Introduction: The Foundation of Evolution
Evolution REQUIRES millions of years. Without vast ages, there's no time for gradual changes to supposedly produce new species. But where do these ages come from?
What We're Told
- Earth is 4.5 billion years old
- Dinosaurs died 65 million years ago
- Modern humans evolved 200,000 years ago
- These dates are "proven" by radiometric dating
The Reality
Dating methods are based on ASSUMPTIONS that cannot be verified:
- We cannot directly measure millions of years
- All dating methods require unproven assumptions
- When dates conflict, they're often adjusted to fit the theory
- Many dating methods give YOUNG ages - and are ignored!
"For in six days Yahuah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." - Exodus 20:11
Radiometric dating rests on unprovable assumptions about the past
1How Radiometric Dating Works
The Basic Concept
The Method
Radioactive elements (like Uranium) decay into other elements (like Lead) at a known rate. By measuring:
- Amount of parent element (Uranium)
- Amount of daughter element (Lead)
- Known decay rate (half-life)
Scientists calculate how long decay has been occurring = age of rock.
The Three Critical Assumptions
For radiometric dating to work, scientists MUST ASSUME:
- Initial Conditions Known: How much parent/daughter existed at the start
- Closed System: No parent or daughter added or removed over time
- Constant Decay Rate: Decay rate has never changed
NONE of these can be verified for rocks supposedly millions of years old!
The Hourglass Analogy
Imagine walking into a room with an hourglass running. To calculate when it started, you must know:
- How much sand was in the top when it started (initial conditions)
- Nobody added or removed sand (closed system)
- Sand has always fallen at the same rate (constant rate)
If ANY assumption is wrong, your calculated time is wrong!
Think About It
1. What are the three assumptions required for radiometric dating?
2. Can any of these assumptions be verified for ancient rocks? Why or why not?
2When Dating Methods Give Wrong Answers
Rocks of KNOWN Age Dated Incorrectly
Mount St. Helens (1980)
Rock formed in 1980 eruption was dated using Potassium-Argon method:
- Actual age: 10 years old (rock formed 1980, tested 1990)
- Dated age: 350,000 to 2.8 MILLION years!
The dating method was off by HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of years on rock we KNOW is young!
Mt. St. Helens: rapidly formed strata later mis-dated by radiometric methods
Hawaiian Lava Flows
Rocks from eruptions in 1800-1801 (known age ~200 years):
- Dated age: 160 million to 3 BILLION years!
Living Mollusk Shells
Carbon-14 dating of LIVING clams:
- Actual age: Living (0 years)
- Dated age: Up to 2,300 years old!
The Pattern
When dating methods can be checked against rocks of KNOWN age, they frequently fail dramatically. Yet we're supposed to trust them for rocks of UNKNOWN age?
"If a C-14 date supports our theories, we put it in the main text. If it does not entirely contradict them, we put it in a footnote. And if it is completely 'out of date,' we just drop it." - T. Save-Soderbergh and I.U. Olsson, Institute of Egyptology
Think About It
1. How old was the Mt. St. Helens rock vs. what it was dated to?
2. What does this tell us about trusting dates for rocks of unknown age?
3Carbon-14: The Popular Dating Method
What Is Carbon-14 Dating?
The Method
- Carbon-14 forms in the atmosphere and enters living things
- When an organism dies, C-14 decays (half-life: ~5,730 years)
- By measuring remaining C-14, scientists estimate when it died
- C-14 is ONLY useful for things once living (not rocks)
Maximum Age Problem
After about 50,000 years, virtually all C-14 should be gone. Yet...
- C-14 is found in coal (supposedly 300 million years old)
- C-14 is found in diamonds (supposedly billions of years old)
- C-14 is found in dinosaur bones (supposedly 65+ million years old)
If these materials were really millions of years old, there should be ZERO C-14!
C-14 in Dinosaur Bones
Multiple studies have found measurable Carbon-14 in dinosaur fossils:
- Triceratops horn dated: 33,570 years
- Hadrosaur bone dated: 31,050 years
- Other dinosaur samples: 22,000-39,000 years
Either dinosaurs lived recently, or C-14 dating is wrong about ancient materials - either way, "65 million years" is challenged!
Measured C-14 in dinosaur bones challenges the “65 million years” timeline
What This Means
The presence of C-14 in "ancient" materials suggests:
- These materials are NOT millions of years old
- Or our assumptions about C-14 decay are wrong
- Or contamination is far more common than admitted
In any case, confident claims of "millions of years" are unjustified.
Think About It
1. Why shouldn't C-14 be found in dinosaur bones if they're 65 million years old?
2. What does finding C-14 in dinosaur bones suggest?
4Dinosaur Soft Tissue: Millions of Years?
A Discovery That Shocked Scientists
Mary Schweitzer's Discovery (2005)
Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer discovered in a T-Rex bone:
- Soft, stretchy blood vessels
- Red blood cells
- Collagen protein
- DNA fragments
Since then, soft tissue has been found in MANY dinosaur fossils!
The Problem
Laboratory studies show that:
- Collagen cannot last more than ~30,000 years maximum
- DNA degrades rapidly - cannot survive millions of years
- Blood cells and vessels should decay within thousands of years
How can 65-million-year-old bones contain soft tissue that shouldn't last 100,000 years?
Soft tissue and vessels recovered from dinosaur bones
"It was totally shocking. I couldn't believe it until we'd done it 17 times." - Dr. Mary Schweitzer on finding soft tissue
Two Possible Explanations
| Option 1 |
Option 2 |
| Dinosaurs lived recently (thousands of years ago) |
Soft tissue can survive 65+ million years (no evidence for this) |
| Consistent with young earth |
Requires inventing unknown preservation mechanisms |
| Explains C-14 in bones |
Contradicts all known science about tissue decay |
"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eats grass as an ox." - Job 40:15
Think About It
1. What did Mary Schweitzer find in dinosaur bones?
2. Why is soft tissue a problem for "millions of years"?
5Circular Reasoning in Dating
How Fossils and Rocks Date Each Other
The Circular Logic
- "How old is this rock?" → "Look at the fossils in it."
- "How old is this fossil?" → "Look at what rock layer it's in."
Fossils date rocks. Rocks date fossils. This is circular reasoning!
Index Fossils
Certain fossils are assigned specific ages (millions of years). When found in a rock, that rock is automatically given that age.
- But HOW do we know the fossil's age?
- We assume evolution happened over millions of years
- So fossils are dated by their position in evolutionary history
- The evolution assumption is never questioned!
"The rocks do date the fossils, but the fossils date the rocks more accurately... The intelligent layman has long suspected circular reasoning in the use of rocks to date fossils and fossils to date rocks." - J.E. O'Rourke, American Journal of Science
When Dates Disagree
What happens when radiometric dating gives a different age than expected from fossils?
- If dating matches evolutionary expectations → accepted
- If dating contradicts expectations → "contamination" or "anomaly"
- The evolutionary framework is NEVER wrong - only the dates that contradict it
Think About It
1. Explain the circular reasoning in fossil/rock dating:
2. What happens when dates disagree with evolutionary expectations?