Subject: The GAP theory could be true. |
Bible Note: Hi John, Please allow me to welcome you as well! Did you know that the current thinking on the origin of oil deposits is increasingly that oil is formed by natural processes within the earth having actually nothing to do with biological origins? This will give your a brief background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiotic_oil This theory is gaining ground following the finding of oil in "deep earth" reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as other locations. There is also an alternate theory for the origin of shallow petroleum deposits popularized (if you can say that!) by Emmanuel Velikosvky. In a nutshell, he espoused a cataclysmic theory of history which, while he was not Christian, demonstrates the accuracy of Scriptures, and argues for a young earth. But perhaps most relevant to this discussion is what Peter wrote: 2 Pet 3:4-6 ". . . For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. People make the argument that the earth has to be billions of years old, because what we think we are seeing seems to take billions of years to accomplish, and there is so much of it, so there must have been billions of years for it to have been accomplished. The underlying assumption is that what we see happening now, and the speed it happens at, is the same as it has always been. But what they forget is that this isn't all just a matter of natural processes as we observe today (and think we are correctly interpreting them!). God created everything, and He could have made it any way He wished to. And then, on top of that, there was a tremendous upheaval in the recent past. Who can say what things were like before? Who can say what changes took place at that time? And even so, there is no certainty that the scientific theories that favor an old earth are the correct ones. In the case of geological oil deposits, no one has "seen" oil being made, so how do they know??? On the other hand, as the years go by, we see increasing evidence that what scientists thought took millions or billions of years can happen virtually overnight. Take for example the oil deposits that had been seemingly depleted, then "filled up", suddenly supplying large amounts of oil. Or take for example the Grand Canyon, formed "over millions of years by slow erosion"? What about the "Little Grand Canyon", a hard rock canyon of the same nature as the Grand Canyon, formed in two weeks following the eruption of St. Helens? Personally, I find the white space between the scientific theories wide enough to drive the planet Venus through! Love in Christ, Mark |