Well, how’s YOUR state doing? Each state was rated (by evolutionists) on how
well they are teaching evolution in public school science:
(The map information was provided by Scientific
American.)
Well, wait a minute…some will say that ‘scientists’
have proven far too much of evolution for it to be false. What is involved in a scientific method? To conduct a scientific study, you follow
these steps:
·
Ask a Question
·
Do Background Research
·
Construct a Hypothesis
·
Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
·
Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
·
Communicate Your Results
So if the information that evolutionists have
provided was not obtained using the steps above, it is simply something they
believe. Believe???? Are evolutionists simply pushing their own
religion, disguising it as science? Well,
they’ve been pretty successful at it!
But why in the world are Americans so gullible?
Sir Julian Huxley-Head
of UNESCO-One of the World’s leading evolutionists was asked in a television
interview “why did the scientific community jump at Darwin’s ideas? “I suppose the reason why we leapt at the
Origin of Species was that the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.”
But where did all this evolution malarkey come from?
Aristotle was talking about the theory of evolution
around 400 B.C. The Egyptians taught a
form of evolution to Moses when he was in school. “Life evolved from the slime on the Nile
River.” Fortunately, Moses was smart
enough to believe the Truth, rather than some ridiculous rhetoric.
Another one of those people influenced by evolutionary
teachings was Charles Darwin, a 22 year old Theology major, who has just
graduated from Bible College-to be a pastor in the Church of England. For five years, he sailed around on ‘the
Beagle’ and liked to collect bugs. The
library on the boat contained several books on geology. But did you have any idea that this whole
mess began because he took a voyage, read a book on geology called Principles
of Geology by Charles Lyell and that was the book that destroyed his faith? He wrote this in a letter to his friend: “Disbelief
[in the Bible] crept over me at a very slow rate, but at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no
distress.” -Letter to Russell Wallace in
1868 published in World’s Greatest Letters.
If you’ve ever wondered: “where did it all begin and
what is it that moves the children of God to believe in some story devised by a
man?” Here it is! After traveling to the Galapagos Islands,
Darwin noted there were 14 varieties of finches. He shot several birds and collected them, but
while collecting them, he noted there was a variation in the beaks to the tune
of 1/10 of 1 millimeter in variation. He
said “I’ll bet all these birds had a common ancestor.” (Anyone think it was a BIRD?)
Other scientists have traveled
to the same island and have since determined that the beaks on the finches get
thicker during dry years and thinner during wet years, this information simply
brings to the forefront the evidence for variations within kinds and seasonal
adaptability, (Much like those animals that were designed to shed their winter
coats).
After
measuring the bills on the finches, Darwin stated: “It is a truly wonderful
fact that all animals and all plants throughout all time and space should be
related to each other” (Darwin, 1859, p. 170) .
Notice here that the entire title of the book is
given. Evolutionists typically only
refer to the first three words of the title, as it is now well understood and
agreed upon that “natural selection” is only death, not life. However, open the front cover of the book and
the longer title is given:
Think about that for a moment: “the preservation of
favored races in the struggle for life.”
THIS is the book that changed peoples’ worldview back in the 1800s. People began to doubt the Creation view of
history and began to believe the earth was millions of years old.
(So, birds and bananas came from the same ancestor?)
(*Free Rider Effect is a situation where an
individual or organization is able to benefit from the actions of another
without contributing to the cost associated with such actions. In this case, the layperson might believe
that since scientists have documented the variations in kind, they have proven
macro-evolution, (not realizing that one is definitely not the other.)
And while we’re at it, which Evolution are you Referring To?
The word “evolution” has many meanings, but only ONE
is scientific. Of the six “evolutions,”
only ONE has been observed, meaning the other five are merely a “belief,”
essentially requiring faith to believe, just like Christianity!
1. Cosmic
evolution-the origin of time, space, and matter (big bang)
2. Chemical
evolution-the origin of higher elements from hydrogen
3. Stellar
and planetary evolution-the origin of stars and planets
4. Organic
evolution-the origin of life-spontaneous generation
5. Macro-evolution-Changing
from one kind of plant or animal into another
6. Micro-evolution-Variations within kinds-but with
limits
No. 6 is the ONLY one that has been observed, thus a
scientifically proven event.
Now, most
evolutionists will attempt to convince you that macro-evolution is just
micro-evolution over longer periods of time.
This is a fantasy! “The central
question of the Chicago conference was whether the mechanisms underlying
microevolution can be extrapolated to explain the phenomena of
macroevolution…the answer can be given as a clear, No.” -Roger Lewin, “Evolution Theory Under Fire”
Science vol 210. Nov. 21, 1980, p. 883.
Micro-evolution (the title they gave it) is simply
what God told us it would be: variations within kinds. Even with those variations, there are indeed
limits. (Roaches may become resistant to
pesticides, but they will never become resistant to a sledgehammer.)
But don’t bacteria
become resistant to drugs?
To advance their view, evolutionists have long pointed to mutation with
beneficial effects. The most common
example given: mutations sometimes make bacteria resistant to antibiotics
(germ-killing drugs). And so, the
argument goes, “If mutations can make bacteria stronger, they must be able to
do the same for other creatures.” Dr.
Spetner points out that this is based on a misunderstanding, for the mutations
that cause antibiotic resistance still involve information loss.
For example, to destroy a bacterium, the antibiotic streptomycin
attaches to a part of the bacterial cell called ribosomes. Mutations sometimes cause a structural
deformity in ribosomes. Since the
antibiotic cannot connect with the misshapen ribosome, the bacterium is
resistant. But even though this mutation
turns out to be beneficial [for the moment], it still constitutes a loss of
genetic information, not a gain. No
“evolution” has taken place; the bacteria are not “stronger.” In fact, under normal conditions, with no
antibiotic present, they are weaker than their non-mutated cousins (Perloff, 2002) .
But since when will this process end up with a rock
becoming a human? Remember the Law of
Biogenesis? Spontaneous generation (the
emergence of life from nonliving matter) has never been observed. All observations have shown that life comes
only from existing life. This has been
observed so consistently it is called the law of biogenesis. This law has never been violated under
observation or experimentation (as evolution imagines). Therefore life, God's life, created all life.
What trips a lot of people up is the variations and
mutations in animals or plants. Each
original specimen will always produce the same kind of animal or plant. This is NOT evolution. The information for the variation was already
present in the original specimen. No new
information is added. (Dogs will never
become pink or learn to fly.) In
addition, the gene pool of the new variety is more limited than before and less
able to adapt to future changes.
(Chihuahuas will never be able to produce a Great Dane.)
Richard Dawkins was asked “Can you think of a
mutation that increases in genetic complexity?” Nineteen seconds later, he asked them to stop
the recording. He could not think of
even ONE. That’s because there aren’t
any! While scientists may shuffle genes
around, they are adding new genetic material.
When was the last time you saw a farmer cross pollinate two ears of corn
and end up with a cow? If your living
required that you consistently win the Kentucky Derby and you could cross breed
a horse with a jaguar, why haven’t you done that? Cross breed your fastest pony with a
bird! (Send me one, when you get done
with that project!)
Genesis 1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation,
plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in
them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring
forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts
of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
“After his kind” is appears 10 times in Chapter 1 of
Genesis. I wonder ‘was God trying to
drive that point home?’
We can come up with some random (even stupid)
theories…that’s not illegal. We can have
any theory we want. However, it is wrong
to lie about the evidence to support those theories, so others will believe our
theories. It’s even worse to use tax
dollars to support my research as I lie about my work. If telling the truth defeats your theory, get
a new theory!
In conventional interpretation of K-Ar age data, it
is common to discard ages which are substantially too high or too low compared
with the rest of the group or with other available data such as the geological
time scale” (Hayatsu, 1979) .
(Photo from National Geographic Nov. 1985 p.589)
The KBS tuff, named for Kay Behrensmeyer, was dated using Potassium Argon
(K-Ar) at 212-230 million years (Nature, 1970) .
Then, Richard Leakey
found a skull (#KNM-ER1470) in 1972 UNDER the KBS tuff by It looks like modern
humans but was dated at 2.9 million years old (Lewin, 1997, p. 257) .
Houston, we have a problem! So they REDATED the KBS Tuff (although he had
already been dated repeatedly)…and decided he must be between .52-2.64 million
years old. (That’s down from 212
million!) But they would have never even
checked the KBS Tuff again, had this fossil not been found underneath it. That is more than a 500% error!
Later, 10 different samples were dated from .52-2.64
million years old (Lubenow, 2004, pp. 247-266) . (Again, that’s down from 212 million years old.)
