- Series:Creation, Transcript English
2 Peter 3:3-4
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.”
How is coal made? How long does it take? Scientists did not know the answers to these questions until the last few years. Despite this lack of knowledge, textbooks have taught for generations that it takes millions of years to make coal. This was another supposed proof that the Bible’s view of history is wrong.
In recent years, scientists who believe in creation showed that coal could be formed in much less time. They also showed how the coal beds offered evidence that they were formed rapidly. Unfortunately for science, much of the scientific community ignored them because they were challenging claims made by evolution.
However, in the last 30 years, evolutionists in the scientific community have begun to produce their own work that confirms what creationists have been saying all along. For example, scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory heated lignin, the “glue” that holds the fibers in wood together, to 300 degrees (F) in the presence of clay. This temperature is fairly common in geological formations, and coal is found with clay. Even though the lignin was heated only for between two weeks and a year, coal formed. The lignin heated for a year produced high-grade coal. No, millions of years were not necessary.
This research further strengthens creationist research claims that the flood at the time of Noah, only about 4,500 years ago, is most likely responsible for most of the world’s coal beds. Again, the false scientific claims that challenged the truth of Scripture have been discredited.
Prayer:
Thank You, Lord, that even man’s most educated ideas are shown to be lies when they challenge the truth of Your Word. Help me not to become a scoffer against Your Word by failing to study or apply it in my life. Amen.
Notes:
“Ranking Theory Over the Coals.” Science News, Aug. 6, 1983, p. 93. Map: Coal regions in the United States.
