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TITLE: Old Earth / Young Earth

TEXT: 1 Timothy 6:20-21
PROPOSITION: Science and the Bible agree.
QUESTION: Why?
KEY WORD: Proofs
SCRIPTURE READING: Same

INTRODUCTION:

1. Evolution requires – TIME and CHANCE

2. Many think that given enough time – all things are possible

3. Evolution would collapse with an earth of 10K or 1 million years

4. Given enough time – non-life can produce life, chance can create life

5. Is there any argument to suggest a young earth?

6. I have files of more than 2 dozen arguments – today – 10 of them

1. Population Studies

   1. 35 years = generation; 3 children

   2. 2 children = zero population growth

   3. If earth were 28,600 generations (1 million yrs.) pop. = 104,900 times greater than could fit in the entire universe – talk about crowded

2. Oil Gushers

   1. Movie – oil gusher – 10,000 feet deep

   2. Pressure up to 20,000 pounds per square inch

   3. If pressure builds more than 10 – 15 K yrs. - rock bed would crack to reduce pressure and spew oil

3. Topsoil

   1. Average depth around the world – 8 inches

   2. Takes between 300 – 1,000 years to build 1 inch of topsoil

   3. Variations – forest or open grassland

   4. Earth could be less than 10,000 years old

4. Mississippi delta filling

   1. 300 million cubic yards (190 million tons) of sediment flow into Gulf of Mexico

   2. 59 million tons must be dredged out of lower Mississippi delta annually

   3. Rate of depth – 250 feet per year – age is calculated at about 4,000 years since Noah's flood

5. Ocean sediment

   1. Rivers around the world pour 28 billion tons into the oceans annually

   2. Over millions of years the sediment layer would be 100 miles thick

   3. Actually average – a few thousand feet

6. Salt in the ocean

   1. John Jolly, 1899, measured amount of salt added to the ocean.

   2. If earth were old – there would be too much salt in ocean to have life.

7. Niagara Falls

   1. First mapped in 1678 – falls is worn away at a rate of 7 per year since 1842

   2. The length of the gorge is 7 miles, it is now about ½ way

   3. Now it is wearing away at 3.5 feet per year

   4. Falls is between 5,000 (@3.5 feet per year) to 10,000 (@7 feet per year)

8. Salt in the Dead Sea

   1. Dead Sea – 394 sq. miles – contains 11.6 billion tons of salt

   2. Jordan River adds – 850K tons per year

   3. Based on these figures – the earth is about 13,000 years old

9. Earth heat

   1. The earth is slowly cooling down

   2. A “white hot” molten earth could not have water

   3. Genesis 1:2 – tells of surface water – indicates a cool earth

10. Spin is slowing down

    1. The rate of deceleration requires - “leap seconds” to adjust atomic clocks

    2. If earth were billions of years old – earth would have stopped by now

    3. Other alternative – began spinning so fast it would be a flat disk rather than a round ball

    4. Centrifugal force would have pulled all land to equator and made the earth the shape of a fat pancake

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