’s day. It is the same battle, and it hasn’t changed. The method by which that battle occurs does change through the years, but not the actual battle.

There is no neutral position Jesus makes it clear.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Matthew 12:30

People have this idea that if you do not mention the Bible, when it comes to abortion or gay marriage and many other issues, then you are being neutral. But if you do not have the foundation of God’s Word, that means you only have the foundation of man’s word and that means you’ve already lost the battle.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock... And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” Matthew 7:24,26

If you reject God, you suppress the truth.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20

Public education is not neutral. If the system is not for Christ, then it is against Him. So we send our kids there for five hours a day, all year long, and what do we do at home? What is the church doing? We need to be equipped to answer the following questions and God has raised up ministries to provide this information: Creation Ministries International http://www.creation.com and Answers in Genesis http://www.answersingenesis.org

Sadly, most Christians cannot answer even the basic questions. Test yourself with the following questions.

How do you know the Bible is God’s Word? Where did the Bible come from? Who put the Bible together? Why are there those books in the Bible and not other books? Do you believe in God? Where did God come from? You believe in an eternal God? How do you explain that? Who made God? Did someone make God?

Answers in Genesis have built a life-sized Noah’s Ark at Cinncinatti in the USA. They can provide you with all the evidence you need to show that the Biblical worldwide flood of Noah’s day occurred.

Stop trusting in man, put your trust in God. People love the praise of man rather than the praise of God.

THE BIBLE TEACHES SATAN RULES THIS EARTH FOR 6000 YEARS AND JESUS RULES FOR 1000 YEARS.

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Great message from Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. Make sure you visit their website http://www.answersingenesis.org. He omits what is next for this planet hence my addendum.

In an attempt to accept evolutionary ideas about the age of the earth (millions of years), many Christians try to add long ages somewhere into Genesis. Sometimes Christians will argue that the days of creation were not literal 24-hour days, that there was a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, or that Genesis is just poetry. But any attempt to put millions of years into Genesis puts millions of years of death, suffering, and disease before sin—and that’s a big problem!

The Bible teaches that God’s original creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and that death is the consequence of Adam’s sin (Genesis 2:17). Death did not exist in creation until after Adam’s sin.

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:21–22

Although those passages refer specifically to human death, they are also discussing death in general. Other passages like Romans 8:22 make it clear that the whole world is groaning because of sin, and this includes the animal world. Taking Scripture with Scripture, it’s obvious there was no death, disease, or suffering of human or animal (nephesh) life before sin.

This is a big problem for those who believe in millions of years because those long ages supposedly come from the rock layers and fossils. Now, fossils are, of course, dead things, so if those rock layers are millions of years old, there’s been millions of years of death before Adam and Eve. And not just death, but also, millions of years of diseases and suffering, animal carnivory (but in God’s original creation everything was vegetarian, see Genesis 1:29–30), and thorns and thistles (a consequence of sin, Genesis 3:18).

Millions of years is incompatible with the Bible’s teaching about death!

Death is not a natural part of creation; it’s not something that has existed for millions of years—it’s an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), an intruder into God’s once “very good” creation.

As Christians, we cannot accept millions of years and remain faithful to the plain meaning of Scripture. So how old is the earth? Well, God created everything in six days, and then Genesis 5 and 11 give us detailed genealogies that allow us to determine how many years passed between Adam and Abraham (about 2,000 years). We know about 2,000 years passed between Abraham and Jesus, and then 2,000 more years gets us from Christ to us today. So, starting with the Bible’s history, the universe, earth, and life is only about 6,000 years old.

Yes, we live on a young earth impacted by death because of sin. But someday Jesus will return and create a new heavens and a new earth where death and suffering will be done away with and everyone who has placed their faith and trust in Jesus will live with him forever.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

A great message from Ken Ham except he left out the 1000 years Jesus will rule over the nations on this Earth with some, if not all of the glorified Saints. We have had 6000 years of Satan’s dominion over the Earth, next is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom, and only then will this Earth be destroyed. The second resurrection of all of the dead will take place followed by Jesus’ White Throne judgement. It is only after the White Throne judgement that John sees the new Heaven and new Earth.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened… Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-12

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3

MORE EVIDENCE FOR A YOUNG EARTH

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In this video clip “Mountains After the Flood”, geologists John Whitmore and Andrew Snelling talk with Del Tackett about the importance of their research project in the Grand Canyon. They discuss creation science and why it provides answers to evidence not found in the conventional scientific paradigm. This four-minute segment shows convincing evidence that the Coconino Sandstone was laid down by a catastrophic flood. This formation spreads across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Make sure you watch the entire film to see the fascinating results of their research.

