Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi River carries some 300 million cubic yards (190 million tons) of sediment into the Gulf of Mexico each year.  Of this amount, about 59 million tons must be dredged out of the lower Mississippi annually. If this has been taking place for millions of years, the Gulf would have long since been filled with that sediment.  Currently there is enough sediment to justify an age of about 30,000 years.  When you factor in the great flood it gives us a more reasonable answer.  The flood probably dumped half of the present amount of sediment over a period of a few days.  This would bring us to an age no older than a few thousand years.

Ocean Sediment

Rivers around the world are pouring an estimated 28 billion tons of sediment into the oceans each year.  Billions of years of this would have resulted in the erosion of continents into the oceans hundreds of times, resulting in a layer of sediment on the ocean floor over 100 miles thick. In fact, according to some calculations all the continents would have eroded flat in only 14 million years.  In reality, the ocean sediment is  only an average of a few thousand feet thick. There is no evidence on land or in the ocean of continents ever having eroded away.

Mineral Concentrations in Oceans

Many chemical elements are washed into the oceans each year.  At the present rate of accumulation, the quantity of these minerals found in ocean water is much less than would be expected if the earth were billions of years old. Specifically, nitrates and uranium which do not break down or recycle, like salt, are in much smaller concentrations than would be accumulated in long ages.  These concentrations in the oceans are small enough to be taken as an accurate indicator that the oceans are a few thousand years old.  (Initially a large percentage deposited during the "run-off" after the flood, with deposits continuing at a lesser rate since that time).

Salt in the Ocean

In 1899, John Jolly attempted to measure the age of the earth based on the amount of sodium chloride (table salt) in the oceans by assuming that the ocean began as pure water, and the present rate of addition of salt has always been the same.(Notice there is no calculations including a world-wide flood.)  Measuring the amount of salt entering the oceans at all the world's major rivers, by simple calculations he determined that the earth could be no older than 100 million years old.  This date, much younger than needed for evolution, was reluctantly accepted by Darwin's followers, because the method was too good and accurate.  Any assumption called into question would only result in a much younger earth than that.  Fortunately for evolutionists, radiometric method were developed just in the nick of time and superseded all aother dating methods (merely because they gave the desired dates and not because they were proven to be more accurate).

Sea Ooze

When animals and plants die in the sea, that which is not consumed as food builds up as an ooze onthe flor of the oceans.  This buildup is at the rate of acout one inch every 5,000 years.  When measured, there is not nearly enough anywhere in the oceans to account for even millions, much less billions, of years of accumulation. Some people try to explain this away with the theory of Continental Drift that started out as one huge land mass called, "Pangea".  The problem with that theory is they had to shrink Africa by 40% to make it fit between North and South America, and they eliminated all of present day Nicoragua, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and other Central American countries.  Where would the ocean floors have come from if the continents drifted apart?  Wouldn't the earth's crust be non-existent under the oceans if they had to drift to get apart?  Yet there is crust at the bottom of all the oceans in the world.

Stalagmites and Stalactites

The formation of stalagmites and stalactites in caves have long been used as proof for an old earth, claiming millions of years for their formation.  However, that is not true.  Stalactites have been documented in a London tunnel, closed since its use as an air-raid shelter in 1945. In only 33 years these "dripstones" grew to exceed 24 inches inlength.  In addition, National Geographic published a photograph in 1953 of a stalagmite whch grew so rapidly, it cemented a bat that fell on it, and preserved the bat before it could decompose.  Under the Lincoln Memorial, built in 1922, there are stalactites that are over 50 inches long.  Therefore, stalactite and stalagmite growth points to recent cave, and recent earth formation.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is moving every year. The rate of its movement can be measured. The falls were first mapped in 1678 by French explorer, Hennepin.  The falls eroded at a rate of about 7 feet per year until 1842 (when some of the water was diverted for other uses).  Since then, calculations show its rate of erosion reduced to 3.5 feet per year.  Therefore, since the length of the gorge is 7 miles , the age of the falls is between 5,000 and 10,000 years old.  Again as in other previous proofs if you consider the flood factor, it explains how much of the gorge could have eroded in a few minutes.  Increased volumes of water lead to an increased rate of erosion, making the age of the falls under 6,000 years old.

Salt in the Dead Sea

Israel's Dead Sea is perhaps the best, most credible of all geochronometers available simply because it is a closed system.  At one end of the Valley lies the Afar region, where Donald Johanson discovered the infamous "Lucy".  Texbook authorities date the Afar region at three million year of age  (Johanson and Edy,  1981, 187). At the other end of this unique valley which is below sea level, fresh water from the Sea of Galilee flows through the Jordan River, into the Dead Sea which is the lowest point on earth.  The only outlet for the Dead Sea is evaporation. Water is evaporated at the same rate in which it enters the sea, however, salt is not evaporated allowing the salt to concentrate in the sea.  The fourteenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the figures needed for the calculation of age:

The Dead Sea, which covers an area of 394 square miles, contains approximately 11,600,000,000 tons of salt, and the river Jordan which contains only 35 parts of salt per 100,000 parts of water, adds each year 850,00 tons of salt to this total (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1973, 19:995).

In the last 30 years the water has been diverted from the Jordan River for irrigation purposes; so the rate that salt is deposited is not now constant, but drastically reduced. 

