Catastrophism - It's What's For Dinner!

Suppose your son has a serious case of bone cancer.  Would you trust a Young Scientist to treat your child?  That is, would you trust Doogie Howser (14 yo)?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096569/

 

Would you listen to a Young Earth Scientist #YES who shares evidence for a youthful world?  I have written two books on that account:

 

Is a Young Earth Possible? - How Science and History Point to a Youthful World and Why it Matters ★★★★½

https://www.amazon.com/Young-Earth-Possible-Science-Youthful/dp/1088860788/

 

YES - Young Earth Science ★★★★

https://www.amazon.com/YES-WorldView-Fallacies-Darwinism-2014-11-14/dp/B01K3RF10I

Catastrophism (most rocks formed fast) is a key pillar in the case for a #YoungPlanet ... Immanuel Velikovsky (Иммануи́л Велико́вский) brought #Catastrophism #CAT into larger public awareness with such works as Worlds in Collision (1950) and Earth in Upheaval (1955):

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Immanuel-Velikovsky

 

In 2015, Charles Ginenthal came out with Newton, Einstein, and Velikovsky which deals with the instability of the Solar System and challenges mainstream dating methods:

https://www.velikovsky.info/newton-einstein-and-velikovsky/

 

Einstein (d. 1955) and Velikovsky (d. 1979) corresponded with each other from 1946 to 1955: 

http://www.varchive.org/cor/einstein/index.htm

https://www.velikovsky.info/before-the-day-breaks/

What started the #OldEarth fad?  Rejecting #CAT ... we read this from the New International Encyclopedia (1915):

 

Geological work is so slow, and the evidence of vast changes in the past, so clear, that, so long as it was held that the age of the earth was to be reckoned in a period of a few thousand years, no other conclusion was possible than that the changes observed had been rapidly made as a result of stupendous  catastrophes. ... however, it was made clear by Hutton and his successors that the recorded facts indicates slow changes, it began to appear possible that the age of the earth was great [millions of years].  The promulgation of the doctrine of evolution, and the increased knowledge of past life, as recorded by the fossils, brought further evidence of the great age of the earth. [1]   

 

What can we say about prejudice against #CAT ?  According to Michael Rampino (Biology Prof, NYU),

 

In 1831, the Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew (1790-1874) published a clear statement of the law of natural selection ... which both Darwin and Wallace later acknowledged. Matthew, however, was a catastrophist, and he presented natural selection within the contemporary view that relatively long intervals of environmental stability [and biological stasis ?] were episodically punctuated by catastrophic mass extinctions of life. https://nyuscholars.nyu.edu/en/publications/darwins-error-patrick-matthew-and-the-catastrophic-nature-of-the-

 

More on Patrick Matthew here:

https://dl0.creation.com/articles/p142/c14250/j29_2_119-123.pdf

 

Derek Victor Ager, former President of the British Geological Association, published The New Catastrophism - The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History in 1995:

https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/sedimentology-and-stratigraphy/new-catastrophism-importance-rare-event-geological-history

 

Is a Global Flood, as described by the hundreds of #FloodLegends from around the world, really a thing?  Marilyn "super smart" vos Savant (see the graphic) said that if you flatten out the Earth, the oceans would cover the land to a depth of 8810' (1⅔ miles). [2]

One primary figure in the "No Young Earth" Movement was the late Ron Numbers (d. 2023).  I had the opportunity to hear his story in a small group @ OU's History of Science Department in the early 1990's.  Although raised Adventist, Dr. Numbers spurned Deluge Theory:

 

I vividly remember the evening I attended an illustrated lecture on the famous sequence of fossil forests in Yellowstone National Park and then stayed up most of the night … agonizing over, then accepting, the disturbing likelihood that the earth was at least thirty thousand years old. Having thus decided to follow science rather than Scripture on the subject of origins, I quickly, though not painlessly, slid down the proverbial slippery slope toward unbelief.

https://creation.com/the-yellowstone-petrified-forests

 

It is now widely recognized that the Yellowstone "fossil forests" - 27 layers @  Specimen Ridge & around 50 layers @ Specimen Creek - were formed catastrophically.  Dr Michael Arct studied the tree ring "fingerprints" of over a dozen trees in different levels and found that they all died around the same time which is consistent with rapid formation of the ash deposits.

https://creation.com/the-yellowstone-petrified-forests

 

Dr. Numbers should have changed his mind !!

