Nowadays creationists are charged with the immensely difficult task of reconciling the paradigm of the Earth’s 6,000 year lifespan depicted in the Bible with the vast amount of data collected by various sciences which seems to point towards a radically different conclusion.
More exactly, the intelligent design advocates the concept that God created the universe and the Earth from scratch precisely six millennia ago. On the other hand, the conglomerate of data recorded by sciences like astronomy, astrophysics, biology, so on and so forth suggests that the actual age of our universe is approximately 13.5 billion years, whereas the Earth as we know (well, more or less) came into existence 4.5 billion years ago.
Naturally, because of the notable discrepancy between the core concepts of evolutionism/creationism and the absence of actual evidence to back the latter theory, its supporters had to get…”creative”. Let’s find out a few of the arguments they employ for this purpose.
1. The coexistence of the dinosaurs and the human race
While most creationists prefer to discard the hypothesis the dinosaurs actually existed, the new generation of enterprising supporters of the theory who cannot deny the fossil records are getting behind the idea that humans and dinosaurs actually lived in the same historical period. They employ several pieces of circumstantial evidence, such as the dinosaur tracks/human footprints uncovered at Paluxy or prints of sandals in the proximity of trilobites and they state the biblical flood displaced the fossils in a matter that would indicate living in a different historical era. Unfortunately, at this point the scientific consensus is that when the first humans emerged 200,000 years back, the dinosaurs had been extinct for over 65 million years.
2. The high complexity of biological systems deems evolution improbable
The intricate and symbiotic nature of a biological system has determined Michael Behe and other creationists to affirm that no organ or system of cells would be able to function if it is not complete. In addition, they suggest every form of mutation is detrimental for the exponent of the specie. That can’t be right, considering that the ability to evolve and adapt is an innate characteristic of all living organisms.
3. The visibility of light emanated by other galaxies stems from the varying light speed
The sheer fact that the light emanated by very distant galaxies reaches us several millions of years later constitutes an argument for the theory that the universe formed 13.5 billion years ago, not 6,000. However, creationists will argue that astrophysical view on the constant speed of light is wrong and that God can simply alter its velocity as he sees fit. However, while they do suggest a variable light speed is “possible”, they do not have any follow-up argument other than the standard “God’s will”.
4. Hominid fossils uncovered present distinct human/ape traits
Neanderthals and Australopithecus fossils clearly demonstrate that human kind had very different ancestors, at least from a morphological point of view. However, creationist will simply not accept the archaeological evidence and either state that the fossils were wrongfully interpreted or that the physical characteristics are the result of deformities, traumas, disfiguration, arthritis, etc. What, all of them?
5. The nebular hypothesis is improbable
Since the moment when astrophysicist Abraham Loeb released a statement according to which science cannot fully grasp the exact process that leads to the formation of planets/stars at fundamental levels, creationists were quick to take this phrase out of context and utilize it for the purpose of disproving the Big Bang theory. They suggest the high temperatures would have never permitted the gas and particles to unite and form large masses, forgetting of course that we can actually see examples of gas giants today.
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