MORE EVIDENCE FOR A YOUNG EARTH

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In 1980, Mount St. Helens (in Washington State, USA) erupted, blasting the top and side off the mountain. Then, as volcanoes do, it began to rebuild. In 1992, samples of new volcanic rock—KNOWN to be only about 10 years old—were dated using standard radiometric dating techniques (3 samples from the same rock, 350,000 years, 900,000 years, and 2,800,000 years). The results were eye-opening. Radiometric dating is not all it’s cracked up to be! In fact, it’s fair to ask: “Can radiometric dates be trusted at all?” Join geologist Dr Tas Walker for a discussion of the Mount St. Helens eruption and its aftermath, the fundamental flaws in radiometric dating methods, and the relevance of the age of the earth to people’s view of the world.

TIMESTAMPS ⌛ 00:00 Teaser 00:40 Introduction: What’s the deal with Mount St. Helens? 02:33 Dating rocks from Mount St. Helens 04:34 Assumptions underlie radiometric dating 05:57 Three samples, three dates: 350,000 – 2.8 million years 07:36 Story-telling accompanies radiometric dating 11:10 How can we get ACCURATE dates? 12:29 How were the Mount St. Helens dates received? Handling objections 17:05 Carbon dating gives good evidence for a YOUNG earth! 18:37 The only way to be sure of the age of something 19:58 Different kinds of radiometric dating 21:19 Radiometric dating seems so SCIENTIFIC – How can it not be right? 23:00 What to do when the dates don’t fit the expectations 27:56 Is it okay to publish dates/perspectives that don’t match existing expectations? 31:51 The age of the earth is a critical part of people’s worldview 33:38 So, what do long-age geologists think of Mount St. Helens? 35:55 Other lessons from Mount St. Helens: 36:09 → Geologic layers can be deposited rapidly 36:59 → Erosion can happen rapidly 38:02 Geologists are now more accepting of catastrophism, but won’t let go of long ages 39:17 In conclusion: The age of the earth matters to both the biblical and the naturalistic worldviews

THE FOUNDATIONAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

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The Bible’s first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are known as the Torah, Law, or Pentateuch. The Torah has long been ascribed to Moses. Indeed, the books’ internal evidence points to Moses, claiming his authorship, e.g., Exodus 17:14; 24:4–7; 34:27; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 22, 24.

Other Old Testament books affirm Moses’ authorship, e.g., Joshua 1:7–8; 8:32–34; Judges 3:4; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 21:8; 2 Chronicles 25:4; Ezra 6:18; Nehemiah 8:1; 13:1; Daniel 9:11–13. New Testament writers likewise with John 1:17; Acts 6:14; 13:39; 15:5; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 2 Corinthians 3:15; Hebrews 10:28.

Finally, Jesus cited Moses as the author, frequently speaking of Moses’ writings or the Law of Moses without any disclaimer, e.g., Matthew 8:4; 19:7–8; Mark 7:10; 12:26; Luke 24:27, 44; John 7:19. Indeed, Jesus stressed the seriousness of denying Moses several times, including:

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5:46, 47

Similarly, today’s liberal theologians who doubt Moses often doubt what Jesus said (aside from selective and twisted use to support their agreements with politically correct causes).

In Luke 16:19–31, Jesus relates how a rich man in hell begged someone to return from the dead to warn his brothers. But as Jesus explains further:

He [Abraham] said to him [the rich man], “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Luke 16;31

This is extremely serious. Jesus said that rejectors of Moses would not be persuaded even by a resurrection. Not surprisingly, churches and seminaries rejecting the historicity of Moses’ writings often also reject the Lord Jesus Christ’s literal bodily resurrection.

Indeed, Jesus affirmed the absolute authority of Moses’ writings in Matthew:

“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:18

Jesus affirmed Scripture’s inspiration even down to the smallest letter—“jot” (Greek iotaι the equivalent Hebrew yod י) — or a letter — “tittle” (e.g., the smallest stroke of a pen differentiating between beitℶ kaphℶ, daletℸ, reshℸ

MOSES AS EDITOR OF GENESIS

Although included in the Torah as a ‘Book of Moses’, Genesis is a special case. While Moses eye-witnessed the events of Exodus to Deuteronomy, Genesis’ events occurred long before his time. Moses is not named as the book’s author; the best explanation is he was the editor of Genesis.