“If a C-14 date supports our theories, we put it in the main
text. If it does not entirely contradict
them, we put it in a footnote. And if it is completely “out of date”, we
just drop it” (Save-Soderbergh & Olsson,
1970) .
What is the theory/theories they’re referring to? Well, here’s a big one!
“The Geologic Column”
Each “layer” is supposed to be a different age.
Only a few locations on earth (about 0.4% of its
area) have been described with the succession of the ten systems beneath (west
Nepal, west Bolivia, and central Poland). Even where the ten systems may be present,
geologists recognize individual systems to be incomplete. The entire geologic column, composed of
complete strata systems, exists only in the diagrams drawn by geologists!
That being said, have you ever seen the thousands of
petrified trees that are standing up, connecting all the rock layers (strata)? This has been known for centuries! But has the geologic column been removed from
the textbooks? No!
“Eighty to eighty-five percent of Earth’s land
surface does not have even 3 geologic periods appearing in ‘correct’
consecutive order. It becomes an overall
exercise of gargantuan special pleading and
imagination for the evolutionary-uniformitarian
paradigm to maintain that there ever were recorded geologic periods” (Woodmorappe, 1981, pp. 46-71) .
“No matter
how ‘useful it is, though, the radiocarbon method is still not capable of
yielding accurate and reliable results.
There are gross discrepancies, the chronology is uneven and relative,
and the accepted dates are actually selected dates. This whole blessed thing is nothing but
13-century alchemy*, and it all depends on which funny paper you read. *Alchemy: magical power or process of
transmuting, (American Heritage Dictionary), (Lee, 1981) .
Three years after the KBS Tuff retesting, the shells from living snails
were carbon dated and determined to be 27,000 years old (Science, 1984) .
The Remaining Evidence
for Evolutionists
The
evidence evolutionists point to now includes the 1)fossil
record, 2)comparative anatomy, 3)comparative embryology, 4)comparative
biochemistry, and 5)comparative biogeography.
1)
The fossil record is an absolute joke!
Evolution
teaches that life came from lifeless matter in the form of one-celled
organisms, which mutated over billions of years into man. But evolutionists cannot account for the 1.5
billion years of missing intermediary fossil evidence, which is needed to
support their belief.
First of
all, review this prophecy: Vast Fossil
Deposits Were Anticipated
When plants
and animals die they decompose rapidly.
Yet billions of life forms around the globe have been preserved as
fossils. Geologists now know that
fossils only form if there is rapid deposition of life buried away from
scavengers and bacteria. This agrees
exactly with what the Bible says occurred during the global Flood in Genesis 7.
Genesis
7:21-23 (NASB): All
flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every
swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22 of
all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the
spirit of life, died. 23Thus
He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man
to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted
out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with
him in the ark. 24The
water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Further
prophecy:
The
Fact that God once Flooded the Earth (the Noahic Flood) Would be Denied
2 Peter
3:5-6 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice
that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed
out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was
destroyed, being flooded with water.
There is a
mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by most of
the scientific world because it was God's judgment on man's wickedness.
Supporters
of the Darwinian Theory: “But wait a minute…don’t tell me you have the audacity
to dispute the fossil record! Doesn’t
the fossil record support the Darwinian theory?
Well…let’s
take a look.
Without the
benefit of today’s technology, Charles Darwin could not recognize the problems
his theory faced at the cellular level.
However, he did recognize that the fossil record posed a big problem for
his theory because it didn’t show gradualism.
That’s why he wrote, “Why then is not every geological formation and
every stratum full of such intermediate links?
Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic
chain, and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can
be urged against my theory.”
2)
Then
there’s “comparative
anatomy”…
What have
scientists “concluded” by comparative anatomy experiments? 1. Many animals have a similar forelimb
structure. 2. They must have had a
common ancestor. 3. This helps prove we
all came from a rock. Now wait a
minute…I think I missed something!
Doesn’t a similar design or similar DNA better demonstrate a common Creator? Think about something far simpler than
DNA….how about carmakers?
3)
Remember
Haeckel’s chart for Comparative embryology?
Do you recall the embryonic biology charts we were all
required to learn in public school? The yellow text below reads: “The
similarity between early stages in the development of many different animals
helped convince Darwin that all forms of life shared common ancestors.” Taken
directly from a textbook: BSCS Biological Science 1978 p. 628.
“Darwin
considered this by far the strongest single class of facts in favor of his
theory.” Haeckel called it the “biogenetic law.” Icons of Evolution p. 82 BSCS Biological Science 1978 p. 628.
I’m sure
you also remember being taught that back in 1875, Haeckel was completely
discredited by his peers and he admitted that he fabricated the chart, not just
modifying the images, but creating some of them himself? You don’t recall that? Well, perhaps it’s because not only is it not
taught, but it’s STILL IN THE TEXTBOOKS!
Why is this goofy chart still showing up in textbooks today?
“The
evolutionary idea that Sigmund Freud relied on most heavily in the manuscript
is the maxim that ‘ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny,’ that is, that the
development of the individual recapitulates the evolution of the entire
species” (Lost Paper Shows
Freud's Effort to Link Analysis and Evolution, 1987) .
1)
They
sometimes point to comparative biochemistry, which seeks to gain
insight into unanswered questions by finding connections between seemingly
unrelated topics.
Do I really
have to be Captain Obvious here and point out that simply because our DNA is similar,
does not prove that we “evolved” from another kind. (We also have similar DNA to a banana!) We also must understand that the planet, it’s
position, it’s conditions in which we live are all “finely tuned” and if we did
not have similar traits as other living things, traits that mesh perfectly with
the planet and environment on it, we would not be able to live. When we get to the chapter on the Anthropic principle, this will become more clear.
But essentially, 'anthropic' means “relating to human beings or their existence.” 'principle' means 'law.' The Anthropic Principle is the Law of Human Existence. It is well known that our existence in this universe depends on numerous cosmological constants and parameters whose numerical values must fall within a very narrow range of values. If even a single variable were off, even slightly, we would not exist.
But What about Natural Selection?
Creationists have no argument with natural selection, WE THOUGHT OF IT
FIRST! It is only a conservative process
that removes defective organisms and keeps the species strong (Edward Blyth, 24 years before Darwin).
“Natural selection may have a
stabilizing effect, but it does not promote speciation. It is not a creative force as many people have
suggested” (Brooks D. , 1982) .
“Natural selection can act only on those
biologic properties that already exist; it cannot create properties in order to
meet adaptational needs” (Lea & Febiger, 1989, p. 516) .
Only 55% of US natural scientists believe in Darwinian evolution. –Washington Times, August 31, 1998.
Architecture
The Bible specifies the perfect
dimensions for a stable water vessel in Genesis 6:15: This is how you shall
make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits,
and its height thirty cubits. Ship
builders today are well aware that the ideal dimension for ship stability is a
length six times that of the width. Keep
in mind, God told Noah the ideal dimensions for the ark 4,500 years ago.
“I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a
chariot wheel,” said Peter Elmer, a forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England,
who made two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. “It was covered in coral.”
“I believe I actually sat in an ancient
chariot cab,” he told WND at the time, referring to his time exploring a
submerged item in the underwater junkyard.
“Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian
army.”
Now, Michael Rood, a Hebrew-roots
teacher, has produced a video proffering evidence Elmer is absolutely correct.
His DVD, titled “The Red Sea Crossing,”
documents the work of numerous researchers from the U.S. and overseas who have
probed an underwater land bridge between a beachhead at Nuweiba, Egypt, and
what is today Saudi Arabia.
“What they found strewn across the
bottom of the reed sea has shaken the religious and scientific community,” says
Rood. “Cameras mounted on
remote-controlled submarines revealed coral-encrusted chariot parts, horse and
human remains strewn like battlefield wreckage on the bottom of the reed sea.”
He uses the term “reed sea” instead of
Red Sea, as that’s the literal translation of the words “yam suph” in Holy
Scripture, referring to the body of water God miraculously opened for the
ancient Israelites to cross on dry land, before drowning the Egyptians in hot
pursuit.
See the case for chariots in the Red Sea
for yourself. Watch “The Red Sea
Crossing” DVD!
“Even a novice can readily see that
these are not natural coral formations,” Rood said, showing a variety of
circular shapes he insists are chariot wheels, some with axles still intact.
He gave special attention to a single
gold-veneered, four-spoked chariot wheel that was photographed and buried in
place with a marker buoy nearby.
(Is
this the actual golden chariot wheel of the Egyptian pharaoh who chased the
ancient Israelites into the Red Sea, only to be drowned by God?)
