How Old Is The Earth Chapter 1 Summary
Chapter One: The Nature of Science As you look around, science is everywhere. From the food you eat, clothes you wear, or the television we watch, the success of science is made evident. In 250 B.C., even with less advanced technology, the Egyptians successfully measured the radius of the Earth. Chapter One of “The Earth” discusses the scientific method to achieve a viewpoint that is more aligned with reality than before. The process can be described as: defining the problem, collecting information on the problem, forming a hypothesis, experimentation to test the hypothesis, observing and recording data from experimentation, drawing conclusions, proposing a theory, and lastly, using that theory to predict new facts. Assumptions, which
…show more content…
are based upon personal experiences and philosophies, allow us to come to conclusions. Scientists often use assumptions and conclusions combined to make sense of life from their viewpoint. This could potentially allow for misunderstanding, as every person’s point of view is drastically different. In order to align with reality, you must look for harmony between the differences of answers among multiple sources.
Chapter Two: Beginnings Often, when stories begin with “Once upon a time…”, the audience views the story as fictional, and fairytale-like. In contrast, the words “In the beginning…” arouse human’s internal interest in how life came to be. Everyone, at some point in their life, will question their existence, and why they are living. With these questions, a person’s belief in their beginning will influence their belief of their ending. Humans often categorize their beliefs based on two theories of life: natural or supernatural. If an individual uses only laws and processes known to govern the universe, without the impression of an unknown higher source, then they regard the theory of naturalistic evolution as truth. Ancient Greeks and Darwin proposed explanations to explain the origin in life. Even then, the differences of evolutionary belief divided the theories proposed by each party. Darwin’s concept aimed to show the progression of life from one form to another, whereas the ancients aimed for an unchanging species. Opposite to the supernatural belief, special creation generally uses the Bible for its basic concepts. Similarly, to the evolutionary belief, special creation is divided by conservative Christian beliefs, moderately conservative Christians, and other opposing theories. Regardless, either science or Scripture is held the dominant interpretation for an individual’s belief system. With the help of scientific success, evolution has become the dominant theory concerning the origin of life. However, problems do arise with the belief of evolution. How does evolution account for spontaneous generation of simple and complex life forms? What about consciousness, free will, and love? These questions, and lack of answers, prove that you cannot rely solely on science for every explanation. Even with special creation, you cannot explain radiometric dating with Scripture. Faith is the acknowledgement that no human has all the answers, which is an important aspect of every belief.
Chapter Three: How Old is the Earth?
The Holy Bible records the entire history of life on this planet. If you accept Scripture as reliable, you can come to the conclusion that it has been less than 10,000 years since Creation. Compared to evolutionary belief, this time span is extremely short. When figuring out time, the principle of uniformity, which states that the present is the key to the past, can be applied to have an understanding of our history. Each step towards a greater understanding of our past leads to more confusion. With new studies that study the cooling of the earth, rate of volcanic ejecta, and growth of human population, one could assume that humans had a vast comprehension of Earth’s age, but this is not the case. Radiometric dating, when an element spontaneously changes into another element, is based upon the ability to determine the amount of product present in a sample. However, factors influence the radiometric age, thus making it difficult for a researcher to determine whether the system under study has remained closed. Only when several different radiometric isotope systems give the same date, then can it be a reliable …show more content…
source.
There are 3 approaches you can make when dealing with radiometric age date, they are 1) disregard any data from radiometric techniques; 2) assume that the moon, earth, and stars are about 10,000 years old; 3) assume activities of Creation week involved large amounts of material that was created about 4.56 billion years ago. Faith is still important for finding all the answers surrounding radiometric dating.
Chapter Four: Fossils and the Genesis Flood
A worldwide flood, although it sounds difficult to comprehend, makes a lot of sense.
There are records from many different cultures that point to the flood as a realistic part of our history. Although questions, such as how did all of the species survive, or how did the animals get to the various continents from the ark, are valid, the records speak for themselves.
When thinking about the drastic changes that go hand in hand with the flood, the evidence is laid out clearly. From the deposits, large scale geological changes, and massive burial/preservation of plants and animals, we can see how the geological changes indicate the flood’s existence.
Looking back to the Earth’s amazing features, we see more evidence pointing to the flood by the sedimentary layers, especially in the Grand Canyon. Areas extending the U.S. to England, France Germany, Poland, and even Australia, once again confirm the similarities and distribution of rock, which indicate the flood’s
presence.
Adding to the flood’s case, there are odd placements of seashells in the mountaintops. It seems obvious that the conditions of these mountains, extending all over the world, had to exist in order for the same types of deposits to form. Peat’s formation helps us understand the increased likelihood of the flood. Ten feet of peat makes about one foot of coal. In the massive coal deposits,300 feet is an average depth. Compared to the marshes, swamps, and peat bogs that barely reach 100 feet, it is likely that the flood heavily influenced the coal deposits that we value today. Conceptually, a worldwide flood is a reasonable model to explain the depths of coal deposits around the world.
A similar case to the coal deposits, fossils around the world are preserved to the point where a flood seems like the only viable explanation. Four groups are used to categorize fossils: molds and casts, petrification, carbonization, and unchanged. The age of fossils are assigned to the geologic column, which aids scientists to better grasp the Earth’s age.Oldest to youngest, the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic are 3 eras seen in the geologic column. Each has its own subdivisions, which help map out the fossils.
The Mesozoic era contains diverse dinosaurs ranging from a small 2.5 ft to a large 85 ft tall.The most publicized extinction,the dinosaurs existed during the Mesozoic era. As described in chapter 4, the geologic column could be interpreted from a naturalistic or a scriptural viewpoint. Both viewpoints begin with assumptions, either that God does or does not intervene in nature.
