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.
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It seems most appropriate…
It’s an hour before sunrise here on a long, sandy beach north of Cabo San Lucas, and I’m awed by His Divine presence. Waves gently lap on the beach in the darkness, in strict obedience to a myriad of God’s laws that dictate their frequency, strength, and duration to the very second. And with each passing wave, a minuscule fraction from the surface of each sand grain is ground away. The miles of beautiful, white silty sand testify to this endless erosional process and its persistence over eons of time.
The sun begins to dawn in precise compliance with a different cycle in God’s creation. He crafted Earth’s 24-hour rotation period through His wisdom to ensure mankind’s survival upon this amazing planet. He references this cycle in His account of creation in Genesis 1.
Two different processes simultaneously operating over two vastly different time frames. Why does Truth sometimes seem so divisive? Truth in a literal translation of Genesis Chapter 1 references a 24-hour daily cycle, while Truth through creation references eons of time.
That’s why my moment on the beach this morning seems so appropriate as I initiate the most important writing in this blog series. Join me now as we finally address the creation model that beautifully integrates the Young Earth and Old Earth models.
Time – The Controversy
The subject of “Time” has been a source of confusion, debate, and dispute in the church for over 50 years. I addressed “Time” in Blogs #12-17 and focused upon its definition in the ancient Hebrew language and its use throughout the Old Testament.
We learned that if only the textural reference for “day” in Genesis 1 is considered, along with the literal translations of “sunrise” and “sunset,” then the translation of a 24-hour day is reasonable. This, in turn, could imply a relatively recent earth. The Young Earth camp adopts this translation and believes that Earth’s creation date falls within the past 15,000 years. (Blog #34 discusses the Young Earth model in more detail.)
On the other hand, Scripture such as Romans 1:18-22 states that God‘s creation itself is truth, and we learn of His character when we attempt to understand “what has been made.” Also, Job 38:31-33 declares that His ordinances (natural laws) control the Earth. An unbiased study of His creation and the natural laws that control it point to an extremely ancient earth—ancient as in 4.5 billion years-old.
At first glance this conflict appears irreconcilable; theological wars have been fought. However, another natural process offers a beautiful solution to the dilemma. The process is termed “time dilation”— and we’ve journeyed a vast terrain of Scripture and science to grasp it.
Time and Time Dilation
What is “time dilation?” We’ve seen three examples in earlier blogs. As a review, Blog #14 introduced the relativistic nature of “time.” The speed of light is a universal constant—in other words, it doesn’t change. Time, however, is relativistic—the passage of time varies with respect to (or, relative to) its frame of reference. Earth is our frame of reference and we define the passage of time on Earth as its 24-hour rotation period. Other frames of reference may behave very differently. Blog #14 also described a hypothetical situation where a traveler boards a rocket ship for a 50-year voyage at 99% of the speed of light! The rocket becomes the traveler’s new frame of reference and he/she brings along an earth-based clock and calendar. Precisely 50 years later (according to the clock and calendar) the traveler returns home and discovers that 20,000 years have elapsed on Earth!
So, let’s chew on that. Approximately 20,000 Earth years passed during the traveler’s 50-year journey. Or, in other words, 400 Earth years passed for each year on the rocket ship. Time on the speeding rocket was passing 400 times slower than the passage of time on Earth! And, if you carry out the math, 3.6 minutes on the rocket ship was equivalent to a 24-hour day on Earth. “Time” on the rocket ship was “stretched out” to a much slower pace than on Earth. This “stretching” or “slowing” of time is termed “dilation” or, “time dilation.”
We also considered a second example of time dilation in the blog. This fictional source included a strong gravitational field from an intensely dense planet that hypothetically intersects our solar system. The intense gravity slowed the passage of time on the dense planet by hundreds of times.
Two different processes (velocity and gravity) with a similar impact—they each slow the passage of time. Time is truly relativistic.
I’ve noted that a third process would eventually be introduced that further impacts time dilation. This mechanism is associated with Hubble’s red-shift observations discussed in Blog #17. Hubble’s observations changed our concept of the universe, but his explanation of the red-shift required further refinement. I’ll address this third process in the next blog.
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This was intended only as a brief review and cursory introduction to time dilation. More information is required to clarify why time dilation occurs and how it may then be applied to the Old Earth/Young Earth controversy. At that point we’ll finally plunge into the Time Dilation model.