Carbon Dating: Is the earth really 4.6 BILLION YEARS OLD?

AGE DATING THE EARTH - (Print)
The earth is commonly estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old, and the oldest rocks on earth have been dated to 4.28 billion years ago. (Zircons found from grains in Western Australia are considered slightly older - 4.36 billion years old.) Geologists depend on radiometric age dating to give dates to different strata and the rocks and bones and artifacts found in those layers. Most will say that the dating methods have been confirmed over and over again, but there are questions about whether the dating methods used are reliable and whether they give scientists true dates - or whether they give dates that fit those secular geologists' preconceived ideas.

Meteorites:
During its history, the earth has suffered constant change. Erosion, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, catastrophes change the surface of the earth, melting rocks, grinding them up and spitting them back out in different forms than they had when they started. Because geologists have a difficult time finding truly ancient earth rocks, they have dated meteorites - assumed to have formed at the same time as the earth (and the rest of the solar system) in order to give a reliable age for the earth.

Those who trust in radiometric dating methods point to G. Brent Dalrymple's 1991 book The Age of the Earth, in which he lists the ages of various chondrite samples age-dated through several methods. Dalrymple shows that the dates of chondrite samples derived through different methods all give similar ages. A list of samples dated by the rubidium-strontium (Rb-Sr) method gives dates in a range from 4.37 +/- 0.34 billion years to 4.59 +/- 0.06 billion years. Samarium-neodymium (Sm-Nd) dating of chondrites gives a date of 4.21 +/- 0.76 billion years, and both eucrites dated by lutetium-hafnium (Lu-Hf) and iron dated by rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) gives dates of 4.57 billion years. Dalrymple lists other sets of samples and shows that the samples consistently date between 4.29 billion and 4.57 billion years, regardless of the dating method used.

This looks like convincing evidence that the earth is truly about 4.6 billion years old and the dating methods work reliably, (even though the Rb-Sr dating has a margin of error of 340 million years and Sm-Nd of 760 million years). Dalrymple's results appear to be fairly consistent in giving the earth an age of well over 4 billion years.

As we noted last week, however, the use of these dating methods depends on a number of assumptions. When these methods give dates hundreds of millions of years apart, even without taking the margins of error into consideration, we can reasonably hesitate to put our full faith in them. On tests of rocks considered much younger, those result differences really matter.

Grand Canyon:
Despite claims to the contrary, dating methods do not always give consistent dates, and can give widely different results for samples of rocks from the same layers.

In 2005, geologist Andrew Snelling and creationist researchers had multiple samples of Grand Canyon basalts age-dated using at least three of the main radiometric dating methods, and found the tests gave discordant results. The Cardenas Basalt samples gave an age of 516 (+/-30) million years when dated by the K-Ar method, 1111 (+/-80) million years when dated by the Rb-Sr method, and 1588 (+/-170) million years when dated with the Sm-Nd method. The range in dates for just the Cardenas Basalt was therefore more than a billion years. That's a huge range considering the low age-date for the basalt was "only" 516 million years.

The Grand Canyon Brahma amphibolites samples dated by the Rb-Sr, Ur-Pb, and Sm-Nd methods gave ages that ranged from 1240 to1883 million years ago. In a couple of cases, layers farther down in the Grand Canyon (and therefore relatively older) were dated younger than layers higher up. These results, and other similar tests by Steve Austin and other creationists (see links below), have demonstrated that these dating methods are not necessarily as reliable as old earth geologists often claim.

Assuming A Great Age:
One of the problems with using the Rb-Sr or K-Ar or other certain age-dating methods is that they do not give accurate ages for items that are young. Andrew Snelling reports that in 1996, samples were taken from 20th century lava flows on New Zealand's Mt Ngauruhoe - "two each from the 11 February 1949, 4 June 1954, and 14 July 1954 flows and from the 19 February 1975 avalanche deposits, and three from the 30 June 1954 flow..." The samples were sent to Geochron Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass for whole-rock potassium-argon (K–Ar) dating. Even though the rocks were from lava flows less than 50 years old, the samples gave greatly exaggerated dates for the rocks.

