Forum Class, Peninsula Bible Church of Palo Alto. Winter 2010

Genesis Chapters 1-11

Lambert Dolphin
mailto:lambert@ldolphin.org

Class notes and Reference Materials

Listen: Audio (mp3) File

1/3/10	Chapter 1:1-2 genes01.mp3	2/14/10	Chapters 5-6 genes07.mp3
1/10/10	Chapter 1 genes02.mp3	2/21/10	Chapter 7 genes08.mp3
1/17/10	Chapter 2 genes03.mp3	2/28/10	Chapter 8-9 genes09.mp3
1/27/10	Chapter 3 genes04.mp3	3/7/10	Genesis 10 genes10.mp3
1/31/10	Chapter 3-4 genes05.mp3	3/14/10	Genesis 11 genes11.mp3
2/07/10	Chapter 1-3 genes06.mp3	3/21/10	Summary & Q&A genes12.mp3

Messages by Ray Stedman on Genesis 1-11, http://raystedman.org/genesis/

Hebrew Commentary by H.C. Leupold, Genesis, http://www.ccel.org/l/leupold/

Genesis with footnotes, Net Bible, http://net.bible.org/bible.php?book=Gen&chapter=1

. Selected Notes on Creation from Lambert's web site (http://ldolphin.org/):

. How I Approach the Book of Genesis

. The Uniqueness of Creation Week: Genesis 1-2

. Introduction to the early Chapters of Genesis

. Notes on Genesis Chapter One

. Made in the Image of God (The creation of man and woman)

. Adam's Account of Creation and the Fall: (Genesis 2-3)

. Notes on Genesis Chapter 3

. Notes on Genesis 4-5

. Notes on Genesis 6-9

. The Ruin of Creation (The fall of the angels and of man)

. Genesis 6: The Nephilim, Giants on the Earth

. Plasma Cosmology replaces the Big Model Model, Barry Setterfield

. Biblical Chronology and Dating of the Early Bible, by Curt Sewell

. A Biblical Chronology, Barry Setterfield (revised, 12/29/09)

. Biblical Chronology and History, by Alan Montgomery (collected papers)

. The Genealogy from Adam to Jesus Christ

. Family Tree of the Patriarchs of Israel

. Events in the Life of Adam

. Physics Problems for Creation Week

. The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism, by Phillip E. Johnson

. Evolution and Christian Faith, by Phillip E. Johnson, DJ

. C. S. Lewis on Evolution

. The New Testament and the Flood (William Barclay)

. Noah's Drunkenness and the Curse on Canaan

. Charts: Life Spans of the Patriarchs

. On the Great Flood of Noah

. The Tower of Babel and the Confusion of Languages

. The Days of Peleg, by Richard D. Lanser

. The Table of Nations (Genesis 10-11)

. After the Flood, by Bill Cooper (online book)

. The Sons of Noah, Arthur Custance

. Population Growth Since the Creation (formulas, graphs, references), by Lambert Dolphin (revised, 4/9/98)

. How Old is the Universe?

. Is the Velocity of Light a Constant in Time?

. What Holds the Universe Together?

. Faster Than the Speed of Light (space travel and the speed of gravity)

. What is Light?

. The Great Mediterranean Desert

. Science Articles from Chuck Missler's Personal Update Newsletter
(Includes:
Is Empty Space Empty?,
The Other Side of the Vacuum,
Exploding Planets and Ancient Catastrophes,
When the Universe Became Fuzzy,
The History of Hyperspace, I, II).

. Creation References in the Old Testament after Genesis

. Creation References in the New Testament

. The Limits of Science

. A Chart: Steps in the Scientific Method

. What is Revelation from God?

. Time and Eternity

. How I Approach the Book of Genesis

. The Bountiful Fullness of Empty Space

. Ruminations on Entropy and Related Topics, by David Cavanaugh

. Questions Concerning the Early History of the Earth

. Science and the Book of Job

. God's Rule by Means of the Angels

. The Atomic Constants, Light and Time. 1987 Report by Barry Setterfield and Trevor Norman

. Some Quotations by Albert Einstein

. Creation: The Jewish Oral Tradition

. The Islamic View of Creation

. Star Formation, by Jon Covey

. Star Formation and Genesis One, by James Stambaugh

. Age of the Universe, by Jon Covey

. Earthquakes and the Bible (updated)

. An Open Letter to Dr. Hugh Ross

. Entropy in the Old Creation

. Has the Garden of Eden been located at last? by Dora Jane Hamblin

. The Tablet Theory of Genesis Authorship, Curt Sewell

. Carbon Dating shows that the Earth is Young, by Curt Sewell

. Syntax and Semantics in Genesis One, by Charles V. Taylor

. Understanding the Hebrew of Genesis One, by James Stambaugh

. Academy of Jerusalem: Commentaries on Genesis

. Genesis, Fact or Fiction?, by Joseph Byczko

. Facts on the Ark of Noah and the Flood (Christian Information Ministries)

