Changes

{{See also|Counterexamples to an Old Earth}}

{{See also|Counterexamples to an Old Earth}}

The '''Age of the Earth''' has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia. All verifiable evidence indicates that the Earth is about 6,000 years old.  Yet with circular reasoning and implausible assumptions, [[liberals]] insist that the Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years (4.54 × 10⁹ ± 1%).<ref name="101Evidences"/><ref name="RefutingEvo"/><ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml polling]</ref>

The '''Age of the Earth''' has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia. All verifiable evidence indicates that the Earth is about 6,000 years old.  Yet with circular reasoning and implausible assumptions, [[liberals]] insist that the Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years (4.54 × 10⁹ ± 1%).<ref name="101Evidences"/><ref name="RefutingEvo"/><ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml polling]</ref>

Old Earth advocates rely on one flawed assumption to the exclusion of other evidence, similar to how an investigator may mistakenly rely on one faulty eyewitness's opinion to the exclusion of all else.  In fact, eyewitness testimony is proven to be less reliable than other indicators, just as the assumption by Old Earth proponents that the [[Radiometric dating|rate of radioactive decay]] has always been constant is flawed. Far from being constant, the rate of radioactive decay would almost certainly slow down as the universe cools.<ref>http://www.icr.org/article/nuclear-decay-evidence-for-young-world</ref><ref>http://www.icr.org/article/radioactive-decay-rates-not-stable</ref><ref>https://answersingenesis.org/geology/radiometric-dating/the-fallacies-of-radioactive-dating-of-rocks</ref>  At the very least, it is not consistent and easily predictable.<ref>http://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Nuclear_Chemistry/Radioactivity/Radioactive_Decay_Rates</ref>

Old Earth advocates rely on one flawed assumption to the exclusion of other evidence, similar to how an investigator may mistakenly rely on one faulty eyewitness's opinion to the exclusion of all else.  In fact, eyewitness testimony is proven to be less reliable than other indicators, just as the assumption by Old Earth proponents that the [[Radiometric dating|rate of radioactive decay]] has always been constant is flawed. Far from being constant, the rate of radioactive decay would almost certainly slow down as the universe cools.<ref>http://www.icr.org/article/nuclear-decay-evidence-for-young-world</ref><ref>http://www.icr.org/article/radioactive-decay-rates-not-stable</ref><ref>https://answersingenesis.org/geology/radiometric-dating/the-fallacies-of-radioactive-dating-of-rocks</ref>  At the very least, it is not consistent and easily predictable.<ref>http://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Nuclear_Chemistry/Radioactivity/Radioactive_Decay_Rates</ref>

Prior to the onset of [[totalitarian]] and [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarian]] (i.e. long-age) [[scientism]] promoted by [[Charles Lyell|Lyell]], [[Darwin]], [[T. H. Huxley|Huxley]], and others in the 19th century, when most people and scientists in [[Europe]] and [[North America]] had a [[Christian]] or [[biblical]] worldview, the [[Atheism|atheist]]ic [[evolution]]ary concept of billions of years for the age of the earth was unknown to mainstream [[Western civilization|Western]] [[science]] beyond cursory [[philosophical]] speculations.<ref name="YECBritannica">{{cite web |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica: supporting a young earth! |publisher=creation.com |url=http://creation.com/encyclopedia-britannica-supporting-a-young-earth |quote=The concept of billions of years for the age of the earth was unknown to science (or to the church[4]) before the rise of uniformitarianism in the 19th century. This is strong evidence that modern long-age views of creation do not originate in Genesis, but are a misguided attempt by some Christian leaders to try to reconcile what God has said with the atheistic pronouncements of evolutionary ‘science’.|accessdate=November 8, 2014}}</ref>

Prior to the onset of [[totalitarian]] and [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarian]] (i.e. long-age) [[scientism]] promoted by [[Charles Lyell|Lyell]], [[Darwin]], [[T. H. Huxley|Huxley]], and others in the 19th century, when most people and scientists in [[Europe]] and [[North America]] had a [[Christian]] or [[biblical]] worldview, the [[Atheism|atheist]]ic [[evolution]]ary concept of billions of years for the age of the earth was unknown to mainstream [[Western civilization|Western]] [[science]] beyond cursory [[philosophical]] speculations.<ref name="YECBritannica">{{cite web |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica: supporting a young earth! |publisher=creation.com |url=http://creation.com/encyclopedia-britannica-supporting-a-young-earth |quote=The concept of billions of years for the age of the earth was unknown to science (or to the church[4]) before the rise of uniformitarianism in the 19th century. This is strong evidence that modern long-age views of creation do not originate in Genesis, but are a misguided attempt by some Christian leaders to try to reconcile what God has said with the atheistic pronouncements of evolutionary ‘science’.|accessdate=November 8, 2014}}</ref>

For example, in his 1619 book the ''Harmonices Mundi'' (The Harmony of the World), [[Johannes Kepler]], [[mathematician]] and [[astronomer]] whose [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|discoveries]] are used in present-day rocket science,<ref>{{cite book |title=Introduction to Rocket Science and Engineering |author=Travis S. Taylor |publisher=CRC Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781498772341 |url=http://books.google.com/books?hl&id=aAagDgAAQBAJ}}</ref> wrote that he does not care if his book will need to wait a century for a reader, as [[God]] has waited '''six thousand years''' for him as an [[Scientific observation|observer]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Harmony of the World |author=Johannes Kepler |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1997 |pages=IX, XXXVII, 391, 410 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rEkLAAAAIAAJ&q=six+thousand#v=snippet&q=six%20thousand&f=false|quote=O, Almighty God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee! ... The book is written, to be read either now or by posterity, I care not which. It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.}}</ref> Kepler calculated a Creation date of 3992 BC, and [[Isaac Newton]] also strongly defended [[Biblical chronology]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution |author=Jonathan Sarfati |publisher=Creation Books Publishers |year=2010 |place=Atlanta, Georgia, USA |pages=311 |isbn=978-1921-643064 |url=http://creation.com/the-greatest-hoax-on-earth/main.php |quote=Kepler calculated a Creation date of 3992 BC, and Isaac Newton (1643-1727), probably the greatest scientist of all time, also strongly defended biblical chronology.}}</ref><ref name="Newton">{{cite book