Taking all this into consideration the earth cannot be billions of years old only thousands of years old.

Earth Heat

The earth is slowly cooling.  During the  19th century, Lord Kelvin, while assuming that the earth was "white hot"(most evolutionists believe it was molten), and considering the existing temperature gradient in the earth and the rate of cooling, calculated that the earth could not have a vast age in the billions of years, but could have neen no more than 400 million years old.  If his assumtion had been based on the creation of a cool earth, his date would have been much smaller.  In Genesis 1:2 it says, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." If the earth was even white hot it would be impossible to be covered with water.

Earth's Magnetic Field

The earth's magnetic field is decaying. It has lost 6% of its power in the last 150 years.  Based on figures from 1835 to 1965, the half-life of the magnetic field is calculated to be 1,400 years old.  Extrapolated backward to just 20,000 years ago,  the heat produced by the magnetic field would probably have liquefied the earth, and at 1 million years ago,  the magnetic field would have been so strong as to have vaporized our planet.

Based on the lessening of the magnetic field, the earth has to be younger than 10,000 years old and points to special creation. ( As a side note, remember that the magnetic field helps protect from the influx of cosmic rays.  Since the magnetic field was greater in the past, fewer cosmic rays would penetrate, resulting in less harmful effects on humans.  This could help to explain how people could live over 900 years.  Also it would result in a much smaller amount of Carbon-14.  Therefore, the cosmic ray dependent C-14 dating method would show ages for the past which are greater than what they are in reality.)

Atmospheric Helium

Atmospheric helium is formed by the constan decay of radioactiive elements uranium and thorium.  Our present atmosphere would contain 14 parts per million of helium if this had been going on for billions of years.  However, the present atmosphere contains enough helium to date the earth at about 10,000 years. (3.5 x1011 grams/year)

The Earth's Spin is Slowing

The rotation of the earth on its axis is gradually slowing down.  Popular Science magazine, as well as other popular and scientific press articles refers to the results of this as "Leap Second". (Which they added to the clock this last year, 2005, at midnight on New Year's Eve.)  They have calculated that the earth is slowing at a constant rate of 1/1000th of a second each day.  If the earth is billions of years old, and if its rate of deceleration has been constant through time, either the earth's spin should now be slowed to zero, or the original speed of the spinning earth would have been so great that the centrifugal force would have pulled the land masses to the equator and drawn them out to a height of over 40 miles.   The oceans would have been pushed to the poles, and the overall shape of the earth would have changed from a sphere to that of a fat pancake.  Needless to say, this evidence also supports a young earth of only several thousand years age.

Carbon-14

We discussed Carbon-14(and other radiometric tests) on another page.  Ian Taylor, in his book , In the Minds of Men, discusses many known correction factors.  These include:

Production rate of C-14 increased over time due to : Stronger original magnetic field.  Changes in atmosphere (such as the waters above the firmament-Genesis 1:6-7)

Increased decay rates of C-14 due to: Manmade carbon dioxide and radiation since 1850.  Improved counting techniques( Stuiver and Suess, 1966).

Taylor reported, "Textbooks today recognized that correction factors are necessary to take into account the disequilibrium between C-14 production and decay.... to produce ages all within a time frame of a few thousand years."  To validate the magnitude of this, he reports the following study of 15 thousand published C-14 dates:

Whitelaw (1970) has subjected 15,000 published C-14 dates to statistical analysis by ranking , and then has applied the correction factors using the acknowledged 30 percent difference in rates, and the entire data reduce to a remarkably sharp beginning point, about 5,000 years ago.  This, again, is confirmation of the Genesis record for the time of the Flood and a good reason to question openly all the long ages given by the other radiometric methods...

That's not all, Folks!

These are but a few of the many dating methods that clearly demonstrate a young earth.  Remember, the shortest date is the weakest link in the dating chain.  If only one of these indicate a young earth, the other dating methods prove nothing.  (For more in-depth studies of these, there are several well documented texts available, such as:In the Minds of Men, by Ian T. Taylor; The Creation-Evolution Controversy, by R.L. Wysong; and of course, many of Henry Morris' fine books.  It is quite evident that real science points to a young creation.  The Primary quest of the text, though, is not to convince you of the scientific basis for creation,  I will leave that to the many fine books on that subject.  I have given these to you simply to build your confidence in a young creation.





2 Peter 3:7-13 -  But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  8 -  But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  9 -  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  10 -  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 

Elements will be destroyed - Elements in the Greek, means first things like the letters in the alphabet. First things in nature would be the atom.  Physic's tells us that the atom is bound together by the "Strong Nuclear Force".  When the Strong Nudlear Force is broken, the atom releases tremendous energy.  What is this strong Nuclear Force? 

Colossians 1:16-17  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.  17 -  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Destroyed: It is the Greek word which means destruction by being loosed, (i.e. coming apart). 

The Bible tells us that the atoms in this universe are going to come apart. And when will this happen?  When Jesus comes back.  Yes the Big Bang is coming and you want to be ready.  Read the first conversion story in Acts 2:26-41 and find out how to be ready.

11 -  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  12 -  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  13 -  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

God is good to those who choose to go to heaven, He is going to make brand new heavens and a new earth.  I want to go and I hope you do too.



Sincerely,

Wayne K. Cobb