How old is the earth? How old is the universe?

 Fossils are in fact the remains of living creatures.  The layers we see in rocks – strata – are sedimentary deposits. Fossil shells found encased in these deposits were laid down with mud that later hardened into rock.

 Since the strata are sediments, they must have been laid down horizontally therefore, in any case where we see them at an angle, they must have been shifted at some time subsequent to their formation.  It then follows that the lower strata must be older than the higher strata.

 Edmund Halley: A comet collided with the earth causing it to shift on its axis.  John Woodward: Steno’s strata were laid down during the flood.

 George-Louis Leclerc, compte de Buffon: A comet struck the sun spewing out matter that later condensed into the solar system.  Pierre Simon Laplace: The sun and planets formed simultaneously out of a rotating nebulous cloud.  So not the hand of God, but real physics.

 Laplace: “I don’t need that hypothesis.  Genesis 1:2, “The world was without form and void,” obviously refers to Laplace’s nebula.

 The analysis of the Bible, not from a theological perspective, but from a historical, textural, and philological perspective.

 Higher criticism threatens the authenticity of the Bible.  Higher criticism, by showing the meager historical content of the Bible, liberates its spiritual content.

 Every discovery became ammunition for two warring factions.  The solution – professionalize  In 1807 the Geological Society of London was founded.

 When you create an “in group” you automatically create an “out group.”  “Philosophical geologists” concentrated on geology per se, not its religious ramifications.  “Mosaical geologists” tried to conform scientific finding to literal readings of Genesis.

 Higher Criticism: You don’t read ancient Hebrew and Greek? You don’t belong!  So you are excluded by the geologists and excluded by the linguists, what’s your response? Retrenchment!

 Philosophical geologists adhered to strict methodological naturalism.  Mosaical geologists used geology for apologetic purposes. (Apologetics: the branch of theology that aims to defend or prove Christianity.)

 This division has persisted up to the present time, especially regarding biological evolution.