For example, in his 1619 book the ''Harmonices Mundi'' (The Harmony of the World), [[Johannes Kepler]], [[mathematician]] and [[astronomer]] whose [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|discoveries]] are used in present-day rocket science,<ref>{{cite book |title=Introduction to Rocket Science and Engineering |author=Travis S. Taylor |publisher=CRC Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781498772341 |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl&id=aAagDgAAQBAJ}}</ref> wrote that he does not care if his book will need to wait a century for a reader, as [[God]] has waited '''six thousand years''' for him as an [[Scientific observation|observer]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Harmony of the World |author=Johannes Kepler |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1997 |pages=IX, XXXVII, 391, 410 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rEkLAAAAIAAJ&q=six+thousand#v=snippet&q=six%20thousand&f=false|quote=O, Almighty God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee! ... The book is written, to be read either now or by posterity, I care not which. It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.}}</ref> Kepler calculated a Creation date of 3992 BC, and [[Isaac Newton]] also strongly defended [[Biblical chronology]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution |author=Jonathan Sarfati |publisher=Creation Books Publishers |year=2010 |place=Atlanta, Georgia, USA |pages=311 |isbn=978-1921-643064 |url=http://creation.com/the-greatest-hoax-on-earth/main.php |quote=Kepler calculated a Creation date of 3992 BC, and Isaac Newton (1643-1727), probably the greatest scientist of all time, also strongly defended biblical chronology.}}</ref><ref name="Newton">{{cite book

|author= Isaac Newton

|author= Isaac Newton

|title= Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John

|title= Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John

|place=London

|place=London

|chapter=PART I. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel.CHAP. I. Introduction concerning the Compilers of the Books of the Old Testament.  

|chapter=PART I. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel.CHAP. I. Introduction concerning the Compilers of the Books of the Old Testament.  

|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16878?msg=welcome_stranger

|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16878?msg=welcome_stranger

|quote=The Pentateuch is composed of the Law and the history of God’s people together; and the history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history of the Creation composed by Moses, Genesis 2:4; the book of the generations of Adam, #Ge 5:1;

|quote=The Pentateuch is composed of the Law and the history of God’s people together; and the history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history of the Creation composed by Moses, Genesis 2:4; the book of the generations of Adam, #Ge 5:1;

|accessdate=26 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Experimenting on a Small Planet: A Scholarly Entertainment

|accessdate=26 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Experimenting on a Small Planet: A Scholarly Entertainment

  |author=William W. Hay |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2012 |pages=63|isbn=9783642285608 |url=http://books.google.no/books?id=teJYlWH9vg4C |quote=Ussher’s was not the first nor last attempt to determine the age of the Earth from the Bible. Estimates had been made by the Venerable Bede in 723 (3952 BC) and John Lightfoot in 1644 (3929), and later by Johannes Kepler (3992 BC), and Isaac Newton (4000 BC) among others.}}</ref> The latter also vigorously opposed to a naturalistic cosmic evolution and suggested [[chemical]] processes that might aid in explaining the creation of the earth's [[crust]] during the '''six days'''.<ref name="Rappaport1997">{{cite book |title=When Geologists Where Historians, 1665-1750 |author=Rhoda Rappaport |publisher=Cornell University Press |place=Ithaca and London |year=1997 |pages=138, 197 |isbn=978-0801-433863 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=30U3W2kI7foC}}</ref> The vast majority of commentators in the past interpreted the days of [[Genesis]] as ordinary days. Furthermore, even those who did not, such as [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]], vigorously attacked long-age ideas and affirmed that the world was only thousands of years.<ref name="FLuke2007"/><br>  

  |author=William W. Hay |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2012 |pages=63|isbn=9783642285608 |url=http://books.google.no/books?id=teJYlWH9vg4C |quote=Ussher’s was not the first nor last attempt to determine the age of the Earth from the Bible. Estimates had been made by the Venerable Bede in 723 (3952 BC) and John Lightfoot in 1644 (3929), and later by Johannes Kepler (3992 BC), and Isaac Newton (4000 BC) among others.}}</ref> The latter also vigorously opposed to a naturalistic cosmic evolution and suggested [[chemical]] processes that might aid in explaining the creation of the earth's [[crust]] during the '''six days'''.<ref name="Rappaport1997">{{cite book |title=When Geologists Where Historians, 1665-1750 |author=Rhoda Rappaport |publisher=Cornell University Press |place=Ithaca and London |year=1997 |pages=138, 197 |isbn=978-0801-433863 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30U3W2kI7foC}}</ref> The vast majority of commentators in the past interpreted the days of [[Genesis]] as ordinary days. Furthermore, even those who did not, such as [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]], vigorously attacked long-age ideas and affirmed that the world was only thousands of years.<ref name="FLuke2007"/><br>  

In 1771, the first edition of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], the oldest English-language general encyclopedia that was first published as a 3-volume set in [[Scotland]], included a table of world events under the heading ‘[[Astronomy]]’ on page 493. These events begin with the [[creation]] of the world in the year 0, which they dated at 4007 years before Christ.<ref name="YECBritannica"/><ref>{{cite web |title= Encyclopaedia Britannica: supporting a young earth! |publisher= creation.com |url=http://creation.com/media-center?fileID=Rj4PFM_od9U |quote= The notion that the world in billions of years old has only been popular for about 200 years. Before that time most scientists understood that Noah's Flood was responsible for laying down the rocks which today are associated with millions of years. Richard Fangrad and Calvin Smith discuss the details. |accessdate=November 8, 2014}}</ref><br>

In 1771, the first edition of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], the oldest English-language general encyclopedia that was first published as a 3-volume set in [[Scotland]], included a table of world events under the heading ‘[[Astronomy]]’ on page 493. These events begin with the [[creation]] of the world in the year 0, which they dated at 4007 years before Christ.<ref name="YECBritannica"/><ref>{{cite web |title= Encyclopaedia Britannica: supporting a young earth! |publisher= creation.com |url=http://creation.com/media-center?fileID=Rj4PFM_od9U |quote= The notion that the world in billions of years old has only been popular for about 200 years. Before that time most scientists understood that Noah's Flood was responsible for laying down the rocks which today are associated with millions of years. Richard Fangrad and Calvin Smith discuss the details. |accessdate=November 8, 2014}}</ref><br>

In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on an official [[date of creation]].<ref name="Hales">{{cite book |title=Chronology and geography |author=William Hales |publisher=C.J.G. & F. Rivington |year=1830 |page= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aNfVAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.<ref>Batten 2002 quotes from "Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible", 1879 8th Edition, 1939, which relates this, and reproduces the selection of the dates from Young.</ref>

In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on an official [[date of creation]].<ref name="Hales">{{cite book |title=Chronology and geography |author=William Hales |publisher=C.J.G. & F. Rivington |year=1830 |page= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNfVAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.<ref>Batten 2002 quotes from "Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible", 1879 8th Edition, 1939, which relates this, and reproduces the selection of the dates from Young.</ref>

Included in Hales' list is [[James Ussher]], who calculated the '''famous date of 4004 B.C.''' for creation<ref name="Carson">{{cite book