Internal evidence includes many editorial comments (e.g., Genesis 26:33, 32:32), to explain events to his readers living centuries after the events of Genesis. (Moses often uses Egyptian reference points in the Pentateuch (Genesis 13:10, Numbers 13:22), strong internal evidence that he wrote for people who had just escaped Egypt and were unfamiliar with the Promised Land.) But highlighting how Genesis preserves events from long before Moses, sometimes the ancient sources were left alone. For example, Genesis 10:19 states: The territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomor rah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Note, “as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah”. Consider a New York City guidebook providing directions “as you go towards the Twin Towers”. The natural conclusion is that the guidebook was written when these great landmarks were still standing, i.e., before the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001. Similarly, the internal evidence of Genesis 10:19 points to it being written before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24), at or even before Abraham’s time. These two wicked cities had been lost under the Dead Sea for centuries by Moses’ time.

11-TOLEDOT STRUCTURE

Genesis’ real sources are eleven family documents headed by toledot. The phrase ‘ēllĕh tôləḏôṯ (אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת) is usually translated as “these are the generations of …”. This takes the preceding section’s results and propels it forward in the narrative. Genesis’ toledots tell us what followed from the named person.

There is also a repeated historical pattern moving from blessings to curses. For example:

  1. Toledot of the heavens and earth, Genesis 2:4–4:26. ‘What followed from creation’, particularly what became of creation’s crowning point (man and woman), their fall from perfection into sin, and the curse on the cosmos.
  2. Toledot of Adam, Genesis 5:1–6:8. ‘What followed from Adam’ continues the further degeneration of man into utter wickedness. We see the two main lines of descendants: Cain’s and Seth’s. This toledot starts in 5:1–2 with blessing but ends in God’s intention to blot out mankind in 6:7.
  3. Toledot of Noah, Genesis 6:9–9:29. ‘What followed from Noah’. God’s curse on the wicked earth in the Flood, but the blessing of saving Noah’s family on the Ark. But then the righteous Noah becomes drunk, leading to Canaan’s curse.
  4. Toledot of Noah’s three sons, Genesis 10:1–11:9. ‘What followed from Shem, Japheth, and Ham’, the descendants of these patriarchs’ founding nations. This account starts with the blessing of the population expansion and ends with the curse of the confusion of languages at Babel “in the days of Peleg” (10:25). This confusion led to the dispersion into nations.

BIBLICAL PROPHECY PROOF OF THE BIBLES INSPIRATION

Even before the Israelites went into the Promised Land, Moses told them their entire future checkered history, including their being cast out of the land and dispersed throughout the nations but also the end of the story when God would regather them and their Messiah will rule the nations and they will be a people, “holy to the Lord your God”. Could this be the reason there are still Jews in the world today? They are hanging onto God’s future promises.

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” Deuteronomy 28:1

“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them.” Deuteronomy 28:13

“And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as He has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that He will set you in praise and in fame and in honour high above all nations that He has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised.” Deuteronomy 26:18-19

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.“ Deuteronomy 30:1-3

“And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:5-6

“On the day that I cleanse you (House of Israel) from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” Ezekiel 36:33-36

AGE OF THE EARTH

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This is such an important topic as a Cosmos that is billions of years old undermines the authority of God’s Word. For me now, fulfilled prophecy, just of Jesus first coming to earth is sufficient proof of the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Nevertheless, I did pharmacy at Sydney University and evolution was the stumbling block for me to doubt the Scriptures. It was not until the age of 46 that I attended a Creation Ministries weekend conference that I realised that evolution does not explain the origin of you and me and the Cosmos. I was General Manager of Abbott Laboratories Hospital Products Division at the time and the only thing that got me along to the conference was Professor John Rendle-Short who at the time was Foundation Professor and Head of the Department of Child Health at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. was on the program. He was also Chairman of Creation Ministries. I knew Prof. Rendle-Short as he was doing work for the Paediatric Division of Abbott Laboratories. I admired the man and if he was talking about creation versus evolution I wanted to hear what he had to say. Well! I came away from that conference annoyed with myself and our educational establishment for believing such nonsense. There is no scientific plausible mechanism that can explain how we go from “goo to you”. Natural selection only works with what is already there it does not create anything new and mutations all go in the wrong direction they lose information. They do not generate complex new information that is required for the functioning of anything, let alone a human brain that can create all of the technology we have today.

