Rocks and Creation
Genesis explains the formation of the earth’s crust more plausibly than evolution.
How the earth (and other planets) began is still an open question in evolutionary circles. Evolutionists agree that the earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago, starting from a very hot gaseous state and eventually cooling down. Creationists maintain that the earth began with the Creator who miraculously formed the crust of the earth on the third day by separating the land from the water, as is stated in Genesis.
“And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw it was good.” Genesis 1:9
Evolutionists criticize creationists on the grounds for what they consider an unreasonable and unintelligent faith in the Word of God. The critics fail to recognize that the Word of God is the “logos,” the “intelligence” of the universe. Genesis 1:9, above, demonstrates this. It emphasizes the separation of the land from the sea, which could also be understood as the separation of a solid landmass from a liquid water medium.
Chemists define the formation of crystals as a process in which the salts that are dissolved in liquid medium separate and form a solid crystal at set conditions. It is interesting to note that granite rock is made up of four different types of minerals, each with a unique crystalline structure.
One could logically propose, then, that as God separated the land from the water, massive foundational rock structures were formed. Nobody can be sure because no one knows exactly the process God used. However, the proposition that God used this separation of solid from liquid makes better scientific sense than the evolutionist’s hot gas.
The process by which rocks and minerals are made—the separation of solid from water—can be observed today. Rock comes from the earth’s magma, which is a molten fluid inside the earth. Magma is composed of various metals and oxygen compounds. Along with these compounds is locked-up water vapor under tremendous pressure and heat. For magma to become rock, it must cool by coming to the surface. The heat of the magma causes rock above it to melt, allowing the magma closer to the surface. The magma cools before breaking the top layer and forms a crystalline hard rock. Granite is a great example of this rock formation. Another way magma comes to the surface is by an exploding volcano. The magma, once it abruptly breaks the surface of the earth, is called “lava.” It comes out of the volcano with a great amount of steam and as it flows onto the surface of the earth, it begins to cool and eventually hardens. “Obsidian” is an example of rock formed from lava.
It is important to note that locked-up water vapor had an important role in making crystalline rock. The minerals that were formed went through a complicated process, combining and recombining, to form a stable chemical structure. As the minerals cooled, the separation of water from solid continued, until different kinds of minerals mixed, forming the rocks we observe today. It is obvious in the formation of a basic rock type that there is separation of water and solid. This is an observed scientific fact.
When we look at the earth’s crust—this massive exterior shell—we can only marvel at the creative force that made it. Is this the result of random gaseous elemental collisions, which over millions of years formed the rocks we see today? Or is this evidence of the workmanship of an intelligent designer? Did God purposely leave us a model of rock formation in the magma and lava of the earth that would lead to His Word? Is the principle of separation of solid from water, or “land” from the “seas,” a more intelligent alternative than what we are being taught today? The evidence speaks loudly and clearly and points to a Creator God.