“Because coral does not attach to gold
or silver, this priceless specimen remains untarnished by time,” he said,
calling it “strong evidence that this is actually one of the two chariot wheels
that the pharaoh rode to his death.”
Rood also explained giant pillars have
been found on both sides of the crossing to mark the event. One was discovered eroded on the Egyptian
shore by the late American archaeologist Ron Wyatt. Later, another was located on the Arabian side
with “the legible remains of ancient paleo-Hebrew inscriptions.”
He says the words for pharaoh, death,
Egypt, King Solomon and the sacred name of God, YHWH, are all present on the
second pillar.
(Pillars that may commemorate the Red Sea crossing
by the ancient Israelites have been discovered in recent years on both sides of
the Gulf of Aqaba arm of the Red Sea.)
“King Solomon, the wisest man who ever
lived, knew exactly where the children of Israel made their escape just 500
years before, and so he established pillars to memorialize the yam suph
crossing,” said Rood.
He points out the depth of water would
make it impossible for a crossing to have taken place anywhere with the
exception of the shallow land bridge at Nuweiba.
“If the water were to be removed, it
would still be impossible to cross this chasm which is as deep and wide as the
Grand Canyon in Arizona,” Rood said.
“But,” he added, “at the beach where
Israel camped, an underwater land bridge gently slopes at a 6-degree angle,
levels out at about 900 feet, and then gradually rises to meet the western
shore of Midian.”
For hundreds of years, many have been
under the impression that Mount Sinai, the place at which Moses received the
Ten Commandments from God, was located on the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. It was Helena, the mother of 4th century Roman
emperor Constantine, who made the declaration of its position when she
established two churches there.
But if Rood and the other researchers
are correct, the real Mount Sinai is actually in Arabia on the eastern side of
the Gulf of Aqaba. The New Testament
apostle Paul even refers to “Mount Sinai in Arabia” in Galatians 4:25.
“What is so difficult about determining
the body of water that Moshe (Moses) crossed?” asks Rood.
“The Bible gives us just one choice, and
this is it! I know that Constantine
would have you dismembered for implying that his mother picked out the wrong
site for Mount Sinai. But Constantine is
dead! And so are the traditions that
have enslaved our minds to such idiocy that we cannot even read the plain text
of the Bible and think for ourselves.”
A well-known Swedish scientist who is
among the Red Sea researchers believes the waters of Aqaba were indeed split
supernaturally.
Lennart Moller of the Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm told WND there are no natural, scientific explanations
for the parting miracle described in Scripture.
“The wind did not separate the water,”
he said. “No person could be in that
wind and survive. … If God has created all the Earth, it’s no
problem for Him to separate the water for a while.”
Rood says for many people, finding the
genuine crossing site is bad news because, “Blissful ignorance has died, and
you recognize that the Creator has revealed himself through His people and His
prophets. But this is good news to those
who truly believe in the God of Israel and obey His commandments.
“Here on the bottom of the [reed sea]
rests the evidence that the Creator has acted on behalf of His people in the
past, proof that you can count on His promise that in the last days, He will
perform a miracle that will make the parting of the reed sea pale by comparison.”
Ancient City of Ur
For centuries, skeptics have claimed the
Bible was nothing more than a collection of stories, myths, legends and
fanciful tales created out of the imaginative minds of ignorant shepherds and
nomads. Therefore, it was reasoned,
statements in the Bible should not be considered factual, true, or verifiable
(like statements made by science!) For
example, the skeptics taunted, where is the ancient city of Ur that the Bible
states existed?
Ur was the city the Biblical patriarch Abraham, by command of God, was
said to have left for another place (Canaan) God wanted him to live: Genesis
15:7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who
brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it” and in Nehemiah 9:7 “You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram
And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham.”
The entire account of Abraham’s journey can be found in Genesis 12. The New Testament refers to this journey in
Hebrews 11:9-10. For years the skeptics
used the fact that Ur had not been found as a justification for believing the
entire Bible is wrong, until 1854 A.D. when the city of Ur was found!
Not much excavation work was done however. It took an Englishman named Leonard Wooley to
excavate Ur. He labored there from 1922
until 1934 A.D. What Wooley found amazed
scholars and laymen alike. It was
discovered that Ur had been a powerful, prosperous, colorful and busy capital
that was a major hub for trading. Ur, it
turns out, not only existed but was a sophisticated, highly organized city!
In
a surprising contrast, the city of Babylon was found to have had only simple
mud buildings. But Ur, which was built
1,200 years BEFORE Babylon, had homes made of burnt brick, much like ours
today! But were these homes simple
dwelling places with a few rooms?
NO! Wooley found homes that were
actually two-story villas with thirteen to fourteen rooms surrounding a
courtyard. These homes also had a modern
lavatory. These residences had more than
enough room for a family, their servants, and guests.
The
excavations of Ur also produced a workshop where TWELVE kinds of clothing were
made. Also found recorded were the names
of the mill girls and their quota of rations, even to the weight of wool given
each worker, and what each produced. Tax
receipts were found that had been meticulously kept by week, month, and year.
The
ziggurat (translated: “house whose foundation creates terror”) of Ur, which was
the city’s main religious structure, was built four hundred years before
Abraham. It was three stories high, with
walls that all sloped inward-there was not a straight line in it!
Hezekiah’s
Tunnel
Modern biblical archaeology had its
beginnings with a man named Edward Robinson (born in 1793 in Connecticut). Among his discoveries-perhaps the greatest
find in modern history-was one which confirmed 2 Kings 20:20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he
made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not
written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In 1838, at the Pool of Siloam, Robinson discovered the very water system
designed by King Hezekiah and referred to in 2 Kings 20:20. By studying the chisel marks, he determined
that men had started on both ends, tunneling toward each other and meeting in
the middle.
Radio-dating
backs up biblical text: Siloam Tunnel located and dated to 700 BC.
by Helen R. Pilcher
An ancient waterway, described in the
Bible, has been located and radiocarbon-dated to around 700 BC1. The half-kilometer Siloam Tunnel still
carries water from the Gihon Spring into Jerusalem's ancient city of David. According to verses in Kings 2 and Chronicles
2 2, it was built during the reign of the King Hezekiah - between 727 BC and 698
BC - to protect the city's water supply against an imminent Assyrian siege. Critics argue that a stone inscription close
to the exit dates the tunnel at around 2 BC.
To solve the conundrum, geologist Amos
Frumkin, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and colleagues looked at the
decay of radioactive elements - such as carbon in plants and thorium in
stalactites - in tunnel samples.
The plaster lining the tunnel was laid
down around 700 BC, says Frumkin's team. A plant trapped inside the waterproof layer
clocked in at 700-800 BC, whereas a stalactite formed around 400 BC. "The plant must have been growing before
the tunnel was excavated; the stalactite grew after it was excavated,"
explains Frumkin.
The study "makes the tunnel's age
certain", says archaeologist Henrik Bruins of Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, Israel. The Siloam Tunnel is now
the best-dated Iron Age biblical structure so far identified.
The remains of buildings and structures
described in the Bible are notoriously difficult to find. Specimens are rare,
poorly preserved, hard to identify and often troublesome to access. Says James
Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, UK: "This scientific verification of
historical details in the Bible challenges those who do no wish to take it
seriously."
Tunnel
Vision
The samples also help to explain how the
tunnel was built. The passage is sealed
with layers of plaster, the deepest and oldest of which is directly above the
bedrock, with no sediment between. This shows that the plaster was applied
immediately after the tunnel was built, Frumkin says.
"It's also quite unique to find
well-preserved plant remains in plaster," says Bruins. Workers may have
made up huge quantities outside the tunnel, where the plants could have become
mixed in, and then taken it inside.
Large enough to walk inside, the Siloam
Tunnel zigzags through an ancient hill. Its carved inscription describes how
two teams of men, starting on opposite sides of the mountain, managed to meet
in the middle. They may have followed a natural fissure in the limestone rock,
Bruin suggests: “It's quite unique to find well-preserved plant remains in
plaster.”
Unusually, the inscription does not name
King Hezekiah - other monarchs commonly boasted of their architectural
achievements in stone. The carving is six metres inside the tunnel, so it must
have been made by lamplight.
"It wasn't meant to be seen by the
public," says Biblical historian Andrew Millard of Liverpool University,
UK. "I think it was the workmen
recording what an extraordinary feat they had accomplished."
The House of David
Many scholars of the 19th and
20th centuries doubted the existence of King David. But in 1993, a discovery among the ruins of
the northern Israeli town of Dan changed that.