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens (1980) #MSH is a clear parallel to Yellowstone:

https://origins.swau.edu/papers/dinos/yellowstone/eng/index.html

In 1962, Henry Morris (Genesis Flood, 1961) spoke to the Houston Geological Society and gave a presentation on #Catastrophism #CAT

https://www.galaxie.com/article/gj04-2-02

 

Dr. Morris spoke to a crowd of 500 folks and during the Q&A time there was dead silence!   According to one observer, the audience was "too stunned to speak!" [3] 

 

Interview with David Kitts - my History of Science Prof:

https://youtu.be/TmF7Y3kpucU

In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;

    in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

So he ended their days in futility

    and their years in terror.

Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;

    they eagerly turned to him again.

They remembered that God was their Rock,

    that God Most High was their Redeemer. (Ps. 78:32-35)

 

my site: https://totalyouth.us

Notes:

1) New International Encyclopedia (1915), Vol. "G" (?), p. 595.

different vol. for reference:

https://books.google.com/books/about/New_International_Encyclopedia.html?id=qxooAAAAYAAJ

2) "Ask Marilyn" by Marilyn vos Savant, Parade, July 9, 2000, p. 14.

3) The Creationists by Ron Numbers (Harvard Univ. Press, 2006, exp. ed.), pp. 235, 236.

 

** kudos: graphic sources >>

https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-kinopoisk-image/1900788/c8f27e4f-d65c-4303-a36a-a7dbf80c55ce/orig

https://www.velikovsky.info/before-the-day-breaks/

https://arkencounter.com/christmas/

 

#CAT #Catastrophism #YES #YoungEarthScientists #DerekAger (d. 1993) #NeilPatrickHarris #DrDoogieHowser #TotalYouth #TrueTruth #TotalTruth  #MaxCasella #Vinnie Delpino #BelindaMontgomery #PressMan #J_Skewel

#DrBen #Canfield #KathrynLayng #James_is_Sik #PagingDrDavid  #Markus_NotWell #DrRay ... OR ... #UCan_Callmii ... #Luke #LUCY #DrJack   #BarryMcGuire ♫ #Eve_of_Destruction #CAT_that ! #Wanda_Getwell ?  

#RIF #Hutton #RonWelched #LIFE #UncleDougie #YES_Man #Y6K #Gen5and11 #Slurp_that ‼ ☺ #Creationista #RonNumbers ### 55-23-88 #hike ‼  

#DoubleNickel #Chevy #FAST  

The Argument: Aristotle to Thousands of Years

Aristotle's views on biology support the thesis that Essential Types of Life (horses, frogs, humans etc.) remain stable and vary within limits.  That is, stasis along with change that has a boundary.  There is an excellent episode of In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg (BBC) on Aristotle's Biology.  My interview with David Kitts, who taught Philosophy, Geology and History of Science, touches on Aristotle as well.

Now, when we combine this premise, stasis of Essential Types of Life (ETL's), with the fossil record, how do we proceed?  Tertullian pointed to fossils found on mountains as evidence of the Great Flood, the mega-catastrophe Earth endured just a few thousand years ago that even the founder of modern paleontology Georges Cuvier accepted.  Augustine saw fossils as the remains of creatures living before the Flood.  Martin Luther referred to fossils as being the result of the Deluge in his commentary on Genesis.  Agostino Scilla published a work in 1670 on fossils which he illustrated himself which pointed to the Flood as their cause. [1]

But what about the fossil order?  There are places on the earth where ALL the geologic periods overlay the Pre-Cambrian (Pre-Flood).  In fact, 23.2% of the Ordovician is directly on top of the Pre-Cambrian and 18.6% of the Devonian is directly on top of the Pre-Cambrian.  This would seem to imply a shrinking of the traditional geologic time scale.

What if most of the geologic record was part of a single event, how is the general fossil order explained?  Ecological zonation, shallow marine organisms would be in the lower layers, hydrodynamic sorting and the higher mobility of vertebrates seems to be the solution.  That is, there was no "Age of Trilobites" or "Age of Dinosaurs."

