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CHAPTER EIGHT WHY DOES THE EARTH LOOK SO OLD ?(The creation and the Genesis Flood) To destroy a tree we must cut at its root. To destroy Christianity, the obvious place to begin is at its foundation. The first six chapters of Genesis form the foundation of Christianity. The reason that there are so many attacks against these six chapters is because the enemies of God know that if they can destroy this foundation, they can destroy the Bible and all for which it stands. To be able to defend our faith we must know, and know well, the subject that lies before us. In the fifth chapter of our present study, we saw that the Bible claims the earth to be less than ten thousand years old. At the conclusion of chapter five we noted several questions that we will now attempt to answer. These questions are: 1. Why does the earth look older than 10,000 years? 2. How could stars that burned out over a million years ago be created less than 10,000 years ago? 3. How could oil, coal and diamonds be formed if the earth is less than 10,000 years old? 4. How does extreme erosion, such as that observed at the Grand Canyon, harmonize with a 10,000 year old earth? In a later chapter we will consider, "How do we harmonize dinosaurs with a ten thousand year old earth?" Before we begin answering these questions, we need to note that most evolutionists claim that the earth is about four and a half billion years old.[1] THE INITIAL CREATION: The first reason for the old age appearance of the earth is its creation. In Genesis 1:11 we read, "Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation...plants and trees...'" Verse 27 says, "God created man in His own image..." Notice the text says plants, trees and man, not seeds, saplings and children. Question: How old did Adam look when he was three days old? I do not know this answer, but obviously Adam did not look like a fetus, or he would have required a mother's womb. He did not look like an infant, for then he would have required an adult's care. He may easily have looked twenty or thirty years old, when, in fact, he was only three days old. Now since God created plants, trees, and man full grown, would it not be reasonable to suppose that God also created the heavens and the earth with an appearance of age? This, then, is the answer to the problems of the stars. One problem the stars present is, some scientists claim that many of them burned out millions of years ago. Another problem is, again it is claimed, the stars have been flying away from a common source for over five billion years (Star expulsion).[2] If these claims are true, it would appear that we have a big problem with a 10,000 year old universe, for this would make the universe far too young. However, when we consider God's creation power, and that He created the universe with an appearance of age, all the evidence of an ancient universe quickly melts away. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT : As we observe the effect of our environment on the surface of the earth, we see that in a very short time things can change tremendously. A simple flood, a volcano, or a wind storm can make the place seem to age right before our eyes. Multiply these experiences by ten thousand years and we can see the effect that our own environment has had on the face of the earth to make it appear very, very old. THE EFFECT OF THE GENESIS FLOOD: We have already considered the effect that the natural environment had on the earth, but now consider what would happen if we increased the power of the storm. Notice Genesis 7:4, "...I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights..." We need to note that this was not just a drizzle but it was a torrential downpour. We have all seen the devastation that a small local flood of only a few hours duration can cause, but imagine forty days of rain. Consider the extreme erosion. Consider also that part of the flood was on the earth for more than a year. (Noah was in the ark 371 days, Genesis 8). Consider the softening effect this water would have had on the earth's surface. The earth would be nothing other than one giant gooey mud ball. Now consider the effect of the earthquakes and the tidal waves. Genesis 7:11 says that "ALL the springs of the great deep burst forth....” This would necessarily imply that the earth was riddled by earthquakes and volcanoes. Earthquakes cause tidal waves. Tidal waves have been known to reach 130 feet high and move at speeds of 400 miles per hour. A wave that wrecked the coast line of Japan was still thirty-two feet high by the time it had gone one third of the way around the world. Tidal wave force has been measured up to three tons per square foot. In France, a tidal wave tossed a seven thousand pound rock over a wall and moved a twenty-six hundred ton block of cement.[3] These waves were like toys compared to the waves when "...ALL the springs of the great deep burst forth....” Genesis 7:21. Consider the effect of the water pressure. Genesis 7:21 shows that the water rose at least twenty feet above the top of the highest mountains. Mount Ararat, the mountain where the ark landed, is seventeen thousand feet high. Water weighs sixty-three pounds for every cubic foot; therefore, if the water was only seventeen thousand feet high, every square foot of the earth's surface had at least 1,071,000 pounds of pressure on it. This would be the equivalent of 107 billion pounds of pressure on the top of an average house.[4] Mount Ararat is not a very high mountain, it is only seventeen thousand feet high but Mount Everest is nearly twenty-nine thousand feet high.[5] We need to be reminded again that the flood was over the highest mountains.
