The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Carbon 14 And False Assumptions

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Has Carbon 14 dating proven the universe is billions of years old? Can we be sure those dinosaurs roamed the Earth millions of years ago? Or, is Carbon 14 a flawed test based on false assumptions?

Dr. Jobe MartinAn academic who once didn’t even question Carbon 14 dating was Dr. Jobe Martin, former dentist, professor and Evolutionist. Having clearly seen God’s eternal power and divine nature from what has been made (Rom. 1:20), Dr. Martin came to faith in Jesus Christ and a trust in the biblical account of the six days of Creation. He and his wife Jenna Dee have since formed Biblical Discipleship Ministries based in Rockwall, Texas to teach on campuses, classrooms and churches that we can trust the Bible’s account of the Creation and Jesus as Savior.

Is it true that carbon dating has proven that the world is millions of years old?

The Carbon 14 question comes up everywhere I go and on college campuses, even when I usually don’t say anything about it. I reply by asking them a question. The conversation goes somewhat like this:

Dr. Martin: “How does the Earth’s magnetic field affect the formation of Carbon 14?”

Skeptic: “Huh?”

Dr. Martin: How does the Earth’s magnetic field affect the formation of Carbon 14?”

Skeptic: “What do you mean?”

Dr. Martin: “What I mean is, how does Earth’s magnetic field effect the formation of Carbon 14?”

Skeptic: “I don’t know.”

I go on to explain that there are all sorts of assumptions behind these dating techniques that nobody knows anything about. Even the professors don’t know about these assumptions. In the eight years I was in scientific education I was never taught the assumptions.

There is no scientific, testable evidence that is reproducible that proves that this universe is billions of years old. They’ll use Carbon 14, but it would only work actually for a few hundred years if you want to do it accurately.

One of the assumptions Carbon 14 testing is based on is that there never was a world wide flood. Also, that there never was a water canopy around the Earth before the Flood that filtered out the kinds of rays that would have to get into our atmosphere to make Carbon 14. So, that would mean before the Flood there would have been very little Carbon 14 formed. So, if they find a bone (and it is organic things that they check with Carbon 14) and they date it with Carbon 14, they would conclude that the bone was so many millions of years old. Well, maybe not. If there was a canopy and it was a bone from a dinosaur, let’s say that was here before the Flood, then the bone would not have picked up very much Carbon 14. And so, when they measure it they get a false reading.

The dating techniques are really arbitrary. If you began with evolutionary assumptions, then you are going to end up with what you want. For instance, if they know the age of a rock and they test it, you can’t trust the dates. But, if they don’t know the age of a rock but assume it is billions of years old, and they test it, then they think they can know what that age is. Like Mount Saint Helens, they dated the volcanic rocks and they knew how old they were because of the eruption back in 1980. They were dating the rocks up to 3.8 million years old, but it was only like at that time about 10 years since the rocks were formed!

The dating techniques are arbitrary to fit within the evolutionary worldview. If you don’t believe in God and you don’t believe in the Creation, then what are you going to do? You are going to have to find ways to try and justify what you think it is going to take to get here, which is billions of years.

They just use those dating techniques and they publish the figures, but they don’t tell you the huge assumptions that they have to assume to get those results. For instance, if in their dating they used a technique called “Uranium to Lead,” if there is any lead in the rock to begin with, the dating result would totally be wrong. They just assume that there wasn’t any lead to begin with, or they assume the rate at which it breaks down has always been the same. We know you can speed up and slow down those rates with heat and radiation and different things. So, yes, huge assumptions.

What we both believe by faith in something eternal, whether we are an Evolutionist or a Creationist, whether an Atheist or a Christian. We either believe by faith in eternal matter, that would be an Evolutionist, or by faith in an eternal God. They are both faith based systems because you can’t prove it — no one was there at the time. You can’t make Adam from dust again. You can’t make the Big Bang go “kaboom!” again, if it ever happened.

