MiloCast

If someone believes that the earth is only thousands of years old, instead of billions, then let them explain the oil and gasoline in their car. The fossil fuels which provide so much of the energy which has brought our standard of living up so high took millions of years to form.

What would be funny if it wasn’t so damned sad is that there are Web sites declaring that oil can be created in as little as three hours. Of course they’re right — certain types of oil can. And these oils can be used for various things. But the petroleum used to keep our vehicles and aircraft going don’t run on that kind of oil — they need fossil fuels.

This kind of short-circuited thinking is typical of creationist claims. It goes like this:

I believe the earth is too young for oil to have been created over millions of years. Oh look — a story about oil created in three hours! Problem solved! Back to watching “7th Heaven.”

Of course, the problem here is that there are so many types of oil, which take different amounts of time to produce, and from different raw materials.

In doing a little Web research for this article, I discovered that plenty of other people have already had this idea before I did, and plenty of creationists have already claimed to prove it wrong (using unfounded arguments such as the one above). Still, it’s an important thing to be reminded of; something we take for granted, such as oil, informs us about the accuracy of the bible. Or, should I say inaccuracy…