Snelling reports, "The 'ages' range from <0.27 to 3.5 (± 0.2) million years for rocks which were observed to have cooled from lavas 25–50 years ago. One sample from each flow yielded 'ages' of <0.27 or <0.29 million years while all the other samples gave 'ages' of millions of years. " Geologists complain that this sort of testing is ridiculous to do because everybody knows that K-Ar dating will not give accurate dates for extremely young rocks. Ah, and that's just the problem. When geologists do tests of ancient rocks, they assume extremely old ages, and so they use age-dating methods that would be appropriate for extremely old rocks. If the rocks truly aren't that old, how can geologists know? What would indicate to a lab that the correct date is the lower date rather than the 3.5 million year date? If they used dating methods appropriate for young rocks, would those give relatively consistent young ages for the rocks? Speed of Light and Inflated Dates: While there are definitely some difficulties with the age-dating methods, Andrew Snelling believes they can still be useful for the most part in giving relative dates - that is, determining that this sample is older than that sample. Some young-earth physicists like Lambert Dolphin, Barry Setterfield, and Trevor Norman argue that these dating methods are not wrong in theory - but they give wildly exaggerated dates because radioactive decay rates have slowed down over time. The speed of light has a direct effect on the atom and atomic decay rates. These physicists argue that the speed of light has been slowing down, affecting the rate of radioactive decay. If decay rates were much higher in the past, then dating-methods based on today's rates of change would be inflated. Unless the physicists get on the ball and build a good time machine, not one of us can go back in time and watch the formation of the earth and its familiar geologic wonders. Yet, we believe we already have a good account of what happened. The first five books of the Bible were written by a man who glowed after his encounters with the I AM (Exd 34:29-30) and who spoke with God "face to face" (Exd 33:11). While secular scientists scoff at divine revelation, we have confidence that it is truly the best way to know what happened at the beginning of the world. -Chuck Missler Related Links: On The Constancy Of The Speed Of Light »
- Lambert Dolphin
Radiometric Dating: Making Sense of the Patterns »
- Answers In Genesis
Radioactive Dating Failures »
- Creation
Excessively Old 'Ages' For Grand Canyon Lava Flows »
- ICR
Oldest Rocks on Earth Found »
- LiveScience
The Age Of The Earth »
- The TalkOrigins Archive
ASU Researchers Recalculate Age of Solar System »
- Arizona State University
History of the Light-Speed Debate »
- Koinonia House

The Fast of Tammuz

THE FAST OF TAMMUZ
In 2010, June 29th on the Hebrew calendar is Shiva Asar B'Tammuz - the 17th of Tammuz, the beginning of the Three Weeks of mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av (9th of Av) on July 20th.

The 9th of Av is a familiar date for Jewish grief. On both occasions when foreigners destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, they did it on the 9th of Av. Many other tragedies befell Israel on this date throughout history. The 9th of Av is not alone, however. Another date, the 17th of Tammuz, has also been filled with suffering. On June 29th, many observant Jews will fast to commemorate five tragedies that befell Israel on 17 Tammuz throughout history.

On 17 Tammuz:

Moses broke the tablets of the Law after seeing the people dancing around the golden calf they had made while he was on Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 32:19). The LORD later replaced the tablets (Exodus 34);
The daily sacrifice ended during Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem for lack of sheep and other sacrificial animals;
The Romans broke through the walls of Jerusalem shortly before the 2nd Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70;
Years prior to the Great Revolt, the Roman general Apostumus burned a scroll of the Torah;
An idol was erected in the Temple.

The three week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is called Bein Hametzarim - "between the troubles". On the Sabbath during the Three Weeks, passages on the Temple's destruction and the exile of the Jewish people are read from Isaiah and Jeremiah. During this period of time, Orthodox and other observant Jews refrain from the following:

wearing new clothes
listening to music
bathing for pleasure
shaving or hair cutting
weddings
drinking wine or eating meat
long journeys
While the Fasts of Tammuz and Av (the 4th and 5th months) are a time of mourning, many Jews believe that after the future redemption of Israel, these days of mourning will be turned into days of feasts and rejoicing. As the LORD told the prophet Zechariah:

The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace." (Zech 8:19).

Chuck Missler

Who experiences the dark night?

We have all experienced dark episodes in our lives, times of discouragement and disappointment and loss. We have all had times when we've faced the natural painful consequences of our own foolish mistakes. There are seasons, though, when people who love God – who are serving Him faithfully – go through extremely difficult, dark times. When that happens, it is easy to question whether the God we serve truly loves us, or whether we are really in the center of His will.

As we noted last week, the Lord allows the dark night to happen to His beloved children, and especially those who are the most faithful, the most loving, the ones who want all of Him. Again, remember Isaiah 50:10, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?"

Great Christians are made by great trials. Pain, sorrow and failure are what produce men and women of God. Those with the greatest dreams are often the ones who receive the greatest trials. Eternal lessons seem to require hard places. As Scripture declares, the way we are made "perfect," or whole or complete, is by suffering or by barring ourselves from sin and self (Hebrews 2:10). First, God must take away all our external and internal supports other than Himself, then He can strengthen our inner man, enabling us to experience His fullness – that fullness of Himself we so desperately long for.

The dark night of the soul happens to people who have already accepted the Lord; those who have already given their lives to Him; those already filled with the Spirit; those who have already dedicated their lives to Him; those who have already asked for intimacy; and those who have already been set aside for God's purposes of ministry. Yet, like Job, people who are truly serving God and are in the center of His will can go through very dark times.

Why Does God Send the Dark Night?
There seems to be three things that God is looking for in each of our lives: our salvation, our conviction, and our sanctification.