Included in Hales' list is [[James Ussher]], who calculated the '''famous date of 4004 B.C.''' for creation<ref name="Carson">{{cite book

|chapter=Nine: The Biblical Canon

|chapter=Nine: The Biblical Canon

|pages=256

|pages=256

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XHoFAQAACAAJ

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHoFAQAACAAJ

|isbn=1-59752-118-3

|isbn=1-59752-118-3

|quote= Professor John Redwood describes the commitments of seventeenth century Christians: “To the seventeenth-century biblical chronology, the account of Moses, and the science of geology were all part of the same world of learning. No one seeking to enquire into rocks or minerals, into earth history of formation of the earth’s configuration could afford to ignore or deny the value of his primary source, the Bible.” James Ussher in the early seventeenth century had based his dating of creation at 4004 B.C. on a detailed and literal reading of the historical accounts.}}</ref> and published it in his ''magnum opus'', ''[[The Annals of the World]]'' during the mid-1600s. Young Earth creationists, essentially adopting the same method as [[Nikola Tesla]] who was taught by his mother ''"to seek all truth in the Bible,"''<ref>{{cite book |title=My inventions: The autobiography of Nikola Tesla |author=Nikola Tesla |publisher=NuVision Publications LLC |year=1982 |pages=41 |isbn= |url=http://books.google.com/books?hl=no&id=uBafTxRVtkAC&q=Bible#v=snippet&q=Bible&f=false |quote= Up to that time I never realized that I possed any particular gift of discovery, but the Lord Rayleigh, whom I considered an ideal man of science, had said so, and if that was the case, I felt that I should concentrate on some big idea. At this time, as many other times in the past, my tought turned towards my mother's teaching. The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few  months to the study of this work.}}</ref> still consider this date to be close to the actual date.<ref>{{cite web

|quote= Professor John Redwood describes the commitments of seventeenth century Christians: “To the seventeenth-century biblical chronology, the account of Moses, and the science of geology were all part of the same world of learning. No one seeking to enquire into rocks or minerals, into earth history of formation of the earth’s configuration could afford to ignore or deny the value of his primary source, the Bible.” James Ussher in the early seventeenth century had based his dating of creation at 4004 B.C. on a detailed and literal reading of the historical accounts.}}</ref> and published it in his ''magnum opus'', ''[[The Annals of the World]]'' during the mid-1600s. Young Earth creationists, essentially adopting the same method as [[Nikola Tesla]] who was taught by his mother ''"to seek all truth in the Bible,"''<ref>{{cite book |title=My inventions: The autobiography of Nikola Tesla |author=Nikola Tesla |publisher=NuVision Publications LLC |year=1982 |pages=41 |isbn= |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=no&id=uBafTxRVtkAC&q=Bible#v=snippet&q=Bible&f=false |quote= Up to that time I never realized that I possed any particular gift of discovery, but the Lord Rayleigh, whom I considered an ideal man of science, had said so, and if that was the case, I felt that I should concentrate on some big idea. At this time, as many other times in the past, my tought turned towards my mother's teaching. The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few  months to the study of this work.}}</ref> still consider this date to be close to the actual date.<ref>{{cite web

|title=Creation Seminar 1 - Age of the Earth (FULL)

|title=Creation Seminar 1 - Age of the Earth (FULL)

|author=Kent Hovind

|author=Kent Hovind

|url=https://youtu.be/szBTl3S24MY?t=1857

|url=https://youtu.be/szBTl3S24MY?t=1857

|accessdate=26 July 2015

|accessdate=26 July 2015

}}</ref> The year 4004 [[B.C.]] was considered to be also a remarkable astronomical epoch by the great French astronomer [[Pierre Simon Laplace|Laplace]] who in his ''Méchanique Céleste'', Tom III.p.&nbsp;113,  announced a curious discovery - it was supposed to be a year when the great axis of the earth's [[orbit]] coincided with the line of the [[equinox]]es, and consequently true and mean equinoxes were united.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chronology and geography |author=William Hales |publisher=C.J.G. & F. Rivington |year=1830 |page=228|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aNfVAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

}}</ref> The year 4004 [[B.C.]] was considered to be also a remarkable astronomical epoch by the great French astronomer [[Pierre Simon Laplace|Laplace]] who in his ''Méchanique Céleste'', Tom III.p.&nbsp;113,  announced a curious discovery - it was supposed to be a year when the great axis of the earth's [[orbit]] coincided with the line of the [[equinox]]es, and consequently true and mean equinoxes were united.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chronology and geography |author=William Hales |publisher=C.J.G. & F. Rivington |year=1830 |page=228|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNfVAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

=== Evolutionists vs. “odius spectre” Kelvin ===

=== Evolutionists vs. “odius spectre” Kelvin ===

| style="padding:15px;" | ''“Time is in fact the hero of the plot … given so much time the "impossible" becomes [[Logic of possibility|possible]], the possible probable and the probably virtually certainly certain. One has only to wait: time itself performs [[miracle]]s.”''

| style="padding:15px;" | ''“Time is in fact the hero of the plot … given so much time the "impossible" becomes [[Logic of possibility|possible]], the possible probable and the probably virtually certainly certain. One has only to wait: time itself performs [[miracle]]s.”''

<div style="padding-left:40px;">&mdash; George Wald<ref>{{cite book |title= The Physics and Chemistry of Life|author=George Wald |publisher=G. Bell |year= 1957 |pages=12 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IlCgnQEACAAJ }}</ref><ref name="West">{{cite web |title=Western culture and the age of the earth; Review of The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth by Cherry Lewis, Cambridge University Press, 2000 |author= Tas Walker |publisher= CMI |url= http://creation.com/cherry-lewis-the-dating-game-one-mans-search-for-the-age-of-the-earth-book-review |accessdate=13 June 2015

<div style="padding-left:40px;">&mdash; George Wald<ref>{{cite book |title= The Physics and Chemistry of Life|author=George Wald |publisher=G. Bell |year= 1957 |pages=12 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IlCgnQEACAAJ }}</ref><ref name="West">{{cite web |title=Western culture and the age of the earth; Review of The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth by Cherry Lewis, Cambridge University Press, 2000 |author= Tas Walker |publisher= CMI |url= http://creation.com/cherry-lewis-the-dating-game-one-mans-search-for-the-age-of-the-earth-book-review |accessdate=13 June 2015

}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Ad. “time itself performs miracles” - cf. [[Evolution of the gaps]]: An 'explanation' that has no other than philosophical implication and that cannot be tested is regarded for a key symptom of ideological thinking. Moreover, the Slovak poet Ondrej Fabrici maintained that [[idol]]s of the old [[pagan]] belief systems have been refurbished and disguised in the changed setting of the modern era under the new name of scientific endeavor.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prorok Daniel (Prophet Daniel)|author= Jozef Ondrej Markuš|publisher=Matica slovenská|year=2001|page=39|isbn=80-7090-600-6|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zpnkAAAACAAJ|language=Slovak |quote=

}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Ad. “time itself performs miracles” - cf. [[Evolution of the gaps]]: An 'explanation' that has no other than philosophical implication and that cannot be tested is regarded for a key symptom of ideological thinking. Moreover, the Slovak poet Ondrej Fabrici maintained that [[idol]]s of the old [[pagan]] belief systems have been refurbished and disguised in the changed setting of the modern era under the new name of scientific endeavor.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prorok Daniel (Prophet Daniel)|author= Jozef Ondrej Markuš|publisher=Matica slovenská|year=2001|page=39|isbn=80-7090-600-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpnkAAAACAAJ|language=Slovak |quote=

