Are Rocks Really Billions of Years Old?

Most of you don't use words or phrases like half-life, radiometric, and daughter element in everyday conversation. In fact, you are probably much more interested in PE class than you are in studying the methods used to date the Earth. However, since most science books and school textbooks are selling you a lie by telling you that the Earth can be dated at almost 5 billion years old (and the Universe at almost 14 billion), you deserve to hear the truth.

But, before we start this study on dating methods, you have the right to ask a very valid question: "Why does the age of the Earth matter?" The answer is simple. The Bible presents evidence to establish that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. Most scientists suggest that it is billions of years old. If the dating methods these scientists use are right, then the Bible is wrong. However, if the dating methods that give billions of years are wrong, then the Bible remains the inspired Word of God that can be trusted. 

Since the days of Charles Darwin, it has become clear that in order for evolution to occur, the Earth must be very old. In Darwin's day, many scientists thought that 20 million years would be enough time. But as scientists began to discover the design of the Universe, it soon became evident that the time would have to be increased by billions of years (how many more billions will scientists have to add in the future?). In order to "prove" that these billions of years actually occurred, certain dating methods have been invented to calculate the Earth's age. If you have taken Earth Science in school, then you have studied the different ways that scientists "date" the rocks and other materials of the Earth. The goal of this issue of Discovery is to show (without going into technical details) that the dating methods yielding billions of years have some serious flaws in them.

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