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Rubio: “There is no scientific debate on the age of the earth”
Salon.com ^ | 12/5/2012 | Jillian Rayfield

Posted on 12/06/2012 9:47:52 AM PST by ksen

After dabbling in creationism earlier this month, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., clarified that he does believe that scientists know the Earth is “at least 4.5 billion years old.”

“There is no scientific debate on the age of the earth. I mean, it’s established pretty definitively, it’s at least 4.5 billion years old,” Rubio told Mike Allen of Politico. ”I was referring to a theological debate, which is a pretty healthy debate.

“The theological debate is, how do you reconcile with what science has definitively established with what you may think your faith teaches,” Rubio continued. “Now for me, actually, when it comes to the age of the earth, there is no conflict.”

GQ: How old do you think the Earth is?

Marco Rubio: I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: 112th; ageofearth; creation; creationists; deerintheheadlights; earthage; florida; partisanmediashills; rubio; science; theology
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To: kimtom

“You don’t need billions of years. this argument is just to support evolutionary theory.”

Genesis 1:2:

“And the earth was “Hayah - became” without form, and void”

Of course, God would not initially create the earth without form and void:

Isaiah 45:18

“For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain “Tohuw - empty, formless and chaos”, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

And yes, since God created man in Genesis after Genesis 1:2 there would be no evolutionary connection between man and any life that existed prior to Genesis 1:2.


41 posted on 12/06/2012 11:06:10 AM PST by ScottfromNJ
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To: tacticalogic

They didn’t come up with the 4.5 billion age estimate from radiometric dating techniques.


42 posted on 12/06/2012 11:08:16 AM PST by DManA
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To: ksen
The correct response should be:, "Under this administration, 16 Trillion Years, and the age of the Earth keeps getting older at the rate of over a Trillion years per year."

There, you can keep the base happy.
43 posted on 12/06/2012 11:09:53 AM PST by Rebel_Ace (Tags?!? Tags?!? We don' neeeed no stinkin' Tags!)
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To: Strategerist

If one considers that the universe is becoming less dense from the creation event until today and into the future, then by General Relativity the passage of time passing more slowly from the current viewpoint of Earth, I believe it can be demonstrated that appx 4.5 billion years can indeed be the equivalent of 6 days.


44 posted on 12/06/2012 11:09:59 AM PST by onedoug
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To: ksen
The correct response should be:, "Under this administration, 16 Trillion Years, and the age of the Earth keeps getting older at the rate of over a Trillion years per year."

There, you can keep the base happy.
45 posted on 12/06/2012 11:10:09 AM PST by Rebel_Ace (Tags?!? Tags?!? We don' neeeed no stinkin' Tags!)
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To: DManA

I left out an important word

radiometric dating techniques ALONE.


46 posted on 12/06/2012 11:10:29 AM PST by DManA
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To: DManA
They didn’t come up with the 4.5 billion age estimate from radiometric dating techniques.

Then the USGS lied to me.

What is this secret method they used, and blamed on radiometrics?

47 posted on 12/06/2012 11:11:15 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: DManA

What else did they use?


48 posted on 12/06/2012 11:13:07 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: ksen

Well, on the other hand, there is no repeatable experiment which shows the age of the earth. So it isn’t science in that sense, it is really history.

We use science as a forensics tool when determining historical events, but it’s not science. We know it’s not science, because periodically new announcements are made that change the “scientific understanding” of some presumed historical event, and when that happens, nobody complains that the previous belief was fraud.

And of course, forensics, which is both an art and a science, also deals in the realm of hypothesis. You have to adapt certain preconditions. We are pretty good at those, and they are tested as you compare the resulting determinations to what you figure out by other methods.

But one big presumption in all scientific forensics of origins is that there is NO GOD, and therefore NO “Magic”.

Given the presumption that nothing could just be created fully formed, it is easy to understand why the age of the earth is currently estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. That is how old it would have to be to get to where we are today from “nothing”.

Now, suppose we had an infintely powerful, all-knowledgeable being. And suppose he wanted to make a copy of our universe, and he did so. We certainly understand the mechanism of cloning, and so we see the theoretical possibility of an exact duplicate of our universe being created.

Well, if you lived in that alternative universe, you would of course believe that it was 4.5 billion years old, as it would have the identical CURRENT STATE as our universe.

BUT, you would be wrong, because it is 5 minutes old. Science would give you the wrong answer.

Well, if we believe God created the universe, how can we prove He didn’t do so 6000 years ago, or 60,000 years ago? Some might complain that God wouldn’t have a reason to create all these apparent age items in his creation, but given the Bible’s references to wanting to keep some blind to His existence, how better to do that than to give us a theological challenge — Do we believe in God, or not?

I understand and accept most of the evolutionary “science”, meaning what we observe today. Some of it is crazy on it’s face, sorry, but mostly it’s stuff we can test out for ourselves. I simply don’t believe that the history this science predicts is the real history of our universe.

I don’t reject science, I simply understand its limitations. Meanwhile, there is ample evidence that the story spun of origins by evolutionists is more of a fanciful wish — probabilities being just one, complexity of design for another, and the still-evident lack of viable genetic steps from one species to another (this last point is becoming more clear as we map more of the genomes)


49 posted on 12/06/2012 11:15:36 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Strategerist

OK, show me a repeatable experiment.


50 posted on 12/06/2012 11:19:03 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Strategerist

Oh, and don’t forget the “control”.


51 posted on 12/06/2012 11:20:43 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
grand canyon Pictures, Images and Photos “None so blind as those that will not see.” Matthew Henry (1662-1714) English Presbyterian minister and writer
52 posted on 12/06/2012 11:24:26 AM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: MrB
OK, show me a repeatable experiment.

Measure the half-life of Uranium, and the half-lives of the resultant daughter elements, until you get down to stable lead. Then measure the actual time span against the time calculated based on the change in their respective ratios in the sample. Then do that over and over again, as many times as you want.

53 posted on 12/06/2012 11:27:19 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: tacticalogic

Apparently you haven’t researched the problems of extrapolating that over “billions of years”.

Get back to me when you have.


54 posted on 12/06/2012 11:29:15 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: All

He is technically correct. Among the scientific community there is no real serious debate. It is all just radiological dating and who has

creationists may debate the issue but they are going nowhere fast.


55 posted on 12/06/2012 11:31:04 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: longtermmemmory

oops part was cut off.

The full sentence shoudl be “It is all just radiological dated and who has the more precise instruments.”


56 posted on 12/06/2012 11:35:48 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: ksen

Is he now campaigning for Geologist-in-Chief?


57 posted on 12/06/2012 11:35:48 AM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: MrB
Apparently you haven’t researched the problems of extrapolating that over “billions of years”.

Ah. So the tactic is going to be to imply there are problems with that method, but not say what they are. We'll see how well that works out for you.

58 posted on 12/06/2012 11:36:05 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: morphing libertarian

he is making an observation.


59 posted on 12/06/2012 11:37:58 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: tacticalogic

Ah, so you admit your ignorance.
Thanks.


60 posted on 12/06/2012 11:38:08 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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