Resources

The Evolution of a CreationistThe Evolution of a Creationist Book by Dr. Jobe Martin:
This fascinating book describes Dr. Jobe Martin’s personal journey from an evolution-trained scientist to a Bible-believing creationist. Dr. Martin examines many of the claims and theories of prominent evolutionists, comparing their often incredible, inconsistent, pseudo-scientific explanations of origins to the clear and simple description of the Creation as depicted in the Bible.
Creation ProclaimsCreation Proclaims Video by Dr. Jobe Martin:
Come face-to-face with some of the world’s most fascinating creatures! You’ll discover how Creation proclaims the character, majesty, power and, glory of our Creator God. In each creature feature, you’ll learn how God is reaching out to mankind by making Himself known in unmistakable ways.
God of WondersGod of Wonders Video by Eternal Productions:
A feature-length Discovery-quality documentary without the evolutionary bias. Stunning nature footage, scientific insights and Scriptures combine to reveal the wonders of our Creator as observed throughout His creation.
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ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

17 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Get your science right, we only use carbon 14 dating to go back about 5000 years but after that it's uranium lead dating back to about 2.5 billion years and after that it's potassium argon dating. This article is obviously not written by someone who actually used carbon 14 dating because it doesn't work that far back

  • I promise!!! I did not lead them here Thunder, from that other site I blog on. I promise, I promise, I promise! I've never mentioned this site to them, because I know the "kind" of people they are. :-O
    Probably came from the "~~~~~~~~" site (That's code, hee hee hee)

    Buggg ~

  • Junbuggg, could you think of a better site for them to "invade"?

    Anyway, the evolutionist crowd has watchdogs out there who just go looking for trouble (or so it seems). It just amazed me that they weren't there at the first posting. Usually they're quicker.

  • I've noticed that most evolutionists don't like to think things through. Like the bombadier beetle. How did it evolve?

    What was before the Big Bang?

    If life can only come from life, how did life come into being without life?

  • these types of subjects are the ones were i am tempted to lose my temper with athiests
    it's amazing how intelligent people can become so illogical and stupid and insist that life came from NOTHING purely by chance, yet at the same time believe everything we now do is purposeful
    i've tried to show members of my family(unsaved ones), bible prophecies that have come true such as israels restoration and many others and the instant reaction is hostility, they seem to suspect deep down that the bible is valid but don't want to hear about it even for the sake of interest and discussion people get very defensive about it, but will happily talk about nostradamus
    as for carbon 14, bkelly mentioned it only works accurately back to 5000 years, which would explain the sudden emergence of civilisation around the same time
    i always wondered how the races of men spread around the earth so quickly, and recently discovered the answer in genesis – in the days of peleg (about 1757 after adam to 1996 after adam) the earth was divided (the plates forming the continents), which would explain how stonehenge in england was formed even sooner than the pyramids, and the mayan culture as far as mexico, because before then there was no large separating seas and oceans

  • Glen,

    You wanna hear something funny. I was in one of my debates, with evolution/atheists, in another blog I frequent, and they were arguing about the flood and the ark. One of them said this "tell me how it was possible for animals on the other side of the world to cross oceans in order to show up and board the ark". I nearly fell off my chair laughing at that one. They will surely reach at anything in an attempt to prove the flood, or anything else Biblical, wrong.

    Buggg

  • you should have asked them how was it possible for marine fossils to be found on the top of mountain ranges worldwide?
    i can just imagine them saying that in those days fish could fly LOL

  • Hummm, will have to ask them about the fish. But Glen, you are right, they will come up with an answer to disprove the Bible, and the flood, for sure. 🙂

    Buggg

  • Okay Glen, I asked, as you suggested. They said it was not true, that the discoveries were not valid…..in other words….they said it was a hoax.
    :-/

  • The story that you rely on for your faith was created for a time of very different understanding. Like a childs version of a story book – abstract stories, designed to promote imagination and wonderment. You are no nearer being ready to know the truth than you were three thousand years ago. This is true for all of the Abrahamic religions, jews, muslims, christians – Your common ground divides you more than your differences – .The inability of people to see universal truths beyond the pages of an old story book, holds back the generations to ignorance. There is truth behind the faith , but by being blinded by faith itself ,you will never see it.

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