The Bible, through its genealogies, indicates that the earth is very young. The inspired Scriptures say that creation happened in six literal days. What scientific evidence do we find that this is so? Let's examine in brief detail some of the many evidences.

The Moon Dust Argument: If the earth and the moon were created at the same time, the amount of dust drifting from space to the moon's surface would have built up very little. No erosion occurs on the moon, and we saw from the Apollo lunar missions that only about a half inch of dust is present. The moon was created not long ago.

The Moon's Existence Argument: If the earth and the moon were not created recently, then the gravitational pull of the earth on the moon would have done one of two things. One, it would have gotten so weak the moon would have escaped, or two, it would have been pulled so close to the earth that it would have torn apart.

Oil and Gas Presence: The rock that holds oil and gas in the ground cannot keep it there forever. Small amounts of these substances are seeping to the surface all the time. How could millions of years pass without all of the oil and gas leaving? The answer is it couldn't.

Suns Shrinkage: The sun, like a huge lump of coal, is getting smaller as long as it burns (not really about the process). This decrease in size, if remaining uniform, would cause the earth and sun to be too close together as little as one million years ago for the life to have survived.

Earth Magnetic Field: The decrease in the earth's magnetic field is decreasing at a measurable rate. If we calculate back in time, it would put the force so strong that it would tear the earth apart. But we're still here.

Fossil Meteorite: If the earth's layers were forming at a known rate over millions of years, it would be possible to find in each layer large numbers of meteorites. They are falling to the earth at a known rate, and yet in the rock layers there are nowhere near the predicted number, indicating that these layers formed very quickly.

Solar Gravity Cleaning: The sun's gravity is a tremendous force. Holding all nine of the planets in one place, it also pulls objects that are not as stable toward it, comets, clumps of ice and rock that orbit the sun. These are being pulled closer with each pass around the sun. If the sun and earth are 4.5 billion years old, these objects should not exist.

Active Planets: Volcanic activity of bodies in space indicates that these objects are not very old and hence, getting cold. The earth was thought to be the only geologically active body, but space exploration has found several others. This indicates young rather than old.

Geological Changes: The earth's structure was thought to require millions of years to form. But, Mt. St. Helens has proven that vast amounts of time are not necessary for geologic structures to form. Changes occurred during six hours of eruption that caused rock layers and formations to form that would usually have been thought to take a long time.

These are but a few of the evidences that can be used to support the concept of a young earth. Remember, that when God created the earth, it appeared to be old just as all living things did. We would predict that some appearances of age for the earth would be expected and that is exactly what is seen.

After assembling the dry land and the water together, God now begins to fill this land. He does this first with plants. There are three types or categories of plants that God creates: grass, herbs and fruit bearing trees. With the spoken Word of God, we find coming into existence one of the truly marvelous creations that are necessary for the survival of our planet. Let's look at some of the truly unique features of plants and be awed by the power and the wisdom of God.

The first and most obvious thing that we notice about plants is their greenness. This is a characteristic that all plants have in common. It is caused by the pigment chlorophyll. This molecule in itself is truly unique, for it is one of a small number of chemicals that can trap the energy from light and make it available to the plant. There are five types of chlorophyll, named chlorophyll a, b, c, d & e. Each one of them has a slightly different absorption spectrum. The unique arrangement of the molecule allows it to be excited and capture an electron of energy that will be stored for other uses. There are now known to be two different energy-capturing systems in plants. They are called Photosystem 1 and Photosystem 2. Each are slightly different built to work together to accomplish what God gave it to do, which is to get radiant energy and hold it so it can be available for making chemical energy.

Plants carry on the process that is called photosynthesis, that is "to make use of light." This process occurs in two parts and is called the "light reactions" and the "dark reactions." It uses the energy captured by the chlorophyll and stores it in a very important substance called glucose. The plants need the raw materials water and carbon dioxide to make the sugar. This sugar is used by the plant as energy to make its own body, and also as the source of energy by all animals for cellular respiration. Here is one of the truly unique designs in all of nature.

The equation for photosynthesis is CO₂ + H₂O-------C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂

The equation for cellular respiration is  C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂-------CO₂ + H₂O

As you can easily see, they are exactly opposite of each other. Plants supply the materials that animals need for existence and animals supply the materials that plants need to survive. A student in one of my classes some years ago remarked about this as we discussed it "you would almost think that someone planned it that way!" Out of the mouth of babes! Certainly as God created the plants, he knew exactly what would be necessary for the existence of animals also and made them to fulfill that need.

How do scientists who do not believe in God account for this? They don't! They cannot find an answer they can prove for where plants came from, or how plants and animals came to depend so much on one another. Yet, they believe that somehow it had to happen.

This is but just one of the truly magnificent abilities of plants; there are many others. Like how a seed knows up from down. How the plant itself can tell where up is or where the sunlight is. This list could go on and on. Or how certain plants developed the ability they have, like to capture and digest animals as the Venus Fly Trap does. We could go on and on, but let us return to listen to what God had to say about why he put plants here.

"And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so" (Genesis 1:29-30).

[Editors Note: Every external evidence to the Bible that calls for a Divine Designer as opposed to happenchance confirms the biblical account of origins and strongly denies atheistic evolutionary theory. Brother David P. Everson's ongoing series on external evidences continue to promote faith in God and in his Holy Word, the Bible. I hope that you are enjoying these articles as much as I am.]