Či zmenil dačo Chronos starý na plánoch tých Babylonu, hoci sa ako dieťa tvári vek atómu, elektrónu?!  Len tváre figúr vymenené, technika ťahov spresnená, idoly staré postavené  odiali sa v nové mená!  Kulisy zmenil Chronos – čas Babylon žije prostred nás! (Ondrej Fabrici)}}</ref> For example, the “incomprehensibly vast periods of time” invoked by evolutionism is in fact nothing more than refurbished and masqueraded belief in creative power of elapsing time represented either by ancient [[Babylonian]] god, transposed into Greek mythology as [[Chronos]], or antique Aeon,<ref>{{cite web |title= ЭОН |publisher= dic.academic.ru |url= http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_philosophy/3798/ЭОН |language=Russian |accessdate=14 June 2015 |quote= ЭОН (греч. ), термин др.-греч. философии, «жизненный век», «вечность», время в аспекте жизненного существования, как некая целостная самозамкнутая структура (ср. лат. aevum, рус. «век») в отличие от «хро-носа» как абстрактного, количественно-измерительного, объективного и аморфного времени. … В гностицизме зон – это силы, которые исходят от божества. … Эон  в геологии длительный период времени, состоящий из нескольких эр.}}</ref> a divine power constituting a [[gnostic]] belief system.<ref name="Skarsaune">{{cite book

Či zmenil dačo Chronos starý na plánoch tých Babylonu, hoci sa ako dieťa tvári vek atómu, elektrónu?!  Len tváre figúr vymenené, technika ťahov spresnená, idoly staré postavené  odiali sa v nové mená!  Kulisy zmenil Chronos – čas Babylon žije prostred nás! (Ondrej Fabrici)}}</ref> For example, the “incomprehensibly vast periods of time” invoked by evolutionism is in fact nothing more than refurbished and masqueraded belief in creative power of elapsing time represented either by ancient [[Babylonian]] god, transposed into Greek mythology as [[Chronos]], or antique Aeon,<ref>{{cite web |title= ЭОН |publisher= dic.academic.ru |url= http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_philosophy/3798/ЭОН |language=Russian |accessdate=14 June 2015 |quote= ЭОН (греч. ), термин др.-греч. философии, «жизненный век», «вечность», время в аспекте жизненного существования, как некая целостная самозамкнутая структура (ср. лат. aevum, рус. «век») в отличие от «хро-носа» как абстрактного, количественно-измерительного, объективного и аморфного времени. … В гностицизме зон – это силы, которые исходят от божества. … Эон  в геологии длительный период времени, состоящий из нескольких эр.}}</ref> a divine power constituting a [[gnostic]] belief system.<ref name="Skarsaune">{{cite book

|author=Oskar Skarsaune

|author=Oskar Skarsaune

|chapter=12:Orthodoxy and Heresy

|chapter=12:Orthodoxy and Heresy

|isbn=978-0-8308-2844-9

|isbn=978-0-8308-2844-9

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2q6qTb-A7GwC

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2q6qTb-A7GwC

|quote=There are several gnostic “systems,” with a great deal of variety in details, but one can newertheless discern a basic pattern that is common to most or all Gnostic texts: There exists a highest God, who within himself comprises several divine powers. The Gnostics called these powers aeons, and there were different systems of arranging aeons. … This aeon, confused and in despair, created the material world…

|quote=There are several gnostic “systems,” with a great deal of variety in details, but one can newertheless discern a basic pattern that is common to most or all Gnostic texts: There exists a highest God, who within himself comprises several divine powers. The Gnostics called these powers aeons, and there were different systems of arranging aeons. … This aeon, confused and in despair, created the material world…

}}</ref>|group=note}}</div>

}}</ref>|group=note}}</div>

|pages=9, 13–18, 39, 58–62  

|pages=9, 13–18, 39, 58–62  

|isbn=0-8129-6849-2

|isbn=0-8129-6849-2

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xzLRvxlJhzkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Larson+Evolution:+The+Remarkable+History&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PbZfVJugD83vaJengLgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rejected%20Christianity%20&f=false}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|cf. "Of course, no one can precisely gauge hom much [[Enlightenment]] thinking about material origin for life and organic species contributed to the political, social, and religious turmoil of the French Revolution, but some observers at the time saw a causal link. Notions of biological instability seemed to breed social disorder; ... and chaos ensued as the law of jungle became the rule in Paris. For [[Cuvier]], ... Speculative systems in natural history invited ruin. ... [He] took every opportunity to criticize the speculations of [[Buffon]] and other materialist-minded naturalists."<ref name="Larson"/>|group=note}} Despite his treatises lacking both a timescale and even a clearly developed sense of time, in 1778 he proposed, apparently following his own belief ''"past is so old and has left so few traces that one can say anything one likes about it"'',<ref name="Rappaport1997"/> that the Earth was about 74,832 years old,<ref name="ingv">INGV</ref> what was also in line with thinking that pushed God as [[Creator]] either back in time or out of the picture altogether.<ref name="Larson"/>

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzLRvxlJhzkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Larson+Evolution:+The+Remarkable+History&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PbZfVJugD83vaJengLgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rejected%20Christianity%20&f=false}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|cf. "Of course, no one can precisely gauge hom much [[Enlightenment]] thinking about material origin for life and organic species contributed to the political, social, and religious turmoil of the French Revolution, but some observers at the time saw a causal link. Notions of biological instability seemed to breed social disorder; ... and chaos ensued as the law of jungle became the rule in Paris. For [[Cuvier]], ... Speculative systems in natural history invited ruin. ... [He] took every opportunity to criticize the speculations of [[Buffon]] and other materialist-minded naturalists."<ref name="Larson"/>|group=note}} Despite his treatises lacking both a timescale and even a clearly developed sense of time, in 1778 he proposed, apparently following his own belief ''"past is so old and has left so few traces that one can say anything one likes about it"'',<ref name="Rappaport1997"/> that the Earth was about 74,832 years old,<ref name="ingv">INGV</ref> what was also in line with thinking that pushed God as [[Creator]] either back in time or out of the picture altogether.<ref name="Larson"/>

