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Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative
This book is in pristine condition and is loaded with info... A must for any apologist.
676 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2000
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May 31, 2024
THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE REPORTS OF THE “RATE GROUP” ABOUT RADIOMETRIC DATING
In the Prologue by John D. Morris to this 2000 book, he states, “At the invitation of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), several scientists (all faculty or adjunct faculty at ICR) have bended together to investigate this issue. Sponsored jointly by ICR and the Creation Research Society (CRS), the group has chosen the acronym RATE (for Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth)… each scientist is a mature, Bible-believing Christian, committed to young-earth Creation… There were differing positions around the table at the first meeting, but the scientists recognized that they were together marching into uncharted territory… The one inviolate perspective was that Scripture, rightly interpreted, will always agree with science… I was allowed to attend the meetings, and was asked to summarize the flavor of the meetings in this prologue.” (Pg. vi)
Larry Vardiman’s Chapter 1 Introduction outlines, “It is believed by the RATE group that processes other than radioactive decay over long periods of time may better explain the presence of secondary decay products. This introduction discusses the deliberations of the four meetings held by this group of scientists to date and their projected plans for research on this problem. It further outlines some of the details for the research projects, time lines, and costs, and summarizes the contents of the remainder of this report.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “It is the position of the RATE group that the Creator formed the earth ex nihilo (from nothing) a few thousand years ago. We also believe it is possible that the ratios of parent and daughter elements were created the same, or nearly the same as they are observed today in that instantaneous creative process. However, both Scriptures and scientific evidence seem to say that a significant process was involved in the Creation of the earth.” (Pg. 5)
He adds, “Within the RATE group there are several concepts for solving the age-of-the-earth problem. Initially, we attempted to narrow our approach from several hypotheses to only one. However, we decided by the time this book was published that we would be better served to pursue multiple hypotheses. We are beginning to suspect that the final explanation may involve a combination of at least two of them, accelerated decay and mixing. Not all RATE members are in agreement with one another or with this pluralistic approach. However, all members are able to work together, peaceably critique each other’s work, and function as a team. Most of these different views may be resolved by the end of the research effort.” (Pg. 6)
He acknowledges, “One major obstacle to accelerated decay is an explanation for the disposal of the great quantities of heat which would be generated by radioactive decay over short periods of time. For example, is most of the radioactive decay … occurred over the year of the Flood, the amount of heat generated may have been sufficient to vaporize all the waters of the oceans and melt portions of the earth’s crust… A second obstacle… is the ability of life to cope with the great quantities or ionizing radiation that would have been generated by accelerated decay over short periods of time… A third obstacle is the theological difficulties with the notion of ‘decay’ prior to the Fall. If accelerated decay is believed to have occurred during days 1 and 2 of the Creation week before there was any life on the earth this would seem to be inconsistent with the perfect world God created before the sin of Adam and Eve. Yet, if accelerated decay occurred after days 1 and 2, it would likely have damaged or destroyed life as we know it unless there were other extenuating circumstances.” (Pg. 8-9)
Donald DeYoung notes, “the creationist view allows for a possible large-scale change in radioactive decay during a limited period of time in the past. Accelerated decay may have been a supernaturally-directed part of Creation, the Curse of Genesis 3, or possibly a part of the Genesis Flood catastrophe. At whatever point in history this accelerated decay may have occurred, it would invalidate all traditional radioisotope ages from that time forward.” (Pg. 43) He adds, “From all evidence, half-lives are indeed quite constant today and largely independent of changes in the chemical environment. However, this book proposed that decay rates were temporarily and dramatically accelerated at some time in the past. This acceleration may or may not have a natural explanation. The postulated temporary change gave rise to a large, rapid accumulation of daughter products, but not to a large timescale.” (Pg. 44)
J.R. Baumgardner says, “I stress this is my own model and other members of the RATE group may not necessarily agree. First, I proposed that on the order of 4.5 billion years’ worth of nuclear decay at present rates unfolded rapidly in the earth before the end of day 3. This may at first seem astonishing, but if very little nuclear decay has occurred since God created the plants and animals… it is consistent with the concordant 4.5 billion year radioisotope ages for meteorites and up to 4 billion year radioisotope ages for terrestrial Archean rocks … Indeed I do believe there is evidence suggesting very little nuclear decay has taken place since God first created plant life on day 3.” (Pg. 87-88)
He adds, “A pillar of materialist faith is the immutability of physical law… On the other hand, if the God of the Bible… really does exist, there is no reason to hold to the ideas of immutability of physical law. Woven into the very fabric of radioisotope dating methods is the assumption of the immutability of nuclear decay rates. If rates have been much higher in the past then they are at present, it must follow that the dates given by these methods are commensurably more recent.” (Pg. 90)
