Transcript No Slide Title

Commonly Asked
“Science” Questions of the Bible
Kevin Peil
[email protected]
Overview

Doesn’t distant starlight prove an old universe?

Who was Cain’s wife?

Did God really create in six 24 hour days?

According to the Bible, how old is the earth?

What about carbon-14 & radio-isotope dating?

Is there scientific evidence for a young earth?

Was Noah’s ark big enough to hold all those animals?

Where there dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?

Why did man once live for 900+ years and now for only 70+ years?

Where did all the different races of man come from?

Was there really an ice age at one time?

What about the continental drift theory?

Others ????????
Doesn’t distant starlight prove an old universe?
The farthest stars from the earth are 10 to 15 billion light years away. If the
universe is less than 10,000 years old, how is it that we can see starlight from
stars that are this far away? There are several possible explanations for this:
1. Mature creation or starlight created “on-the-way”. God created stars as well
as starlight “on-the-way”.
2. Decay in the speed of light. During the six days of creation the speed of
light was billions of times faster than it is today. Support for this idea seems
to come and go.
3. Gravitational time dilation. Some recent ideas involving relativity and the
fact that gravity can affect time. During the creation week an “event
horizon” passed through the earth where clocks would have measured six 24
hour days. Clocks outside the “event horizon” would have measured the
passage of billions of years.
Decay in the Speed of Light?
There seems to be a constant change in the rate of change with a leveling off of the speed of
light in the 1960s. Recent work has suggested that the apparent consistency of the speed of
light since the 1960s may be due to all speed of light measurements since then being
calibrated by atomic clocks which are themselves changing with the speed of light.
Who Was Cain’s Wife?
The Bible clearly teaches that all humans are descendants of Adam
and Eve - therefore there had to be inter-marriages between brothers
and sisters. Consider the following:

Adam and Eve were genetically perfect. Their genes contained no
mutations since mutations need time to occur and accumulate in the
population.

The first few generations following Adam and Eve would have inherited
near-perfect genes, largely undamaged by mutations.

There would have been an almost zero chance of harmful deformities in
the offspring of brother-sister marriages because of the near-perfect genes.

With the passing of many centuries, many harmful genetic mutations had
accumulated in humans. By the time of Moses it was necessary for God
to institute laws against inter-family marriages (Leviticus 18-20).
How Long Were the Days of Creation?

Solar day (24 hours), daylight, indefinite period of time??

Day (Yom) occurs 2,291 times in the Old Testament and it
almost always means a literal, 24 hour day. Only 65 times
is yom used in the Old Testament to mean an indefinite
period of time.

When used in the plural form yamin (845 times), it always
refers to a literal day.

When modified by numeral or ordinal in historical
narratives (359 times in the Old Testament outside of
Genesis 1), it always means a 24 hour day.

When modified by “evening and/or morning” (38 times
outside of Genesis 1), it always means a 24 hour day.
But what about …



2 Peter 3:8 – “But do not forget this one thing dear
friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and
a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in
keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He
is patient with you , not wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance.”
First of all, the context of this passage has nothing to do
with the days of creation.
Peter is telling his readers not to lose heart because God
seems slow at fulfilling his promises about the second
coming of Christ. God is patient, and is not bound to the
elements of time as we are.
Age of the Earth From the Bible
Let’s assume that the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 are also chronologies:
Genesis 5:
 Adam was 930 years old when he died. Obviously he died 930 years
after the world was created.
 Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old and Seth lived for 912
years. Seth died 130+912 = 1,042 years after the world was created.
 Enosh was born when Seth was 105 years old and Enosh lived for 905
years. Enosh died 105+130+905 = 1,140 years after the world was
created.
 Continuing this exercise up to Noah we arrive at the flood occurring
1,656 years after the world was created with Noah dying 2,006 years
after creation.
Genesis 11:
 Abraham was born 1,946 years after creation (lived with Noah for 60
years!) and died 2,121 years after the world was created.
 The last patriarch whose year of death we can calculate is Joseph, but
for our purposes we need go no further than Jacob. Jacob died 2,241
years after creation and 5 years after he entered Egypt.
Age of the Earth From the Bible

1Kings 6:1 is a critical passage for assigning an age to the earth using
Scripture:
“In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt,
in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second
month, he began to build the temple of the LORD”.

