Are Mormons Christian? Part 6: Future Things
I. Dispensational Eschatology
Musings on the Book of 1st John
I’ve been having some thoughts on the book of 1st John. I would really like to have some feedback on this topic to help me out. I also want to say that this thought isn’t the result of some intensive theological study.
Are Mormons Christian? Part 5: Jesus
I. The Biblical Record of Jesus
II. The Jesus of Mormonism
III. Conclusion
Are Mormons Christian? Pt. 4 – Salvation
Personal salvation is one of the most important doctrines in the Bible. That Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, came into this world to be an all sufficient sacrifice for the sins of mankind is the message of the gospel. In order to further show that Mormons are to be distinguished from Christianity, this post will show that Mormons hold to a gospel that is rejected by the Bible.
I. How Late in Life Can a Person Be Saved?
The Bible teaches that no amount of works can save a person (Eph. 2.8,9; Gal. 2.16). Only grace through faith can save a person. This being said, an individual could be on their deathbed at the end of their life and still put their faith in Christ. The Mormons reject this notion of being saved at “the eleventh hour.” In fact, Brigham Young was vehemently against it:
“Some of our old traditions teach us that a man guilty of atrocious and murderous acts may savingly repent when on the scaffold; and upon his execution will hear the expression – ‘Bless God! he has gone to heaven, to be crowned in glory, through the all – redeeming merits of Christ the Lord.’ This is all nonsense. Such a character never will see heaven” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8.61). Young has forgotten about a certain thief who hung on a cross next to Jesus and asked “remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk. 23.42). In response to this question Jesus replied. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (23.42).
II. Means of Salvation in Mormon Theology
Mormons believe that salvation comes from not only faith in Christ, but also by baptism by immersion, obedience to the teachings of the Mormon church, and good works: “If the sinner will repent of his sins, and go down into the waters of baptism, and there be buried in the likeness of being put into the earth and buried, and again be delivered from the water, in the likeness of being born – if in the sincerity of his heart he will do this, his sins shall be washed away. Will the water of itself wash them away? No; but keeping the commandments of God will cleanse away the stain of sin” (Discourses 2.4).
Young seemed to reject the idea that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9.22). In fact he even goes so far as to say that the blood of Christ is limited in which sins it covers. This doctrine (as I understand it) is somewhat suppressed by the Mormon Church, although it has never officially been rejected. Read Young’s own words to understand:
A. “You say, ‘That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God.’ Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands.” Journal of Discourses 3.247
B. “There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants.” Journal of Discourses 3.247
C. “All mankind love themselves, and let these principles be known by an individual, and he would be glad to have his blood shed.” Discourses 4.219
D. “I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins.” Discourses 4.220
E. “This is loving our neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it.” Discourses 4.220
To summarize what Young was trying to say: Some sins were so heinous that the blood of Christ could not cover them. The only way the sin could be covered or forgiven was for the blood of the sinner to be spilled, i.e. by death. It could perhaps be argued that this is a form of human sacrifice.
III. Conclusion
Christians hold to faith in the saving power of the death Christ is what brings salvation. Mormons reject this. They deny the power of Jesus’ blood as well as the sufficiency of it. They hold to a works based gospel in clear contradiction of New Testament teaching.
Are Mormons Christian? Pt. 3: The Virgin Birth
The virgin birth is a foundational doctrine in Christianity. It is the means by which our savior entered this world. As I continue my answer of the question “Are Mormons Christian?”, we’ll see that that this doctrine is yet another area in which Mormons are incredibly different from normal Christianity.
I. The Bible’s Account of the Virgin Birth
1. The virgin birth is actually one of the first things to be taught about the promised Messiah, Jesus. In the pronouncement of the curse against the serpent God said “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Gen. 3.15 KJV). The birth of the coming savior was to come from the seed of the woman, not of the man.
2. Perhaps the most famous of passages of prophecy concerning the virgin birth, the prophet Isaiah said “behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7.14)
3. The writers of the gospels unashamedly declared Jesus to be born of a virgin. For instance, Matthew wrote: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with Child from the Holy Spirit” (1.18). Matthew described the virgin birth a second time recounting that an angel appeared to Joseph: “But as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (1.20).