Eugene Chaffin observes, “On the one hand, experimental and observational limits on possible recent variation of these so-called ‘constants’ keep getting tighter, as physicists consider more situations as evidence of non-variation. On the other hand, new bodies of theory keep appearing which may indicate that variation of these parameters is possible. Usually, conventional science restricts variations to the time of the early universe, soon after the big bang. As has been noted… episodic or transient variations are more difficult variations into the past. Thus these episodic variations may be needed to explain isotropic abundances found in rocks within a young-earth timeframe.” (Pg. 305-306)
He suggests of String Theory, “New ideas say that all the extra dimensions may not be felt equally by all of the particles and forces of nature. According to this idea, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being planned for completion in Europe in a few years will see some new physics that was not originally foreseen. For creationists, this may also mean that thoughts of variable decay may receive some support from theory.” (Pg. 312)
D. Russell Humphreys notes, “one survey of the scientific literature cites over two dozen experiments reporting changes in nuclear decay rates, changes caused by the chemical or physical environment of the decaying nuclei… Such changes are not surprising to nuclear theorists, and the same survey reports over a score or theoretical studies predicting or explaining rate perturbations. A more recent experiment gives similar results… Most of the rate changes cited were between a few tenths of a percent to a few percent, but several were greater than twenty percent. More recently, a researcher reported a change as high as forty percent… However, these human-produced rate changes are miniscule compared to the million-fold or greater acceleration of decay rates which … is required by the evidence for a young earth. Therefore we should not be surprised if we find evidence that God has supernaturally intervened, either directly or indirectly, to produce such large changes.” (Pg. 333-334)
He suggests, “If we spread out the acceleration uniformly over almost all the 6000 years, there would be severe consequences for living creatures… Such a level would kill humans within weeks… However, there are three periods in the earth’s history when radioactivity in the earth’s crust might not have harmed living creatures: *From the first instant of Creation to say, midway into the third day. During that time, God had not yet created any plants or animals. *During the 1656 years which elapsed from… the Fall of man, to the Genesis Flood---PROVIDED that during all that time all the naturally-occurring radioactive elements were deep within the earth’s crust and not accessible to life at the surface of the earth… *During the year of the Genesis Flood, when over a mile of water shielded the ark from radioactive rocks below.” (Pg. 340)
He says, “I encourage creationist physicists who are called of God and gifted in this area to pursue and develop quantum field theory. I haven’t yet found a practitioner of that theory who could communicate to me a deep understanding of the meaning underlying that theory’s equations---though I admit that the fault could be in me! However, I hope that a deeper synthesis can be made which would allow more of us to see clearly the beauty and wonder of God’s works in the sub-nuclear realm.” (Pg. 369)
This book will be of great interest to “young earth” creationists interested in the TECHNICAL DETAILS about radiometric dating, etc.
In the Prologue by John D. Morris to this 2000 book, he states, “At the invitation of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), several scientists (all faculty or adjunct faculty at ICR) have bended together to investigate this issue. Sponsored jointly by ICR and the Creation Research Society (CRS), the group has chosen the acronym RATE (for Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth)… each scientist is a mature, Bible-believing Christian, committed to young-earth Creation… There were differing positions around the table at the first meeting, but the scientists recognized that they were together marching into uncharted territory… The one inviolate perspective was that Scripture, rightly interpreted, will always agree with science… I was allowed to attend the meetings, and was asked to summarize the flavor of the meetings in this prologue.” (Pg. vi)
Larry Vardiman’s Chapter 1 Introduction outlines, “It is believed by the RATE group that processes other than radioactive decay over long periods of time may better explain the presence of secondary decay products. This introduction discusses the deliberations of the four meetings held by this group of scientists to date and their projected plans for research on this problem. It further outlines some of the details for the research projects, time lines, and costs, and summarizes the contents of the remainder of this report.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “It is the position of the RATE group that the Creator formed the earth ex nihilo (from nothing) a few thousand years ago. We also believe it is possible that the ratios of parent and daughter elements were created the same, or nearly the same as they are observed today in that instantaneous creative process. However, both Scriptures and scientific evidence seem to say that a significant process was involved in the Creation of the earth.” (Pg. 5)
He adds, “Within the RATE group there are several concepts for solving the age-of-the-earth problem. Initially, we attempted to narrow our approach from several hypotheses to only one. However, we decided by the time this book was published that we would be better served to pursue multiple hypotheses. We are beginning to suspect that the final explanation may involve a combination of at least two of them, accelerated decay and mixing. Not all RATE members are in agreement with one another or with this pluralistic approach. However, all members are able to work together, peaceably critique each other’s work, and function as a team. Most of these different views may be resolved by the end of the research effort.” (Pg. 6)