. The Days of Creation in Genesis One, by G. F. Hasel

. Chronogenealogies in the Biblical History, by G. F. Hasel

. Genesis and Geology by Bernard Northrup, ThD

. Problems with Mt. Sinai in Saudi Arabia, by Brad C. Sparks

. Nimrod, Babylon and Mars, by Bryce Self

. Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, by Bryce Self

Estimates of the Age of the Earth

The historical direct method for finding the age of the Earth. One of the earliest records on the age of the Earth was the Rabbinical Chronicles of about 1550 B.C. that gave a creation date of about 5,760 years ago from the present time, approximately 2000 A.D. 23,17 About 150 A.D., Theophilus gave the creation date as about 7,529 years ago.10,23 In about 225 A.D., Julius Africanus gave a date of 7,500 years ago.10 In 382 A.D., the Roman Catholic Vulgate gave a date of 7,199 years ago.23 In 1654, Ussher gave the date as 6,004 years ago. 23 For these historical data, the mean and standard deviation (M ± SD) are 6,798 ± 851 years. If we allow a confidence interval of plus two SD to minus two SD from the mean, as we did for the height example above, then the age of the Earth at the 95% level of confidence would be between 5,096 and 8,500 years ago. There does not seem to be anything that would cast doubt on this range of dates. Therefore, objective science requires acceptance of the direct estimate of 6,798 ± 851 solar years for the age of the Earth by the historical method.

The 19th century indirect estimates for the age of the Earth. Several evolutionists of the 19th century claimed that the Earth was millions of years old. In about 1800, Buffon estimated the Earth's creation date and, from the year 2000, the date would be 75,032 years ago.10,23 In 1850 from solar thermodynamics, Lord Kelvin estimated 25 million years ago.11 From geology in 1860, Darwin estimated 100 million years ago.14 In 1870, Lord Kelvin revised his estimate to 100 million years ago.10 In 1897, he revised it again and this time to 40 million years ago.57 In 1899 from ocean salinity, Joly estimated 100 million years ago.10 These indirect estimates by scientists in the 1800's averaged, M ± SD, 60,845,839 ± 44,747,534. If we allow the plus to minus two SD from the mean as was done for the historical estimates, then the age of the Earth at the 95% level of confidence would be between 150,340,908 years ago and 28,649,230 years into the future. Obviously, the Earth has been in existence for thousands of years and any set of data estimating it coming into existence millions of years into the future must be rejected out of hand. For that reason, the indirect estimates from the 19th century must be rejected. Altogether, they represent evolution anti-biology exhibit # 11.

The 20th century indirect estimates for the age of the Earth from radioisotopes. Radioisotopes were discovered at about the turn of the 20th century and in 1921, they were used to indirectly estimate the age of the Earth. In 1921, the estimate was 1.5 billion years old.10 In 1931, the estimate was 1.6 to 3.0 billion years old 10; in 1932, 1.6 billion 29; in 1930 to 1940, 200 million 40; in 1947, 2 billion 47; in 1952, 1.6 billion 19; in 1955, 2.5 billion 38; in 1957, 3 billion 50; in 1961, 3.3 to 5 billion, 2.1 to 5 billion, 3 billion 1; in 1962, 2.6, 3.29, 3.4 to 5.0, 4.3 ± 0.4 billion 30; in 1963, 3.5 billion 43, 2 billion 57; in 1966, 4.55, 4.75 billion 18; in 1968, 4.5 billion 49; in 1971, 4 billion 52, 5 billion 15; in 1975, 4.5 billion 11; in 1978, 4.5 billion 32; in 1981, 4.6 billion 12; in 1984, 4.8 billion 40; in 1991, 4.54 billion years old 13. These data averaged, M ± SD, approximately 2.61 ± 1.79 billion years for the age of the Earth. If we allow plus to minus two SD from the mean as was done for the historical and 19th century estimates, then the age of the Earth at the 95% level of confidence for radioisotopes would be between 6.19 billion years old and 971 million years in the future. Obviously, the Earth has been in existence for thousands of years and any set of data estimating it coming into existence nearly a billion years into the future must be rejected out of hand. For that reason, the indirect estimates from the radioisotope data of the 20th century must be rejected.

Bias. Besides unreliability, another reason for rejecting the radioisotope data is their bias for older ages of the Earth. Note that the estimate in 1921 was 1.5 billion years old whereas the estimate in 1991 was 4.54 billion years old. These data would have us believe that in the 70 solar years from 1921 to 1991 the Earth, and everything on the Earth, aged 3.04 billion years. Such bias is another reason for rejecting the indirect estimates from radioisotopes. See Figure 18.

Data from Biology for the 21st Century and the Life Science Prize Tested Devolution, Evolution, and Genesis, 2005, pp. 11, 12. Supplied by J. Mastropaolo, mailto:jmastropaolo@SOCAL.RR.COM. 12/29/09