One evidence for the young age of the solar system is the magnetic field of the planet Mercury. Mercury is the densest of the planets; it is closest to the sun and is the second smallest. Mercury orbits the sun in just 88 days but it rotates just once in 59 earth days.

Mercury, like most of the planets, has a magnetic field. Magnetic fields decay over time unless they are re-energized. Even the magnetic fields of the solid magnets stuck to your refrigerator door are decaying and in a few thousand years will be undetectable. Evolutionists regard the solar system as being five billion plus years old in order to allow time for evolution. Evolutionists must explain why Earth, Mercury, the sun and several of the other planets still have powerful magnetic fields. If these celestial bodies were as old as evolutionists assume, then their magnetic fields would have decayed to nothing eons ago.

The only explanation that evolutionists can offer is that the core of Mercury acts like a dynamo that generates an electric current that in turn energizes the magnetic field. This is the oft repeated dynamo theory which has enormous problems but is the only theory that allows for an old age of Mercury and the solar system.

For the dynamo to work, the planet must have a molten core and the best evidence indicates the that the small, dense planet Mercury has a solid iron core. Evolutionists have theorized that Mercury's core must be iron sulfide rather than iron and this would allow it to be molten. However, the presence of a large amount of the volatile element sulfur so close to the sun undermines the solar nebula theory which evolutionists use to explain the formation of the solar system. The old-age evolutionists are on the horns of a real dilemma.

Even if the evolutionists were to somehow prove that Mercury has a molten core they would still have to explain how the molten core's contents could flow in the precise motions necessary to generate an electric current. The dynamos used by your power company to generate electricity are complicated pieces of machinery. Mercury rotates very slowly (59 times slower than earth) so rotation is not a likely factor to cause molten core components to move at the required rates to generate electricity. In addition to this, dynamo theory has many other difficulties. For a good scholarly article on the flaws of dynamo theory see "The Earth's Magnetic Field: Evidence that the Earth is Young" by J. Sarfati, available at http://www.answersingenesis.org/. Just type "earth's magnetic field" in the search box at that website and Dr. Sarfati's article should come up.

Creationists argue that the planets were given an electric charge when they were created and this electric charge maintains the magnetic field. This is similar to the principle of how a common electromagnet maintains a magnetic field.

The electric current in each of the planets is not being generated by molten flux as the evolutionists claim but is decaying at an exponential rate. The dependent magnetic fields of the planets are of necessity also decaying as the electric current decays. The earth's magnetic field has been closely measured and is in fact decaying. See Defending the Faith #151. (See also article: Humphreys R. "The Creation of Planetary Magnetic Fields" at www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/21/21_3/21_3.asp)

The planet Mercury is just one of many evidences that the solar system is thousands, not billions of years old. This in turn confirms the fact that the Genesis account is accurate history and can be trusted, along with the rest of the Bible as God's revelation.

Much information for this article was obtained from the article "Mercury, the Tiny Planet that Causes Big Problems for Evolution"  Psarris, S. Creation Magazine 26(4) Sept.-Nov. 2004.   

The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.  

Steps to salvation: Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

1. Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2. Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
3. Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
4. Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
5. Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)

To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."

If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA

(C) 2010 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given

DEFENDING THE FAITH APOLOGETIC ARTICLES Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world. The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel. All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given. To receive these articles which are sent out once per month fill in your email address below and click the SUBMIT button. *Security: Write the characters in the image above (Case sensitive)