We now have a monument from antiquity inscribed with references to the
“House of David.”
Capernaum
Of all the ruins and sites in the Holy
Land, perhaps the most interesting is Capernaum, the hometown of Jesus
Himself. Archaeologists have been
excavating Capernaum for the past 100 years, uncovering a village along the
Roman Road, the Via Maris, with lined streets, the foundations of houses and
shops, and the ruins of a magnificent synagogue. Of particular interest is a house, that with
reasonable certainty is believed to be the very house of the disciple Peter
(the house in which Jesus stayed, the house in which the invalid was lowered
through the roof).
In 1986, an ancient boat was found buried in the mud
by local inhabitants during a drought period.
Israel archaeologists began excavating it and found the boat dates from
the time of Jesus. It was likely sailing
the Sea of Galilee during the time Jesus was there.
“The eminent American archaeologist, William Deyer,
said that a century and a half of exploration ‘has for all time demolished the
notion that the Bible is pure mythology.
The Bible is about real, flesh and blood people, in a particular time
and place, whose actual historical experience led them irrevocably to a vision
of the human condition and promise that transcended anything yet conceived in
antiquity.’” –Robert Morgan, Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
“It may be stated categorically that no
archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” –Nelson
Glueck (Jewish archaeologist)
“On the contrary, archaeology has
debunked the charge of one skeptic after another and has confirmed to large
extents the historical reliability of the Bible. The critics, it seems, keep trying to bury
the Bible. But the archaeologists bury
the critics and keep digging the Bible back up.” –Robert Morgan, Beyond
Reasonable Doubt
How does archaeology
conclusively demonstrate the Bible to be reliable and unique among all the holy
books of world religions?
Archaeological discoveries verify the historical
reliability of the Old and New Testaments.
When compared to other religious books, the Bible is
unique in that it is the oldest, as testified by the places, people, titles,
and events mentioned in the Bible; and the language and literary formats used
to compose the Bible.
Many scholars today question the validity of
Biblical accounts, supposedly based on the findings of archaeology. When the “discrepancies” are examined in
detail, however it is found that the problems lie with the archaeology (i.e. misinterpretation
of evidence, lack of evidence, or poor scholarship) and not with the Bible.
The historical accuracy of the Scriptures is
likewise in a class by itself, far superior to the written records of Egypt,
Assyria, and other early nations.
Archeological confirmations of the Biblical record have been almost
innumerable in the last century. Dr.
Nelson Glueck, probably the greatest modern authority on Israeli archeology,
has said: "No archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been
made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in
the Bible. And, by the same token,
proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing
discoveries."
How can archaeology
prove helpful to someone seeking for truth to the basic questions about life?
The discoveries of archaeology can be helpful in
removing doubts that a person might have about the historical trustworthiness
of the Bible. The miracles described, as
well as the spiritual message, must be accepted on faith, which is the basis of
our relationship with God. When the
truth of Scripture is challenged by skeptics, archaeology can be used to
demonstrate that the people, places, and events of the Bible are real.
In what ways have the
discoveries of archaeology verified the reliability of the Bible?
Over the years there have been many criticisms
leveled against the Bible concerning its historical reliability. These criticisms are usually based on a lack
of evidence from outside sources to confirm the Biblical record. Since the Bible is a religious book, many
scholars take the position that it is biased and cannot be trusted unless we
have corroborating evidence from extra-Biblical sources. In other words, the Bible is guilty until
proven innocent, and a lack of outside evidence places the Biblical account in
doubt.
This standard is far different from that applied to
other ancient documents, even though many, if not most, have a religious
element. They are considered to be
accurate, unless there is evidence to show that they are not. Although it is not possible to verify every
incident in the Bible, the discoveries of archaeology since the mid-1800s have
demonstrated the reliability and plausibility of the Bible narrative.
What archaeological discovery
would you point to as the most convincing evidence for the Bible being God's
Word?
Any one discovery can be explained away as
coincidence, or an alternative interpretation can be given to disassociate it
from the Bible. It is the weight of a myriad
of discoveries that demonstrates the Bible to be the Word of God.
These discoveries fall into three categories:
Archaeological evidence demonstrates the historical
and cultural accuracy of the Bible.
The Bible's message of a loving Creator God who interacts
in the affairs of mankind and has provided a means of salvation stands in sharp
contrast to the pagan fertility religions of the ancient world as, revealed by
archaeology.
Archaeological findings demonstrate that the
Biblical prophets accurately predicted events hundreds of years before they
occurred—something that lies beyond the capability of mere men.
The sands of time have buried many mysteries about
Jesus that only recently have been brought to light.
Perhaps the most significant discoveries are several
ancient manuscripts unearthed between the 18th and 20th centuries. We will look closer at these manuscripts in a
later section.
Archaeologists have also discovered numerous places
and relics that agree with the New Testament accounts of Jesus. Malcolm Muggeridge was a British journalist
who considered Jesus a myth until he saw such evidence during a BBC television
assignment to Israel.
After reporting on the very places written about in
the New Testament account of Jesus, Muggeridge wrote, “A certainty seized me
about Jesus’ birth, ministry and Crucifixion…I became aware that there really
had been a man, Jesus….”
However, prior to the 20th century no tangible
evidence existed for the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the Jewish chief
priest Joseph Caiaphas. Both men were
central figures in the trial leading to the crucifixion of Christ. Skeptics cited this apparent lack of evidence
as ammunition for their Christ-myth theory.
Follow the Link here to read Gabriel's Vision Stone Tablet: Prophecy of the Coming Messiah Jesus
Seal of Gedaliah-Son of
Pashur
by Rich Deem
The Seal of Gedaliah, son of Pashur,
confirms the existence of one of Jeremiah's persecutors.
According to the Old Testament, Jeremiah was called to speak
for God to the Hebrews. When Jeremiah
began to predict that God's judgment would fall on Judah and that Babylonians
would capture the city of Jerusalem and send its inhabitants into captivity, he
was persecuted by a number of King Zedekiah's ministers, including Shephatiah
the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of
Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah. According to the narrative,
Jeremiah was lowered into a muddy well to die, but was rescued by Ebed-melech,
an Ethiopian eunuch of the king. Bible skeptics often claim that the stories
are made-up and that most of the people probably never existed. However, new
evidence shows that at least one of Jeremiah's persecutors did exist during the
time specified in the Book of Jeremiah.
Dr. Eilat
Mazar, one of Israel's top archaeologists, found a seal with the inscription,
"Gedaliah the son of Pashur". According to Mazar, the seal dates to
the final years of the first temple period - during the reign of Zedekiah,
Judah's last king. Three years ago, Mazar also found the seal of Jucal the son
of Shelemiah in a nearby location. Jucal
is also mentioned as one of Jeremiah's accusers in the same passage.
The seal of
Gedaliah, the son of Pashur, has been found in a recent dig near the ruins of
the first temple in Jerusalem. The seal confirms the existence of one of
Jeremiah's accusers, as described in Jeremiah 38:1, demonstrating the
reliability of the biblical narrative.
The Bible is inspired by the
Creator. Therefore it is no surprise
that life's ultimate questions are answered within its pages. The Bible reveals the purpose of our
existence. Scripture alone explains
where our conscience came from. And no
other source explains the root cause of death.
Seeing that all die, wouldn't it be wise to search for the remedy in the
only book that proves it was inspired by God?
The Bible offers the only remedy for sin, suffering, and death. God's Word presents the only perfect, sinless
Savior - one who died for our sins and rose from the dead. Jesus is the Creator (John 1; Colossians 1). He said "I and My Father are one" (John
10:30). He said, "I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
And He promises His followers: "I give them eternal life, and they
shall never perish" (John 10:28).
Your eternal destiny will be determined by your choice. There is only one provision for sin. Jesus died in your place. Only by faith in Christ's finished work will
you be saved. This is God's free gift
offered to all. Please do not let pride,
religion, opinions, or love for sin separate you from God. No sin is worth an eternity in hell. Please heed Jesus' words - "Repent, and
believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
If you do, you will live in heaven with our awesome Creator forever!
Origin of the Different
"races" Explained
Genesis 11:6-9 The Lord said, “Behold, they are one
people, and they all have the same language.
And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to
do will be impossible for them. 7 Come,
let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not
understand one another’s speech.” 8 So
the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and
they stopped building the city. 9
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the
language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over
the face of the whole earth.
As Noah's descendants migrated around the world
after Babel, each language group developed distinct features based on
environment and genetic variation. Those
with a genetic makeup suitable to their new environment survived to
reproduce. Over time, certain traits
(such as dark skin color for those closer to the equator) dominated. Genesis alone offers a reasonable answer to
the origin of the races and languages.
