Post by Charity on Jun 12, 2005 21:16:59 GMT -5
Answers to my Evolutionist Friends,
Geology
Thomas F. Heinze, last update June 04
Geology is the study of the earth, its structure, composition, and history. How did the rocks we see around us on the earth’s surface form? Some are of volcanic origin. These are called igneous rocks. Sedimentary rocks, on the other hand, were formed as sediments were deposited and turned to stone. Some rocks have later been shaped by erosion. Most sediments are deposited under water, and most erosion occurs on land.
People who lived before Darwin generally believed that disasters, such as floods, particularly the great flood at the time of Noah, were responsible for stirring up and redepositing much of the sediment which now forms the rocks of the earth’s crust. This point of view was called catastrophism.
Geologists that Changed the World
Georges Cuvier who was put in charge of French science after the French revolution of 1789 observed 28 layers of rocks beneath the streets of Paris. He recognized that they had been laid down as sediments which had been carried by water but found it difficult to believe that one flood had caused them all. He maintained that each layer was laid down by a separate local flood, and contained fossils of the plants and animals that were living at that time. {Ian Taylor, The Genesis Flood, p. 2-3}
The Scottish geologist James Hutton who lived in the same period of time felt that the strata were produced gradually by the same slow processes we see going on every day:
“The idea that ‘the present is the key to the past’ was developed by (1788)....Hutton asserted that ‘the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now.’” {1998 Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, “Uniformitarianism”}. Great floods and other great disasters were not considered to have been important in the formation of the earth:
Sir Charles Lyell built upon these ideas:
“In opposition to the catastrophist school of thought, the British geologist Charles Lyell proposed a uniformitarian interpretation of geologic history in his Principles of Geology (3 vols., 1830-33)” {Encyclopedia Britannica CD 1998 }.
Lyle’s idea was put forth to oppose the idea that many of the earth’s features were formed by rapid events, particularly the Biblical flood. His chosen weapon to combat the flood of Genesis 6-8 was not the sniper’s rifle, but the shotgun. He got rid of the Biblical flood by shooting down all big floods and other great catastrophes.
“The first volume (1830) of his Principles of Geology contained a vigorous indictment of catastrophism, the then-popular view that most of the Earth's history could be relegated to a short period of violent upheaval and flooding. Lyell argued instead that geological phenomena could be explained in terms of currently observed natural processes operating gradually over long periods of time, a concept termed uniformitarianism.” {Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, 1998}
In Lyell’s time it became known that strata corresponding to those under Paris were also found in Ireland and Russia. Clearly no local flood could be responsible for laying down strata over such a wide area. Lyell suggested that after each layer was laid down, the land rose back up out of the water, then settled back under it and another layer was laid down, a slow process which was believed to have taken millions of years:
“The subsequent writings of Sir Charles Lyell, particularly the many editions of his Principles of Geology, popularized the uniformitarian idea among English-speaking geologists. Lyell's work, however, extended the meaning of the concept to include the assertion that past geologic processes have operated at a more or less constant rate equivalent to the rates seen today and that the most important geologic processes are slow.
Most geologists jumped on Lyell’s bandwagon, and for the next 100 years, Uniformitarian Geology was the dominant way of interpreting the earth’s strata. While the idea was still popular Webster defined it:
"A geological doctrine that existing processes acting in the same manner and with essentially the same intensity as at present are sufficient to account for all geological changes." {Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged), 1964, p. 2498}.
The words “the same intensity” are important, as the idea that geologic changes in the past have occurred at more or less the same average speed as they happen today become the basis for the very long geological ages. Darwin, who felt that each category of plant or animal was gradually and constantly evolving into new kinds of plants and animals, needed all the time he could get, and uniformitarian geology provided the long ages which convinced him:
“....One of the most important influences of uniformitarianism was on the development of the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin obtained a copy of Lyell's Principles of Geology shortly before boarding the Beagle and read it on the voyage that led to his theory.” {Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, 1998, “Uniformitarianism”}.
much more here:
www.creationism.org/heinze/HeinzeGeology.htm
Geology
Thomas F. Heinze, last update June 04
Geology is the study of the earth, its structure, composition, and history. How did the rocks we see around us on the earth’s surface form? Some are of volcanic origin. These are called igneous rocks. Sedimentary rocks, on the other hand, were formed as sediments were deposited and turned to stone. Some rocks have later been shaped by erosion. Most sediments are deposited under water, and most erosion occurs on land.
