There are many contradictions in science, many theories that have been formulated, proven and then discarded. Contradictions and unknowns are what theories are made of, for example, the Theory of Evolution. And there are other theories that exist that may not have complete accuracy. These include our interpretations of the scripture relative to the age of the earth. Let me be clear, the earth is as old as God says it is, but the bible never says how old, just that God created it. Man has made some assumptions. In the computer industry we say "assume" is an acronym. And it has been just that for the church at times. I do not teach what is here as "God's Word", but as Ralph's concept of this. If you disagree, fine, but allow God to speak to you.
I had to face the inconsistency of the Geological and Doctrinal age of the earth in early High School. There are several approaches you can take.
- The Science book is wrong. But there is massive physical evidence to the contrary.
- The Bible is wrong. I consider the bible the only true source of wisdom.
- Man's interpretation of the bible (God's word) is wrong. We have seen that happen frequently in the centuries.
If I were to bet on one of the above, I would rank the most likely to be the case is number 3. In fact I would rate it at nearly 100 percent.
I have seen the grandeur of Pennsylvania and if there was ever a land flowing with milk and honey, this is the land God created for us, the prime rib of His Creation. Now I don't get hung up on whether it took him a second or 2 billion years, it is impressive, and he was also occupied with creating lesser areas at the same time. This includes places like Texas and that probably took him longer making all that sagebrush. I will take quality over quantity any day. But think of task of creating oil, coal, iron, and other minerals close to the surface and putting rivers, streams, beautiful forests and fertile land for lush farms over them. Nowhere in the world is oil closer to the surface than in Pennsylvania in fact I believe Drake's well was under 200 feet deep. Nobody could blame God if he took his time to make it right. A second, a year, two billion, it doesn't matter because it was all there in time for Bill Penn and his band of Quakers. God is never late.
And as I have traveled much of this land in the last couple years I have passed through countless road cuts, where the rocks have been cut and you can see the layers of sandstone, limestone, shale and sometimes even a small seam of coal. Some of those layers are nearly horizontal, some at only a few degrees from vertical. I have taken a hammer and chisel and broken the shale and seen the imprint of snails and leaves. I have seen the imprint of leaves in pieces of anthracite coal, the clean burning variety that is mined here. I have crawled the limestone caves of this state and seen the way the water, carrying the acid from the soil above has eaten away at the calcite. I have ridden in an aircraft above it and seen the valleys, carved by the rain trying to get back to the ocean. And I have stood on the top of mountains and looked around at about 2200 feet elevation and seen the Scooley Peneplain (where the tops of mountains have the same height) that I had only known as a land form in Geology class some years ago. Clearly this land was formed over time. Clearly some gigantic forces made this land. If there is not a God, then how?
And this has been my premise for as long as I can remember. There has been no conflict for me between the science of Geology and the geological time scales and the bible. To me they support each other. All of the conflict centers on the man defined 6000 year age of the earth. This is why I can pick up a fossil and say it was from the Devonian Period and not feel that I have compromised my faith. God was in control during that period as he is today. If the world is 2 billion yeas old; then I AM, at that time was I AM.
Christianity has taken another tack. If the scripture has a 6000 year time since Adam, then the creation must have been about the same time and the earth is 6000 plus a couple years old. If you can believe that, it is your choice. And the order God created the creatures is pretty much the same as the Evolutionists say they evolved. Could it be possible that the Evolutionists are right in the order and wrong in the method? If they agree with God's word on the order, they are right on that. I personally do not believe there was cross species evolution, in plants, animals or man. I have yet to see evidence that points to it. The fact that there is time from "finding" of the first lower animal to the first of the next level up means noting except it makes sense that God created the lower parts of the food chain first so the upper levels had food. I believe God prepared to make man like expectant parents who get the nursery ready before the baby comes. He made the earth and all that was needed for man before he created him.