Ebla
The discovery of the Ebla archive in northern Syria
in the 1970s has shown the Biblical writings concerning the Patriarchs to be
viable. Documents written on clay
tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place names in the
Patriarchal accounts are genuine. The
name “Canaan” was in use in Ebla, a name critics once said was not used at that
time and was used incorrectly in the early chapters of the Bible.
Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and
darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving
over the surface of the waters.
The word tehom
(“the deep”) in Genesis 1:2 was said to be a late word demonstrating the late
writing of the creation story. “Tehom”
was part of the vocabulary at Ebla, in use some 800 years before Moses. Ancient customs reflected in the stories of
the Patriarchs have also been found in clay tablets from Nuzi and Mari.
Hittites
The Hittites were once thought to be a Biblical
legend, until their capital and records were discovered at Bogazkoy, Turkey.
Solomon’s Wealth
Many thought the Biblical references to Solomon's
wealth were greatly exaggerated.
Recovered records from the past show that wealth in
antiquity was concentrated with the king and Solomon's prosperity was entirely
feasible.
Belshazzar
Another king who was in doubt was Belshazzar, king
of Babylon, named in Daniel 5. The last
king of Babylon was Nabonidus according to recorded history. Tablets were found showing that Belshazzar
was Nabonidus' son who served as coregent in Babylon. Thus, Belshazzar could offer to make Daniel
“third highest ruler in the kingdom” for reading the handwriting on the wall,
the highest available position. Here we
see the “eye-witness” nature of the Biblical record, as is so often brought out
by the discoveries of archaeology.
Dan. 5:16 But I personally have heard about you,
that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription
and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and
wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the
third ruler in the kingdom.
Sargon
It was once claimed there was no
Assyrian king named Sargon as recorded in Isaiah 20:1(In the year that the commander came to
Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod
and captured it,), because this name was not known in any other record. Then, Sargon's palace was discovered in
Khorsabad, Iraq. The very event
mentioned in Isaiah 20, his capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace
walls. What is more, fragments of a
stela memorializing the victory were found at Ashdod itself.
Oceanography
Hydrological Cycle
Described
Ecclesiastes 1:7 All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the
sea is not full. To the place where the
rivers flow, There they flow again.
Jeremiah 10:13 When He utters His voice, there is a
tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the
end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.
Amos 9:6 The One who builds His upper chambers
in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls
for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The Lord
is His name.
Four thousand years ago the Bible
declared: For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the
mist, 28 Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly. Job 36:27-28
The ancients observed mighty rivers
flowing into the ocean, but they could not conceive why the sea level never
rose. Though they observed rainfall,
they had only quaint theories as to its origin.
Meteorologists now understand that the hydrological cycle consists of
evaporation, atmospheric transportation, distillation, and precipitation.
by Kwame Opam
on June 14, 2014 02:20 am
Researchers at Northwestern University have found
evidence for a massive reservoir of water deep within the Earth's mantle. The reservoir, which is said to be three
times the volume of the oceans on the surface, is contained within
highly-pressurized rock known as ringwoodite.
The scientists hope that their findings, recently published in the
journal Science, can shed light on where Earth's oceans came from.
Three times the volume of the oceans on Earth's
surface The team, led by mineralogist Steven Jacobsen, used an array of 2000
seismometers to study how seismic waves generated by earthquakes move through
the Earth's interior. The waves' speed
changed depending on the type of rock they pass through, and wet ringwoodite
has a particular effect on wave velocity.
Jacobsen was able to reproduce wet ringwoodite in his lab, and the
group's findings matched what he observed in the lab. As it turns out, ringwoodite, under the
extreme heat and pressure of the mantle, bleeds water. That water would then become trapped in the
transition zone at between roughly 200 and 400 miles underground.
The new research lends credence to theories that our
oceans originated on Earth. However,
more tests will need to be conducted moving forward. Jacobsen's team could only verify that the
reservoir exists below the continental United States, so it's unclear how far
this "ocean" extends.
Our Ancestors Were not
Primitive
Genesis 4:20-22 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the
father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the
father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all
implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Job 8:8-10 “Please inquire of past generations,
And consider the things searched out by their fathers. 9 “For we are only of yesterday and know
nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. 10 “Will they not teach you and tell you, And
bring forth words from their minds?
Job 12:12 Wisdom is with aged men, With long life
is understanding.
Archeologists have discovered that our ancestors
mined, had metallurgical factories, created air-conditioned buildings, designed
musical instruments, studied the stars, and much more. This evidence directly contradicts the theory
of evolution, but agrees completely with God's Word.
Cavemen described in the
Bible
Job 30:1-8 “But now those younger than I mock me,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. 2“Indeed, what good was the
strength of their hands to me? Vigor had
perished from them. 3“From
want and famine they are gaunt Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and
desolation, 4Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And whose food is the
root of the broom shrub. 5“They
are driven from the community; They shout against them as against a thief, 6So
that they dwell in dreadful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the
rocks. 7“Among the bushes
they cry out; Under the nettles they are gathered together. 8Fools, even those without a name,
They were scourged from the land.
Four thousand years ago, Job describes certain
"vile men" who were driven from society to forage "among the
bushes" for survival and who "live in the clefts of the valleys,
(and) in caves of the earth and the rocks.”
Therefore "cavemen" were simply outcasts and vagabonds - not our
primitive ancestors as evolutionists speculate.
Ice Age inferred
Job 38:29-30 “From whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? 30 “Water becomes hard like stone, And the
surface of the deep is imprisoned.
Prior to the global Flood the earth was
apparently subtropical. However shortly
after the Flood, the Bible mentions ice often - “From the breath of God ice is made,
And the expanse of the waters is
frozen.”
-Job 37:10. Evidently the Ice Age
occurred in the centuries following the Flood.
Roundness of the Earth
Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of
the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the
heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
Almost Infinite Extent
of the Sidereal Universe
Law of Conservation of
Mass and Energy
Gravitational Field
The
Continents Were created as one Large Land Mass
Genesis 1:9-10 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into
one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Many geologists agree there is strong
evidence that the earth was originally one super continent - just as the Bible
said way back in Genesis.
Zoology
Animal and Plant Extinction
Explained
Jeremiah 12:4 How long is the land
to mourn And the vegetation of the countryside to wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
Animals and birds have been snatched away, Because men have said, “He will not
see our latter ending.”
Hosea 4:3 Therefore the land
mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the
field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear.
According to evolution, occasionally we
should witness a new kind springing into existence. Yet, this has never been observed. On the contrary, as Scripture explains, since
the curse on all creation, we observe death and extinction.
Romans 8:20-22 For the creation was
subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in
hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to
corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans
and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Animal Instincts
Understood
Job 39 God Speaks of Nature and Its Beings
“Do you know the time the mountain
goats give birth? Do you observe the
calving of the deer? 2 “Can you count
the months they fulfill, Or do you know the time they give birth? 3 “They kneel down, they bring forth their
young, They get rid of their labor pains.
4 “Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field; They
leave and do not return to them. 5 “Who
sent out the wild donkey free? And who
loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 To whom I gave the wilderness for a
home And the salt land for his dwelling place?
7 “He scorns the tumult of the city, The shoutings of the driver he does
not hear. 8 “He explores the mountains
for his pasture And searches after every green thing. 9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you, Or
will he spend the night at your manger?
10 “Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes, Or will he harrow
the valleys after you? 11 “Will you
trust him because his strength is great And leave your labor to him? 12 “Will you have faith in him that he will
return your grain And gather it from your threshing floor? 13 “The ostriches’ wings flap joyously With
the pinion and plumage of love, 14 For she abandons her eggs to the earth And
warms them in the dust, 15 And she forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that
a wild beast may trample them. 16 “She
treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers; Though her labor be in
vain, she is unconcerned; 17 Because God has made her forget wisdom, And has
not given her a share of understanding.
18 “When she lifts herself on high, She laughs at the horse and his
rider. 19 “Do you give the horse his
might? Do you clothe his neck with a
mane? 20 “Do you make him leap like the
locust? His majestic snorting is
terrible. 21 “He paws in the valley, and
rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons. 22 “He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
And he does not turn back from the sword.
23 “The quiver rattles against him, The flashing spear and javelin. 24 “With shaking and rage he races over the
ground, And he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet. 25 “As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’ And he scents the battle from afar, And the
thunder of the captains and the war cry.
26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, Stretching his
wings toward the south? 27 “Is it at
your command that the eagle mounts up And makes his nest on high? 28 “On the cliff he dwells and lodges, Upon
the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.