4. Luke recorded the words of the angel appearing to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God” (1.35)
II. Mormon Teaching Concerning the Virgin Birth
Mormon teaching on the virgin birth was first given by Brigham Young (the second head of the Mormon Church). His teaching has since been consistently repeated all throughout Mormon history. The teaching has never been contradicted by new doctrine or outright rejected by the Mormon Church.
1. “When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle, it was begotten by his Father in heaven, after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession.” Journal of Discourses 1.50
2. “Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven.” Journal of Discourses 1.51
3. At this point it is important to draw attention to a quote I gave in the post concerning the Mormon doctrine of God. “When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken – HE is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do” (Discourses 1.50 emphasis theirs). So what does this mean? What is Brigham Young trying to say? As Walter Martin states “The language is too clear, the cross-reference easily demonstrable.” Young taught that Mary was impregnated by Adam, the Adam-God. But how did this actually happen?
4. “When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle [body], the Father came Himself and favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it.” Brigham Young, Discourses 4.218. Note that the Father had to do it Himself instead of “letting any other man do it.” It would do well to remember at this point what Joseph Smith taught about the nature of God: “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.” Doctrine and Covenants 130.22
5. “The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood – was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.” Journal of Discourses 8.115. Well there we have it. Adam (being God and Father) had physical sexual relations with Mary that caused her to be pregnant with Jesus.
6. “When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.” Discourses 1.50 emphasis added.
III. Conclusion
Mormon doctrine presents a blasphemous view of the virgin birth. Although they may refer to it as the “virgin” birth, it probably shouldn’t even be called that considering they believe Mary had sex with a physical bodied god. This is further evidence that Mormons should not be considered Christian.
Are Mormons Christian? Pt. 2: God
Let me start this post with some clarifying remarks about my last one. The last post was a collection of little factoids that I found that didn’t really fit with other categories. As for deciding whether or not Mormons should be called Christians, the information given is not enough to decide one way or another.
I feel this post about how Mormons and Christians view God will give a solid definitive answer. I was shocked by some of the things I discovered about Mormonism. I have come to realize that Mormons can be very tricky when trying to convert people. They try to pass off Mormonism as just another variant or denomination of Christianity. The problem is that they change the meanings to virtually every Christian term. An uninformed Christian will believe that Mormons really aren’t that different, but to someone who has studied their religion the differences are clear as day. (Again, my main source is Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin)
I. Mormon teachings on God
These quotes will clearly show that Mormonism is a polytheistic religion that worships gods that were once men.
1. “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it.” Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 349
2. “God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man.” ibid. 345
3. “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s: the son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of spirit.” Doctrine and Covenants 130.22
4. “God’s exist, and we had better strive to be prepared to be one with them.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7.238
5. “As man is, God once was:As God is, man may become.” Prophet Lorenzo Snow (Snow was the fifth president of the Mormon Church (fun fact: he had eleven wives! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Snow))
6. “And then the Lord said:Let us go down, and they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.” Abraham 4.1
7. “Christ was the God, the Father of all things… Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son.” Mosiah 7.27, Ether 3.14. This is in contrast to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity: The Son is fully God, as the Father is fully God; but the Son is not the Father and vice versa. Jesus did claim to be equal with the Father, but He never claimed to BE the Father.
8. “When our Father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael, the archangel, the ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken – He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do.” Brigham Young Journal of Discourses 1.50. I want to be careful in pointing out this Adam-God doctrine, from what I read it appears that the Mormon church has since rejected this particular doctrine. I include it here anyways because it was taught and defended on more than one occasion by Young in various speeches and publications. This Adam-God statement was made on April 9, 1852. Eighteen years later (January 2, 1870) Young would state that “I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture” (Journal of Discourses 13.95).
II. Biblical Teachings on God
1. “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6.4
2. “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.” Isaiah 43.10-11
3. “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no other god.” Isa. 44.6
4. “Is there a god besides me?” Isa. 44.8
5. “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.” Isa. 45.5
6. “And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me… For I am God, and there is no other.” Isa. 45.21-22.
7. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4.24. I include this verse to counter the Mormon belief that the Father has a physical body. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit being without a physical body.
III. Conclusion
The God(s) of Mormonism is NOT the God of the Bible. The differences are just too numerous to even begin to consider them the same. Because the Gods of these two religions are different, it must be concluded that Mormons are not Christian.
Are Mormons Christian? Pt. 1: Some Mormon Contradictions with the Bible and Within Mormon Literature
This post is starting what I hope will be a series of posts looking at what Mormonism teaches. A few days ago I was in a forum where the question was asked: “Do you consider Mormons to be Christians?” I knew enough about Mormonism to be confident in my answer of “No, I do not think they are.” However, I didn’t know enough to be able to explain why I believed this. So I started looking up what they believe. I’m not trying to explain any back history of Mormonism (though I have studied that as well). My goal is to objectively look at Mormonism through the lens of what the Bible teaches. This series will be a comparison of doctrine. My main source for this study was “The Kingdom of the Cults” by Walter Martin (edited by Ravi Zacharias).
That being said, this first post will look at a handful of smaller issues I found. Later posts will hopefully deal with things such as God, the Holy Spirit, and Salvation.
1. The Birthplace of Jesus.
The Place of Christ’s birth is common knowledge among Christians. Famous Christmas carols proclaim the little town of Bethlehem to be Christ’s place of birth. In the Old Testament the prophecy was made that “from [Bethlehem] shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5.2). This prophecy was fulfilled in the New Testament gospels: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah…” (Matt. 2.1); “And Joseph also went up from Galilee… to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem… And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.” (Lk. 2.4-7).
The Book of Mormon gets the geographical location wrong in the recording of a prophecy of Jesus’ birth: “for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers.” (Alma 7.9,10).
2. When Does a Person Receive the Sin Nature?
The Bible teaches that the entirety of a person’s life is lived with the sin nature, from conception to death. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51.5). Romans 5.12-15 teaches that because Adam sinned, death and the sin nature was passed on to all people. Paul also said in Romans that “none is righteous; no, not one…” (3.10-12).
The Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus withholds the curse of Adam from little children. “Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them” (Moroni 8.8 emphasis added). I want to be careful to note that the chapter doesn’t seem to indicate what the age limit is for this withholding of Adam’s curse. But from what I read it seems that Mormons hold the curse being withheld until age 8.
We now move from Mormon books contradicting the Bible to some contradictions solely within Mormon literature.
3. How Does a Mormon Receive Remission of Their Sins?
a. By Baptism – “Blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost , and shall receive a remission of their sins.” (3 Nephi 12.2)
“Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.” (Moroni 8.11)
b. By Salvation (receiving the spirit of Christ) “All those who humble themselves… and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the spirit of Christ unto the remission of sin.” (Doctrine and Covenants 20.37)
4. Altering Stances on Polygamy
Forever a thorn in the side of Mormonism, polygamy is always used as a negative against the Mormon church. (for the record, I consider polygamy to be a gross sin.) The reason I bring it up here is because there are contradictory statements about the issue in Mormon holy books.
a. Pro – “Go ye therefore, and do the works of Abraham; enter ye into my law and ye shall be saved… God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the Law; and from Hagar sprang many people.” (Doctrine and Covenants 132.32,34. This chapter of Doctrine and Covenants references several Old Testament characters as evidence for a commandment of polygamy). The inference here is that Hagar was given to Abraham in order to fulfill a law of polygamy.
b. Con – “Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none.” (Jacob 2.26-27)
Doctrinal Statement – Angelology
Angelology – Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons
I. Angels
A. Definition – Several words are used in Scriptures to describe angelic beings. “Angel” literally
means “messenger” in both Hebrew and Greek. “Sons of God” reveals that angels are children of God by creation. “Holy ones” show that angels are set apart by God for service. “Host” can be understood to mean “the armies of Heaven.” Gen. 28.12; Job 1.6, 38.7; Ps. 89.5,7; Ps. 89.6,8; 1 Sam. 17.45; Isa. 31.4.