By integration of Biblical data and Assyrian chronological records,
the year 853 B.C. can be fixed as the year of Ahab’s death and 841
B.C. as the year Jehu began to reign. Working backwards, the fourth
year of Solomon’s reign is fixed at 966 B.C.

By combination of the above information the date of the exodus was
966 + 480 = 1446 B.C. Adding the 430 years of Egyptian slavery,
Jacob brought his family to Egypt in the year 1446 + 430 = 1876
B.C. which was 5 years before he died.

From the previous slide we calculated Jacob died 2,241 years after
creation (1871 B.C.) which places the date of creation at 1871 + 2241
= 4112 B.C. Therefore, the age of the earth is 4112 + 2012 = 6,124
years.
Age of the Earth From the Bible
There are several problems with the previous exercise:

Genesis 5, 11 and 1 Chronicles 1: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg,
Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. (God’s announcement of
judgment by the flood was 120 years prior to the flood and during the lifetimes of Methuselah
and Lamech!)

Luke 3: 23-37: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch,
Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, CAINAN, Shelah, Eber, Peleg,
Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. (Luke adds the name Cainan.)

Many of Scripture’s genealogy lists have an artistic structure:
 Genesis: Genesis contains 10 accounts selected from the 10 generations
from Adam to the flood and the 10 generations from the flood to
Abraham. The genealogies of Seth and Cain are particularly striking.
 Matthew: 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the
exile and 14 from the exile to Christ. 14 generations (2 x 7) given three
times.
 Luke: A total of 21 generations (3 x 7) with a simular multiple of 7 as
Matthew for the period from the exile to Christ.
Textual Variations

From the Septuagint Text (Greek translation of the Old
Testament used at the time of Christ) the time from creation to
the flood is about 2,300 years compared to 1,656 years from
our English Bibles.

There are numerous variants of the Septuagint text with each
giving different time intervals from creation to the flood: 1,307
years, 2,262 years and 2,402 years.

The Samaritan Pentateuch, another ancient manuscript, yields a
time interval of 1,307 years. Various copies of the Massoretic
Text give the same number (1,656 years) as our English Bibles.

Although these various translations give time intervals from the
creation to the flood that differ by almost a factor of 2, for the
purposes of old-earth/young-earth discussions, the differences
are trivial.
Age of the Earth From the Bible
Analysis of the genealogies of the Bible lead to a number of conclusions:

All genealogies of the Bible operate under different governing principles
varying in form (segmented vs. linear) and depth (number of generations
listed).

The purposes of the lists vary: 1) trace the messianic promise throughout
generations, 2) establish membership among the priests and Levites, 3) the
legal and social status of the first-born son or 4) military order. The
purpose is almost never to provide a chronology of time.

The genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 almost certainly fall under the above
category of tracing the messianic promise so therefore should not be used
as chronologies.
Our calculated age of 6,124 years (from our English Bibles) for the earth is certainly
wrong but it can serve as a lower limit. In other words, the earth is at least 6,124
years old. How much are we willing to increase our calculated number? Is 7,000
years OK? 8,000 years? 10,000 years? 20,000 years? 100,000 years?
Is C-14 a Reliable Dating Technique?
Young earth creation:



