Does my Dad really believe? Carbon Dating?

Crumpet

Last night I watched a documentary about Climate Change on BBC1 by our own beloved David Attenborough and for the first time with a little ad-lib commentary from Mr Crumpet I finally grasped how carbon dating works. It showed a coal mine - open cast in China and explaiened how the coal comes from trees but that it takes hundreds of thousands of years to become coal.

My dad was a miner - a coal miner - travelling miles underground to get coal. He's not a thick man. Surely even on the most basic level he could see that there is no way the biblical account of creation matches the process of coal becoming coal?

This makes me ask did he really buy the creation theory as a twenty something when he turned from atheist to JW? I cannot see how he could have continued to believe the bible literally after that.

This makes me wonder does he really believe the JW stuff? Or did he just decide on some level that was the way of life for him and any doubts he had he would subdue and raise me and my sisters to believe this?

Its beyond comprehension to me!

Pubsinger

I think a young persons asks article said dating carbon was ok as long as it was baptised and a pioneer.

greendawn

There are Christian websites claiming that coal was formed in a much faster timeframe than officially claimed by science, I haven't checked out their claim in depth but as far as I know we shouldn't take all scientific beliefs on the history of life on earth as gospel. Many times they were proven to be wrong.

Crumpet

It seems illogical having seen just how many miles down and how many different layers are piled on top of the coal to believe that it happened within 10,000 years - the biblical timeframe or even close. I think somehow Dad choose to turn a blind eye to the truth. It makes me feel rather ashamed of him, especially since he shuns me now on the basis of something he had physically seen with his own eyes and know not to be true.

slimboyfat

Greendawn,

Didn't you say you are a Chemistry teacher? ... Scary.

lovelylil

There are differences between some creationists beliefs. Some are young earth believers - some older earth believers. I personally believe the earth is older than most Christians believe because they take the geneology in the OT as being complete. But there are many bible scholars who say that several generations are skipped. Sometimes, according to Jewish Custom, a relative called a "son" was actually a grandson. Or great grandson. We also are really not sure how long the creative days were. We know a 24 hour day seems unlikely. Some say a day is like a 1,000 years - but this does not say a day IS a 1,000 years. It is merely showing that in God's eyes, a day is much longer than in our eyes because his time is infinite.

I believe you can agree with certain aspects of science and still be a believer in God and his word. Here is a website that briefly explains some of the current theories about the earth and some problems with them:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_date.htm

jwfacts

Fundamentalists do whatever they can to discredit or ignore science.

Carbon dating is extremely accurate to 10,000 years as tree rings are used to go back that far, yet the Watchtower totally discredits it with little backing. They do not want to believe man lived a day longer than 6031 years ago and so ignore any evidence to the contrary.

kid-A

"Didn't you say you are a Chemistry teacher? ... Scary."

Scary indeed. A science teacher that does'nt believe in the scientific method. No wonder todays students have such little comprehension of evolution or the biological and geological reality of the planet. Any teacher who spews biblical garbage in a public education forum should have their teaching licence revoked.

PrimateDave

LOL! - "I think a young persons asks article said dating carbon was ok as long as it was baptised and a pioneer."

Reminds me of an episode of "The Simpsons". The inert carbon rod was employee of the month.

I bought the "science" of the Life - Creation? book as a teenager because of the "logic" of the Watchtower Society. Later, I read Darwin's Black Box by Mr. Behe, and swallowed his "logic" about irreducible complexity.

Evolutionary Science is advancing by leaps and bounds. More is known now than ever before, but the average person rarely takes the time to look into the research.

I saw the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" last year. Sure, it is Hollywood, but it subtly injects some useful materials like ice cores and the study of the earth's climate in the past into the mix.

Think about it - If ice cores taken from different parts of the world can tell us what kind of climate existed tens of thousands of years ago, where is the evidence for a global flood?

Genetic evidence exists that humans share common ancestry with chimpanzees. How can one then believe in the creation account as expressed in the Bible?

I can't swallow the notion anymore that the writers of Genesis chapter one didn't really mean literal twenty-four hour days. No more putting words in his/their mouth(s). He/they wrote it as he/they believed it, and he/they were wrong (i.e. not inspired).

Well, that's where I am. I won't totally discount the existence of a god, but I'm no longer hung up on the Bible as a product of divine guidance.

Dave

lovelylil

Dave,

Bible scholars agree that the term "day" in the bible could mean a long period of time, not a 24 hour day. This would back up the evolutionists claim that man is older than we think. I totally agree with that conclusion as I have studied the evidence on it. We cannot read the bible and input our way of using words today as language changes over time. On another link we are "talking" about this same issue with language of the bible and how many words meant something different to the writers.I was merely showing there are different views within bible believers. Some are old earth believers and some are newer earth believers.

Please don't think I have not looked at the evidence, I have. Just for me, it does not totally dismiss a God. Evolution could be the way God programed life to continue to grow and adapt to its environment. And the chimp theory is interesting but until a "missing link" is found that shows beyond a doubt that man came from a chimp, it is just a theory. Just becuase we have some things in common with other "animals" for lack of a better term, does not mean we evolved from them.

I work in the health care field and had to study anatomy and dogs have a lot of parts that are very close to mans inner parts. More so than other animals. Now , did we evolve from dogs? See what I mean.

I personally believe life did not come from nothing, that is the only problem I see with me believing in evolution. But I agree with the facts of evolution that there is ample evidence of. I still though believe that behind life, there is an intelligence, (I choose to call it God, someone else may think otherwise) and that is what the whole IT debate is right now. My kids go to school and are learning about Intelligent design right now. I believe this is another step closer to a creator, not a step away. But that is my personal view.

But one thing I would never insinuate about evolutionists who do not believe in God is that somehow they are not intelligent people who have looked at all the facts. There are scientists who believe in God you know. My brother is an evolutionist and we debate the issue all the time and never does he make me look stupid and I don't talk down to him. As a matter of fact, the guy is on the genius level so he is very smart.

I wonder how he would feel if I insinuated that his views were "garbage" that he was made to swallow. I don't think we would have had the great conversations we have had. As, a matter of fact, I have opened up my mind even more about evolution in recent years because of my brothers way of bringing points out.

Does my Dad really believe? Carbon Dating?

Share this