Creation
Creation - Part 4
Scientific Arguments for Creation
.
A. Introduction: Why consider scientific observation?
1. Romans 1:20 tells us that God has revealed Himself through the various works of His creation.
(a) There is no excuse to deny the reality of God's existence.
- All men have instinctively clear knowledge that God exists!
- Those who are dishonest enough to deny this are fools! (Romans 1:21-22)
(b) The fact that matter exists shows as a matter of fact that God exists!
2. The Psalmist also declared the glory of God by referring to the natural world. Psalms 8:3-9; 19:1-6; Psalms 104
3. General guidelines and essential principles to note:
(a) Observations made by scientists are not always conclusive.
(b) Hypothesis and theories are proposals to explain observations. They are not facts.
(c) ALL theories rely on basic assumptions that reflect the natural bias of the scientists.
(d) Science cannot validate the Bible because it is not inerrant!
.
B. Evidence for creation
1. The Universe had a beginning. (Genesis1:1)
(a) Historically, the scientific community believed that the universe always existed.
(b) Observations by Dr Edwin Hubble in the 1920's forced the scientific community to theorize that the universe had a beginning.
(c) By 1970 it was confirmed through 3 independent lines of research that the universe had a beginning which was simultaneous with time, space and energy.
2. The Universe has a centre.
(a) Most scientists believed that everywhere in the universe the exact same observation of receding objects would be seen.
(b) However, galaxies look the same, and are moving away from us in the same way, in all directions. Our solar system appears to be near the centre of the universe.
(c) The Earth is located at a very special position by God's design.
3. The Universe had a powerful beginning out of nothing.
(a) Mathematical calculations predicted what scientist now know:
- The universe is expanding and was smaller and denser at an earlier time.
- Its beginning was sudden and explosive (hence likened to a Big Bang).
(b) These calculations also proved the possibility of ex-nihilo creation!
(c) An incomprehensible amount of energy was needed to create the universe. (The law of conservation of energy).
(d) To create matter, time, energy and space would have required a Creator who is outside of the physical world or nature.
4. The Universe is perfectly balanced.
(a) The design characteristics of the universe are extremely refined.
(b) At least nineteen life-sensitive parameters have been investigated for life on earth.
(c) The slightest disturbance in the values for the four constants of physics and for more than a dozen parameters of the universe would yield a universe unsuitable to support life.
(d) There is no other explanation for this than the existence of an intelligent Creator.
5. The Universe is too small and too young for life to originate by chance.
(a) Science has calculated that the universe contains no more than 1080 nucleons.
(b) The universe is at least ten billion orders of magnitude (a factor of 1010,000,000,000 times) too small or too young to permit life to be assembled by natural processes.
(c) There is no other explanation for life than the existence of God.
6. The coded language of DNA requires a designer.
(a) "The genetics are so incredibly complex and can be so marvellously interrelated that it's absolutely going to demand an intelligent source. The idea that all of this could have come about by random accidents, genetic errors, and so forth is just simply beyond comprehension." Biochemist Dr Duane Gish
(b) Naturalistic evolution cannot explain how DNA codes evolved!
7. The Mystery of Life
(a) Science describes what living things are made of but cannot explain what life is.
(b) The phenomenon of life is evidence that the physical world is not ultimate reality i.e. there are invisible things beyond the scope of scientific explanation.
.
C. Scientific Arguments from Young Earth Creationists
1. The "winding up dilemma."
(a) From the centre of the universe inner galaxies rotate faster than outer ones.
(b) Our galaxy's spiral shape proves that it is not older than a few hundred million years.
(c) If it were 10 billion years old as suggested by the scientific community then it shape would be tighter and featureless.
2. Few remnants of supernovas.
(a) Observations have shown that there is 1 supernova for approximately every 25 years.
(b) Only about 200 supernova remnants have ever been observed.
(c) That number is consistent with only about 7,000 years worth of supernovas.
3. Rate of disintegration of comets.
(a) Comets are supposed to be the same age as the solar system.
(b) Each time a comet orbits close to the sun it loses material.
(c) Many comets have typical ages of less than 10000 years.
4. Too little mud on the sea floor.
(a) About 20 billion tons of dirt and rock from the continents are deposited annually in the sea.
(b) The average depth of all the sediment in the whole ocean is less than 400 meters.
(c) This implies that the earth could not be older than 12 million years.
5. Not enough sodium in the sea.
(a) Over 450 million tons of sodium are annually deposited into the ocean.
(b) Only 27% of this sodium manages to get back out every year.
(c) Using these annual rates the age of the earth is calculated to be less than 62 million years.
6. The fact that there are many tightly bent strata without cracking suggests that they were formed before solidification. Cracking would occur if they were formed over billions of years.
7. Swift DNA degradation.
(a) Recent scientific observations have shown that DNA tissue cannot exist for more than 20000 years without disintegration (typically 6000 years down from 200000 years).
(b) Intact strands of DNA and even blood have been recovered from dinosaur fossils.
(c) Dinosaurs therefore walked the earth within the last 20000 years.
8. High amount of Helium in minerals.
(a) Newly-measured rates of helium loss from zircon show that the helium has been leaking for only 6,000 (± 2000) years instead of 1.5 billions years!
(b) This is not only evidence for a young earth but also shows that previous radioisotope timescales may be greatly flawed.
9. The rate of decay of the earth's magnetic field suggests that the earth could not be more than 20000 years old.
10. Too much Carbon 14 in deep strata.
(a) No carbon 14 atoms should exist in any carbon older than 250,000 years.
(b) Yet significant amounts of Carbon 14 are found below the ice age strata which the scientific community says is billions of years old!
(c) The level is very strong evidence that the earth is only thousands, not billions, of years old.
11. Not enough Stone Age skeletons or artefacts.
(a) Evolutionists say that Homo sapiens existed for at least 185,000 years before agriculture began with a fairly constant population of between 1 and 10 million people.
(b) During this period at least 8 billion people should have been buried.
(c) However, the scale of artefacts recovered is so small that it suggests the stone age was probably only a few hundred years long.
12. Time period for the origin of agriculture.
(a) Evolutionists say that Stone Age men were hunters and gatherers for at least 185,000 years before agriculture was discovered around 10000 years ago.
(b) Yet the archaeological evidence shows that Stone Age men were as intelligent as we are.
(c) It is very improbable that none of the eight billion Stone Age people should discover that plants grow from seeds!
13. History is too short.
(a) Evolutionists say that Homo sapiens lived for 190000 years before he began to make written records about 4000 to 5000 years ago.
(b) They also say that before this prehistoric man built megalithic monuments, made beautiful cave paintings, and kept records of lunar phases.
(c) Why would he wait two thousand centuries before using the same skills to record history?
(d) The length of written history is evidence that the age of humanity is not very old!
Note:
- These arguments were presented by Dr. Russell Humphreys and may be found in greater details here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4005.asp
- Old Earth arguments are not presented because they generally follow the scientific community.
- At least 55% of all scientists are naturalistic evolutionists, 40% are theistic evolutionists and only 5% are creationists. (Gallup 1997)
- At least 43% of evangelicals are Young Earth Creationists, 10% are Old Earth Creationists, 1% are theistic evolutionists and 46% are unsure. (Focus on the Family Poll, 1999).