For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
and he hath set the world upon them.
(1 Samuel 2:8)
Behold the Earth, third planet from the sun,
Though in the Bible it's the only one
(The rest are "stars"). The Hebrew Earth was flat,
Beneath it was the "deep," above it sat
A solid dome (the "firmament"), affixed
Sun, moon, and stars. 1 Creationists are mixed
Up as interpreters, for it's apparent
The Bible is a book that's not inerrant
As they insist. From space a good look at
The Earth should show them that it isn't flat.
Perhaps they think that we won't notice some
Of what the Bible says because we're dumb.
They may not think at all. (That seems to me
More likely.) It's a flat-out mystery.But let's not dwell now on the ancient Earth
(Although the Earth is ancient), for the birth
Of plate tectonics in the '60s brought
So much that's new to geologic thought
It was a change as revolutionary
As Charles Darwin's evolutionary
Theory was in biology. What's plate
Tectonics? It's a theory, we can state
It very simply: the Earth's lithosphere
(Its crust, some upper mantle) would appear
To be made of a number of large plates
That move around. When one plate moves, it grates
Against another, or there is a rift,
Such movement causing quakes, volcanoes, drift
Of continents, and mountain chains. 2 Now whether
The continents once had it all together,
Were once a single land mass till they broke
Apart, had long been wondered. People spoke
About the fact that coastlines seemed to match,
That eastern South America could patch
Things up with western Africa quite well,
As one example. Any fool could tell
How things might fit. But Alfred Wegener
In 1915 still caused quite a stir
When he proposed that present continents
Were once one piece of real estate. 3 Though sense
It made in one sense, folks still had to doubt,
For there was not a soul could figure out
How continents can drift, plow through the sea
Like earthen ships. So Wegener would be
All but forgotten till the '60s, when
The work of Princeton's Harry Hess brought in
Tectonic news: the seafloor spreads. 4 That fact,
The mechanism Wegener's theory lacked,
Helped free the continents at last. Here's how
Drift works as best we understand it now:
The continents themselves don't really drift,
They simply laze on board, they get a lift;
They ride the plates that are the lithosphere,
Those plates afloat on the athenosphere
(Soft underlying mantle). Underneath
The sea, midocean ridges run, beneath
Them molten rock; there oceanic plates,
Moving apart, create a rift, where waits
The molten rock, it wells up then and cools,
Attaching to each plate edge at it tools
Away. That's how the seafloor spreads, with new
Seafloor created. Old floor sinks into
The mantle, this occurring when one plate
That's moving plunges underneath a mate,
A process called subduction. Continents
Ride plates not subject to subduction since
They're buoyant. Now wasn't that some fun?
You've just had Plate Tectonics 101.Now continental drift is quite a pain
For these young-Earth creationists. It's plain
To see, when we consider that these plates
Are moving at such less than rapid rates
(An inch or so a year as has been proved
Through measurement by satellite), 5 they've moved
Millions of years if they have moved a day
For continents to be so far away
From one another now. The ICR
Claims, though, that continents could go that far
In little time: the flood accounts for this,
"Residual catastrophism" 6 is
Their mechanism for this speedy trip.
(Bob Schadewald called this "continental zip.") 7
So you can see how creationists bring in
Their miracles when they cannot begin
To cope with science any other way.
It's pseudoscience, all they have to say.
Let's look at Noah's flood. That big deluge
Is what they claim deposited Earth's huge
Sedimentary rock beds, covering
The ocean floors and most dry land and being
As much as twelve miles thick. 8 If you will buy
That as the work of one big flood, then I
Have got an ark that I will throw in free.
