The Creation Collectanea

  CLAIM:  Tidal friction causes the moon to recede from the Earth at 4cm per year. It would have been greater in the past when the Moon and Earth were closer together. The Moon and the Earth would have been in catastrophic proximity (Roche limit) at less than a quarter of their supposed age. (Answers in Genesis, n.d. ) (Batten, 2019 ) (Baugh, 1989 , p.10-11) (Ferrel, 2006 , p.135) (Ham, 2008 , p. 98-99) (Ham, 2010 , p.189-190) (Hovind, 2003 , 1:13:49) (Miller, 2019 ) (Petersen, 2012 , p.58) RESPONSE:  One of the more popular claims in young-Earth creationist literature is that the Moon's recession from the Earth imposes a strict limit on how long it could have been orbiting our planet. This argument hinges on the Moon gradually receding from the Earth at a semi-steady rate of about 4cm per year due to tidal interactions caused by the Earth's oceans. As the argument goes, if this rate is extrapolated backwards, the Moon would have been in contact with the Earth's surface o...

  CLAIM:  The symbiotic relationship between blind shrimp and goby fish is irreducibly complex. (Von Vett & Malone, 2017 , p.283) RESPONSE:  The symbiotic relationships between blind shrimp and goby fish exhibit a spectrum from facultative response to obligate mutualism, with varying degrees of dependency and behavioral complexity. Research has documented that some goby species maintain loose associations with shrimp, lacking the intricate signaling behaviors observed in more interdependent pairs - for instance, studies on the shrimp Alpheus floridanus  has shown differences in the strength and nature of its relationship with goby fish. The goby Ctenogobius saepepallens  is considered an opportunistic mutualist, engaging in less specialized relationship with the shrimp, while Nes longus  is an obligate mutualist, exhibiting a high degree of dependency and more coordinated behavior with its shrimp partner. (Lyons, 2013; 2014) This invalidates the central...

CLAIM: When California ground squirrels discover rattlesnakes in their habitat, they will internally pump blood into their tails to create a decoy for the rattlesnake to lunge at, since the snake can see the tail using its infrared vision. The squirrel won't be harmed if bitten because it has proteins in its blood that function as a natural antivenin. Interestingly, the ground squirrels will also use this decoy technique without  sending blood to their tails against gopher snakes, which cannot detect heat in the same way that rattlesnakes can. How does the squirrel know when to make its tail larger, or that a rattlesnake can see heat and a gopher snake can't? Obviously, God knew that they would need this defense mechanism and supernaturally designed it to be able to tell the difference. (Taylor & Cadwallader, n.d. ) (Von Vett & Malone, 2017 , p.112) RESPONSE:  It's important to note that the heated tail response in the ground squirrels is not a decoy mechanism but a...

CLAIM:  The sun is shrinking, meaning that if we extrapolate backwards 50,000 years the sun would be so large that it would boil the ocean and destroy all life. (Baugh, 1989, p.10) (Baugh & Wilson, 1992 , p.58-59, 136-137) (Ferrel, 2006 , p.129-130) (Petersen, 2012 , p.58-59) RESPONSE:  Numerous young-Earth creationist proponents have argued variably that the Sun is shrinking a few feet annually, five feet annually, that the Sun would have been impossibly large ten thousand years ago, one hundred thousand years ago, several thousand years ago, fifty thousand years ago, twenty-five million years ago, that the Sun would have catapulted Earth away or would have engulfed it, scorched it, etc. (Akridge, 1980; Baugh, 1989, p.10; Baugh & Wilson, 1992, p.58-59, 136-137; Ferrel, 2006, p.129-130; Petersen, 2012, p.58-59; Snelling, 1988; 1989) The reason for this diversity of opinion is the fact that the original paper that started the speculation among young-Earth creationists w...

CLAIM:  Evolution cannot explain the existence of the specialized shells of the nautilus. (Von Vett & Malone, 2017 , p.213) RESPONSE:  The chambered shell of the nautilus is not so complicated it could not function if any part were removed, which is the key feature of any biological system claimed to be unable to be produced by evolution (i.e., irreducibly complex). Extensive paleontological evidence and evolutionary biology research provide a comprehensive narrative of the nautilus shell's stepwise development, effectively rendering this argument null. IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY Irreducible complexity states that certain biological systems are composed of multiple interdependent parts, all of which are necessary for functionality. The removal of any single component would render the entire system nonfunctional, suggesting that such systems could not have evolved through successive, slight modifications since all parts must be present from the beginning of that system's existe...

CLAIM:  Human population growth demonstrates a young earth. Less than 0.5% per annum growth from six people 4500 years ago would produce today’s population (with the population doubling roughly once every 150 years). Using this same figure, there should be 1.2x10^26 humans on Earth if we have existed for even one million years. Where are all of evolution's missing people? (Answers in Genesis, n.d. ) (Batten, 2019 ) (Baugh, 1999 , p.118-119) (Baugh & Wilson, 1992 , p.133-134) (Ferrel, 2006 , p.156-157) (Hovind, 2003 , 1:06:39-1:11:40) (Miller, 2019 ) (Petersen, 2012 , p.55) (Thomas et al., 2020 , p.7-9)  (Tomkins, 2019 ) (Wieland, 2021 , p.23) RESPONSE:  The main problem with this idea is that 1.). populations do not increase in uniform rates, and 2.) a population of 6 individuals doubling every 150 years is not realistic to either the secular or young-Earth timeline. POPULATION INCREASE IS NOT UNIFORM There's no reason to assume a 0.5% per annum growth rate unless you...