B. Existence – The existence of angels is never doubted and always assumed by the writers of
Scripture. Angels ministered to Christ after His temptation, He taught the resurrection state would be comparable to angels, and that angels would gather Israel at the Second Coming. The existence of angels is tied to reliability of Christ’s testimony. Matt. 4.11; 22.29-30; 25.31-32, 41.
C. Nature and Attributes – Angels are created spirit beings. They do not have physical bodies.
They were all created at the same time and do not reproduce, hence, there is no longer creation of new angels. Angels are not the spirits of deceased humans. They are of a higher order than man. Gen. 18.3; Heb. 1.14; Mk. 12.25; Lk. 20.36; Ps. 148.2-5; Jb. 38.6-7; Col. 1.16; Matt. 22.30; Heb. 2.7; Rev. 5.11.
II. Satan
A. Existence – Every New Testament writer mentions Satan. Christ Himself referred to Satan
twenty five times. He is referred to with a great variety of names to describe his character. Gen. 3.15; Job. 2.1; 1 Chron. 21.12; Isa. 14.1-17; Ezek. 28.11-19; Matt. 4.10; 12.26; Mk. 1.13; 3.23, 26; 4.15; Jn. 13.27.
B. Origin and Nature – Satan is a created being, created by (and therefore lower than) God. He
once enjoyed an exalted position in the presence of God but fell when he committed the sin of pride, wanting to raise himself above the glory of God. He caused a third of the angels to fall with him, resulting in demons. Satan’s defeat was predicted after the fall in the Garden, and his defeat came to fruition at the cross. Ezek. 28; Isa. 14; Gen. 3.15; Heb. 2.14; Rev. 20.2-3.
III. Demons
A. Origin – When Satan rebelled he led a third of the angels in his attack on God. They were all
cast out of Heaven. Satan is their ruler. Scripture denotes two kinds of demons:those who are free and active in the earth, and those who are confined in chains due to some sort of enormous sin. Matt. 12.24; 25.41; 2 Pet. 2.4; Jude 6; Lk 8.31; Rev. 9.2.
B. Characteristics – Since demons are nothing more than angels that have fallen, they have
the same characteristics. They are spirit beings, they are intelligent, they are powerful. Matt. 8.16,29; Lk. 10.17,20; Acts 16.16; Mk. 1.24; Jn. 10.21.
C. Activity – Demons have the ability to inflict disease, influence the mind, and deceive people
and nations. Lk. 13.11,16; Job 1.12; 2.6; 2 Cor. 4.4; 2.7-10; Gen. 3.1-5; 1 Thes. 3.5; Eph. 2.2; Matt. 13.19; Rev. 16.14.
D. Demon Possession – Demons have the ability to possess humans and excerpt control over
them. The Gospels are full of accounts of people being possessed by demons. Christians however, cannot be possessed. Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit and cannot be controlled.
Doctrinal Statement – Soteriology
Soteriology – Doctrine of Salvation
I. Substitution – Christ died in the place of sinners. God’s Holiness demands that the
punishment for sin be payed. All of humanity would be required to pay this debt of death(Rom. 6.23), but when Christ went to the cross He put Himself in the place of sinners taking the fullness of the punishment on Himself. The doctrine of substitution is important because it reveals how God’s righteous demands were met; it was a legal transaction in which Christ dealt with the sin problem for the human race (Enns 335). 2 Cor. 5.21; 1 Pet. 2.24, 3.18; Isa. 53.4-6; Heb. 9.28a; Matt. 20.28; Gal. 3.13; 1 Tim. 2.6.
II. Redemption – The word redemption is the translation of the Greek word “agorazo”
and means “to purchase in the marketplace” (Enns 335). The word has to do with slaves being purchased out of the slave market. The New Testament uses this imagery, referring to Christians as slaves to sin (Rom. 6.7,12,14). A second Greek word that should be noted is “exagorazo.” Whereas the first word indicates purchase, the second indicates a purchase and withdrawal of that which is purchased. “Lutroo” is a third greek word that relates to redemption meaning “to obtain release by the payment of a price.” The price that was paid for believers is the life of Jesus Christ Himself, making them a precious possession of God. 1 Cor. 6.20, 7.23; Rev. 5.9, 14.3,4; Gal. 3.13, 4.5; 1 Pet. 1.18; Tit. 2.14.