Those beds of rock were laid down gradually,
The handiwork of time. That rock contains
Most of the fossil record, the remains
Of animals and plants of ages past;
The oldest forms are simplest, while the last,
Found in the younger rock, are more complex;
That's just what we'd predict, what one expects,
An orderly progression, simple to
Complex, if life on Earth evolved. 9 How do
Creationists reply? They take offense,
They'd have us think that it's coincidence
That fossils seem to be found in an order
That's evolutionary. Does that border
On being unbelievable? Well, you've
Heard nothing yet. They say the fossils prove
These forms all lived in one age, all were drowned
By Noah's flood, the order that they're found
In being based on habitat and their
Ability to flee the waters. 10 Where,
Then, is the fossil of some higher form
That tripped or lagged, that got caught by the storm
Down at a lower level? There is not
A single one! 11 Every last creature got
To higher ground that was complex enough
To do so--isn't this amazing stuff?--
That's why we find more complex fossils at
The higher levels. And if you'll buy that,
Then I've not only got that ark, I've got
Some animals to stock it with--a lot,
One pair of every kind!Now where did all
That water come from? As you may recall,
The Bible says the flood rose higher than
The highest hills beneath the heavens. 12 (Can
You picture such an avalanche of water
Leaving the drowned in any kind of order
Based on complexity? Not easily,
I'll bet.) Of water there would have to be
Cubic kilometers in excess of
Four-point-four billion, to a height above
Sea level of some nine kilometers,
Such water that the mind's eye simply blurs,
More than three times the water known to be
In the Earth's cycle. 13 Well, a canopy
Of water vapor in the atmosphere
May have existed once--that's what we hear
From ICR creationists. 14 (They want
To sound "scientific" when they can--they don't
Just say, "God made it rain.") The fact, of course,
Is that their vapor notion has no source
In science or the Bible either. Such
A vapor canopy would be too much,
In terms of atmospheric pressure, for
Life even to exist! 15 Need I say more
About these people's pseudoscience? (Oh,
We also have to ask, "Where did it go,
All of that water?" Heaven only knows.)Let's go back to the fossils. I suppose
The claim some are anomalous or out
Of proper order would create some doubt
That life evolved, if all rock were in place
As first deposited. But take the case
Of thrust faults: 16 older rock can slide or be
Shoved over younger rock through gravity
Or when compressed--the order thus reversed,
The fossils that were last becoming first.
Rock layers break, get folded, tilt on end, 17
Some overturn--tectonics is no friend
To order. Fossils, though, most talked about
For being out of order are those out
In Texas known as "man tracks." These footprints
Allegedly are human, evidence
That man once walked with dinosaurs, 18 whose tracks
Are found beside them. Folks, you can relax,
Is isn't true--although "Give me a home
Where the buffalo and dinosaur roam"
Would make a catchy paleocowboy song.
Though dinosaurs indeed once walked along
Near what is now Glen Rose and you can see
The tracks they left, what some folks claim to be
Man tracks were made by dinosaurs as well,
Some are erosion, and a few, I'll tell
You flat, were made by hoaxers. (Laurie Godfrey
And others did an on-site study--she
Called their team "Raiders of the Lost Tracks"--back
In '83.) 19 But there is still no lack
Of true believers, digging up the ground
Around Glen Rose. Take Carl Baugh, he found
What he claimed was an ancient human tooth:
He named it Glen Rose Man. Alas, the truth
Did not turn out as man-track folks would wish;
The tooth turned out to be that of a fish. 20Why do creationists insist the flood
Gave us the fossils, that some Texas mud
Flats show that humankind and dinosaur
Were neighbors, and such other things as are
Scientific nonsense? First, of course, they read
The Bible literally and so they need
That flood. But that is pure religion, since
There is no geologic evidence
Of some worldwide deluge. 21 And second, they
Are out to prove the Earth is young, no way
Could life evolve, there wasn't time, thus man
And dinosaur and all have shared a span
Of only several thousand years. Well, that
Is geologic fantasy. Look at
The facts, at all that rock accumulation,
At radiometric dates, at slow formation
Of things like coral reefs and beds of coal:
All things declare this Earth on which we stroll
Is ancient ground indeed. 22 We don't deny
Catastrophes occur, of course, but by
And large Earth changes slowly. Nature's laws
Don't change at all, they're equally the cause
Of gradual change and of catastrophe--
The principle of uniformity
Of natural laws that governs all of science. 23
Creationists, to be in strict compliance
With a young Earth, must have catastrophe
On such a scale that uniformity
Must go, make way for miracle--a trip
On Noah's ark and continental zip
And such as that. And they throw rocks at us
Who say laws shouldn't change, they almost cuss,
They call us "uniformitarian" 24
(Sounds even worse than "humanist"!) 25 and then
Break out their Bible for a prophecy
By the Apostle Peter saying we
Would come along one day, so come we must,
We "scoffers, walking after their own lust" 26
(Saint Peter had a way with words). But what,
For Pete's sake, has such Bible thumping got
To do with science? I can thump mine too,
The Bible says the Earth is flat, but who
Agrees?John Calvin on the Holy Ghost
Not teaching science, 27 that deserves a toast.
The Bible's aim is spiritual, but these
Knotheads can't see the forest for the trees.
Enough's enough. The Earth's an ancient place,
Its rocks keys to the past. 28 I rest my case.