Hades - or Eden?

The Bible declares that when God created the earth everything was "very
good" and man's original home was an idyllic garden, the Garden of Eden.
Evolution[1], on the other hand, declares that the early earth was a
horribly hot and unimaginably hostile place, with ranges of volanoes
vomiting red-hot lava into a poisonous atmosphere enlivened by torrents of
sulphurous rain. The scientific name for this period before things settled
down is the Hadean Period, derived from the Greek word for hell.

Creationists, who always give facts priority over theory, no matter how
attractive that theory might be, are eager to enquire into the evidence.
Which of the scenarios outlined above best fits the evidence?

Last week's New Scientist magazine, which I have only just got round to
reading, has an interesting answer.

Under the headline "Young Earth not as hellish as we thought", the article
reports on research done by Mark Harrison at the Australian National
University in Canberra, who has been studying zircons, the oldest minerals
on earth. He has discovered that "massive amounts of continental crust were
formed soon after Earth's creation (sic) 4.56 billion years ago." New
Scientist 26/11/05 p. 19

The study has involved in investigation of the ratio of hafnium isotopes to
lutetium. "Lutetium is retained in the melting Earth's mantle, whereas
hafnium becomes part of the continental crust. High hafnium ratios in the
ancient zircon samples indicate that, at the time they were formed, much of
the mantle had melted and cooled to produce crust. 'There have to have been
continents and lots of them,' says Harrison." (ibid.)

Citing the fact that earlier work shows that "the young Earth was also
abundant in water", the conclusion is startling:

"'It (the early earth) may have looked similar to the present day,' says
Harrison. 'If you could go back in a time capsule 4.4 billion years, you'd
see a similar amount of continent, blue oceans, sandy beaches and blue
skies.'" (ibid.)

Of course, Harrison and a few others have made a minor mistake in the age of
the earth - 4.56 billion years instead of 6,000 - but I don't think that a
little thing like that need disturb us unduly, or lead us to reject his
findings - which are that the evidence supports the Biblical account of
early Earth and not the evolutionary one.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

Note 1: I am using the term to encompass the whole rag-bag of human theories
that cover everything from the gradual development of life from lucky
lightning strikes on the ocean to the gradual development of the said ocean
from the flying particles of the Big Bang.

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Relevant Pages

  • There was no such thing as hell on Earth (Forwarded)
    ... Research School of Earth Sciences ... early Earth was a hellish planet barren of continents. ... An international research team led by Professor Mark Harrison of the ... have evidence that the Earth's early surface supported water -- the key ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • Re: Will this end the hoaxters??
    ... a single person can state clearly that the Earth turns once in 24 ... The description by Harrison of how clocks work with the daily cycle as ... as to bring both the threds into one line) appears to be in ... Feckwit has clearly gone around the ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Will this end the hoaxters??
    ... takes the Earth to turn once with all the technical and historical ... Frames, frames, frames... ... The description by Harrison of how clocks work with the daily cycle as ... as to bring both the threds into one line) appears to be in ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Hades - or Eden?
    ... > to be talking about biological evolution, ... > the earth was as cold 200Ma after its formation as it was formerly ... >> fundamental physical processes (and I'm sure that you, like me, would be ... Of course it is possible that Harrison is wrong - but even if he is, ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Hmongs version of creation.
    ... Yog li pog saub thiab yawm saub nyob khua siab khuav. ... For scientific articles about the origins of the Earth, the Universe, ... Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver.An origin belief, or creation myth, ... with God or Buddha Sakyamuni by the tribes influenced by Tibetan ...
    (soc.culture.hmong)