III. Reconciliation – The emphasis here is making peace with God. Sin came between man
and God and therefore broke the fellowship man had with God. Reconciliation is God removing the barrier and bringing man back into a relationship with Himself. Isa. 59.1,2; Col. 1.21,22; Jam. 4.4; Rom. 5.10; 2 Cor. 5.18,19.
IV. Propitiation – Propitiation is the satisfying of God’s wrath against sin. The death/payment of Christ
covers the faults of the believer, allowing God to accept the believer. Heb. 2.17; 1 Jn. 2.2, 4.10; Rom 3.25.
V. Forgiveness – The legal act whereby God removes charges against the sinner because proper
satisfaction or atonement for those sins have been made. Forgiveness is necessary because man possesses the problem/penalty of sin and needs to have it removed by God. There is a separate type of forgiveness in the life of the believer, this is forgiveness from sins committed in the daily christian life. That is not to say that Christians lose their salvation. Rather, the open fellowship between God and believer is hindered when a believer sins. Confession and repentance of sins brings the forgiveness needed to restore this fellowship. Col. 2.13; Eph. 1.7; 1 Jn. 1.9; Acts 13.38.
VI. Justification – – Justification is the legal act by which God declares a sinner to be righteous (on the
grounds of the work of Christ). Justification is a gift given by God at the moment a sinner places faith in Christ. The holiness and justness of God is not tarnished in this act since the punishment demanded by God’s righteousness is satisfied in the death of Christ. Rom. 3.24, 4.2-3,5-7, 5.9-11.
VII. Extent of the Atonement – There has been much debate over the question “Who did Christ die
for?” The Limited Atonement view states that Christ died only for the elect. However, the position that is more in harmony with Scripture is the Unlimited Atonement view, which states Christ died for all, both saved and unsaved. There are several reasons the Unlimited view is correct.
A. When taken at face value scripture presents an unlimited atonement.
B. Limited atonement is not so much based on exegesis of scripture as it is based on a logical
assumption that if Christ died for all but all aren’t saved, then God is defeated.
C. John frequently refers to the “world” when talking about the aim of Christ. This word always
refers to the entirety of humanity and is never limited to just the elect. (cf. Jn. 1.29; 3.16,17; 4.42; 1 Jn. 4.14)
D. 1 John 2.2 states that Christ is the propitiation of the sins of not only believers, but also the
sins of the whole world.
E. 2 Peter 2.1 especially militates against limited atonement. Peter describes heretical
teachers that spread false teaching. He states quite plainly that these teachers deny the Master (Christ), and that the Master bought these teachers. The context requires eternal punishment.
F. Other scriptures militate against this view as well: 1 Tim. 4.10; Tit. 2.11; Rom. 3.22; Isa. 53.6;
Heb. 2.9; 2 Pet. 3.9 (the Petrine passage may be debatable).
VIII. How Salvation is Obtained – The Bible is very clear in teaching that salvation is obtained by grace
through faith. There are three elements to belief:
A. Knowledge, involving intellect. There are certain basic truths that must be known before a
person can be saved. Namely, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s substitutional sacrifice, and His bodily resurrection (Rom. 10.9-10; Jn. 8.24, 20.31,31).
B. Conviction, involving emotions. This means that factual knowledge is not enough, there
needs to be an inner conviction of their truthfulness. (Jn. 16.8-11)
C. Trust, involving will. There needs to be an affirmation that what the Bible says is true, and
that the will must be conformed to the standards and demands of the Bible.
Exploring Geo-Clocks
The question of how old the earth is is a question that many scientists wrestle with and have wrestled with for quite some time. What it boils down to is that there are really only two possible options as to when the earth started. There is the evolutionist model that states that billions of years ago the universe came into existence as a result of a very large explosion of nothing and that that explosion produced all the matter in the universe and eventually evolved into what we have today. The other model that offers an answer to the age of the earth is the creation model. This model states that all of the universe was created by an intelligent Being Who originally made everything in a perfect state several thousand years ago, and which eventually began to decay and die as a result of man’s sin. With a time difference of billions of years one would obviously expect there to be evidence that only supports one of these models. There are in fact different “clocks” on and around the earth that show that the earth and the universe are young.