God wants to prove us, to demonstrate our true heart. Will we be obedient in all things? (2 Corinthians 2:9) Will we obey Him, even when we can't see Him or feel Him? Will we hold on to His truths even though we don't understand what He is doing? Peter writes:
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" -1Peter 1:7
Can we all catch that? The trials of our faith are precious. They are never empty or meaningless, but are destined to have great value both in our personal lives and in the Kingdom. The Lord wants believers who have faith like Job, and who can utter like he did, "Though You slay me, yet will I trust You."
When Job sought the Lord to know why the bad things were happening to him, he got no answer from God. And it's often the same with us. God only tells us that He does have a plan for our lives and, even though we don't understand what that plan is or how it is going to work out, we must trust that He always has our best in view.

When seasoned believers enter this dark night, they are no longer in the beginning stages of learning about the reality of Christ's love and power. Those foundational bricks have been already laid. When dark nights come, we must learn to rely upon our Savior in spite of our circumstances, in spite of our logic and in spite of our human reason. We must trust that only God knows what is best for our lives; therefore, whatever He allows into them He will use it for our good.

God is teaching us that all that matters in this life is knowing and loving Him. He wants us to love Him and rely upon Him regardless of what we desire, regardless of what our intellect is saying and regardless of what we are feeling. He wants us to be able to echo what Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 4:8-11:
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."
For those who love Jesus and are dedicated to Him, to have His life manifested through us is the greatest thing that could be asked of our lives; it is worth any temporary suffering or difficulty or dark time that God puts in our path. And even during these terrible trials, when things look so very dark, we can still "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory," (1 Peter 1:8) because we know that even then (and especially then), God is doing wonderful, precious work behind the scenes.

-Koinona House

HORATIO SPAFFORD AND THE NIGHT SEASONS

Horatio Spafford was a prominent lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago when the 1871 Chicago Fire hit and destroyed almost all of his property. Two years later, Spafford sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him to England, where his friend DL Moody would be preaching. On the voyage there, the ship sank and all four children were drowned. His wife alone was saved. The couple went on to have three more children, but tragedy struck again when their four year old son died of pneumonia in 1880. Near the end of his life, Spafford moved to Jerusalem and ran charitable ventures like soup kitchens, hospitals, and orphanages. He died in 1888 of malaria and was buried in Jerusalem.

While Horatio Spafford endured crippling tragedy after tragedy, he is most famous for having written one of the most beloved hymns of all time: "It Is Well With My Soul." In the midst of serious personal sorrow, God brought Spafford to a place of peace and security wholly independent of his circumstances.

It is easy to fear in life. There are no promises of happiness or fairness. If anybody promised you a rose garden, then they were either naive for downright dishonest. In fact, when things seem to be running smoothly, tragedy can and often strikes and knocks us off our temporary pedestals of comfort. In John 16:33, Jesus warned us that in this world we would have troubles. "But be of good cheer," he said, "I have overcome the world."

In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter tells us that as God begins to wrap up time as we know it, He will allow events to happen in the body of Christ that will try us and test us to the max. How will we make it through this time of testing, if we don't understand what God is doing, and if we crumble at the first hint of suffering? We desperately need to have a grasp of what God's purpose is for allowing these kinds of trials and, most importantly, we need to understand what to do and how to act in them.

Night Seasons
During a night season, God initiates a purging, a cleansing and a purifying of our souls from everything that is not of faith. At this time, God crushes our self will, so that He can merge it with His own. In other words, it's our own private Gethsemane. As Jesus cried in the garden, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death...Nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt." (Mark 14:34-36) During this dark season, God teaches us to say, just as Jesus did, "Not my will, but Thine." (Matthew 26:39)

During this time, God can begin to transform our reliance on physical things to things of the spirit. He wants us to learn to walk by faith, not by our senses, our feelings or our understanding. God wants to teach us how to detach ourselves from all physical, emotional and spiritual supports, so that we will be able to respond with "Not my will, but Thine."

Because this season can often be a time of desolation, of dried bones and ruined hopes, many Christians - because they don't understand what God's will is or what He is doing - get so discouraged and defeated that they give up and turn back.

Many will feel like Job, who "looked for good" but only "evil came"; and for "light," but found only "darkness." (Job 30:26) Or like Isaiah, who uttered "We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places like dead men." (Isaiah 59:9-10)

If we can only remember during our night season that the Holy Spirit has led us into this darkness on purpose. God is not angry at us, and He has not abandoned us – He paid the ultimate price for us, how could He ever abandon us? He brought us to a necessary place where precious things can happen. As he told Mary, whose brother Lazarus had died, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)

It is in these places, when our normal human securities are stripped away and all we have is Jesus, that He can begin to do in us those excellent things that can make all the difference in our lives and in our walk with Him. When the only thing we can do is cling to God, we come to that place where we see Him more clearly than ever before. That's when the fear goes away, and we can join Horatio Spafford in singing with greater appreciation:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

-Koinona House