Life Cereal & The Age of the Earth

Life Cereal and the Age of the Earth

 

    When I was a young kid, I remember eating a lot of cereal for breakfast.  My favorite cereals at that time were Captain Crunch and Life.  As I was eating the Life cereal, I remember that on the back of the cereal boxes they would have different Anthropological and Geological topics.  As I went through Elementary, Middle School, and then on to High School I remember that all through those years there were various discussions about how old the earth was.  I remember that the estimations as to how old the earth is, went from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years.  Today is it up to millions and even billions of years old.

   It struck me as very odd that as I had grown-up about ten years of my life – the ideas of how the earth had aged had changed considerably more! 

    I originally motivated to write this paper because of research that I had heard about some years ago that showed scientific evidence for a very young earth.  If you were able to research how old the earth was and came to the conclusion that it was less than ten thousand years old, then you might be motivated to re-evaluate your beliefs in the geological charts that we have all been taught in schools.  This would have made the discussion of the fallacies of evolutionary ideas very easy. I have recently become aware that some of these pieces of evidence have come under additional scientific “scrutiny” and I have decided to not approach this topic using this scientific approach. 

   Most of my life has been given over to reading and studying the Bible.  I have dabbled some in the apologetics efforts to defend the faith, but do not consider myself a scientist, so in order to present scientific studies – I would have needed to rely on the presentations of others.  One problem that I have recently seen is that those studies can change so much over the years that it can become harder and harder to layout definable data that will not change with time.  One thing that I love about the Bible is that since it is God’s Word, then it will stand the test of time.

   One thing that I have definitely found is that if you were to research whether or not the estimations of the age of the earth have changed over the years – you will find out that it absolutely has!  I have told you that in just the short period of time that I was growing up – the estimations of the age of the earth had increased dramatically.  I have read many internet sites that show that in various times in history; the guess as to how old the earth is, have ranged from 6000 years to millions of years, to the many billions of years today.  When something changes over time, I wonder what the implications are for those who lived in the past and for those who live now?  For example, I am sure that there have always been different ideas on how life started throughout history and those ideas had a profound effect on how they lived their lives.  In our present society, we have two distinctive ideas for explaining the beginning of all things.  There are people who teach ideas that seek to recount the Biblical account of creation and those who try and teach the beginning of all things without including a divine source.    

   Those who present the beginning of all things without a divine source generally present life as occurring over a very long evolutionary process.  I personally think that the older that they can make the universe “appear” to be – the less we believe that a divine source was involved.  We may think – it just happened too long ago to be of any concern.  May I say though; that no matter when it occurred; at some moment in time, at the absolute beginning of the process… something started from nothing!  In the evolutionary theory, you have one thing that evolves into another, which evolves into another, but if you step it back to the very beginning, you had to have a time when something started from nothing… and that implies a divine source.

   Why would you want to even try and describe life without God?  Why would you even want to consider these ideas?  I think that in our modern society; if we are not careful, we may try and put the study of Science above the study of God.  We may end up putting our intellectual pursuits above our Spiritual pursuits.  By the way, do you realize that whatever you put the majority of energy and thought and belief and trust into, that is your god!

   Now, I certainly believe that a person who decides to be a Christian does not have to commit intellectual suicide in order to believe the Bible.  I do not believe that a Christian has to disregard his logic, or reasoning ability in order to have faith in Jesus Christ.  The Bible states in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”   We can use logic and reason in our pursuit of God, but we cannot rely exclusively on them.  I do believe; however, that a Christian is admonished to put his conscience, and the Bible, and the Spirit of God above his intellectual pursuits.  The Bible clearly states in Proverbs 3:5 &6 “Trust (a spiritual quality) in the LORD with all your heart (a spiritual quality), and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.”

   I think that someone who is living a sinful life will be pricked in their conscience and either find a way to relieve their conscience or find a way to try and justify their behavior.  If the person can remove the idea of a divine source in their life – then they may come to ignore their conscience altogether and live their life based on the world around them, or their own form of morality to relieve any discomfort of their conscience.  The potential lifestyle implications of evolution (without a divine source) seeks to establish moral relativity and situational ethics.  If you remove a divine influence from life – then there is not a definable standard for life and people are left with defining their moral life on their own.  If you have a belief system that causes you to act in a way that contradicts the Bible – then your belief system is Idolatry.

   What if?  I believe this is a very important question!  What if?  What if there is a God?  What if I am accountable for my life and actions?  What if I will give an account one day as the Bible says?  I guess if I thought about these possibilities, I might want to reconsider any ideas that distract me from preparing for these possibilities.  I think that it is important to take any teaching and think about the eventual effect on your life and the life of others.

   We have discussed the changing ideas of science and the doctrinal repercussions of evolution and we have discussed how our ideas about life can influence our behavior.  We have also discussed how even the evolutionary ideas have to eventually include a divine source.  I hope that maybe you have drawn the conclusion to not rely on the scientific community as your only source for life and eternity.  Maybe you have come to follow your heart’s decision to pursue a discussion of life that includes the involvement of God and want to enjoy all the benefits of that pursuit.

   It is not enough just to come to understand the creative ability of God.  You must also come to experience the saving ability of God through His offer of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

   There was once a young boy who spent hours building a small sailboat.  He had been taught by his dad how to cut and assemble the wood and metal and fabric to create the small craft.  One day when he had put the boat in a small lake, a strong gust of wind quickly took it away from his grasp and it quickly began to move to the other side and soon was out of sight.  He tried in vain to swim toward the boat and it was lost.  A number of weeks later, he and his dad were at a yard sale and saw the boat that he had made.  He recounted the story to the couple, but they insisted that he buy it.  As he held the boat in his hand he said “I made you, I lost you, and now I have bought you back.”  If you were to read the Bible, you would read that exact story!  God created us, He lost us because of our sin, but He has bought us back when we put our trust in what Jesus did on the cross – when He died in our place.

   May I remind you of the verse once again from Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”

   

When you come to Christ, you truly will experience Life… and it will be much more than the cereal.

 

     Written by Lee Malden – lmalden@hotmail.com     09/23/2020