Saturday, November 19, 2011

THE SKY SHOWS A YOUNG EARTH

We've gone over the text of Genesis one, which I believe conveys 24-hour literal days of creation.  Are there any scientific evidences that match a normal, grammatical reading of Genesis?  There are!  In the next few blogs I am going to list them, plainly and briefly.  We'll start with the sky!

  Dr. Jason Lisle (astrophysicist) shows that the MOON drifts two feet each year from the earth. It's claimed that life appeared on the planet 3.5 billion years ago.  That couldn't happen.  If we run two feet a year back toward earth, then 3.5 billion years ago, THE MOON WOULD BE ATTACHED TO THE EARTH AND LIFE WOULD BE UNSUSTAINABLE.  However, if the earth is really a few thousand years old, there's no problem.

 The SUN has been shrinking.  Measuring the rate of that shrinkage, and going back in time to a million or so years would mean that life couldn't exist then.  However, if the earth is only a few thousand year there's no problem.

 LET'S LOOK AT OUR ATMOSPHERE.  If earth is 4.5 billion years old, there would not be  helium-4 in our atmosphere. Helium-4 dissipates rapidly.  However, as A.J. Montey-White, Ph.D. (gas kinetics, Uni. of Wales) observed, this could only be possible if our world and solar system was only a few thousand years old.  This also is true with the abundant presence of carbon 14, which only can exist for maybe 50,000 years!

THE DECAY OF OUR MAGNETIC FIELD.  Dr. Russell Humphrey (astrophycist) has measured the rate of decay of earth's magnetic field.  If the earth was 4.5 billion years old, the magnetic field would be too strong for the existence of life. However, if earth is a few thousand years old, there's no problem.  Before the Voyager Humphrey calculated the magnetic fields of Uranus, based on a 6,000 year old solar system.  Humphrey was found to be absolutely correct when Voyager passed Uranus and measured the fields.

NEXT TIME WE WILL TAKE THE TELESCOPE AND SEE MORE EVIDENCE THAT IS IN HARMONY WITH A BIBLICAL DATING OF EARTH   I'd love to have your comments. Take a few seconds and write your response to what I've reported.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Are the Days of Genesis Literal (continued)

How would an ordinary Hebrew hearing Genesis One interpret the creative days?  First they are numbered and form a week.Every passage of Scripture outside of Genesis speaks of literal days when the days are numbered.  Each day is introduced with the phrase "evening and morning" which in any other section of Scripture describes literal 24 hour days.

Moses in describing the Sabbath Day observance in Exodus, speaks of the fact that God created the earth and its inhabitants in six days and rested on the seventh day.  So Moses commands Israel to keep the 24 hour Sabbath Day. (Exodus 20:11.)
Brown, Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, a work that was the best Hebrew dictionary for 100 years , gives Genesis One and Exodus 20:11 as examples where the Hebrew word for  "day" is used literally.

How Could You Have 24 Hour Days When the Moon and Sun Were Not Functioning on Earth Unitl the Fourth Day?

Simple.  The fourth day did not make the days 24 hours, but measured  them as already literal 24-hour days.

Doesn't the Lord say in II  Peter 3:9 say that "a thousand years" is like a day?
Yes, but this passage is addressing God's mercy.  A period of a thousand years is a short time for the Lord to extend mercy.  His mercy "is long-suffering to us."  However, many don't quote that Peter also wrote, "a day is like a thousand years."  Here continual unrepentant sin for a day is like the affront of a thousand years of sin!  Obviously,  this passage has nothing to do with the creative days.

How Could Adam Name All the Animals in One Day?

No offence, but I find this objection rather silly.  First God created families of kinds of animals, not all the variants we call "species" today.  For instance there was only one cat-creature, canine-creature etc.  The Museum of  Natural History states there were only 50 major types of dinosaurs.  Adam had to name the representative kinds of birds, livestock, and land animals.  It no doubt took him most of the sixth day of creation.  However, Adam's naming the animals is no real issue that the creative days are literal.


A Scientific Question for those Who Think the Creative Days Were Millions of Years

On day four God made plant life.  On day six he made living creatures and creeping things (insects)?   How could the plants on day four survive for millions of years before insects were formed to pollinate them?

So What?

God's word is plain (Proverbs 8:8:9).  We should take a passage literally when it presents itself in that light.  We must understand that all knowledge starts with certain models or truths.  As Christians, we start with the claim of the Bible itself, that it is true.  If scientific observation for the moment seems to be opposite from the Bible , we must be patient.  Historic science is not an exacting discipline. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3, 5,6).

HOWEVER, THERE'S MUCH SCIENTIFIC DATA THAT MATCHES A LITERAL SIX DAY CREATION OF THE BIBLE.  IN THE COMING WEEKS WE WILL LIST SUCH OBSERVATIONS! 

In the meantime have confidence that the Bible speaks plainly and is true, not the varied fallible observations of limited man.  Wait and see.  The Bible through the centuries has always demonstrated to be true--in history, science, and our comfort, strength, and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ

P.S.  Dr. Hugh Ross, a Christian astrophysicist, states that if the universe is 13.7 billion years old, it still isn't old enough to have arrived at its present form with life on this planet. In other words the present condition of the universe is miraculous!  Therefore, I have no problem believing the Lord could have created the earth in six literal days.