29 “From there he spies out food; His eyes see it from afar. 30 “His young ones also suck up blood; And
where the slain are, there is he.”
Proverbs 30:24-28 Four things are small
on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are not a strong
people, But they prepare their food in the summer; 26 The shephanim are not
mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks; 27 The locusts have no
king, Yet all of them go out in ranks; 28 The lizard you may grasp with the
hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.
Jeremiah 8:7 “Even the stork in
the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush
Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of
the Lord.”
A newly hatched spider weaves an
intricate web without being taught. A
recently emerged butterfly somehow knows to navigate a 2,500-mile migration
route without a guide. God explains that
He has endowed each creature with specific knowledge. Scripture, not evolution, explains animal instincts.
Ten
Misconceptions about the Geologic Column
by Steven A. Austin, Ph.D.
by Steven A. Austin, Ph.D.
The ten strata systems that geologists use (Cambrian, Ordovician,
Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and
Tertiary) compose the "standard geologic column" and are claimed by
many to contain the major proof of evolutionary theory. (In the graphic above, you can see other
layers that may have been added.)
Several erroneous notions have been attached to the geologic
column. The following are the ten most
common misconceptions.
Misconception No. 1-The geologic column
was constructed by geologists who, because of the weight of the evidence that
they had found, were convinced of the truth of uniformitarian theory and
organic evolution.
It may sound surprising, but the standard geologic column was devised
before 1860 by catastrophists who were creationists (Ritiland, 1982) . Adam Sedgewick, Roderick Murchison, William
Coneybeare, and others affirmed that the earth was formed largely by
catastrophic processes, and that the earth and life were created. These men stood for careful empirical science
and were not compelled to believe evolutionary speculation or side with uniformitarian
theory. Although most would be called
"progressive creationists" in today's terminology, they would not be
pleased to see all the evolutionary baggage that has been loaded onto their
classification of strata.
Misconception No. 2-Geologists composed
the geologic column by assembling the "periods" and "eras"
which they had recognized.
The geologic column was not composed by assembling a chronology of
"periods," "eras" or other supposed measures of time, but
by superposition of objectively defined sequences of sedimentary strata called
"systems.” The
"periods" and "eras" were later appended to the system
nomenclature of the "geologic Column" transforming it into a
"geologic time scale."
Misconception No. 3-The strata systems
of the geologic column are worldwide in their occurrence with each strata
system being present below any point on the earth's surface.
The notion that the earth's crust has on "onion skin" structure
with successive layers containing all strata systems distributed on a global
scale is not according to the facts.
Data from continents and ocean basins show that the ten systems are
poorly represented on a global scale: approximately 77% of the earth's
surface area on land and under the sea has seven or more (70% or more) of the
strata systems missing beneath; 94% of the earth's surface has three or more
systems missing beneath; and an estimated 99.6% has at least one missing
system (Woodmorappe, 1981) . Only a few locations on earth (about 0.4% of
its area) have been described with the succession of the ten systems beneath
(west Nepal, west Bolivia, and central Poland).
Even where the ten systems may be present, geologists recognize
individual systems to be incomplete. The
entire geologic column, composed of complete strata systems, exists only in the
diagrams drawn by geologists!
Misconception No. 4-Strata systems
always occur in the order required by the geologic column.
Hundreds of locations
are known where the order of the systems identified by geologists does not
match the order of the geologic column.
Strata systems are believed in some places to be inverted, repeated, or
inserted where they do not belong.
Overturning, overthrust faulting, or landsliding are frequently maintained
as disrupting the order. In some
locations such structural changes can be supported by physical evidence while
elsewhere physical evidence of the disruption may be lacking and special
pleading may be required using fossils or radiometric dating.
Misconception No. 5-Because each strata
system has distinctive lithologic composition, a newly discovered stratum can
be assigned easily to its correct position in the geologic column.
Sandstone, limestone, dolomite, shale, chert, salt, conglomerate, coal
and other rock types are not diagnostic of specific strata systems. Therefore, a rock's physical appearance
cannot, with certainty, distinguish the system or strata level to which a rock
may belong. The sequence of rock
types is more useful, but hardly an infallible guide to correlation. Thus, the Cambrian System on an intercontinental
scale is typically composed of quartzose sandstone, overlain by glauconitic
sandstone with dark-brown shale, overlain by impure, light-brown limestones (Ager, 1981) . The correlation of "Cambrian"
strata is further strengthened by the presence on an intercontinental scale of
an unconformity (surface of erosion) at or near the base of the system. Each rock type is not distinctive of the
Cambrian, and neither is the unconformity, but the sequence may be.
Misconception No. 6-Fossils, especially
the species distinctive of specific systems, provide the most reliable method
of assigning strata to their level in the geologic column.
Bed-to-bed correlation of strata to their "type system" area is
the most reliable method of assigning strata to a system. The data from oil well drilling, seismic
surveys, and surface geologic mapping is of such character that subsurface
correlation of lithostratigraphic units of the thickness of systems is possible
on a continental scale. Although some
fossils appear to be distinctive of certain systems (most fossil taxa range
through a few to several systems), care must be exercised in correlation by
fossils. First, the stratigraphic range
of a fossil type is always open to extension as new fossils are
discovered. Second, when an extension of
a fossil's range may be required, geologists may call upon erosion (reworking
fossils into younger strata or leaking fossils into older strata) and
structural events (overturning or faulting strata and fossils). An example of the first problem is the
monoplacophoran mollusk Pilina, which might otherwise be considered diagnostic
of the Silurian System (443.7 to 416.0 million years ago), except for the
startling discovery that Neopilina (the garden snail) lives today, and,
therefore, would be expected in any system overlying the Silurian. For these reasons correlation by fossils must
always remain tentative awaiting further confirmatory evidence from
lithostratigraphy. We should look
very skeptically at strata correlations which rely solely on fossils.
Misconception No. 7-Sedimentary evidence
proves that periods of millions of years duration were required to deposit
individual strata systems.
Before radiometric dating was devised,
uniformitarian geologists postulated "periods" of millions of years
duration to slowly deposit the strata systems.
A single sedimentary lamina, or bed, was supposed by uniformitarian
geologists to represent typically a year or many years duration. It was concluded, therefore, that multiplied
thousands of laminae and beds superimposed required millions of years. Recently, however, geologists have discovered
that laminae and beds form quickly on floodplains of rivers during floods, in shallow
marine areas during storms, and in deep water by turbidity currents. The evidence of rapid sedimentation is now so
easily recognized that geologists observing a strata system these days often
ask where to insert the "missing time" of which the strata do not
show sedimentary evidence. Catastrophism,
quite naturally, is making a come-back.
There is good reason to believe that entire strata systems, and even
groups of systems, were accumulated in a hydraulic cataclysm matching the
description of Noah's Flood in the Bible.
Misconception No. 8-Radiometric dating
can supply "absolute ages" in millions of years with certainty to
systems of the geologic column.
Geologists and geochronologists assert
that radiometric dating verifies that individual strata systems and their
strata are millions of years old. When
asked to document the most reliable radiometric age dates, geologists usually
point to isochron and concordia plots which employ multiple isotopic analyses,
which they claim will remove the effects of original "contaminants,"
and display the "age" of a rock in graphical form. However, we find geologists often reporting
isochron plots which are discordant with the accepted "ages" of
strata systems (Brooks, James, & Hart, 1976) . Frequently, these discordant isochron plots
"date" strata systems much older than even the accepted old ages
customarily assigned to the systems of the geologic column. Geologists should be asking which, if any, of
the isochron plots should be accepted as "absolute ages," and if the
discordances do not falsify the assumptions upon which radiometric dating is
based. Geologists need to consider
radiometric methods which indicate ages of thousands of years for strata
systems, (Gentry, 1976) as well as general indicators
supporting young age.
Misconception No. 9-The environmental
"pictures" assigned to certain portions of the geologic column allow
us to accurately visualize what its "geologic ages" were like.
Books, films and museum displays contain
illustrations asking us to visualize what earlier "geologic ages"
were like. These "pictures"
show supposed primitive earth conditions, specific environments with sediments
being slowly deposited, inferred "transitional organisms" evolving
toward familiar forms, and whole communities of organisms "at home"
with other organisms absent. Perhaps the
most blatant environmental picture" has been assigned to lower Precambrian
strata, formed when the earth supposedly had a reducing atmosphere and an
"organic soup" in which life evolved.
Yet, geologists have yet to find sedimentary evidence for the reducing
atmosphere and the soup (Austin, 1982) . This reminds us that accepting an
environmental "picture" requires much imagination from a meager supply
of facts.