In the early nineteenth-century, the so called [[uniformitarian]]s conspired to overthrow the [[Biblical chronology]] that would measure geologic time in generations of man.<ref name="Richter">{{cite journal |title=Geological Notes: Kelvin and the Age of Earth |author=F.M. Richter |publisher=Journal of Geology |year=1986 |volume=94 |pages=395–401 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30068713}}</ref> The dictum as a fundamental maxim for their geological speculation and worldview<ref name="PerryInAS">{{cite web |title=Kelvin, Perry and the Age of the Earth |author=Philip C. England, Peter Molnar, Frank M. Richter |date= |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/page2/kelvin-perry-and-the-age-of-the-earth |accessdate=13 June 2015 |quote=Before dissecting Kelvin's arguments, it is worth describing the worldview that he was opposing.}}</ref> was expressed through [[James Hutton]]’s aphorism,<ref name="ingv"/> coming from his 1785 book ''Theory of the earth'': ''“The revolt, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find [[Singularity#Antipathy to the idea of beginning|no vestige of a beginning]], [[Horror of a Divine Foot|no prospect of an end]].“''<ref name="KelvinOnDynamics">{{cite web |title=On Geological Dynamics |author=W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) |publisher= Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow |year=1869 |url=http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/on_geological_dynamics.html |aaccessdate=May 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Theory of the earth; or an investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution and restoration of land upon the globe. |author=James Hutton |publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |year=1785 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RjYAAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> Hutton's theory of the earth was not based on field observations but on his [[Wishful thinking|wishful]], speculative confusion of geological process with [[Newton]]ian [[physics]].<ref name="GOULDinNYT">{{cite web |title=IT'S AN OLD, OLD , OLD, OLD WORLD |publisher= NYT |author=D. R. Wallace |date= June 14, 1987 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/home/gould-arrow.html |accessdate=7 June 2015 |quote=Hutton's theory of the earth as a geological clockwork of eroding continents balanced against uplifting ocean basins was not based on field observations but on his wishful, speculative confusion of geological process with Newtonian physics....Hutton and Lyell were dedicated not to modern notions of geological dynamism but to antique ones of geological steady-state...The textbook legend of Hutton and Lyell seems dim and confused compared with that of Copernicus and Galileo. In demonstrating the shallowness of that legend}}</ref>

In the early nineteenth-century, the so called [[uniformitarian]]s conspired to overthrow the [[Biblical chronology]] that would measure geologic time in generations of man.<ref name="Richter">{{cite journal |title=Geological Notes: Kelvin and the Age of Earth |author=F.M. Richter |publisher=Journal of Geology |year=1986 |volume=94 |pages=395–401 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30068713}}</ref> The dictum as a fundamental maxim for their geological speculation and worldview<ref name="PerryInAS">{{cite web |title=Kelvin, Perry and the Age of the Earth |author=Philip C. England, Peter Molnar, Frank M. Richter |date= |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/page2/kelvin-perry-and-the-age-of-the-earth |accessdate=13 June 2015 |quote=Before dissecting Kelvin's arguments, it is worth describing the worldview that he was opposing.}}</ref> was expressed through [[James Hutton]]’s aphorism,<ref name="ingv"/> coming from his 1785 book ''Theory of the earth'': ''“The revolt, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find [[Singularity#Antipathy to the idea of beginning|no vestige of a beginning]], [[Horror of a Divine Foot|no prospect of an end]].“''<ref name="KelvinOnDynamics">{{cite web |title=On Geological Dynamics |author=W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) |publisher= Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow |year=1869 |url=http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/on_geological_dynamics.html |aaccessdate=May 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Theory of the earth; or an investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution and restoration of land upon the globe. |author=James Hutton |publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |year=1785 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RjYAAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> Hutton's theory of the earth was not based on field observations but on his [[Wishful thinking|wishful]], speculative confusion of geological process with [[Newton]]ian [[physics]].<ref name="GOULDinNYT">{{cite web |title=IT'S AN OLD, OLD , OLD, OLD WORLD |publisher= NYT |author=D. R. Wallace |date= June 14, 1987 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/home/gould-arrow.html |accessdate=7 June 2015 |quote=Hutton's theory of the earth as a geological clockwork of eroding continents balanced against uplifting ocean basins was not based on field observations but on his wishful, speculative confusion of geological process with Newtonian physics....Hutton and Lyell were dedicated not to modern notions of geological dynamism but to antique ones of geological steady-state...The textbook legend of Hutton and Lyell seems dim and confused compared with that of Copernicus and Galileo. In demonstrating the shallowness of that legend}}</ref>

In 1822, [[Joseph Fourier|Fourier]] laid the groundwork for the mathematical analysis of the flow of [[heat]] in his treatise ''Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur''; and later, in 1827, he published arguments that the Earth must be cooling.<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique">{{cite journal | title=John Perry’s neglected critique of Kelvin’s age for the Earth: A missed opportunity in geodynamics |author=P. England, P. Molnar, F. Richter |journal=GSA Today |volume= 17 |number= 1 |date=January 2007 |doi=10.1130/GSAT01701A.1 |url=http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/faculty/molnarpdf/2007GSAT.England.PerryKelvinBlownOpportunity.pdf |accessdate=5 June 2015 |quote= Fourier ... made arguments that the Earth must be cooling (Fourier, 1827), with which Lyell was certainly familiar (Lyell, 1830, p. 140–141).}}</ref> This was in line with so called [[Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis]], under which the earth would have gradually cooled from its assumed molten beginnings to its current state.   

In 1822, [[Joseph Fourier|Fourier]] laid the groundwork for the mathematical analysis of the flow of [[heat]] in his treatise ''Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur''; and later, in 1827, he published arguments that the Earth must be cooling.<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique">{{cite journal | title=John Perry’s neglected critique of Kelvin’s age for the Earth: A missed opportunity in geodynamics |author=P. England, P. Molnar, F. Richter |journal=GSA Today |volume= 17 |number= 1 |date=January 2007 |doi=10.1130/GSAT01701A.1 |url=http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/faculty/molnarpdf/2007GSAT.England.PerryKelvinBlownOpportunity.pdf |accessdate=5 June 2015 |quote= Fourier ... made arguments that the Earth must be cooling (Fourier, 1827), with which Lyell was certainly familiar (Lyell, 1830, p. 140–141).}}</ref> This was in line with so called [[Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis]], under which the earth would have gradually cooled from its assumed molten beginnings to its current state.   

In 1830 [[Charles Lyell]], despite being familiar with Fourier's arguments,<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique"/> supported, with a convert's zeal, the Hutton's idea of a