At best, the earth is only 1/3 as old as the required time for
atmospheric carbon-14 to have reached equilibrium.
The amount of carbon-14 in an animal (or plant) at its death will
be much less than if atmospheric equilibrium had been reached.
Measured dates with carbon-14 will always be too high (at least a
factor of three), unless there is an accurate measure of the carbon14 present at death.
Old earth evolution:
 The earth is much older than the required 30,000 years (4.5 billion
years) so carbon-14 is certainly in atmospheric equilibrium.
 Because of equilibrium, the amount of carbon-14 at death was the
same as the amount present today.
 Measured carbon-14 dates are therefore very accurate and highly
reliable.
Are There Problems with C-14 Dating?
“The troubles of the radiocarbon dating method are undeniably deep
and serious. Despite 35 years of technological refinement and better
understanding, the underlying assumptions have been strongly
challenged. Continuing use of the method depends on a “fix-it-aswe-go” approach, allowing for contamination here, fractionation
there, and calibration wherever possible. It should be no surprise,
then, that fully half of the dates are rejected. The wonder is, surely,
that the remaining half come to be accepted.
No matter how “useful” it is, though, the radiocarbon method is still
not capable of yielding accurate and reliable results. There are gross
discrepancies, the chronology is uneven and relative, and the
accepted dates are actually selected dates.”
Robert E. Lee, “Radiocarbon, Ages in Error”, Anthropological Journal of
Canada, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1981, pp. 9, 29.
Radioisotope Dating

Sunset crater in northern Arizona, erupted about 900 years ago yet dating
the lava flows give “ages” of 210,000 and 230,000 years.

Mt. Rangitoto in New Zealand, erupted 300 years ago but dating the lava
puts the date at 485,000 years ago.

Rocks from the Hualalai Volcano in Hawaii (erupted in 1800-1801) were
once dated 12 times producing “ages” ranging from 140 million to 2.96
billion years.

Salt Lake Crater in Oahu, thought to be “less than 1 million years old” yet
when dated yielded “ages” ranging from 400,000 to 3.3 billion years.

Mt. Kilauea on Hawaii which erupted less than 200 years ago has lava
which when dated gives “ages” from 12 million to 21 million years.
With rocks of known age, radioisotope dating doesn’t work, but with
rocks of unknown age radioisotope dating is assumed to work!
Radioisotope Dating
Historical Lava Flows
Actual Date of Lava Flow
K-Ar Date of Flow
Hualalai, Hawaii
1800 - 1801
22,800,000 years
Mt. Etna, Sicily
122 BC
250,000 years
Mt. Etna, Sicily
1972
350,000 years
Mt. Etna, Sicily
1964
700,000 years
Mt. Lassen, California
1915
110,000 years
Sunset Crater, Arizona
1064 - 1065
270,000 years
Kilauea Iki, Hawaii
1959
8,500,000 years
Mt. Stromboli, Italy
1963
2,400,000 years
Mt. Erebus, Antarctica
1984
640,000 years
“The K-Ar method is the only decay scheme that can be used with little or no
concern for the initial presence of the daughter isotope.” - G. B. Dalrymple, 1991
Problems With Radioisotope Dating

“It is obvious that radiometric techniques may not be the absolute
dating methods that they are claimed to be. Age estimates on a
given geological stratum by different radiometric methods are often
quite different (sometimes by hundreds of millions of years). There
is no absolutely reliable long-term radiological “clock”. The
uncertainties inherent in radiometric dating are disturbing to
geologists and evolutionists …” Dr. William D. Stansfield in The
Science of Evolution, Macmillan, New York, 1977, pp. 82 and 84.

“In general, dates in the ‘correct ball park’ are assumed to be correct
and are published, but those in disagreement with other data are
seldom published nor are discrepancies fully explained”. Dr. Richard
L. Mauger in Geology, University of Wyoming, vol. 15(1), 1977, p. 37.
Evidence for a Young Earth

“Origin of civilization” is near ark landing

Written history appears 5-6,000 years ago

Pottery, agriculture, domestication,
metallurgy, cities date <11,000 years ago

Tree ring studies of oldest living trees
(Bristlecone pines) date to 5,000 years ago

Population statistics suggest a thousands of
years (vs. a million) population build up
Julian Chronology

Julian chronology (not connected with the Julian calendar) was
developed in 1583 by Joseph Scaliger as a means to reconstruct the
chronology of past events.