Whilst there are billions of dead things buried catastrophically all over the world, because the world had excepted Lyle’s and Darwin’s slow gradual change (uniformitarianism) and evolution which need billions of years, the worldwide flood of Noah’s day had been put into the myths and fables bin.

What about today with all the technology that we have is the Earth really 4.5 billion years old? How can we measure age with certainty? What about radiometric dating methods—don’t they prove millions and billions of years? Does the age of the Earth even matter? Dr Mark Harwood discusses these topics and more, focusing especially on why an old Earth sits in conflict with the Bible, while also providing evidence for a younger age of the Earth.

Go to http://www.creation.com/age for 101 documents of evidence for a young earth


⏳ TIMESTAMPS ⌛ 0:00 Introduction 0:48 Mark’s story: How origins affected his faith (An old Earth undermines the Gospel narrative) 11:11 How do we determine the age of something? (You can’t measure age!) 13:32 The dripping tap example (Dating methods rely on assumptions!) 16:17 Radiometric dates aren’t definitive – assumptions rule 19:51 The importance of witness testimony 23:36 The importance of worldview / starting assumptions 26:24 So, how old is the Earth? 28:58 Evidence from radiometric dating / rocks 36:04 Evidence from sedimentation / erosion 37:41 Evidence from our solar system 40:09 Evidence from Earth’s population 41:43 Evidence from carbon-14 in fossils 43:28 Summary: You can’t measure age! (Everything depends on your assumptions!) 46:29 An old Earth calls God’s character into question 48:47 An old Earth calls the inerrancy of Scripture into question 50:38 Conclusion: Three reasons the age of the Earth matters to a Christian

DRAMATIC FALL IN BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS IN THE U.S.A

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These findings come from The American Worldview Inventory 2023, conducted by the Cultural Research Centre at Arizona Christian University under the supervision of George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Centre. While born-again Christians make up about one-third of all U.S. adults and are considered “the backbone of local church activity because of their higher level of commitment to the Christian faith,” the study shows that between 2020 and 2023, the share of those who say they believe Jesus did not commit sins during his lifetime on Earth fell from 58% to 44%.

Jesus being sinless is central to the hope Christians have in Him as Saviour explains the apologetics website Got Questions because, “If Jesus were not sinless, there would be no sacrifice for sin.” The apostle Peter stated it clearly: ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ (1 Peter 2:22) Indeed, as Jesus Christ is God, He has no capacity to sin,” the Christian website explains.

This shift in belief among born-again Christians was among six that showed a significant decline in the past three years that Barna characterized as “indefensible.”

Fewer than half of born-again Christians also now believe they have a unique, God-given calling or purpose. The share of those who held that belief fell from 88% to a staggering 46% during the pandemic.

A downward trend was also observed among those who say the Bible is unambiguous in its teaching about abortion. That belief fell from 58% to 44%. Those who say human life is sacred fell from 60% to 48%.

The number of born-again Christians who say God is the basis of all truth fell from 69% to 63% over the period. The share of born-again believers who say they are deeply committed to practicing their religious faith fell from 85% to 50%, while the share of those who say they read or study the Bible at least once a week fell from 60% to 55%. When it comes to the general population of U.S. adults, Barna said the share of the population that claims to hold a biblical worldview fell from 6% to 4% in the last three years, while less than half now claim to be “deeply committed to practicing” their religious faith. That measure fell from 60% to 48%. Barna also found that only 33% of adults now say they attend church service during a typical week which shows “a decline representing the loss of about 15 million churchgoing adults each week.”

The veteran researcher said the findings on the drastic shift in Christian belief over such a short period of time are “highly unusual” because “religious beliefs and behaviors have typically been a hallmark of consistency.” “Most religious beliefs change over the course of generations, not a few years,” Barna said.

Barna noted that a significant driver behind the decline in Christians holding on to a biblical worldview is syncretism, an ideology described as “the worldview that merges otherwise incompatible philosophies of life, particularly evolution and a Cosmos that has existed for billions of years, into a made-to-order worldview that incorporates enough biblical elements to be minimally Christian in nature.”

