A Christian Physicist Examines the Age of
the Earth
by Steven Ball, Ph.D.

from
https://www.letu.edu/academics/arts-and-sciences/files/age-of-earth.pdf

September 2003

Introduction
Since you’ve picked up this booklet to at least skim it, obviously this
subject is one of interest to
you. I hope this is an issue you are willing to reason together with me,
rather than simply
checking to see if it agrees with your present view. If the former is
true, then read on and I
believe you’ll find it interesting and worthwhile. I’m trusting that no
one will put confidence in
my conclusions concerning the age of the Earth simply because I claim to
be a committed
Christian or because of the Ph.D. in physics. Neither of these titles
gives me enough authority to
tell people what to believe. Rather I’m trusting that you are ready to
reason with me, exercising
as much skepticism as you like, but with just enough willingness to let
the evidence persuade
you of the truth. If not, I hope you’ll at least read the first chapter.
That doesn’t address the age
of the Earth, but rather why there is such a controversy over it among
Christians.
Perhaps you feel this is a closed issue, based upon what the Bible says,
and there is no need to
examine it further. Or tragically, perhaps you feel a distaste for
Christianity in general because it
appears to require rejecting science altogether. For both individuals I
have a message of
encouragement. I have discovered a beautiful fit between good science
and solid faith in Christ
and the Bible. Now I feel compelled to offer my insights on this issue
to others because of what
I see as an unhealthy situation presently surrounding it. And not just
to be heard, because I
promised myself I wouldn’t waste good paper unless I had something
worthwhile to put on it.
Although this is directed primarily to scientific laymen, I welcome
scientists to examine this as
well. From my experience, most scientists have not given much thought to
the scope of these
issues. We tend to be a little too specialized these days.
In case you are insisting on a quick and easy answer, then I won’t beat
around the bush
concerning my conclusions. As a Christian physicist, I’ve been blessed
with the freedom and
opportunity to examine the scientific evidence for the age of the Earth
in some detail, and have
concluded that it emphatically points to an age of around 4.6 billion
years. I’m well aware of the
Biblical account of creation, and I can assure you that I strongly
believe it to be true. As a
Christian educator, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with Christian
young people enough to
know that this is an emotionally charged issue that is viewed to be high
stakes with respect to the
Christian faith. It is my intent to help people sort through this issue
both with the mind and with
the heart. Indeed, the age of the Earth may be the catchy title of this
book, but the real issue is
the role of science in influencing our faith, a nonscientific realm. It
is my firm belief that those
who are willing to go with me on this journey will come through it with
their faith in the validity
of God’s Word, the Bible, strengthened, and with a greater respect for
the testimony of the
physical universe we live in.

Chapter 1
The Root of the Problem
On the first day of science class at a private Christian university, the
wary freshman student is
experiencing anxiety. Although the university is billed to be
doctrinally sound, thoroughly
evangelical, and unashamedly Christian, he is not sure how the science
professors will stand on
an issue that the student has determined to be an important litmus test
of the faith. Anxiety is
only heightened by the fact that the professor starts out class with a
brief devotion, since this
could be merely a deceptive appearance of faith, perhaps a faith badly
marred by false doctrine.
However the devotion doesn’t give a straightforward answer to his
question. The Scripture text
is from Psalm 19 with emphasis on the first verse, “The heavens are
declaring the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” [1]. Some comments
are made to the
effect that the physical universe itself is providing us evidence of
God’s design, if we are willing
to pay heed. But it would be much simpler if the professor simply came
out and stated his
position on this most important issue. Then the student could at least
be more at ease, and know
whether this professor is “safe” or not, indeed whether he can be
trusted or perhaps he needs a
good dose of apologetics to reveal the error of his way.
This scenario occurs regularly in my experience because I am blessed to
be a professor of
physics at a distinctively Christian university and have taught in such
an environment for nearly
10 years. No, I don’t always start the school year off with a devotional
from Psalm 19; however
I do love the Psalms and frequently draw devotional material from them.
And just as the
physical universe seems to be sharing consistent messages with us from
many different
directions, the Bible also provides us consistent messages from its 66
books. But the tension of
students waiting to find out where I stand with respect to the line
drawn in the sand concerning
the age of the universe is a very present one.