When was day 1? - A clever solution which relied on the three basic
units upon which virtually all workable calendars are based: Solar
Cycle (28 years), Metonic Cycle (19 years) and the Roman Indication
(15 years).

When do all three cycles begin and end together?


When was the last time all three cycles began on the same day?


Every 28 years x 19 years x 15 years = 7,980 years
Based on the position of each cycle in the year 1583, Scaliger
calculated the cycles began together 6,296 year prior.
Based on the above, day 1 would have occurred in 4713 BC.
Supernovas
Supernova
remnant
stage
Number of
SNRs
actually
observed
First
Number of observed SNRs
predicted if our galaxy was:
Billions of
7,000 years
years old
old
2
2
Second
2,260
125
200
Third
5,000
0
0
5
How Big Was Noah’s Ark?
The Ark was essentially a big rectangular box whose sole purpose was to float.
75 ft.
45 ft.
3 decks with a total area of 101,250 ft2 (20 basketball courts).
450 ft.
Carrying capacity of 1.5 million cubic feet (568 standard railroad stockcars).
Gross tonnage equaling 15,000 tons, comparable in size to the largest ocean
vessels today. It wasn’t until 1884 that a vessel (the Euturia, a Cunard liner) was
built which exceeded the length of the ark.
How Many Animals Were on the Ark?

We use the biological classification of “genus” to represent “kind”.

Only land dwelling, air breathing creatures were brought on board the ark.
Fish, amphibians and insects would have readily survived the flood from
outside the ark.

The total number of land dwelling, air breathing genuses known today (living
and extinct) is shown in the table below. Animal diversity has increased since
the flood so our estimate of 16,000 animal kinds on the ark is an upper limit.
These 16,000 animal kinds would have only taken up 50% of the ark’s floor
space.
Bo d y mass < 0.02 lb 0.02-0.2 lb 0.2-2 lb 2-20 lb 20-200 lb 200-1 to n 1-10 to ns 10-100 to ns T o tal
all mamals
466
1,570
1,378
1,410
1,462
892
246
0
7,424
all b ird s
630
2,272
1,172
450
70
4
0
0
4,598
all rep tiles
642
844
688
492
396
286
270
106
3,724
1,738
4,686
3,238
2,352
1,928
1,182
516
106
15,746
T o tals
How Much Food and Water Was on the Ark?

It is difficult to estimate the possible effects of hibernation on the reduction of food and
water requirements. If we assume there was no hibernation the 16,000 animal kinds on the
ark would have required ~2,000 tons of food and 1 million gallons of fresh drinking water
for the 371 day journey.

The amount of ark volume used if the entire 2,000 tons of food consisted of each of the
following:
 2,000 tons of lightly compressed hay pellets and sunflower seeds: 16.3% of the total
ark volume.
 2,000 tons of doubly pressed hay and heavy oats: 12.5% of the total ark volume.
 2,000 tons of pelletized horse and cattle food: 7% of the total ark volume
 2,000 tons of dried fruits and grain feed (peas, lentil, rice, etc.): 6.8% of the total ark
volume.

1 million gallons of fresh drinking water would have filled 9.4% of the total ark volume.

