TASC

In 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible says, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.” Our knowledge is imperfect in this life, and we are continually learning more. This is also true in the scientific realm, and theories that were once held often have to be given up. We may see scientific theories change again very soon due to new discoveries concerning rates of radioactive decay, the speed of light, and the degree of ape-human similarity. All of these areas are significant for theories of the origin of life on earth, so it is helpful to examine them in more detail. Here there is only space to examine the first of these areas, namely, the rate of radioactive decay.

... there is about the fact of evolution no doubt at all. Evolution is a fact, as securely established as any in science, ... 1

Is this actually true? You may have read, or heard, such claims about evolution: that it is a fact, that it is proven beyond doubt, and perhaps even that anyone who questions the truth of evolution is either uneducated, ignorant, deluded, or perhaps just not that bright.

In their new book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow defend scientific determinism, which they define as follows:

Even though Noah’s Ark has not been discovered yet, we have the Word of God that records in the Hebrew book of B’resheet (Genesis) that the Ark rested in the Mountains of Ararat. This emplacement implies an altitude high above the current sea level, the result of the catastrophic and universal Deluge, that in biblical chronology happened about 4400 years ago. This universal flood refaced the earth’s surface (mountains, oceans, rivers, valleys, caves, fossils, sedimentary layers, volcanoes, etc.). Furthermore, Noah, his seven family members, and pairs of land dwelling animals that were carried in the Ark survived the catastrophe. No water dwelling creatures or insects were included in God’s rescue venture.

Here is our Earth, a young planet.

Achbishop James Ussher has been the butt of more ridicule on the subject of suggesting a date for the creation of the world, and ultimately the universe, than anyone else in history. He proposed the date of October 23, 4004 BC, and this date appeared as a marginal footnote in many Bibles up until the mid twentieth century. What should we think about his work that brought him to this conclusion?