In 1830 [[Charles Lyell]], despite being familiar with Fourier's arguments,<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique"/> supported, with a convert's zeal, the Hutton's idea of a

steady-state Earth of indefinite age in ''Principles of Geology'',<ref name="ingv" /> a book that later influenced [[Darwin]]. Lyell started his book with a self-serving history of geology that [[Academician Burdenko syndrome|uncritically hailed]] any insight anticipating uniformitarianism and under the banner ''“to free the science from Moses”''<ref>{{cite book |author= Charles Lyell |title= Principles of Geology |volume= 1 |year=1881 (1990)|publisher=University of Chicago Press (reprint) |pages=268 (XVII)  |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9WjnbzHpvfEC |quote=Most other geologists, whether or not they agreed with Lyell on specific issues, would in fact have considered themselves his allies in hoping “to free the science from Moses” (Lyell 1881, vol.1, p.268).}}</ref> [[Kerkut’s student syndrome|utterly dismissed]] the contributions of [[Catastrophism|catastrophists]] including [[Georges Cuvier]], the "lion of nineteenth-century French science" and founder of modern comparative anatomy and paleontology, who as early as 1796 announced ''"the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some kind of catastrophe"'' and whose scientific arguments for the theory of [[special creation]] held back the tide of evolutionary thought for a generation.<ref name="Larson"/> Lyell shown up to be a disciple of Buffon, who resolutely refused to accept the notion of catastrophes, including the [[Noah's Flood|Biblical Flood]], which many of their contemporaries upheld. Before Darwin boarded the HMS Beagle in 1831, his Cambridge tutor Adam Sedgwick, who had supplied just twenty-two years old Darwin with a reading list for the voyage, conspicuously omitted controversial Lyell’s ''Principles''. Darwin was however given a copy of the book by the ship's aristocratic captain Robert FitzRoy, who wished to have some scientific person on board.<ref name="Larson"/><ref>{{cite web |title=The Voyage of Charles Darwin, Part 1 |publisher=BBC |year=1978 |pages=7-part series Part 1, 46min:15sec  |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hoDaxVIVPE&feature=youtu.be&t=2850 |accessdate=May 17, 2015 |quote=}}</ref> Darwin was fascinated by book, he dedicated his own writings about the voyage to Lyell, and in his letters claimed that ''"I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell's brains ... the great merit of the Principles, was that it altered the whole tone of one's mind & therefore that when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes."''<ref>{{cite web |title=Darwin Correspondence Database: Darwin, C. R. to Horner, Leonard 29 Aug 1844 |author=Ch.Darwin |publisher=Darwin Correspondence Project by Cambridge University Library |url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-771 |accessdate=May 17, 2015}}</ref>  

steady-state Earth of indefinite age in ''Principles of Geology'',<ref name="ingv" /> a book that later influenced [[Darwin]]. Lyell started his book with a self-serving history of geology that [[Academician Burdenko syndrome|uncritically hailed]] any insight anticipating uniformitarianism and under the banner ''“to free the science from Moses”''<ref>{{cite book |author= Charles Lyell |title= Principles of Geology |volume= 1 |year=1881 (1990)|publisher=University of Chicago Press (reprint) |pages=268 (XVII)  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WjnbzHpvfEC |quote=Most other geologists, whether or not they agreed with Lyell on specific issues, would in fact have considered themselves his allies in hoping “to free the science from Moses” (Lyell 1881, vol.1, p.268).}}</ref> [[Kerkut’s student syndrome|utterly dismissed]] the contributions of [[Catastrophism|catastrophists]] including [[Georges Cuvier]], the "lion of nineteenth-century French science" and founder of modern comparative anatomy and paleontology, who as early as 1796 announced ''"the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some kind of catastrophe"'' and whose scientific arguments for the theory of [[special creation]] held back the tide of evolutionary thought for a generation.<ref name="Larson"/> Lyell shown up to be a disciple of Buffon, who resolutely refused to accept the notion of catastrophes, including the [[Noah's Flood|Biblical Flood]], which many of their contemporaries upheld. Before Darwin boarded the HMS Beagle in 1831, his Cambridge tutor Adam Sedgwick, who had supplied just twenty-two years old Darwin with a reading list for the voyage, conspicuously omitted controversial Lyell’s ''Principles''. Darwin was however given a copy of the book by the ship's aristocratic captain Robert FitzRoy, who wished to have some scientific person on board.<ref name="Larson"/><ref>{{cite web |title=The Voyage of Charles Darwin, Part 1 |publisher=BBC |year=1978 |pages=7-part series Part 1, 46min:15sec  |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hoDaxVIVPE&feature=youtu.be&t=2850 |accessdate=May 17, 2015 |quote=}}</ref> Darwin was fascinated by book, he dedicated his own writings about the voyage to Lyell, and in his letters claimed that ''"I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell's brains ... the great merit of the Principles, was that it altered the whole tone of one's mind & therefore that when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes."''<ref>{{cite web |title=Darwin Correspondence Database: Darwin, C. R. to Horner, Leonard 29 Aug 1844 |author=Ch.Darwin |publisher=Darwin Correspondence Project by Cambridge University Library |url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-771 |accessdate=May 17, 2015}}</ref>  

{| class="infobox bordered" style="font-size:95%; width:25em;"

{| class="infobox bordered" style="font-size:95%; width:25em;"

! style="font-size:120%; background:lightgrey; text-align:center; padding:5px 0;" | About people who admit how incomprehensibly vast have been the past periods of time

! style="font-size:120%; background:lightgrey; text-align:center; padding:5px 0;" | About people who admit how incomprehensibly vast have been the past periods of time

*''«I asked Ramsay how long a time he allowed for that history. He answered that he could suggest no limit to it. I said “You don’t suppose geological history has run through 1,000,000,000 years?” “Certainly I do.” “10,000,000,000 years?” “Yes.” “The sun is a finite body. You can tell how many tons it is. Do you think it has been shining for a million million years? ” “I am as incapable of estimating and understanding the reasons which you physicists have for limiting geological time as you are incapable of understanding the geological reasons for our unlimited estimates.” I answered, “You can understand the physicists’ reasoning perfectly if you give your mind to it.”»'' Lord Kelvin, conversation on geological time with Sir Andrew Ramsay during the meeting of the British Association at Dundee in 1867<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Age of the Earth as an Abode Fitted for Life

*''«I asked Ramsay how long a time he allowed for that history. He answered that he could suggest no limit to it. I said “You don’t suppose geological history has run through 1,000,000,000 years?” “Certainly I do.” “10,000,000,000 years?” “Yes.” “The sun is a finite body. You can tell how many tons it is. Do you think it has been shining for a million million years? ” “I am as incapable of estimating and understanding the reasons which you physicists have for limiting geological time as you are incapable of understanding the geological reasons for our unlimited estimates.” I answered, “You can understand the physicists’ reasoning perfectly if you give your mind to it.”»'' Lord Kelvin, conversation on geological time with Sir Andrew Ramsay during the meeting of the British Association at Dundee in 1867<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Age of the Earth as an Abode Fitted for Life

|journal=Science  |publisher= American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=9 |issue=228 |date= May 12, 1899 |page=668 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1626214?seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents |accessdate=July 18, 2105}}</ref>

|journal=Science  |publisher= American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=9 |issue=228 |date= May 12, 1899 |page=668 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1626214?seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents |accessdate=July 18, 2105}}</ref>

*''“I don't have millions billions of years”'' Gail E. Kennedy, Associate Professor, Anthropology, [[UCLA]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Evolution Vs. God Movie |publisher=Living Waters |pages=14min:48sec|date=6 Aug 2013 |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0u3-2CGOMQ&feature=youtu.be&t=885 |accessdate=25 July 2015}}</ref>

