Fossil Find In Beaumont, CA, Fuels Earth Age Debate

[John317]

Fossil find in Beaumont fuels earth age debate

Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer

Posted: 12/05/2009 02:46:21 PM PST

The discovery of a ground sloth skull west of Beaumont has stoked the debate between evolutionists and creationists over man's origins and the age of the earth. Some scientists say the fossil dates back 1.8 million years.

"It's one more grain of sand on the beach of evidence for evolution," said Jim Blauth, a biology professor at the University of Redlands.

The skull was discovered Nov. 18 at a Southern California Edison work site in San Timoteo Canyon as earthmovers prepared land for a future relay station.

"This is very significant because of its age and it is the first to be (discovered) this far west," said Rick Greenwood, SCE's director of corporate environment health and safety. "The paleontology community is very excited about it."

Greenwood said the skull will be placed in the San Bernardino County Museum.

Some scientists said the sloth fossil is the first from the Ice Age to have been discovered west of the Rocky Mountains.

But they have their doubters.

Creationists who believe the earth is only about 10,000 years old balk at talk about the fossil's age.

Among them is Frank Sherwin, a writer and speaker with the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research.

Sherwin, who holds a master's in zoology from the University of Northern Colorado, said while such findings are exciting, claims made about the ancient date of the skull should be met with skepticism.

"The fossil record doesn't document these alleged millions and millions of years the evolutionists talk about," Sherwin said.

His organization believes man and animals were created at virtually the same time. Secular scientists stumble over the complexities of the natural world and continue to adjust the age of the earth to fit their theories, Sherwin said.

He noted that most secular scientists today date the earth at about 4.5 billion years, in contrast to Charles Darwin and his peers, who about 150 years ago argued whether the earth was 20 million years old or 200 million years old.

Sherwin pointed to the rate of genetic entropy among humans as evidence for his beliefs. Many young earth creationists teach that the human genome is deteriorating at such a pace that people would already be extinct if they were created millions of years ago.

Moreso, young earth creationists such as Sherwin believe their theory squares with the Bible's account of origins in the first two chapters of Genesis.

"We don't find the enormous time periods in Scripture," Sherwin said. "We take a literal six day creation."

But not all creationists agree that the Genesis account teaches God made the world and everything in it in 144 hours.

"Our perspective is that the earth is 4.5 billion years in age," said Fazale "Fuz" Rana, an Upland scientist who is vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons to Believe, a faith and science ministry based in Glendora.

Old earth creationists say the Hebrew word for "day" in the first chapter of Genesis may be interpreted to mean an age of time that could be millions of years rather than a 24-hour period. Genesis then, according to old earth creationists, teaches that a creator formed the earth over a course of ages, which harmonizes science with Scripture.

There is much at stake in the debate among creationists, said Rana, who has a doctorate in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry and did some post-doctoral training at the universities of Virginia and Georgia.

Young earth creationism is a roadblock to many looking into Christianity, he said.

"The young earth perspective really sets the Christian faith up for ridicule. When they say that the earth is young and ridiculously young, then it's very hard for anybody who has a bent toward science to take the Christian faith seriously."

Rana was an agnostic who converted to Christianity while in graduate school. His inquiries into what he called "elegant" biochemical systems convinced him that they had to be designed by a creator.

Unfortunately, too many Christians have the opposite experience when they attend college, he said.

"A lot of Christians are afraid of science and they bury their heads in the sand," he said. "A lot of young Christians who are taught young earth creationism go to college and (are taught something different) and abandon their faith."

It's that frequent experience that has many pastors explaining several interpretations of Genesis to their congregations rather than camping dogmatically on a young earth view as some have done in order to protect against charges of theological liberalism.

"I tell them to approach it from all angles," said Pastor Danny Carroll of Water of Life Community Church in Fontana. "There are several different points of view. I walk them through it and help them understand the differences and perspectives."

Carroll said many pastors get rattled when they read of discoveries allegedly dating back millions of years and he was once one who felt he had to defend his faith.

But too often the discoveries are disproven by later findings, he said.

"If you find a dinosaur footprint or a bone, it's not going to impact my faith," Carroll said.

On the other hand, creationist theories don't impact the work of professors like Blauth. Students rarely bring up creationism in his class.

"Occasionally the subject will come up," he said. "The debate is really sort of irrelevant or moot in most biologists' minds."

Blauth said his colleagues are upset more by the effort of creationists to get their theories taught in the public school system.

Such are "pretending" that they have valid science to teach, but don't provide any compelling evidence for a young earth or an intelligent design, he said.

"I think it's ironic that people are trying to dress up their beliefs in religious clothing," Blauth said. "That's how I would interpret what they are doing. One of the amazing things about our brains is we can hold ideas that are contradictory to each other."

Source: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_13935547?source=rss

[phkrause]

Hey John I watched this DVD yesterday called "The young Age of the Earth", its pretty good. I'm gonna post a link to it in the Origins Forum when I get a chance.

pk

[Dr. Shane]

From reading this article it seems the author has a bias against young-earth creationism and perhaps even secular evolution. Look about how much time he gave to the theistic evolution perspective and compare it to how much he gave to the secular and young-earth perspective.

[John317]

What you say about the writer's bias is evidently true. I thought the same thing. But I'm interested in the theories about the origins of the ancient fossil. I live only about five miles from where it was uncovered, in San Timoteo Canyon. I'll drive out tomorrow and get some pictures. Below are two photographs which I took before of the area near where it was found:

[Dr. Shane]

Beautiful area of the country.

[Dr. Rich]

Yes it is nice place to live as it is like out in the country--but it is changing fast. No more do you see wild pigs running around and deer feeding on the hills. Yep, times have changed!

[phkrause]

Why did you eat them all up Dr. Rich before you became a vegetarian?

Just kidding.

pk