I've been arguing against carbon dating and other methods of determining when something happened/how old something is for as long as I can remember. Thank you! There's just no way we're smart enough/have the right technology or any way of confirming that something is x thousands of years old much less x millions.
I also agree with a poster above that evolution and the Bible are NOT incompatible. The Bible tells us quite clearly that one day in our eyes can be a thousand years (or more...) in God's eyes.
We really have no idea how old the earth is, how old dinosaurs really were (they were called Behemoth's in the Bible) and to say we can definitively say anything in regards to the age of the earth and how it all works together is the height of arrogance IMO.
We're just not that smart. Well, at least I know I'm not.
Carbon comes in 2 main isotopes, C12 and C14. There is a ratio in the environment of C12 to C14. When living things eat and create organic molecules in their bodies, the ratio is the same as in the environment. This ratio is fixed at death.
After death, the carbon C14 decays by one of its neutrons throwing of an electron, and in the process the C14 becomes a different isotope of nitrogen which then loses its bonds to some of the other atoms around it and it goes into the atmosphere. Thus, the ratio of C12 to C14 changes. Carbon 14 has a half-life of about 6000 years. So the ratio changes to favor the stable C12. The half life and the ratio is the way to estimate the age, although I don't know the math. Eventually all of the C14 decays away,and that is why carbon dating in only good for a few hundred thousand years.
I thank God for giving us the gift of carbon dating so that science can free us of the tyranny of sacred writings. Thank you, God.
“evolution and the Bible are NOT incompatible”
They are incompatible if in fact evolution is false.