Creation Science Book Review
Frozen In Time
Chapter 3: The Mystery of the Ice Age
Review by Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
First Published 7 September 2005
Oard starts right in, setting up scientists as unable to answer key questions. He says most scientists believe the woolly mammoth lived during the Ice Age (young earth creation science only accepts that there was a single ice age). In reality, the woolly mammoth has been around a long time. The elephant has been around since about 55 million years ago, and there have been more than 500 different kinds of elephants. Today, only two remain, the African and Asian. About two million years ago, the mammoths evolved (or were created) from the Asian elephant. The woolly mammoth has been around for the last 1.5 million years. During this time, Ice Ages have come and gone. To say that the mammoth lived during the Ice Age is only partially true…it also lived outside the Ice Ages. He goes on to say scientists don’t know what caused the Ice Age. Funny, when I look it up, it’s real easy to find answers. Where is Oard looking…under a rock? He is setting up another strawman.
Was There Really an Ice Age? (Page 33)
Oard comes to the conclusion there was an Ice Age. The real issue for the age of the earth is…how many were there? More on this later.
Mid and High Latitudes and Tropical Mountains Recently Glaciated (Page 35)
Not much here. He mentions many of the ice age features, but where he considers them all to be the result of a single Ice Age, it was actually many Ice Ages, as the temperatures fluctuated over hundreds of thousands of years. One sentence highlights a common young earth ploy. Concerning some fresh looking features, he says, “The freshness of glacial features argues for a much younger date.” Young earth creationists have a habit of dating something merely on its looks…not a very scientific method. It reminds me of those people at the county fair, who will guess your weight (or your age)!
How Much Climate Change is Required to Cause the Ice Age? (Page 38)
This section contains nothing of importance from a creation science perspective.
Did Ice Invade The United States From Canada? (Page 39)
Not much here, other than the fact that he continues to set up scientists as being puzzled by the mechanisms that caused the Ice Ages (and his “strawman”). Two things here. First, a “lack of a good model” would not be evidence for the young earth creation science model, and two, scientists do have workable models to explain the causes of the Ice Ages (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age).
Scientists Perplexed (Page 40)
He goes all the way back to the mid-1800’s to show that scientists are perplexed! We’ve come a long way in scientific research since the mid-1800’s! You see the extent he goes to in order to show scientists in a bad light.
Yes, it is still debatable, and one of the mysteries of science…but there are some very good workable theories out there. Science is not ignorant on the subject!
Wet Deserts During the Ice Age? (Page 41)
Oard actually gives a seemingly good argument here. However, when I looked up pluvial lakes, it says they formed during glaciations…just what Oard is proposing! He is probably relying on old research from the 1800’s again! References are given for individual facts, but no reference for scientists claiming they formed during interglacial periods is given! (for more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluvial_lake)
The Puzzle of Coexisting Warm and Cold Climate Animals (Page 44)
Is this a problem? Not at all. These so-called disharmonious associations does not mean the animals lived together. With rapid changes (every 10,000 years) of alternating Ice Ages and warming periods, the animals range would mix. Cold climate animals would gradually move south during colder periods, and warm climate animals would move north during warmer periods. Since we are only talking about the glacial periods of the Pleistocene (1.8 million years to the present), there would be minimal deposition. Think of it this way…over a period of several hundred years, a colder period starts. Cold animals move south, over the area that warm animals once occupied only a hundred years ago. Their bones would be right there, with the bones of the warm-climate animals, in many cases with little, if any sediment to separate them. Thus, they probably did not live together at all…no more “puzzle!” There is probably no such thing as disharmonious associations.
Mass Extinctions at the End of the Ice Age (Page 46)
True, scientists are puzzled by what caused the extinctions. This does not mean they have not put forth theories, which are viable. For more, see The Pleistocene or Ice Age extinction event.1 However, a lack of a universally accepted theory is no proof of the young earth theory that Oard proposes. An argument from no evidence is no argument at all.
1 Wikipedia - Pleistocene Extinction Event
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