Week 7 Essay

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Regent University *

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101

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Astronomy

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by AdmiralMonkeyPerson862

1 Hephzibah George Earth Science 101 Professor Howell June 23, 2023 Christian educators in the field of Earth Science have many challenges regarding the controversial topic of faith and science. Most textbooks take on the big bang theory and other non-religious stances. This belief, that a cosmic explosion created the universe, denies the existence of God and the Creation account. Evolutionists believe that the earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old (Tarbuck and Lutgens, 378). However, Creationists believe that God created the earth 6,000 years ago (Mortenson, 1). While Evolutionists suppose that major canyons and rock formations formed under billions of years, Creationists believe that rock layers, canyons, and a major part of fossils were formed under Noah’s flood (Mortenson, 1). Christians may have conflicting views about the Creation account. One such conflict is an old-earth Creation view. Some people interpret Genesis 1:1-3 as billions of years of gap between God’s “initial creation” which suffered a catastrophe, and the second creation, when Adam and Eve fell (Stewart, 1). However, Henry M. Morris, PH.D. stated, “The fact is that no such gap exists between the first two verses of Genesis at all. The second verse merely describes the initial aspect of the creation as ‘without form and void’ -that is, with neither structure nor inhabitants. The rest of the chapter tells how God produced a marvelous structure for His created universe.” (Morris, para. 23).

2 Creationists and Evolutionists have many conflicting beliefs. The geologic column is an example of a conflicting viewpoint between Creationists and Evolutionists. The geologic column is an interpretation of the rock layers of earth’s crust (Patterson, 1). Evolutionists use radiometric dating to approximate the age of the earth (Patterson, 1). The geologic column orders each rock layer into the different eras that make up the 6 billion years of earth history, according to the theory of evolution. Evolutionists believe that the geological column was laid down over a period of billions of years (Patterson, 1). Scientists also use index fossils to categorize each layer into the periods of time (Patterson, 1). However, Creationists believe that the rock layers formed after Noah’s Flood (Patterson, 1). As the flood waters rose, it buried humans and animals with sediments (Patterson, 1). One piece of evidence that Creationists use to prove the existence of a quick, widespread catastrophe like the Flood is that the layers of canyons like the Grand Canyon have rock layers that are bent together (Patterson, 1). Unless it was a quick layering process, these rock layers could not have bent together the same way over a span of billions of years (Patterson, 1). One puzzle found in the Scripture is the event of the long-day battle when Joshua fought against the Amorites. God might have caused a long day by tilting the earth on its axis or refracting the sun’s rays so that it appeared that the sun stood still for more than the hours of daylight in a typical day (Prichard, 1). There are also old Egyptian, Indian, and Chinese observations of this long day (Prichard, 1).

3 References Mortenson, Terry. Answers in Genesis. 16 February 2011. https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/young-earth/young-earth-creationist-view- summarized-and-defended/. Accessed July 22, 2023. Patterson, Roger. “Geologic Column.” Answers in Genesis. January 20, 2011. https://answersingenesis.org/geology/geologic-time-scale/geologic-column/. Accessed June 22, 2023. Prichard, Bob. “What Happened on the Long Day of Joshua 10?” House to House Heart to Heart. https://housetohouse.com/what-happened-on-the-long-day-of-joshua-10/. Accessed June 23, 2023. Stewart, Don, “ What Is The Gap Theory (The Ruin and Reconstruction Theory)?” www.blueletterbible.org. Accessed June 22, 2023. Tarbuck, E.J., Lutgens, F.K. Earth Science. 15 th Edition. 2017. https://plus.pearson.com/products/ef989f3d-de68-47b4- ab4df1322ecd4f25/pages/ab51d3faf04bc5c8bc3d82acb2d3dc9a7120d48f8-id_toc127? userPreferredType=read. Accessed June 22, 2023. Moris, M. Henry. “Why the Gap Theory Won’t Work.” November 1, 1997. https://www.icr.org/article/why-gap-theory-wont-work/. Accessed June 22, 2023.

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