How old is the earth? That single question has carved a chasm between mainstream church attendees and others with scientific backgrounds. Many are confused and even wounded by the arguments that erupt between biblical and scientific interpretations of nature’s attributes. I too was wounded and began grappling with these issues over 40 years ago. As a Ph.D. research geologist/chemist, and …
The Creation Models (Time Dilation; Part 3) #40
In the previous blog (Blog #39) I addressed how time is related to light, its wavelength, and frequency using a simplified version of our rocket ship example. We learned that a dramatic increase in the velocity of our frame of reference “stretches out” the wavelengths of light, resulting in a dramatic decrease in light’s frequency from our perspective. Since the ...
The Creation Models (Time Dilation; Part 2) #39
Why would an increase in your velocity (your location’s frame of reference) to 99% of the speed of light slow down your passage of time by 400-fold? That’s the rocket ship scenario we discussed previously (Blog #38, introduced in Blog #17). This blog addresses that question. If successful, it will de-mystify the “slowing” (dilation) of time. Full credit for my explanation of ...
The Creation Models (Time Dilation; Part 1) #38
We finally arrived! This blog harmonizes the Old Earth and Young Earth models—it’s why I wrote this 40-blog series. And we’ve covered a multitude of technical topics, questions, and conflicting contrasts to get here. I started this final section on a sandy, early-morning beach about three months ago as I pondered another “conflict” in God’s creation. * * * It ...
The Creation Models (Old Earth Days 5-6) #37
Welcome back! Days 1-4 of the Old Earth Creation Model discussion are available in Blogs #35 and 36. Day 5 is about to begin. And although we’ve covered only four of the six creations days (67% of God’s creation week), we’ve addressed 95% of the creation’s age according to geologic time. The unequal lengths of each creation day and the ...
The Creation Models (Old Earth Days 2-4) #36
Day 1 seemed to last forever—and it almost did. About 65% of the total age of the universe is captured by Day 1 according to the Old Earth model (see previous Blog #35). It began the moment God spoke the universe into existence. Two generations of stars preceded a 3rd generational star—our sun, birthed from a collapsing proplyd (dust cloud). ...
The Creation Models (Old Earth Day 1) #35
This blog provides an overview of Day 1 of the Old Earth model. The task is daunting—its intent is to provide a simple summary of the natural history of the universe as seen through the eyes of science, and yet integrated with the Bible. It’s the second of six creation models listed in our previous blog (Blog #34) which addressed ...
The Creation Models (Introduction and Young Earth) #34
A total of 33 blogs were posted over the past two years to summarize the Science and the Bible lecture series. The topics included Biblical scripture laced with technical content that ranged from Greenland ice core data to the lethal output of radiation from a distant galaxy to mutation rates of complex animals, etc. My goal was to provide a ...
The Evolution of Evolution (Summary; Part 9) #33
Never did I imagine when starting this series on Evolution that I would conclude it with a ninth blog! This has been a challenging series that likely reflects my background as a geologist/geochemist rather than a biologist! I’ll begin with a summary of each lesson: Lesson 1 – General overview; introduction and discussion of micro- vs. macro-evolution. Lesson 2 –Introduces ...
The Evolution of Evolution (Fossil Record—Cambrian Explosion; Part 8) #32
Well, I hope a few of you are still around after waiting almost two months on this long-overdue blog. No specific issue(s) – just many interruptions and other commitments. The last blog (Part 7; Blog #31) described the development of life over a vast time period from about 3.5 billion years ago (Bya) to about 0.6 Bya. As summarized in ...
The Evolution of Evolution (Fossil Record; Part 7) #31
I left you hanging in Part 6. I initially stated that we would review the fossil record from about 4.1 Bya (billion years ago) until about 0.6 Bya—a period of about 3.5 By. We discussed the discovery of stromatolites (single cell communities of Cyanobacteria, a.k.a. “blue green algae) in Western Australian rocks dated at about 3.5-3.4 Bya. Eukaryotic, single-cell, green ...