These statistics highlight how successful Satan’s strategy to undermine the foundations of God’s Word has been. Thankfully God has raised up ministries such as Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis to show that evolution and its history of billions of years for this Cosmos is not defensible. In fact, the audacious claim by secular scientists in the New Scientist book How Evolution Explains Everything About Life (2017) cannot be substantiated. On page 69 they claim ” The only thing we know for certain is that life must have popped into existence sometime between Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago and the appearance of the first undisputed fossils about 3.4 million years ago.” Living cells require information (DNA) and decoding machinery. Even the simplest living cell has an enormous quantity of information on its DNA (about 600,000 letters) and it has the decoding machinery to read these letters. Also, the instructions to build this decoding machinery are encoded on its DNA. DNA can’t be decoded without the machines, but the machines can’t be built without the DNA coding for them. An impossible vicious circle for chemical evolution. There is simply no way “life must have popped into existence“.

WHY RADIOMETRIC DATING GIVES AGES OF MILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF YEARS

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A young age for ‘ancient’ granites

When physicist Dr Russell Humphreys was still at Sandia National Laboratories (he now works full-time for the Institute for Creation Research), he and Dr John Baumgardner (still with Los Alamos National Laboratory) were both convinced that they knew the direction in which to look for a definitive answer to the puzzle of why radiometric dating consistently gives ages of millions and billions of years.

picture – Linear accelerator used in radiometric dating.

Others had tried to find an answer in geological processes—e.g. the pattern was caused by the way the magma was emplaced or how it crystallized. This is indeed the answer in some cases.2,3 But Drs Humphreys and Baumgardner realized that in other cases there were many independent lines of evidence that suggested that huge amounts of radioactive decay had indeed taken place. (These include the variety of elements used in ‘standard’ radioisotope dating, mature uranium radiohalos and fission track dating.) It would be hard to imagine that geologic processes alone could explain all these. Rather, there was likely to be an answer that concerned the nuclear decay processes themselves.

From the eyewitness testimony of God’s Word, the billions of years that such vast amounts of radioactive processes would normally suggest had not taken place. So it was clear that the assumption of a constant, slow decay process was wrong. There must have been speeded-up decay, perhaps in a huge burst associated with Creation Week and/or a separate burst at the time of the Flood.

There is now powerful confirmatory evidence that at least one episode of drastically accelerated decay has indeed been the case, building on the work of Dr Robert Gentry on helium retention in zircons. The landmark RATE paper,4 though technical, can be summarized as follows:

  • When uranium decays to lead, a by-product of this process is the formation of helium, a very light, inert gas, which readily escapes from rock.
  • Certain crystals called zircons, obtained from drilling into very deep granites, contain uranium which has partly decayed into lead.
  • By measuring the amount of uranium and ‘radiogenic lead’ in these crystals, one can calculate that, if the decay rate has been constant, about 1.5 billion years must have passed. (This is consistent with the geologic ‘age’ assigned to the granites in which these zircons are found.)
  • However, there is a significant proportion of helium from that ‘1.5 billion years of decay’ still inside the zircons. This is, at first glance, surprising for long-agers, because of the ease with which one would expect helium (with its tiny, light, unreactive atoms) to escape from the spaces within the crystal structure. There should surely be hardly any left, because with such a slow buildup, it should be seeping out continually and not accumulating.
  • Drawing any conclusions from the above depends, of course, on actually measuring the rate at which helium leaks out of zircons. This is what one of the RATE papers reports on. The samples were sent (without any hint that it was a creationist project) to a world-class expert on helium diffusion from minerals to measure these rates. The consistent answer: the helium does indeed seep out quickly over a wide range of temperatures. In fact, the results show that because of all the helium still in the zircons, these crystals (and since this is Precambrian basement granite, by implication the whole earth) could not be older than 14,000 years. In other words, in only a few thousand years, 1.5 billion years’ worth (at today’s rates) of radioactive decay has taken place. Interestingly, the data have since been refined and updated to give a date of 5,680 (± 2,000) years.
  • The paper looks at the various avenues a long-ager might take by which to wriggle out of these powerful implications, but there seems to be little hope for them unless they can show that the techniques used to obtain the results were seriously flawed.

The Bible clearly tells us that God created a mature universe: Adam was a man, not a baby, the trees and plants mature and on day six Adam could see all of the stars in heaven. God tells us that He stretched out the heavens at creation on day four. The Cosmos could only have been created by a being outside of His creation with miraculous powers.

Big Bang from nothing does not explain the complex ordered universe that is so evident, it is certainly not good science.

Taken from an article by Dr. Carl Weiland “Radiometric dating breakthroughs” http://www.creation.com

4. Humphreys, D. et al., Helium diffusion rates support accelerated nuclear decay, icr.org, 16 October 2003. Return to text.