Misconception No. 10-The geologic column
and the positions of fossils within the geologic column provide proof of
amoeba-to-man evolution.
All the animal phyla, including chordate
fish, are now known as fossils in the Cambrian System. No ancestral forms can be found for the
protozoans, arthropods, brachiopods, mollusks, bryozoans, coelenterates,
sponges, annelids, echinoderms or chordates.
These phyla appear in the fossil record fully formed and distinct, in
better agreement with the concept of "multiple, abrupt beginnings"
(creation) than with the notion of "descent from a common ancestor"
(evolution).
Doesn’t Carbon-14 Dating
Disprove the Bible?
by Mike Riddle
Scientists use a technique called radiometric dating
to estimate the ages of rocks, fossils, and the earth. Many people have been led to believe that
radiometric dating methods have proved the earth to be billions of years
old. This has caused many in the church
to reevaluate the biblical creation account, specifically the meaning of the
word “day” in Genesis 1. With our focus
on one particular form of radiometric dating — carbon dating — we will see that
carbon dating strongly supports a young earth.
Note that, contrary to a popular misconception, carbon dating is not
used to date rocks at millions of years old.
Before
we get into the details of how radiometric dating methods are used, we need to
review some preliminary concepts from chemistry. Recall that atoms are the basic building
blocks of matter. Atoms are made up of
much smaller particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons make up the center
(nucleus) of the atom, and electrons form shells around the nucleus.
The number of protons in the nucleus of
an atom determines the element. For
example, all carbon atoms have 6 protons, all atoms of nitrogen have 7 protons,
and all oxygen atoms have 8 protons. The
number of neutrons in the nucleus can vary in any given type of atom. So, a carbon atom might have six neutrons or
seven, or possibly eight-but it would always have six protons. An “isotope” is any of several different
forms of an element, each having different numbers of neutrons. The illustration below shows the three
isotopes of carbon.
The atomic number corresponds to the
number of protons in an atom. Atomic
mass is a combination of the number of protons and neutrons in the
nucleus. (The electrons are so much
lighter that they do not contribute significantly to the mass of an atom.) Some isotopes of certain elements are
unstable; they can spontaneously change into another kind of atom in a process
called “radioactive decay.” Since this
process presently happens at a known measured rate, scientists attempt to use
it like a “clock” to tell how long ago a rock or fossil formed. There are two main applications for
radiometric dating. One is for
potentially dating fossils (once-living things) using carbon-14 dating, and the
other is for dating rocks and the age of the earth using uranium, potassium and
other radioactive atoms.
Carbon-14 (14C), also referred to as radiocarbon, is
claimed to be a reliable dating method for determining the ages of fossils up
to 50,000 to 60,000 years. If this claim
is true, the biblical account of a young earth (about 6,000 years) is in
question, since 14C dates of tens of thousands of years are common. When a scientist’s interpretation of data
does not match the clear meaning of the text in the Bible, we should never
reinterpret the Bible. God knows just
what He meant to say, and His understanding of science is infallible, whereas
ours is fallible. So we should never
think it necessary to modify His Word.
Genesis 1 defines the days of creation to be literal days (a number with
the word “day” always means a normal day in the Old Testament, and the phrase
“evening and morning” further defines the days as literal days). Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God,
we should examine the validity of the standard interpretation of 14C dating by
asking several questions:
Is the explanation of the data derived from
empirical, observational science, or an interpretation of past events
(historical science)? 2. Are there any
assumptions involved in the dating method?
3. Are the dates provided by 14C dating consistent with what we
observe? 4. Do all scientists accept the
14C dating method as reliable and accurate?
All radiometric dating methods use scientific procedures in the present
to interpret what has happened in the past.
The procedures used are not necessarily in question. The interpretation of past events is in
question. The secular (evolutionary)
worldview interprets the universe and world to be billions of years old. The Bible teaches a young universe and earth. Which worldview does science support? Can carbon-14 dating help solve the mystery
of which worldview is more accurate? The
use of carbon-14 dating is often misunderstood.
Carbon-14 is mostly used to date once-living things (organic material). It cannot be used directly to date rocks;
however, it can potentially be used to put time constraints on some inorganic
material such as diamonds (diamonds could contain carbon-14). Because of the rapid rate of decay of 14C, it
can only give dates in the thousands-of-year range and not millions. There are three different naturally occurring
varieties (isotopes) of carbon: 12C, 13C, and 14C. Carbon-14 is used for dating because it is
unstable (radioactive), whereas 12C and 13C are stable. Radioactive means that 14C will decay (emit
radiation) over time and become a different element. During this process (called “beta decay”) a
neutron in the 14C atom will be converted into a proton and an electron. By losing one neutron and gaining one proton,
14C is changed into nitrogen-14 (14N = 7 protons and 7 neutrons). If 14C is constantly decaying, will the earth
eventually run out of 14C? The answer is
no. Carbon-14 is constantly being added
to the atmosphere. Cosmic rays from
outer space, which contain high levels of energy, bombard the earth’s upper
atmosphere. These cosmic rays collide
with atoms in the atmosphere and can cause them to come apart. Neutrons that come from these fragmented
atoms collide with 14N atoms (the atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and
oxygen) and convert them into 14C atoms (a proton changes into a neutron).
Once C-14 is produced, it combines with
oxygen in the atmosphere (C-12 behaves like C-14 and also combines with oxygen)
to form carbon dioxide (CO2). Because
CO2 gets incorporated into plants (which means the food we eat contains C-14
and C-12), all living things should have the same ratio of C-14 and C-12 in
them as in the air we breathe.
How the Carbon-14 Dating
Process Works
Once a living thing dies, the dating
process begins. As long as an organism is alive it will continue to take in
C-14; however, when it dies, it will stop.
Since C-14 is radioactive (decays into N-14), the amount of C-14 in a
dead organism gets less and less over time.
Therefore, part of the dating process involves measuring the amount of
C-14 that remains after some has been lost (decayed). Scientists now use a device called an
“Accelerator Mass Spectrometer” (AMS) to determine the ratio of C-14 to C-12,
which increases the assumed accuracy to about 80,000 years. In order to actually do the dating, other
things need to be known. Two such things
include the following questions:
1.
How fast does C-14 decay?
2.
What was the starting amount of C-14 in
the creature before it died?
The decay rate of radioactive elements
is described in terms of half-life. The
half-life of an atom is the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a
sample to decay. The half-life of C-14
is 5,730 years. For example, a jar
starting full of C-14 atoms at time zero will contain half C-14 atoms and half
N-14 atoms at the end of 5,730 years (one half-life). At the end of 11,460 years, (two half-lives)
the jar will contain one-quarter C-14 atoms and three-quarter N-14 atoms.
Since the half-life of C-14 is known
(how fast it decays), the only part left to determine is the starting amount of
C-14 in a fossil. If scientists know the
original amount of C-14 in a creature when it died, they can measure the
current amount and then calculate how many half-lives have passed. Since no one was there to measure the amount
of C-14 when a creature died, scientists need to find a method to determine who
much C-14 has decayed.
To
do this, scientists use the main isotope of carbon, called carbon-12
(C-12). Because C-12 is a stable isotope
of carbon, it will remain constant; however, the amount of C-14 will decrease
after a creature dies. All living things
take in carbon (C-14 and C-12) from eating and breathing. Therefore, the ratio of C-14 to C-12 in
living creatures will be the same as in the atmosphere. This ratio turns out to be about one C-14
atom for every 1 trillion C-12 atoms.
Scientists can use this ratio to help determine the starting amount of
C-14.
When
an organism dies, this ratio (1 to 1 trillion) will begin to change. The amount of C-12 will remain constant, but
the amount of C-14 will become less and less.
The smaller the ratio, the longer the organism has been dead. The following illustration demonstrates how
the age is estimated using this ratio.
A
Critical Assumption
A critical assumption used in C-14
dating has to do with this ratio. It is
assumed that the ratio of C-14 to C-12 in the atmosphere has always been the
same as it is today (1 to 1 trillion).
If this assumption is true, then the AMS C-14 dating method is valid up
to about 80,000 years. Beyond this
number, the instruments scientists use would not be able to detect enough
remaining C-14 to be useful in age estimates.
This is a critical assumption in the
dating process. If this assumption is
not true, then the method will give incorrect dates. What could cause this ratio to change? If the production rate of C-14 in the
atmosphere is not equal to the removal rate (mostly through decay), this ratio
will change. In other words, the amount
of C-14 being produced in the atmosphere must equal the amount being removed to
be in a steady state (also called “equilibrium”). If this is not true, the ratio of C-14 to
C-12 is not a constant, which would make knowing the starting amount of C-14 in
a specimen difficult or impossible to accurately determine.
