According to the modern scientific community, the most likely explanation for the creation of the universe and the planet Earth is theistic evolution. Theists argue that there was a “special creation” event in the early days of God’s existence. They maintain that the Bible provides undeniable evidence that this special creation event happened on the Earth at a period of less than a hundred years or so. Specifically, they say that the evidence points to a super-giant asteroid which impacted the Earth and caused it to bring forth layers of rock and debris that have accumulated onto the surface of the planet.
Additionally, they add that radiometric dating can be used to date the Earth’s formation within a period of about eleven thousand years, a result which stands firm when compared with the dates assigned by popular creationist movements and the secular scientific community. Additionally, geologists generally agree that the Earth is approximately around four and half billion years old. Dating methods such as caloric dates and age of the earth can be unreliable because they are affected by factors like the rate of the Earth’s rotation, the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and the effects of other celestial bodies on its composition and age.
Furthermore, geologists have noted the contradicting evidence regarding the timing of the Genesis creation account, particularly in regards to the days of the Earth and the month of the crucifixion. For example, while the Bible states that the creation occurred during forty days, scientific evidence shows that it did not. In addition, the scientifically dated fossils found in various locations around the world support the view that the Earth was created in a very long, ten-billion-year period. Therefore, according to the modern scientific community, the biblical chronology is problematic.
Young earth creationism also proposes that dinosaurs were actually alive during the time of creation. Therefore, the dinosaurs were wiped out long before the birth of humans. This is a problem for evolutionary scientists, who believe that all forms of life were created simultaneously in the present-day fossil record. Some creationists (such as Ken Ham, who is famous for his Young Earth creationism) have proposed a theory that the dinosaurs were actually immortal, surviving the ice-age.
Young earth creationists also point to discrepancies between how events in the Old Testament are interpreted and how they fit with our current scientific knowledge. For example, the use of the chronology in the Bible to place events into various eras is inconsistent with how modern scientific methods work. The first chapter of the Genesis clearly describes the Creation event as taking place in seven days. However, the scientist weighs this information with the precision of weighing a pin and determining the thickness of a pin, which would be impossible to determine if the accounts of the Old Testament were interpreted literally or according to the scientific method of measurement.
Masoretic creation does not support the idea that the Earth was created in a literal, chronological sense. Rather, according to the scientific creationist view, the Earth was created in a virtual sense, through a process called “cosmic evolution.” The Bible states that the universe and creatures were created “at the beginning of time.” Although there are many problems with this creationist view, it can be used to explain a great deal. For example, how can we be sure that dinosaurs existed during the time of the dinosaurs?
How can we be certain that dinosaurs existed in the last century before the birth of Christ? The Bible does not mention any date for its creation, but it is most likely that the creationists believe it to be between the third and fourth centuries ad. The most accurate model for chronology is the continental drift model. This model postulates that the Earth was created about forty million years ago by a giant impact, which caused massive continental shifts and massive volcanoes to form.
A major problem with the creationist school is that the bulk of their arguments rest on a theory that has no scientific validity. There is no way to test the hypothesis that the earth was created in a single day as the Bible describes. The problem is compounded when you consider that the original inhabitants of the earth did not write down any account of the creation or the period of their existence. Therefore, how could they have made any sort of record if the actual dates were lost? Some creationists would answer that there is no need for an accurate chronology because all we need to know is what the writers of the ancient Egyptian myths said. If the Bible is wrong about the period and the creation of the world, then it becomes irrelevant about how humans lived at that time.