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Ages Geological     Ages Astronomical

Ages of Time: Geological and Astronomical

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There have been many ideas - stories, myths - about age and origins. But since the birth of science most of them have become mere curiosities. Two remain in serious contention. The account developed by secular humanist reasoning, characterized by naturalistic processes working over thousands of millions of years, is today by far the more popular. The other, characterized by supernatural creation a few thousand years ago, after having almost disappeared from serious discussion by the middle of the 20th century, has experienced a remarkable return to favour in the last decades.

Before looking at these two competing ideas it should be noted that science is powerless to discover anything about origins with any degree of certainty. Science needs observations to work on, and none covering the critical times and events are available. The best we can hope for is to propose a selection of hypotheses and examine extant data to see how well it fits those hypotheses. We are forced to make many assumptions in our analysis, crucial data is missing and we can never gain anything close to certainty for our conclusions.

Data is available concerning the world as it is today. Using what appear to be reasonable assumptions much of this data seems to point to an age of the earth and the universe of the order of thousands of years. Other data seems to point to a far greater age, some to millions, some to thousands of millions of years. Not surprisingly secular humanists esteem the data pointing to great ages very highly, and tend to ignore that pointing to a young age. Creationists tend to place far more emphasis on the data the humanist prefers not to dwell on.

Modern secular humanist scientists tend to give the impression that no real scientist believes in creation and its short time scale. However, some of the greatest scientists have been creationists - Isaac Newton, Leonard Euler, James Clerk Maxwell, J.J. Thomson, and Michael Faraday to mention just a few. Many fine scientists today are creationists and hold to a time scale far shorter than that popularly put forward. Unfortunately such a stance is unpopular with the ruling authorities in science, and some good scientists, Robert V. Genty and Richard Sternberg, for example, have been penalised for their stand. It is likely that this unfortunate situation prevents a number of scientists from openly supporting a short time scale.

Pertinent Links - Some to Outside Sites - All encountered later

The Persecution of Richard Sternberg

Biography of Charles Lyell | Biography of James Hutton

Principles of Geology Chapter 3 | The Student's Elements of Geology

Walter Brown's Hydroplate Theory | Baumgardner's Runaway Subduction

Chadwick's Creation Flood | The famed Ostrichosaurus

Ooparts and Ancient High Technology: Evidence of Noah's Flood?

A Closer Look At The Age Of The Earth | Creation Research Society (CRS)

Earth History Research Center | California Institute of Omniology

Center for Scientific Creation | Lambert Dolphin's Library

Tas Walker's Homepage | Amazing Discoveries | Answers in Genesis

True Origin Archive | Global Flood | Midclyth

Astronomy & Origins | True.Origin Archive  | Answers in Genesis

Creation Discovery Project | Midclyth | Barry Setterfield

Lambert Dolphin's Library | Creation Guy  | California Institute of Omniology