Dr. William Libby, the founder of the Carbon-14 dating method, assumed
this ratio to be constant. His reasoning
was based on a belief in evolution, which assumes the earth must be billions of
years old. Assumptions in the scientific
community are extremely important. If
the starting assumption is false, all the calculations based on that assumption
might be correct but still give a wrong conclusion. In Dr. Libby’s original work, he noted that
the atmosphere did not appear to be in equilibrium. This was a troubling idea for Dr. Libby since
he believed the world was billions of years old and enough time had passed to
achieve equilibrium. Dr. Libby’s
calculations showed that if the earth started with no C-14 in the atmosphere,
it would take up to 30,000 years to build up to a steady state (equilibrium).
If the cosmic radiation has
remained at its present intensity for 20,000 or 30,000 years, and if the carbon
reservoir has not changed appreciably in this time, then there exists at the
present time a complete balance between the rate of disintegration of
radiocarbon atoms and rate of assimilation of new radiocarbon atoms for all
material in the life-cycle.
Dr. Libby chose to ignore this discrepancy (nonequilibrium state), and he
attributed it to experimental error.
However, the discrepancy has turned out to be very real. The ratio of C-14/C-12 is not constant. The Specific Production Rate (SPR) of C-14 is
known to be 18.8 atoms per gram of total carbon per minute. The Specific Decay Rate (SDR) is known to be
only 16.1 disintegrations per gram per minute.
What does this mean? If it takes
about 30,000 years to reach equilibrium and C-14 is still out of equilibrium,
then maybe the earth is not very old.
Magnetic Field of the
Earth
Other factors can affect the production rate of C-14 in the atmosphere. The earth has a magnetic field around it
which helps protect us from harmful radiation from outer space. This magnetic field is decaying (getting
weaker). The stronger the field is
around the earth, the few the number of cosmic rays that are able to reach the
atmosphere. This would result in a
smaller production of C-14 in the atmosphere in earth’s past.
The
cause for the long term variation of the C-14 level is not known. The variation is certainly partially the
result of a change in the cosmic ray production rate of radiocarbon. The cosmic-ray flux, and hence the production
rate of C-14, is a function not only of the solar activity but also the
magnetic dipole moment of the Earth.
Though
complex, this history of the earth’s magnetic field agrees with Barnes’ basic
hypothesis, that the field has always freely decayed…The field has always been
losing energy despite its variations, so it cannot be more than 10,000 years
old.
Earth’s
magnetic field is fading. Today it is
about 10% weaker than it was when German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss
started keeping tabs on it in 1845, scientists say. If the production rate of C-14 in the
atmosphere was less in the past, dates given using the carbon-14 method would
incorrectly assume that more C-14 had decayed out of a specimen that what has
actually occurred. This would result in
giving older dates than the true age.
Genesis Flood
What role might the Genesis Flood have
played in the amount of carbon? The Flood would have buried large amounts of
carbon from living organisms (plant and animal) to form today’s fossil fuels
(coal, oil, etc.) The amount of fossil
fuels indiates there must have been a vastly larger quantity of vegetation in
existence prior to the Flood than exists today.
This means that the biosphere just prior to the Flood might have had 500
times more carbon in living organisms than today. This would further dilute the amount of C-14
and cause the C-14/C-12 ratio to be much smaller than today.
If that were the case, and this
C-14 were distributed uniformly throughout the biosphere, and the total amount
of biosphere C were, for example, 500 times that of today’s world, the
resulting C-14/C-12 ratio would be 1/500 of today’s level…
When
the flood is taken into account, along with the decay of the magnetic filed, it
is reasonable to believe that the assumption of equilibrium is a false
assumption. Because of this false
assumption, any age estimates using C-14 on organic material that dates prior
to the Flood will give much older dates than the true ages. Pre-Flood organic materials would be dated at
perhaps 10x the true age.
The RATE Group Findings
In 1997, an 8-year research
project was started to investigage the age of the earth. The group was called the RATE group (Radioisotopes
and the Age of The Earth). The team of
scientists included:
Larry Vardiman, PhD
Atmospheric Science
Russell Humphreys, PhD
Physics
Eugene Chaffin, PhD Physics
Donald DeYoung, PhD Physics
John Baumgardner, PhD
Geophysics
Steven Austin, PhD Geology
Andrew Snelling, PhD Geology
Steven Boyd, PhD Hebraic and
Cognate Studies
The objective was to gather data
commonly ignored or censored by evolutionary standards of dating. The scientists reviewed the assumptions and
procedures used in estimating the ages of rocks and fossils. The results of the carbon-14 dating
demonstrated serious problems for long geologic ages. For example, a series of fossilized wood
samples that conventionally have been dated according to their host strata to be from Tertiary to Permian (40-250
million years old) all yielded significant, detectable levels of C-14 that
would conventionally equate to only 30,000-45,000 years “ages” for the original
trees. Similarly, a survey of the
conventional radiocarbon journals resulted in more than forty examples of
supposedly ancient organic materials, including limestones, that contained
carbon-14, as reported by leading laboratories.
Samples were then taken from ten
different coal layers that, according to evolutionists, represent different
time periods in the geologic column (Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic). The
RATE group obtained these ten coal samples from the U.S. Department of Energy
Coal Sample Bank, from samples collected from major coalfields across the
United States. The chosen coal samples,
which dated millions ot hundreds of millions of years old based on standard
evolution time estimates, all contained measurable amounts of C-14. In all cases, careful precautions wer taken
to eliminate any possibility of contamination from other sources. Samples, in all three “time periods,”
displayed significant amounts of C-14.
This is a significant discovery.
Since the half-life of C-14 is relatively short (5,730 years), there
should be no detectable C-14 left after about 100,000 years. The average C-14 estimated age for all the
layers from these three time periods was approximately 50,000 years. However, using a more realistic pre-Flood
C-14/C-12 ratio reduces that age to about 5,000 years.
These results indicate that the entire
fossil-bearing geologic column is much less than 100,000 years old-and even
much younger. This confirms the Bible
and challenges the evolutionary idea of long geologic ages.
Because the lifetime of C-14 is so
brief, these AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometer) measurements pose an obvious
challenge to the standard geological timescale that assigns millions to
hundreds of millions of years to this part of the rock layer.
Another noteworthy observation from the
RATE group was the amount of C-14 found in diamonds. Secular scientists have estimated the age of
diamonds to be millions to billions of years old using radiometric dating methods. These methods are also based on questionable
assumptions and are discussed elsewhere.
Because of their hardness, diamonds (the hardest known substance) are
extremely resistant to contamination through chemical exchange. Since diamonds are considered to be so old by
evolutionary standards, finding any C-14 in them would be strong support for a
recent creation.
The RATE group analyzed twelve diamond
samples for possible carbon-14 content.
Similar to the coal results, all twelve diamond samples contained
detectable, but lower levels of C-14.
These findings are powerful evidence that coal and diamonds cannot be
the millions or billions of years old that evolutionists claim. Indeed, these RATE findings of detectable
C-14 in diamonds have been confirmed independently. Carbon-14 found in fossils at all layers of
the geologic column, in coal and in diamonds, is evidence which confirms the
biblical timeline of thousands of years and not billions.
Because of C-14’s short half-life, such
a finding would argue that carbon and probably the entire physical earth as
well must have a recent origin.
Conclusion
All radiometric dating methods are based
on assumptions about events that happened
in the past. If the assumptions
are accepted as true (as is typically done in the evolutionary dating
processes), results can be biased toward a desired age. In the reported ages given in textbooks and
other journals, these evolutionary assumptions have not been questioned, while
results inconsistent with long ages have been censored.
When the assumptions are evaluated and
shown to be faulty, the results support the biblical account of a global Flood
and young earth. Thus Christians should
not be afraid of radiometric dating methods.
Carbon-14 dating is really the friend of Christians, because it supports
a young earth.
The RATE scientists are convinced that
the popular idea attributed to geologist Charles Lyell from nearly two
centuries ago, “The present is the key to the past,” is simply not valid for an
earth history of millions or billions of years.
An alternative interpretation of the carbon-14 data is that the earth
experienced a global flood catastrophe which laid down most of the rock strata
and fossils…Whatever the source of the carbon-14, its presence in nearly every
sample tested worldwide is a strong challenge to an ancient age. Carbon-14 data is now firmly on the side of the
young-earth view of history.
