Creation Ministries InternationalCreation Ministries International Logo

Refuting Evolution Study Guide: Lesson 8

Chapter 8: How Old Is the Earth?

Published 30 Jun, 2006

Table of Contents

Navigation

Supplemental materials:

Discussion questions:

  1. Define ‘uniformitarianism’. Discuss and critique the assumptions behind this view of the past.

  2. What observable events contradict the view geological formations happen slowly and gradually?

  3. What is ‘neo-catastrophism’?

  4. What does fossilization require?

  5. Discuss the part the Flood of Noah’s Day may have played in the formation of many of the geological formations we see today.

  6. What features of the fossil record are hard to explain by slow and gradual processes?

  7. Describe the radiometric dating method, i.e. how does radiometric dating work? Evaluate the assumptions behind this method.

  8. List and describe the various ‘anomalies’ that shed doubt on the accuracy of the radiometric dating methods.

  9. Write a research paper on the topic ‘Is there evidence for a young Earth and Universe?’.

Additional Resources

Answers

  1. The idea that the present is the key to the past—the processes we see happening slowly today have always happened slowly. See page 105-107.

  2. See page 105-107 and Q&A: Geology for additional information.

  3. See page 105.

  4. See Q&A: Geology for additional information. Generally, the Flood’s waters deposited many layer of sediments, which eventually hardened into rock. The waters rushing off the continents towards the end of the Flood would have shaped and scoured out of many of the rock formations we have today.

  5. Examples: The finely-preserved features found in animals and plants throughout the fossil record testify that fossils could not have formed slowly and gradually. Polystrate tree trunks are also evidence of catastrophic deposition.

  6. Some elements (such as uranium) undergo radioactive decay to produce other elements. By measuring the quantities of radioactive elements and the elements into which they decay in rocks, geologists can determine how much of each element is present in a sample. This measurement is interpreted to show how much time has elapsed since the rock has cooled from an initially molten state. Assumptions listed on page 109. See pages 107-109 and Q&A: Radiometric Dating for additional information.

  7. See pages 110-112 and Q&A: Radiometric Dating for additional information.

  8. A variety of responses are possible.