“Creation Science”
This line in the sand can be easily understood from what has happened in
many of the
mainstream conservative evangelical churches of North America over the
last few decades.
What has become commonplace is the acceptance of “Creation Science” as
the only acceptable
approach to how science and the Bible should relate. In a nutshell, the
premise of Creation
Science is that the Bible gives us answers to many questions also
addressed by science. The
Bible, which is held to be the inerrant, infallible Word of God, cannot
be wrong. Therefore,
when the Bible and science disagree (or appear to disagree), the latter
mu must be wrong. There is
no room for questioning this premise. You must simply choose which side
of line you stand on,
the Bible or science.
Ironically, Creation Science actually goes one step further, and seeks
scientific support for the
perceived Biblical answers. All scientific evidence that appears to
disagree with the Bible must
be somehow in error (e.g. Henry Morris’ analysis of Sue, the most
complete Tyrannosaurus
skeleton yet unearthed [2]), since the Bible has already given us the
answer. Concerning the age
of the Earth, the Bible’s genealogical records combined with the Genesis
1 account of creation
are used to estimate an age for the Earth and universe of about 6000
years, with a bit of
uncertainty on the completeness of the genealogical records, allowing
for a few thousand years
more. This young age is repeatedly confirmed by numerous studies done by
proponents of
4 Creation Science. Yet the vast majority of the scientific community
claims there is abundant
scientific evidence that points to an age of 4.6 billion years for the
Earth and about 14 billion
years for the entire universe. Who is right?
No amount of semantics can give validity to both claims. Interestingly
enough, attempts have
been made. One suggestion uses Einstein’s theory of relativity, in which
time measurements are
relative to the observer’s reference frame to propose that both a 6000
year old Earth and a 4.6
billion year old Earth are possible [3]. However, extremely different
reference frames are
required, one of which will be moving at nearly the speed of light
relative to the Earth. In a
reference frame moving in a very rapid round trip away from and back to
Earth, one can measure
a very short time elapsed, while eons have passed by on Earth. But only
in the reference frame
of the Earth does one measure a meaningful age for the Earth. And there
is no ambiguity in the
measurement of this time. Another attempt to include both young and old
ages involves
exaggerating the scientific uncertainties to the point that neither can
be excluded [4]. This
grossly misrepresents the scientific evidence, which has provided us
abundant and sufficiently
accurate indicators of the Earth’s age to settle the question. The cold
hard conclusion is that
someone must be wrong here.
Many Christians are afraid to even suggest that the 6000 year age could
be wrong, since that
might be suggesting the Bible is wrong. But then again, a massive
conspiracy of manufactured
false evidence from many fields of scientific research for an older
Earth and universe is a bit
farfetched even for conspiracy fans. We will look into many of these
evidences in the coming
chapter. While we are at it, we should also consider evidences put forth
by proponents of
Creation Science favoring a young Earth, and evaluate their merits. Are
they the lone
proponents of truth in the midst of a perverted world of science? Or are
there problems with
their proposed evidences? The following chapter examines some of these.
Origins of the Controversy: Darwinism
But before we begin, there is a need to take a step back and get a
broader view of the origins of
this controversy. Although the age of the Earth is a topic I am more
qualified to discuss than the
following one, it is essential to understand what has influenced the
emotionally charged climate
in the first place. Fortunately, there is little disagreement concerning
this root cause. All of it
leads back to the issue of Darwinism. For nearly 150 years debates
concerning the meaning and
consequences of the theory of evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin
have continued in
various circles, particularly in the church. Darwinism is a term
representing the theory of
evolution in combination with particular meaning and consequences
attached to it. There are
many good resources documenting the history and development of Darwinism
and its opponents
[5,6]. But to summarize, it was the meaning and consequences given to
the theory of evolution,
which forced its rejection in whole by much of the Christian church.
Indeed, even the verb evolve has often taken on unfounded meaning beyond
its simple definition
“to change with time”. Within the scientific community, the word evolve
is used without fear of
conveying anything more than this. However the scientific layman usually
attaches more
meaning to it, conveying images of Darwin’s theory and certain
philosophical perspectives,
particularly “philosophical naturalism”, a presupposition that all
physical phenomena must have
explanations that are non-supernatural ones. Some go a bit further and
suggest that there is
nothing in the universe other than what can be physically observed
and measured, thus
5
Click here to read the complete article

a425couple wrote:

> A Christian Physicist Examines the Age of
> the Earth
> by Steven Ball, Ph.D.
>
> from
> https://www.letu.edu/academics/arts-and-sciences/files/age-of-earth.pdf
>
> September 2003
>
> Introduction
> Since you’ve picked up this booklet to at least skim it, obviously this
> subject is one of interest to

<snip>

This is all bible and theology.

Where's the physics?
Where's the data?
Where's the age dating?