The first of these clocks is what is called juvenile water. When volcanoes erupt, as much as 20% of the erupted material can be composed of water and enters the atmosphere in the form of steam. This water is a result of steam pressure being built up beneath the surface of the earth. Since this water has never made contact with the surface of the earth it is referred to as “juvenile water.” The rate of new water being added to the surface of the earth in this matter can be roughly measured. The rate of volcanic eruptions per year has been observed to average 12 per year. The estimated total of juvenile water being released each year totals one cubic mile per year.
Knowing this information provides the “clock” that can be measured. At this time it can be asked “how long would it take for water to accumulate on the earth using volcanic juvenile water alone?” The total amount of water on the earth today is 340,000,000 cubic miles. So if water is added at a rate of one cubic mile per year, it would take 340,000,000 years to fill the surface of the earth with the amount of water we have today. On the evolutionary time line this in the middle of the “age of fishes”! If the evolutionary time line is to be believed, after billions of year of volcanic activity the earth today should be completely covered in water.
The second clock deals with oil pressure. This is a commonly quoted fact when dealing with the age of the earth. When oil is trapped beneath the surface of the earth is under extreme amounts of pressure. When oil rigs drill into a pocket of oil there can occur what is usually referred to as a “gusher.” This event can cause oil to spray into the air for days. This spray is the oil racing into area of lesser pressure. Where the clock comes into play is that while trapped in ground, the oil will try to dissipate into surrounding rocks. This process can take anywhere from five to ten thousand years, as opposed to millions. This process does not fit with the evolutionary model. Instead it shows that the earth is only a few thousand years old.
The third clock looks to the comets in the skies. The distinctive appearance that comets posses come from material from the comet actually burning off and disintegrating. This is an example of cosmic deterioration. The length of time it takes for comets to disintegrate is about 10,000 years depending on the size and makeup of the comet. As of now there is no known source of new comets (evolutionists hold to a belief in the Oort Cloud, but this has neither been observed nor proven). The presence of comets today indicates that the universe is only a few thousand years old.
The dust of the moon holds the fourth key to the age of the earth. On the first moon landing scientists were worried that the landing pod would sink into the surface of the moon. The landing pods actually had very large saucers on the legs to keep it from sinking. The reasoning behind this is that dust from space would gather on the surface of the moon at a measurable rate. If the earth and moon are indeed millions of years old, the accumulated dust would be fifty four feet thick! The amount of dust that is actually present on the moon allows for about 8,000 years.
The fifth clock is found by examining the human population of the earth. There has only very recently been a population explosion on earth. If it is assumed that a constant rate of population growth of ½ percent per year with an average family size of 2 ½ children per family (this is one quarter of the current rate, allowing for things like natural disasters and war), then the current population of today can be achieved in 4,000 years. This statistic is to be expected with the creation model. The world wide flood of Genesis 6 is believed to have occurred about 4000 years ago. If mankind has been populating the earth for a million years then the population today should be at least 3,000 billion people! The clock of human population points to the accuracy of God’s word.
The sixth clock is a rather convincing one. The strength of the earth’s magnetic field is decreasing. In accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, the magnetic field experiences progressive degeneration. Ever since it was first measured in 1835, the rate of decrease in its strength has been observed. The rate of strength decrease is by half every 1,400 years. This is okay if the earth is only 6,000 years old, but beyond 10,000 problems begin to occur.
It is evident from looking at nature that the earth and the universe around are very young things that have been created at the hands of God. The “clock’s” that have been explored in this paper are only a handful of scientific evidences that point to a young earth. All evidence listed here is in compliance with the laws of thermodynamics, laws that have been called the most important statements in modern science. The first law of thermodynamics states that no new matter is being created and that no matter is being destroyed. The second law states that everything moves in a downward spiral towards entropy (essentially uselessness). Evolution is in direct conflict with both of these laws (especially the second one). The evidence points towards a young earth that was created by God.