He acknowledges, “One major obstacle to accelerated decay is an explanation for the disposal of the great quantities of heat which would be generated by radioactive decay over short periods of time. For example, is most of the radioactive decay … occurred over the year of the Flood, the amount of heat generated may have been sufficient to vaporize all the waters of the oceans and melt portions of the earth’s crust… A second obstacle… is the ability of life to cope with the great quantities or ionizing radiation that would have been generated by accelerated decay over short periods of time… A third obstacle is the theological difficulties with the notion of ‘decay’ prior to the Fall. If accelerated decay is believed to have occurred during days 1 and 2 of the Creation week before there was any life on the earth this would seem to be inconsistent with the perfect world God created before the sin of Adam and Eve. Yet, if accelerated decay occurred after days 1 and 2, it would likely have damaged or destroyed life as we know it unless there were other extenuating circumstances.” (Pg. 8-9)
Donald DeYoung notes, “the creationist view allows for a possible large-scale change in radioactive decay during a limited period of time in the past. Accelerated decay may have been a supernaturally-directed part of Creation, the Curse of Genesis 3, or possibly a part of the Genesis Flood catastrophe. At whatever point in history this accelerated decay may have occurred, it would invalidate all traditional radioisotope ages from that time forward.” (Pg. 43) He adds, “From all evidence, half-lives are indeed quite constant today and largely independent of changes in the chemical environment. However, this book proposed that decay rates were temporarily and dramatically accelerated at some time in the past. This acceleration may or may not have a natural explanation. The postulated temporary change gave rise to a large, rapid accumulation of daughter products, but not to a large timescale.” (Pg. 44)
J.R. Baumgardner says, “I stress this is my own model and other members of the RATE group may not necessarily agree. First, I proposed that on the order of 4.5 billion years’ worth of nuclear decay at present rates unfolded rapidly in the earth before the end of day 3. This may at first seem astonishing, but if very little nuclear decay has occurred since God created the plants and animals… it is consistent with the concordant 4.5 billion year radioisotope ages for meteorites and up to 4 billion year radioisotope ages for terrestrial Archean rocks … Indeed I do believe there is evidence suggesting very little nuclear decay has taken place since God first created plant life on day 3.” (Pg. 87-88)
He adds, “A pillar of materialist faith is the immutability of physical law… On the other hand, if the God of the Bible… really does exist, there is no reason to hold to the ideas of immutability of physical law. Woven into the very fabric of radioisotope dating methods is the assumption of the immutability of nuclear decay rates. If rates have been much higher in the past then they are at present, it must follow that the dates given by these methods are commensurably more recent.” (Pg. 90)
Eugene Chaffin observes, “On the one hand, experimental and observational limits on possible recent variation of these so-called ‘constants’ keep getting tighter, as physicists consider more situations as evidence of non-variation. On the other hand, new bodies of theory keep appearing which may indicate that variation of these parameters is possible. Usually, conventional science restricts variations to the time of the early universe, soon after the big bang. As has been noted… episodic or transient variations are more difficult variations into the past. Thus these episodic variations may be needed to explain isotropic abundances found in rocks within a young-earth timeframe.” (Pg. 305-306)
He suggests of String Theory, “New ideas say that all the extra dimensions may not be felt equally by all of the particles and forces of nature. According to this idea, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being planned for completion in Europe in a few years will see some new physics that was not originally foreseen. For creationists, this may also mean that thoughts of variable decay may receive some support from theory.” (Pg. 312)
D. Russell Humphreys notes, “one survey of the scientific literature cites over two dozen experiments reporting changes in nuclear decay rates, changes caused by the chemical or physical environment of the decaying nuclei… Such changes are not surprising to nuclear theorists, and the same survey reports over a score or theoretical studies predicting or explaining rate perturbations. A more recent experiment gives similar results… Most of the rate changes cited were between a few tenths of a percent to a few percent, but several were greater than twenty percent. More recently, a researcher reported a change as high as forty percent… However, these human-produced rate changes are miniscule compared to the million-fold or greater acceleration of decay rates which … is required by the evidence for a young earth. Therefore we should not be surprised if we find evidence that God has supernaturally intervened, either directly or indirectly, to produce such large changes.” (Pg. 333-334)
He suggests, “If we spread out the acceleration uniformly over almost all the 6000 years, there would be severe consequences for living creatures… Such a level would kill humans within weeks… However, there are three periods in the earth’s history when radioactivity in the earth’s crust might not have harmed living creatures: *From the first instant of Creation to say, midway into the third day. During that time, God had not yet created any plants or animals. *During the 1656 years which elapsed from… the Fall of man, to the Genesis Flood---PROVIDED that during all that time all the naturally-occurring radioactive elements were deep within the earth’s crust and not accessible to life at the surface of the earth… *During the year of the Genesis Flood, when over a mile of water shielded the ark from radioactive rocks below.” (Pg. 340)
He says, “I encourage creationist physicists who are called of God and gifted in this area to pursue and develop quantum field theory. I haven’t yet found a practitioner of that theory who could communicate to me a deep understanding of the meaning underlying that theory’s equations---though I admit that the fault could be in me! However, I hope that a deeper synthesis can be made which would allow more of us to see clearly the beauty and wonder of God’s works in the sub-nuclear realm.” (Pg. 369)
This book will be of great interest to “young earth” creationists interested in the TECHNICAL DETAILS about radiometric dating, etc.
January 18, 2021
An amazing book all YEC who love geology should read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews