Plants ingest both types of carbon and when they die the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 is roughly the same as the ratio in the surrounding environment. The carbon 14 decays and is not replenished in the dead plant. Each carbon 14 atom sheds part of its atomic weight and turns into nitrogen. After about 5,730 years, half of the carbon 14 has decayed into nitrogen. This changes the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 in the dead plant and enables scientists to calculate how long ago the plant died. Thus we have a good reliable natural clock. [It's actually a bit more complicated than that because the amount of carbon 14 in the general environment has varied in the past but generally speaking it is a good clock.]

Since the half life of carbon 14 is only about 5,730 years and carbon 14 is only found in trace amounts to begin with, any fossil alleged to be over 50,000 years old should have no detectable carbon 14 at all.

It has been a great embarrassment and unsolved mystery to evolutionists that coal and other fossils claimed to be millions of years old still have detectable levels of carbon 14 in them. Consider the following quote from the article "What About Carbon Dating" by Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati, Ph. D. and Carl Wieland Ph. D. "Laboratories that measure carbon 14 would like a source of organic material with zero carbon 14 to use as a blank to check that their lab procedures do not add carbon 14. Coal is an obvious candidate because the youngest coal is supposed to be millions of years old, and most of it is supposed to be tens or hundreds of millions of years old. Such old coal should be devoid of carbon 14. It isn't. No source of coal has been found that completely lacks carbon 14." (Emphasis in original.) This same article goes on to discuss fossils discovered in Upper Permian and Middle Triassic rocks, claimed to be over 200 million years old. These fossils still have detectable carbon 14! The article is available for free download at www.answersingenesis.org.

Creationists claim that coal was formed rapidly during Noah's flood when "all the fountains of the great deep burst open" (Gen. 7:11 NASB.) This Bible passage refers to massive volcanism and tectonic shifts that occurred during the flood. Huge land masses containing dense vegetation were subducted (buried) during the movements of the earth's plates. This resulted in vast stores of vegetation being buried deep beneath the surface where temperature and pressure caused it to change to coal and oil. Some oil deposits are more than five miles below the surface. Fossil evidence shows that the preflood forests were far more dense than today's forests.

Coal formation had to happen rapidly because slow accumulation of plant matter allows the plants to rot before they are buried by any layers of slowly accumulating sediment. Plant matter in today's Amazon basin rots far more rapidly than plant matter in more temperate climates.

Much has been written by creationists about other natural clocks used by evolutionists. For instance the much touted potassium/argon method gives widely divergent dates for rock strata. The article quoted above also discusses how the potassium/argon method gave dates in the millions of years old to lava flows that occurred less than 75 years ago in New Zealand!  

 The best evidence points to a young age of planet earth. The true age of earth is measured in the thousands, not billions of years. An earth that young doesn't allow nearly enough time for evolution to take place.   

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)