fdf@houxa.UUCP (Franklin Fite) (03/19/85)
Some of the recent articles outlining Creationists positions imply or state that the earth is relatively young (less than 10,000 years). Is this a main-stream creationist idea or just a belief of a fringe group? Are there creationists out there in net land who buy the idea of a young earth? If so, there are a few questions I have that I haven't seen addressed in this group to date: 1. What does the age of the earth have to do with whether or not God created life as we know it? Is the young earth theory simply used to debunk evolution (which, of course, requires an old - billions of years old - earth), or is there some other reason for it? I take it that in the past the Bible was used to date the earth (the Bishop Usher stuff) - is this the background for a young earth, or is there a more scientific (i.e., independently verifiable) base? 2. Has there been any attempt to explain geological features in terms of a young earth? The only discussion I've seen relates the geologic column to a young earth by using a flood-type catastrophe to "sort" fossils. To avoid that, I'd just be interested in hearing why the Rocky Mountains are pointed and rocky but the Appalachians round and smooth if the earth is young. Erosion, the "creator" of the Grand Canyon and the leveler of old mountains in currently accepted geologic theory, takes a long time to work. Just interested, Frank Fite ihnp4!houxa!fdf