It started when he was told the same moon rock had two vastly different ages
How old is the moon? Is it 4.6 billion years old, as consensus geologists insist, and as textbooks uncritically teach?
The Apollo astronauts were given extensive training in geology so that they would know what rocks on the moon were significant. This was true for Brigadier General Charles M. Duke (USAF), the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 16 who became the 10th man to walk on the moon. One of his geology trainers was Harrison Schmitt, a PhD geologist, who would fly on the final mission, Apollo 17 (see 14 Dec 2022). Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972) was the only mission to study the lunar highlands in the Descartes region, with its elevation 7,400 feet higher than the Sea of Tranquillity explored by Apollo 11. (Charlie Duke was also the CapCom, or capsule communicator, for Apollo 11.)
During their three extensive extra-vehicular activities (EVAs), including 16.6 miles of drives on the lunar rover, Charlie Duke and Mission Commander John Young collected 209 pounds of lunar samples.
Moonrock, by Alan Bean, depicts John Young and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) collecting lunar samples. Used by permission from Alan Bean (Apollo 12 astronaut).
On April 6, during an interview before an audience of nearly a thousand people, Duke related a strange thing that the experts said about one of the lunar rocks he collected.
I picked up a rock on the moon, and it was about the size of my hand. And on one end it dated 3.9 billion years. On this end it dated 1.6 billion years. So there was two billion years between six inches! [audience laughter]. And, something was wrong here, somewhere!
Duke went on to say that he “began to doubt a little bit,” but not to the point of disbelieving evolution. At the time, he was a non-Christian, thoroughly preoccupied with his own career success within the NASA community. It was only later, when he became a Christ follower after seeing the dramatic change in his wife Dotty’s conversion, that his earlier doubts about that rock made sense. “I became a believer, and I went from an evolutionist to a creationist.”
At age 88, Charlie Duke is the youngest of four surviving Apollo astronauts among the 12 men who walked on the moon. Another Apollo astronaut who was a young-earth creationist and Christ follower was Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin (1930-1991).
The extinction of the dinosaurs is typically said to have been about 65 million years ago (mya),1 but 66 mya has also been suggested.2 During my dinosaur presentations I inform the audience, but I don’t amend my slides. After all, what’s a million years (in this case around 1.5 %)?!
In other public talks, I discuss the big bang timeline, starting ~13.8 billion years ago. This is more than one billion years off from the age of the universe taught in the mid-nineteen nineties, of some 15 billion years (actually 8%).3 But what’s a billion years?!
The Bible’s timeline is unchanging (e.g. 1 Peter 1:25), like its Author; ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). The word of God reliably teaches a creation around 4,000 BC. Therefore, building your worldview on Scripture is a sure thing—your source does not keep changing. Not so with an evolutionary view, where new discoveries often seem to throw the prevailing (long age) view, for the timing of this or that aspect of history, under the proverbial bus. No need to worry though, for adherents can simply alter some previously believed interpretations in order to keep the narrative alive. Three recent examples of this are given below.
1. How can a star be older than the universe?
A spanner has been thrown in the works for those who believe the universe is 13.8 billion years old. Why? Apparently there are stars over 14 billion years old. You might wonder, “If the universe is 13.8 billion years old, how can a star be more than 14 billion years old?”4
The total lunar eclipse will be more spectacular than the one in April, astronomer Alan Duffy said. Picture: NASA. Source:Supplied
IT’S big. It’s red. And it’s coming to a night sky near you.
On Wednesday night Australians will get the chance to witness a total lunar eclipse that will turn the full moon a deep red colour for an hour.
Astronomer Alan Duffy of Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology said the eclipse will be much more spectacular than one that was visible in Australia in April.
“This one will be the real McCoy,” he said.
“Australia is the perfect place to see the long lunar eclipse experience, weather permitting, and we will see that distinctive blood red colour.”
The partial total lunar eclipse above Geelong in April. Picture: Kaylene StocksSource: Supplied
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth gets between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow across the moon that causes it to turn a blood red colour.
“It’s like all the sunsets around the entire earth shining on the moon. I love that description,” Dr Duffy said.
“The atmosphere bends the light from the sunset around and gives the moon that red colour.
“Without the atmosphere, the moon would just be dark (during a lunar eclipse).”
West Australians will see the total eclipse but will miss the entire passage of the earth’s shadow across the face of the moon because the eclipse begins before the moon rises over WA.
Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year, but lunar eclipse lovers can expect seven to occur in 2038.
WHEN TO WATCH (local times):
NSW/ACT/VIC/TAS: Eclipse begins 8.15pm, total eclipse 9.25pm-10.25pm, eclipse ends 11.35pm. QLD: minus one hour for all times
SA: Eclipse starts 7.45pm, total eclipse 8.55pm-9.55pm, eclipse ends 11.05pm. NT: minus one hour for all times
WA: Moon rises at 6.19pm, total eclipse 6.25pm-7.25pm, eclipse ends 8.35pm.
New Life Narrabri 