COAL,
OIL AND DIAMONDS: The
subject of water pressure naturally leads us to the discussion of oil, coal
and diamonds, for scientists know that these minerals are the result of
vegetation placed under extreme pressure for an extended period of time.[6]
It is also understood that if the pressure is increased, the amount of time
required to produce oil and coal can be decreased. At the time of the flood,
all vegetation was softened by the flood waters, it was scraped away from
its original location by the erosion, much of it was buried under mountains
of mud, and it was pressed by billions of tons of water pressure. Industrial
diamonds are made from carbon by exerting a pressure of eight-hundred EXTREME EROSION: Some scientists believe that extreme erosion, such as that observed at the Grand Canyon, proves the earth to be millions of years old. When we consider the effect of the Genesis flood, however, we erase all the difficulties that extreme erosion presents. After the surface of the earth had been softened, the turbulence of the waters moved great amounts of mud to various locations and stacked it up thousands of feet thick. As the flood went down, the water would have naturally carved the soft mud into extremely deep valleys. In Psalms 104:5-9 (NAMSV) the Bible shows that the mountains rose and the valleys sank. Clear evidence shows that in the area of the Rocky Mountains, there was once a great sea. When the mountains rose, the sea was emptied, and billions of gallons of water rushed over the soft mud. This process could have carved the Grand Canyon to its present depth in a matter of a very few months. When we put all these facts together, we can easily see why the earth appears to be much older than it really is. SUMMARY: In this chapter we found logical, scientific, Bible-harmonizing answers to four difficult questions: 1. Why does the earth look older than 10,000 years? 2. How could stars that seem to have burned out millions of years ago be created less than 10,000 years ago? 3. How could oil, coal and diamonds be formed if the earth is less than 10,000 years old? 4. How does extreme erosion, such as that observed at the Grand Canyon, harmonize with a 10,000 year old earth? When we consider that God created plants, trees and man full grown, it is only logical to think that He created the universe with the appearance of age. Our natural environment makes the earth look very, very, old. The Genesis flood would have shaken, moved, molded, pressured, and carved the earth's surface until it would appear old, until oil, coal, and diamonds were formed and until great valleys, such as the Grand Canyon, were carved. The first six chapters of Genesis hold the answer to many difficult questions, form the solid foundations for our Christian faith, and prove again and again that there is a God in heaven and that the Bible is His word, for how could Moses have known these great scientific truths unless he was directed by God? One further note: In this chapter we answered, from the biblical standpoint, the question, why does the earth look so old? We have not, however, addressed the problem of the various dating methods which seem to show the earth to be much older than ten thousand years. I have placed the subject of dating methods in Chapter 11 so that we can now continue our study of the Genesis flood. [1] Henry M. Morris, The Remarkable Birth Of Planet Earth, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, CA., p 80. [2] John C. Whitcome, Jr., and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI., p 237. [3] John C. Whitcome, Jr., and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI., pp 263, 264. [4] F. Furman Kearley, The Significance of the Genesis Flood, World Mission Publishing Company, Lubbock, TX., pp 11,12. [5] General Editor, David B. Guralnik, Webster’s New World Dictionary of The American Language, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, p 260. [6] John C. Whitcome, Jr., and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI., p 162. [7] F. Furman Kearley, The Significance of the Genesis Flood, World Mission Publishing Company, Lubbock, TX., pp 11,12. [8] Jack T. Chick, Big Daddy, Chick Publications, Chino, CA., p 11.
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