People who lived before Darwin generally believed that disasters, such as floods, particularly the great flood at the time of Noah, were responsible for stirring up and redepositing much of the sediment which now forms the rocks of the earth’s crust. This point of view was called catastrophism.
Geologists that Changed the World
Georges Cuvier who was put in charge of French science after the French revolution of 1789 observed 28 layers of rocks beneath the streets of Paris. He recognized that they had been laid down as sediments which had been carried by water but found it difficult to believe that one flood had caused them all. He maintained that each layer was laid down by a separate local flood, and contained fossils of the plants and animals that were living at that time. {Ian Taylor, The Genesis Flood, p. 2-3}
The Scottish geologist James Hutton who lived in the same period of time felt that the strata were produced gradually by the same slow processes we see going on every day:
“The idea that ‘the present is the key to the past’ was developed by (1788)....Hutton asserted that ‘the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now.’” {1998 Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, “Uniformitarianism”}. Great floods and other great disasters were not considered to have been important in the formation of the earth:
Sir Charles Lyell built upon these ideas:
“In opposition to the catastrophist school of thought, the British geologist Charles Lyell proposed a uniformitarian interpretation of geologic history in his Principles of Geology (3 vols., 1830-33)” {Encyclopedia Britannica CD 1998 }.
Lyle’s idea was put forth to oppose the idea that many of the earth’s features were formed by rapid events, particularly the Biblical flood. His chosen weapon to combat the flood of Genesis 6-8 was not the sniper’s rifle, but the shotgun. He got rid of the Biblical flood by shooting down all big floods and other great catastrophes.
“The first volume (1830) of his Principles of Geology contained a vigorous indictment of catastrophism, the then-popular view that most of the Earth's history could be relegated to a short period of violent upheaval and flooding. Lyell argued instead that geological phenomena could be explained in terms of currently observed natural processes operating gradually over long periods of time, a concept termed uniformitarianism.” {Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, 1998}
In Lyell’s time it became known that strata corresponding to those under Paris were also found in Ireland and Russia. Clearly no local flood could be responsible for laying down strata over such a wide area. Lyell suggested that after each layer was laid down, the land rose back up out of the water, then settled back under it and another layer was laid down, a slow process which was believed to have taken millions of years:
“The subsequent writings of Sir Charles Lyell, particularly the many editions of his Principles of Geology, popularized the uniformitarian idea among English-speaking geologists. Lyell's work, however, extended the meaning of the concept to include the assertion that past geologic processes have operated at a more or less constant rate equivalent to the rates seen today and that the most important geologic processes are slow.
Most geologists jumped on Lyell’s bandwagon, and for the next 100 years, Uniformitarian Geology was the dominant way of interpreting the earth’s strata. While the idea was still popular Webster defined it:
"A geological doctrine that existing processes acting in the same manner and with essentially the same intensity as at present are sufficient to account for all geological changes." {Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged), 1964, p. 2498}.
The words “the same intensity” are important, as the idea that geologic changes in the past have occurred at more or less the same average speed as they happen today become the basis for the very long geological ages. Darwin, who felt that each category of plant or animal was gradually and constantly evolving into new kinds of plants and animals, needed all the time he could get, and uniformitarian geology provided the long ages which convinced him:
“....One of the most important influences of uniformitarianism was on the development of the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin obtained a copy of Lyell's Principles of Geology shortly before boarding the Beagle and read it on the voyage that led to his theory.” {Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia, 1998, “Uniformitarianism”}.
much more here:
www.creationism.org/heinze/HeinzeGeology.htm