Now, if most of the rocks were formed rapidly, that is catastrophically, then we need to drastically reduce the traditional geologic timescale.  Derek Ager was President of the British Geological Association and wrote The New Catastrophism which provides a plethora of examples of rapid geologic action.  If most rocks formed fast, could this planet be young (thousands, not billions of years old)?

Is there a pointer that implies most of the geology came from one event?  Let's look at the Strontium ratio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) combined with sea level changes through geologic time:

The fact that these graphs match up fits better with the idea the most of the rocks were made from a Singular Event of Rapid Geologic Activity (SERGA).  Did the giant dragonflies live Millions Of Years Ago (MOYA)?  Maybe not. 

For more cool info on the young earth, be sure to get your copy of Is a Young Earth  Possible? today!  Your feedback is most welcome:

  YoungEarthScience@yahoo.com

 

Note:

1) The Deluge Story in Stone by Byron Nelson (Bethany Fellowship, Minneapolis, MN, 1968), pp. 9, 10, 18.

Catastrophism, China and Cowper's ("Cooper") CAT

In China, tons of soft-bodied organisms similar to the Burgess Shale fossils have been found.  Jellyfish, sea anemones, comb jellies, arthropods and mud dragons were discovered.  These are known as the Qingjiang biota and are dated to the Cambrian Period (518 MOYA).  To preserve soft tissue you must have rapid burial which points to a fast catastrophic event.  If most of the rocks formed rapidly and the alleged time-gaps between the layers are not real (as paraconformities seem to show), then the geological timescale must be revamped. [1]  Young Earth Science (YES) is a viable option and we should challenge "billions of years." 

According to sci-news.com,

The paleontologists were working in the mountains and came down to the banks of the Danshui River, located in Hubei Province, when they noticed some rocks had an odd pin-striped pattern - a telltale sign of layers of mud deposited rapidly by ancient storms ...

But where did the millions and billions of years come from anyway?  Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield wrote a significant history of Deep Time in 1965 (The Discovery of Time).  Titus Lucretius Carus (d. ~55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher and tackled the age-of-the-earth controversy.  Toulmin & Goodfield epically fail to reveal that Lucretius acclaimed a youthful world. [2] [3]  They also suppose that fossils and ancient volcanoes pose a problem for young earth supporters. [4]  On the contrary, Lagerstätte (extremely well-preserved fossils such as the Qingjiang biota) and massive volcanism are in line with catastrophism. [5]               

Near the beginning of their book, Toulmin & Goodfield rightfully quote hymn writer William Cowper (d. 1800) who wrote:

Some write a narrative of wars, and feats
Of heroes little known ; and call the rant  

A history ...

Some drill and bore

          The solid earth, and from the strata there

Extract a register, by which we learn.
That he who made it and reveal'd its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age, 

Some, more acute, and more industrious still,  

Contrive creation; travel nature up ...

Great contest follows, and much learned dust
Involves the combatants; each claiming truth,
And truth disclaiming both.

One of my fave Cowper gems is The Retired Cat:

A poet's cat, sedate and grave
As poet well could wish to have,

          Was much addicted to inquire
        For nooks to which she might retire,
        And where, secure as mouse in chink,
        She might repose, or sit and think ...
        Forth skipp'd the cat, not now replete
        As erst with airy self-conceit,
        Nor in her own fond apprehension
        A theme for all the world's attention ...
        Beware of too sublime a sense

Of your own worth and consequence.

          The man who dreams himself so great,
        And his importance of such weight,
        That all around in all that's done
        Must move and act for him alone,
        Will learn in school of tribulation
        The folly of his expectation.

Notes:

1) YES - Young Earth Science by Jay Hall (IDEAS, Big Spring, TX, 2014), pp. 121-126.

2) The Discovery of Time by Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield (Harper & Row, NYC, 1965), pp. 47-49.

3) Hall, p. 16.

4) Toulmnin & Goodfield, pp. 141, 142.

5)  Hall, pp. 126, 132, 133.  

*the top graphic has the Chinese word for "fossil"

**MOYA = Millions Of Years Ago