DATING METHODS

HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? Evolutionists say – about 4.5 billion years ago Young Earth Creationists say – a few thousand years old

THE CANDLE ANALOGY Present-day observations are not a good basis for determining earth’s age. This is like trying to figure out how long a candle has been burning without knowing how tall it was when it was lit and whether it has been burning at a constant rate. Similarly, the current rate of sediments being deposited is unreliable.

THE CANDLE ANALOGY The disagreement over age is related to one’s view of origins: Young-earth Creationists – recently and completely created by God Based on the Bible Evolutionists – earth condensed from space dust into a molten mass of rock, which later cooled and developed seas and dry land, formed mountains, and started life… a process requiring billions of years to occur. Based on their own speculations

GENEALOGICAL AND PROPHETICAL EVIDENCE Historical records can help establish dates in the past. Evolutionists believe man’s appearance is too recent to have documented much of earth’s history. Genealogies: lists of ancestors and descendants – in the Old Testament along with prophecies have been used by Creationists to date the age of the earth. James Ussher and Johannes Kepler both performed calculations using these records and dated Creation at about 6,500 years ago.

RADIOACTIVE DATING Radioactive – materials whose atoms are unstable and break down (“decay”) into different forms of the same element or atoms of different elements. Decay happens at a fairly constant rate, so they can be used as “clocks” for measuring the age of the earth. (Geiger counter is a tool used.) Problems: Requires assumptions about the rates of formation and decay of radioactive materials (doctrine of uniformity) There is no way of knowing for sure whether the sample was changed during its existence

RADIOCARBON DATING Tissues of plants and animals contain small amounts of carbon in the form of Carbon-14. Plants obtain it from carbon dioxide in the air, and animals and humans obtain it by eating plants. C-14 decays slowly and changes into nitrogen. While an organism is living, its amount of Carbon-14 remains constant as the amount consumed balances the amount that decays. When an organism dies, it no longer eats or breathes, so the amount of C-14 begins to decrease. After 5,730 years, half of it is gone. After 50,000 years, it should be undetectable, but fossils (supposedly millions of years old) have it!

RADIOCARBON DATING Special instruments and tests measure the amount of C-14 in a sample and allow scientists to estimate when the organism died. Limitations: Only verifies dates less than 5,000 years Some radiocarbon ages do not agree with ages that can be verified by other means (anomalous samples) Tissues may produce apparent ages that are older or younger than the actual age due to factors that affect the amount of C-14 an organism takes in Samples must contain organic carbon (wood, bone, shell, charcoal); it does not work on most rocks or metal artifacts

URANIUM-LEAD METHOD Based on the radioactive decay of uranium into lead. The more lead and less uranium in a rock, the older it is. Problems: The original amounts of lead and uranium present in the rocks are not known Contradicting dates show that it is unreliable.

POTASSIUM-ARGON METHOD Similar to uranium-lead method, but uses the decay of potassium-40 (a metal) into argon-40 (a gas). Assumes that the rock had no argon initially. Fresh lava flows (170 years old) prove this method wrong, since they were dated at up to 3 billion years old! Conclusion: Since no humans were present to observe the earth’s beginning, we must trust God’s Word when it records the age of the earth as a few thousand years old.