September 1999, Time: Part 1

One of the main differences between the two models of Creation and Evolution is time. Evolution requires long periods of time - hundreds of millions of years of mutations alone, Billions of years for the formation of planets, etc... The creation model, based on the biblical record, claims a literal six days of creation. James Ussher, an Anglican archbishop, calculated the age of the earth, universe and life based on geneological studies of the bible and pinpointed the day of creation as Sunday, October 23, 9 a.m., 4004 B.C. That would place the age of earth somewhere in the vicinity of 6000 years.
Scripturally speaking, that's probably accurate. Whether it stands up scientifically or not remains to be seen.

Was it a literal six days? Is there any evidence that would give us an indication of the age of the universe, life, and earth itself?


Saturn's Rings:

(Thanks to NASA/JPL/Caltech for the spectacular pictures)

This spectacular picture was taken by the Voyageur fly-by, and as it flew closer, the rings Saturn is so famous for told an amazing story. The rings were made out of various sizes of ice chunks. Large, small, medium sized. If the rings were any older than 10,000 years old, two things would have happened: The ice chunks would have homogenized into one size1, and even as that was happening, the constant bombardment of the rings by meteorites would have pulverized the rings and scattered them throughout the Universe2: no more rings.

The "F" ring:

To add even more to the mystery, way out on the "F" ring, two rings were discovered which actually twisted around each other as they orbitted the planet. There's been some pretty elaborate theories as to how they STAY that way, but I don't think there's been a half decent explanation as to how they GOT that way.
Did you ever notice on a painting or other work of art, the artist left his signature?
Saturn is truly a work of art; Perhaps the rings are the signature of the artist?


Next lesson..."
Related links:

NASA / Jet Propulsion Labs home pages

References:

1 Dr. Carl Baugh, Creation Evidences Museum, video "Panarama of Creation"
2 Dr. Walter Brown, "In the Beginning", pg 18
Sky & Telescope, Vol 69, Jan 1985, pg 22