*''“I don't have millions billions of years”'' Gail E. Kennedy, Associate Professor, Anthropology, [[UCLA]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Evolution Vs. God Movie |publisher=Living Waters |pages=14min:48sec|date=6 Aug 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0u3-2CGOMQ&feature=youtu.be&t=885 |accessdate=25 July 2015}}</ref>

*''“I require for my theoretical views '''a very long''' period before the Cambrian formation.”'' Ch. Darwin<ref name="DarwinToCroll31JAN1869"/>

*''“I require for my theoretical views '''a very long''' period before the Cambrian formation.”'' Ch. Darwin<ref name="DarwinToCroll31JAN1869"/>

*Vallisneri, who together with [[Leibniz]] urged Louis Burguet to consider ''biblical time'' as ''too restricted'', '''could add nothing more''' to his early conviction that the earth is ''"of '''nearly incomprehensible antiquity'''"''. Rappaport (p.195-7)<ref name="Rappaport1997"/>|group=note}} Anything else, of course, could not be expected from a people whose [[Big Bang theory|conceptions of the development of the universe]] are limited to a recognition of the [[Geologic system#The system|alternation of seasons]] and the [[Abiogenesis|insistent mysteries of life]] and death.''<div style="padding-left:40px;">&mdash; Arthur Holmes <ref name="Holmes1913">{{cite web |title= The age of the earth |author= Arthur Holmes |publisher= Harper |place=London |year= 1913 |pages=2, 11, 135 |url= https://archive.org/details/ageofearth00holmuoft |accessdate=July 18, 2015 |quote=As an example of one of the more extravagant demands, mention may be made of Darwin’s estimate in 1859 of the time elapsed since the latter part of the Cretaceous period. From the rate of chalk erosion in Kent, he deduced that the excavation of the Wealden valleys had required a period of 300 million years. Referring to this estimate, Jukes gave his opinion that while it might be a hundred time too great, it was equally probable that it was hundred times too small. Evidently 30,000 million years, in the absence of more reliable data, was not considered an absurdly excessive period for the erosion of the Weald. It should be noticed, however, that after the publication of Thomson’s views, Darwin withdrew this estimate from the origin of species.}}</ref></div>

*Vallisneri, who together with [[Leibniz]] urged Louis Burguet to consider ''biblical time'' as ''too restricted'', '''could add nothing more''' to his early conviction that the earth is ''"of '''nearly incomprehensible antiquity'''"''. Rappaport (p.195-7)<ref name="Rappaport1997"/>|group=note}} Anything else, of course, could not be expected from a people whose [[Big Bang theory|conceptions of the development of the universe]] are limited to a recognition of the [[Geologic system#The system|alternation of seasons]] and the [[Abiogenesis|insistent mysteries of life]] and death.''<div style="padding-left:40px;">&mdash; Arthur Holmes <ref name="Holmes1913">{{cite web |title= The age of the earth |author= Arthur Holmes |publisher= Harper |place=London |year= 1913 |pages=2, 11, 135 |url= https://archive.org/details/ageofearth00holmuoft |accessdate=July 18, 2015 |quote=As an example of one of the more extravagant demands, mention may be made of Darwin’s estimate in 1859 of the time elapsed since the latter part of the Cretaceous period. From the rate of chalk erosion in Kent, he deduced that the excavation of the Wealden valleys had required a period of 300 million years. Referring to this estimate, Jukes gave his opinion that while it might be a hundred time too great, it was equally probable that it was hundred times too small. Evidently 30,000 million years, in the absence of more reliable data, was not considered an absurdly excessive period for the erosion of the Weald. It should be noticed, however, that after the publication of Thomson’s views, Darwin withdrew this estimate from the origin of species.}}</ref></div>

The doctrine that the Earth was of unlimited age allowed Uniformitarian geologists to evade [[explanation in science|explaining]] any [[phenomenon|phenomena]] by laws of [[physics]] and resort to [[Fog displacement|blurring]] them by ''“reckless drafts on the bank of time”'' instead. For the legendary British physicist William Thomson, later known as [[Lord Kelvin]], this game without rules was simply not scientific. The speculations of uniformitarians on age of the Earth were forbidden by the laws of the thermodynamics, which he had helped in developing. He showed, with the full force and prestige of mathematical physics,{{#tag:ref|cf.  

The doctrine that the Earth was of unlimited age allowed Uniformitarian geologists to evade [[explanation in science|explaining]] any [[phenomenon|phenomena]] by laws of [[physics]] and resort to [[Fog displacement|blurring]] them by ''“reckless drafts on the bank of time”'' instead. For the legendary British physicist William Thomson, later known as [[Lord Kelvin]], this game without rules was simply not scientific. The speculations of uniformitarians on age of the Earth were forbidden by the laws of the thermodynamics, which he had helped in developing. He showed, with the full force and prestige of mathematical physics,{{#tag:ref|cf.  

*''"God is mathematician of a very high order and He used advanced mathematics in constructing the universe."'' [[Paul Dirac]]<ref name="Flew">{{Cite book|title=There is a God, How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind|author=Antony Flew|publisher=HarperOne|year=2008|isbn=978-0-06-133530-3|pages=105|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zbL66ePcjpQC |quote= }}</ref>

*''"God is mathematician of a very high order and He used advanced mathematics in constructing the universe."'' [[Paul Dirac]]<ref name="Flew">{{Cite book|title=There is a God, How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind|author=Antony Flew|publisher=HarperOne|year=2008|isbn=978-0-06-133530-3|pages=105|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbL66ePcjpQC |quote= }}</ref>

*''"Religion and natural science are fighting a joint battle in an incessant, never relaxing crusade against skepticism and against dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition … [and therefore] ‘On to God’"'' [[Max Planck]]<ref name="Flew"/>|group=note}} that, if one were to assume that the Earth is a solid body cooling from an initially high temperature, measurement of the rate of heat loss from its surface would clearly place limits on its age.

*''"Religion and natural science are fighting a joint battle in an incessant, never relaxing crusade against skepticism and against dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition … [and therefore] ‘On to God’"'' [[Max Planck]]<ref name="Flew"/>|group=note}} that, if one were to assume that the Earth is a solid body cooling from an initially high temperature, measurement of the rate of heat loss from its surface would clearly place limits on its age.

| isbn = 978-0-06-147279-2

| isbn = 978-0-06-147279-2

| pages = 450

| pages = 450

| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RUGKBdKawDUC| quote= }}</ref>  

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUGKBdKawDUC| quote= }}</ref>  

