Re: YEC refutation

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:59:49 -0400 "Ted Davis" <TDavis@messiah.edu>
writes:
> Carol or John Burgeson <burgytwo@juno.com> wrote:
> One such argument goes something like this:
>
> 1. Almanacs give data on coal and oil production over the past --
> say --
> 100 years.
>
> 2. This is business data. It is verifiable. Factual. No arguments
> possible.
>
> 3. All coal and oil deposits ever found and analyzed show that they
> originate with organic (pre-living) plants and animals. No
> exceptions.
>
> Ted replies:
> Burgy, it is my understanding that part of the "RATE" initiative
> from
> Answers in Genesis, will be the claim that "fossil fuels" do not
> necessarily
> have an organic origin. I don't know the details, but my
> understanding is
> that they will pick up on things such as the extra-terrestrial
> presence of
> methane, to argue that there can be/are inorganic processes that
> can/do
> produce "fossil fuels." As I say, I haven't seen the details, but
> I'm
> pretty sure they're coming. I'd be surprised if they're right, but
> they're
> coming.
>
> ted
>
>
I think Ted's right, but the situation goes beyond this one matter. From
what I've seen, there is a YEC "explanation" for every evidence for an
old earth. The several "explanations" are probably incompatible, but will
be presented individually with heads nodding in agreement. Consistency
has not been a strong point with the group. I recall noting that
Woodmorappe suggested that there was a drain at the lowest point in the
Ark to remove wastes. I said that it wouldn't work. I was corrected by
one of the adherents, that it was a one-way trap, so it would work.
Evidently, the lowest point of the Ark was above the water line. I had
not been aware that the Ark was that remarkable (a hovercraft ?). But
perhaps it was only that a whirlpool formed at the appropriate spot.
Woodmorappe just suggested that it could take care of the waste problem
without suggesting how it could function under real life conditions.

Anyone who can believe that the felidae with their sharp teeth and short
gut could be fully nourished on vegetation before the Fall can believe
anything, however preposterous. This, I fear, eliminates the possibility
of finding anything in scripture that can show a YEC that the earth is
more than a few millennia old, which Sheila suggested. The closest item I
think of at the moment is to compare the description of Abraham's milieu
with the number of people possible on Morris's computation of the human
population from the 8 on the Ark to the current 6x10^9. But they'd just
say that the population grew faster then without noting that that would
knock out the computation of later growth. I think it was Mill who
remarked that it is not difficult to prove that any system will work ill
if coupled with universal idiocy. Seem to me this general principle
applies here.
Dave
Received on Tue Jun 14 16:18:05 2005