In summary, the ark was filled as follows:
 animals: 50% of the ark.
 food: 10% to 15% of the ark.
 fresh water: 9.4% of the ark.
 Noah’s family, tools, clothing, seeds, edible plants, etc.: 25% to 30% of the ark.
Were There Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?
Only a few of the dinosaurs were very large (such as Brachiosaurus and
Tyrannosaurus). For example, one (Struthiomimus) was only as big as an
ostrich and another (Compsognathus) as big as a rooster. God could
have chosen the smaller dinosaurs to go on the ark.
Were There Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?
As reptiles, dinosaurs would have continued growing their entire life.
The biggest dinosaurs would have most likely been the oldest dinosaurs.
Even the largest dinosaurs would have been relatively small as infants.
Most likely God did not send
fully grown, mature adult
creatures on the ark. When
these animals came off the
ark, they would repopulate the
earth, so they needed to be in
or just entering the prime of
their reproductive lives.
Therefore, God most likely
send young (and hence
smaller) creatures to live on
the ark.
Age at the Time of Death
Why Reduced Lifespans?
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0
5
10
15
20
Generation After Creation
25
Why Reduced Life Spans?
 It
appears that prior to the
flood, mankind lived for an
average of ~930 years.
flood imposed a severe
genetic bottle-necking on
humans (millions to 8).
 Through
this bottle-necking, a
portion of the “longevity
gene(s)” was lost.
 Another
bottle-necking
occurred at Babel (Peleg?)
giving rise to further loss.
 The
two genetic constrictions
coupled with increased
environmental pressures
brought lifespans from 930 to
100 years in 15 generations.
Age at the Time of Death
 The
flood
1200
1000
Babel
800
preflood
600
400
200
0
0
5
10
15
20
Generation After Creation
25
How Did the Different Races Arise From 8 People?

We all have the same skin color
agent, melanin, but in varying
amounts.





AABB (very dark): African
AaBb (medium):
Spanish/Mexican
aabb (very light): Swedish
Parents with genes that code for
dark colors (AABB) or light
colors (aabb) will have only dark
or light children.
Parents with genes that code for
medium brown (AaBb) have the
potential for maximum variation
for their children’s skin color
(shown in the punnet square to
the right).
Maximum Variation
AaBb x AaBb
AA
AA
Aa
Aa
BB
Bb
BB
Bb
AA
AA
Aa
Aa
Bb
bb
Bb
bb
Aa
Aa
aa
aa
BB
Bb
BB
Bb
Aa
Aa
aa
aa
Bb
bb
Bb
bb
Was There Really an Ice Age?

The effects of the ice age are still with us: the polar ice caps and glaciers. Because
these effects are evident today the ice age must have occurred shortly after the
end of the flood.

Beginning several hundred years after the flood and lasting for approximately 500
years, a great continental ice sheet centered over North America reaching as far
south as the great plains. A similar ice sheet covered Europe sweeping as far
south as France and Italy.

As the earth’s atmosphere stabilized after the flood, large quantities of
atmospheric water was transported to the polar regions where it would have
fallen as snow. The accumulating snow would have formed a giant ice pack
radiating out from its center.

Did Job live during the ice age? Job 37:10 “The breath of God produces ice and
the broad waters {oceans?} become frozen”, Job 38:29-30 “From whose womb
comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters
become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?” {compare “surface of
the deep” with “fountains of the deep”}
What About the Continental Drift Theory?
Although the Continental Drift Theory contains the notion of an earth millions of years old,
there is nothing inherently unbiblical with the idea that the continents may have been joined at
one time. In fact, Genesis 1:9 (And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and
let dry ground appear.") seems to suggest such an arrangement. Therefore, from the time of
creation until the flood, the earth’s land masses may have been distributed as shown above.
Science and the Bible
Step 1 - Know the Word
Know that the Word is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness” enabling us to “fight the good fight
of the faith”.
Step 2 - Know the world
Know what is and what is not helpful; how much to read and when
to stop.
Step 3 - When confronted, listen
What is being presented as fact and what is the interpretation of
the fact? Drill down to discover the center of the individual’s
worldview.
… in summary
The Bible is the unchanging, infallible
Word of God. These answers were
meant to show that such a faithposition in not unreasonable. In fact, I
maintain that it is far more reasonable
and satisfying, both intellectually and
spiritually, than any other faith-position.
Questions
& Answers