But T.C. Chamberlin, head of the Department of Geology at the [[University of Chicago]], was not prepared to concede defeat. While defending his faith in long-ages, he speculated, without any observational basis whatever, that there might yet be discovered new sources of energy that would allow more time than Kelvin had calculated.<ref>{{cite book |title=Earth |author= Frank Press, Raymond Siever |publisher=W. H. Freeman |edition=4 |year=1986 |pages=40 |isbn=978-0716717430 |url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Frank-Press/dp/0716717433}}</ref> Thus, the quest for the age of the earth as a subjective, arbitrary and erratic pursuit, was set for an fascinating turn.<ref name="West"/> This came in 1896, when [[radioactivity]] was discovered by Henri Becquerel and when in 1903 [[Marie and Pierre Curie|Pierre Curie]] and Albert Laborde demonstrated that [[radioactive decay]] releases heat. Before long, several people argued that this source of heat was great enough to overturn Kelvin’s conclusion about the boundary for the age of the earth. The situation resembled the one in the  previous two centuries when ''“those who sought to extend biblical time hardly knew where to begin, how to proceed, and what to conclude.”''<ref name="Rappaport1997"/> Among the followers of this effort was [[Ernest Rutherford]], who in 1904 suggested, in the Royal Institution, that ''“Lord Kelvin had limited the Age of the Earth, ‘provided no new source of heat was discovered.’ That prophetic utterance refers to what we are considering tonight, [[radium]]!”'' Later, Rutherford often repeated his tale of thinking on his feet in front of the “old bird” Kelvin who “beamed” at him. This episode and pleasing form of the anecdote, boosted by the eminence of its author, who was considered the father of the nuclear theory, provided a ready vehicle for mythmaking and uncritical acceptance of proposition that because the discovery of radioactive heat undermined an assumption behind Kelvin’s calculation, it also undermined his conclusion.<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique"/> As the half-life of radium's dominant isotope is 1600 yr, heat given out by radium obviously could not be the wanted missing energy.{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"[Rutherford and Soddy] could not get away from the fact, however, that radium itself, although universally regarded as an element, decays far too rapidly to be as old as the minerals in which it is found. The only solution seemed to be that radium too must be a metabolon with a 'life' of a few thousand years."''<ref name ="BURCHFIELD">{{cite book |title=Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth |author=Joe D. Burchfield |publisher= The University of Chicago Press |place=Chicago |year=1975, 1990 |pages=173 |isbn=0-226-08043-9}}</ref>|group=note}} Nevertheless, later assumptions of equilibrium in decay series of [[uranium]] and [[thorium]] allowed to consider heat sources with half-lives in gigayears (Ga; 1 Ga = 10⁹ years).

But T.C. Chamberlin, head of the Department of Geology at the [[University of Chicago]], was not prepared to concede defeat. While defending his faith in long-ages, he speculated, without any observational basis whatever, that there might yet be discovered new sources of energy that would allow more time than Kelvin had calculated.<ref>{{cite book |title=Earth |author= Frank Press, Raymond Siever |publisher=W. H. Freeman |edition=4 |year=1986 |pages=40 |isbn=978-0716717430 |url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Frank-Press/dp/0716717433}}</ref> Thus, the quest for the age of the earth as a subjective, arbitrary and erratic pursuit, was set for an fascinating turn.<ref name="West"/> This came in 1896, when [[radioactivity]] was discovered by Henri Becquerel and when in 1903 [[Marie and Pierre Curie|Pierre Curie]] and Albert Laborde demonstrated that [[radioactive decay]] releases heat. Before long, several people argued that this source of heat was great enough to overturn Kelvin’s conclusion about the boundary for the age of the earth. The situation resembled the one in the  previous two centuries when ''“those who sought to extend biblical time hardly knew where to begin, how to proceed, and what to conclude.”''<ref name="Rappaport1997"/> Among the followers of this effort was [[Ernest Rutherford]], who in 1904 suggested, in the Royal Institution, that ''“Lord Kelvin had limited the Age of the Earth, ‘provided no new source of heat was discovered.’ That prophetic utterance refers to what we are considering tonight, [[radium]]!”'' Later, Rutherford often repeated his tale of thinking on his feet in front of the “old bird” Kelvin who “beamed” at him. This episode and pleasing form of the anecdote, boosted by the eminence of its author, who was considered the father of the nuclear theory, provided a ready vehicle for mythmaking and uncritical acceptance of proposition that because the discovery of radioactive heat undermined an assumption behind Kelvin’s calculation, it also undermined his conclusion.<ref name="PerryKelvinCritique"/> As the half-life of radium's dominant isotope is 1600 yr, heat given out by radium obviously could not be the wanted missing energy.{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"[Rutherford and Soddy] could not get away from the fact, however, that radium itself, although universally regarded as an element, decays far too rapidly to be as old as the minerals in which it is found. The only solution seemed to be that radium too must be a metabolon with a 'life' of a few thousand years."''<ref name ="BURCHFIELD">{{cite book |title=Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth |author=Joe D. Burchfield |publisher= The University of Chicago Press |place=Chicago |year=1975, 1990 |pages=173 |isbn=0-226-08043-9}}</ref>|group=note}} Nevertheless, later assumptions of equilibrium in decay series of [[uranium]] and [[thorium]] allowed to consider heat sources with half-lives in gigayears (Ga; 1 Ga = 10⁹ years).

|pages=23–26

|pages=23–26

|pages=121

|pages=121

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=yvSEGgAACAAJ

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvSEGgAACAAJ

|quote= You can't recognize that you hold conflicting opinions about something and hang on to both of them for very long. When you start disagreeing with yourself, you're in trouble.}}</ref> The trouble maintaining a train of thought in logical and coherent manner is regarded by [[medical science]] as symptom and characteristic of [[schizophrenia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Schizophrenia: Symptoms, Types, Causes, and Early Warning Signs |publisher=helpguide.org |url= http://www.helpguide.org/articles/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-signs-types-and-causes.htm |accessdate=13 June 2015 |quote=Fragmented thinking is characteristic of schizophrenia. Externally, it can be observed in the way a person speaks. People with schizophrenia tend to have trouble concentrating and maintaining a train of thought. They may respond to queries with an unrelated answer, start sentences with one topic and end somewhere completely different, speak incoherently, or say illogical things.}}</ref>|group=note}}  

|quote= You can't recognize that you hold conflicting opinions about something and hang on to both of them for very long. When you start disagreeing with yourself, you're in trouble.}}</ref> The trouble maintaining a train of thought in logical and coherent manner is regarded by [[medical science]] as symptom and characteristic of [[schizophrenia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Schizophrenia: Symptoms, Types, Causes, and Early Warning Signs |publisher=helpguide.org |url= http://www.helpguide.org/articles/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-signs-types-and-causes.htm |accessdate=13 June 2015 |quote=Fragmented thinking is characteristic of schizophrenia. Externally, it can be observed in the way a person speaks. People with schizophrenia tend to have trouble concentrating and maintaining a train of thought. They may respond to queries with an unrelated answer, start sentences with one topic and end somewhere completely different, speak incoherently, or say illogical things.}}</ref>|group=note}}  

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|isbn=978-0-89051-597-6

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|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gvyHquVubDoC}}</ref></div>

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvyHquVubDoC}}</ref></div>

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|isbn=978-0-393-85006-2

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|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1IfLYHv5pyUC}}</ref>

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IfLYHv5pyUC}}</ref>

== Geology ==

== Geology ==