A friend recently asked, “How can life on earth have begun only six thousand years ago considering that bones of saber-toothed cats, dog-faced bears, 30-foot ground sloths, and Colombian mammoths (among many others) that have been carbon-dated to hundreds of thousands of years ago? The science involved in this is every bit as accurate as the sciences that launch missiles, put a man on the moon, and built a telescope that can detect another earth-like planet that is hundreds of light years away.”
The assignment of dates to fossils is not based on empirical science like that which is used to launch missiles, put men on the moon, or build space probes that send back images from the farthest reaches of space. Carbon dating, for example, is based on a number of non-testable assumptions regarding the constancy of various conditions over a large number of years. For example, Mike Riddle writes, “It is assumed that the ratio of 14C to 12C in the atmosphere has always been the same as it is today (1 to 1 trillion). If this assumption is true, then the AMS 14C dating method is valid up to about 80,000 years. Beyond this number, the instruments scientists use would not be able to detect enough remaining 14C to be useful in age estimates. This is a critical assumption in the dating process. If this assumption is not true, then the method will give incorrect dates. What could cause this ratio to change? If the production rate of 14C in the atmosphere is not equal to the removal rate (mostly through decay), this ratio will change.” For fuller understanding, see his article: Doesn’t Carbon-14 Dating Disprove the Bible? (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible)
David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, 12/29/2011
Compelling Love 
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