Assumptions of a worldwide flood fits the standards of the geologic column, proving more evidence for the side of Creation. To summarize, with the data found in the Earth’s crust, and the fossils found in that crust aid to a better understanding of the Earth.
are based upon personal experiences and philosophies, allow us to come to conclusions. Scientists often use assumptions and conclusions combined to make sense of life from their viewpoint. This could potentially allow for misunderstanding, as every person’s point of view is drastically different. In order to align with reality, you must look for harmony between the differences of answers among multiple sources.
Chapter Two: Beginnings Often, when stories begin with “Once upon a time…”, the audience views the story as fictional, and fairytale-like. In contrast, the words “In the beginning…” arouse human’s internal interest in how life came to be. Everyone, at some point in their life, will question their existence, and why they are living. With these questions, a person’s belief in their beginning will influence their belief of their ending. Humans often categorize their beliefs based on two theories of life: natural or supernatural. If an individual uses only laws and processes known to govern the universe, without the impression of an unknown higher source, then they regard the theory of naturalistic evolution as truth. Ancient Greeks and Darwin proposed explanations to explain the origin in life. Even then, the differences of evolutionary belief divided the theories proposed by each party. Darwin’s concept aimed to show the progression of life from one form to another, whereas the ancients aimed for an unchanging species. Opposite to the supernatural belief, special creation generally uses the Bible for its basic concepts. Similarly, to the evolutionary belief, special creation is divided by conservative Christian beliefs, moderately conservative Christians, and other opposing theories. Regardless, either science or Scripture is held the dominant interpretation for an individual’s belief system. With the help of scientific success, evolution has become the dominant theory concerning the origin of life. However, problems do arise with the belief of evolution. How does evolution account for spontaneous generation of simple and complex life forms? What about consciousness, free will, and love? These questions, and lack of answers, prove that you cannot rely solely on science for every explanation. Even with special creation, you cannot explain radiometric dating with Scripture. Faith is the acknowledgement that no human has all the answers, which is an important aspect of every belief.
Chapter Three: How Old is the Earth?
The Holy Bible records the entire history of life on this planet. If you accept Scripture as reliable, you can come to the conclusion that it has been less than 10,000 years since Creation. Compared to evolutionary belief, this time span is extremely short. When figuring out time, the principle of uniformity, which states that the present is the key to the past, can be applied to have an understanding of our history. Each step towards a greater understanding of our past leads to more confusion. With new studies that study the cooling of the earth, rate of volcanic ejecta, and growth of human population, one could assume that humans had a vast comprehension of Earth’s age, but this is not the case. Radiometric dating, when an element spontaneously changes into another element, is based upon the ability to determine the amount of product present in a sample. However, factors influence the radiometric age, thus making it difficult for a researcher to determine whether the system under study has remained closed. Only when several different radiometric isotope systems give the same date, then can it be a reliable …show more content…
source.
There are 3 approaches you can make when dealing with radiometric age date, they are 1) disregard any data from radiometric techniques; 2) assume that the moon, earth, and stars are about 10,000 years old; 3) assume activities of Creation week involved large amounts of material that was created about 4.56 billion years ago. Faith is still important for finding all the answers surrounding radiometric dating.
Chapter Four: Fossils and the Genesis Flood
A worldwide flood, although it sounds difficult to comprehend, makes a lot of sense.
There are records from many different cultures that point to the flood as a realistic part of our history. Although questions, such as how did all of the species survive, or how did the animals get to the various continents from the ark, are valid, the records speak for themselves.
When thinking about the drastic changes that go hand in hand with the flood, the evidence is laid out clearly. From the deposits, large scale geological changes, and massive burial/preservation of plants and animals, we can see how the geological changes indicate the flood’s existence.
Looking back to the Earth’s amazing features, we see more evidence pointing to the flood by the sedimentary layers, especially in the Grand Canyon. Areas extending the U.S. to England, France Germany, Poland, and even Australia, once again confirm the similarities and distribution of rock, which indicate the flood’s
presence.
Adding to the flood’s case, there are odd placements of seashells in the mountaintops. It seems obvious that the conditions of these mountains, extending all over the world, had to exist in order for the same types of deposits to form. Peat’s formation helps us understand the increased likelihood of the flood. Ten feet of peat makes about one foot of coal. In the massive coal deposits,300 feet is an average depth. Compared to the marshes, swamps, and peat bogs that barely reach 100 feet, it is likely that the flood heavily influenced the coal deposits that we value today. Conceptually, a worldwide flood is a reasonable model to explain the depths of coal deposits around the world.
A similar case to the coal deposits, fossils around the world are preserved to the point where a flood seems like the only viable explanation. Four groups are used to categorize fossils: molds and casts, petrification, carbonization, and unchanged. The age of fossils are assigned to the geologic column, which aids scientists to better grasp the Earth’s age.Oldest to youngest, the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic are 3 eras seen in the geologic column. Each has its own subdivisions, which help map out the fossils.
The Mesozoic era contains diverse dinosaurs ranging from a small 2.5 ft to a large 85 ft tall.The most publicized extinction,the dinosaurs existed during the Mesozoic era. As described in chapter 4, the geologic column could be interpreted from a naturalistic or a scriptural viewpoint. Both viewpoints begin with assumptions, either that God does or does not intervene in nature.
Assumptions of a worldwide flood fits the standards of the geologic column, proving more evidence for the side of Creation. To summarize, with the data found in the Earth’s crust, and the fossils found in that crust aid to a better understanding of the Earth.