The study of evolution puts into perspective our relative insignificant existence. People who deny evolution must have a hard time swallowing the fact that humans are just a teeny tiny portion of all that is in our 13.7 billion year old universe. We are a microscopic speck...if that big. Creationists seem to like the theory of human beings being at the center of things. Slightly egotistical? Literal interpretation of the story of creation from the beginning of the Bible goes right along with the "flat earth" mentality.
Whether it was the Big Bang or God snapping his fingers, the earth is a factual 4.5 billion years old. The entire universe is 13.7 billion years old. The earth being 4.5 billion years old is not determined by the age of few rocks, over the last thirty years or so, many laboratories throughout the world have come to the same conclusion.
Age is determined by combining absolute dating (calculating radioactive decay) and relative dating. Relative dating is determining age by observing what rock lies above and below. Strata are the specific layers of rock in a formation. Rocks are in certain layers and so are fossils. The deeper you dig, the more primitive the fossils are. Stratiography is the study of the layers of the earth's surface. The study of stratiography is a way to understand the history of life on earth.
Creationists argue that you cannot achieve order from chaos. The comparison of evolution to standing on a chair and dropping a deck of cards was actually given to me. What does 52-card pick-up have anything to do with the world evolving? I can just see some preacher doing this and his congregation gasping at the delusional realization that evolution was just plain wrong. The answer to the argument that you cannot achieve order from chaos is that you can if you add a little energy. Why is it that organized religion always leaves things out? An example would be cleaning your garage (chaos) x you cleaning it (energy) = a clean garage (order)...amazing, isn't it? Throwing a deck of cards on the floor and then picking them up would create organization. Just add a little energy and things start to happen. The sun provides our planet with a constant source of energy. The sun makes plants grow and become edible. Animals eat those plants. Other animals eat the animals that eat the plants. Life goes on and is constantly evolving.
A short time ago it was commonly believed that the earth was 6,000-10,000 years old. Unrealistic creationists actually still believe this. By the 19th century, with the new science of geology, we now know that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Creationists interpret the Bible's story of creation literally. They believe that the universe and all that is in it have been recently created by divine intervention. Basically it is a refusal to see facts. How can anyone with any sense dispute evolution?
Jackie Wellman, author of Spiritual Clarity, http://www.hoppy.bravehost.com, http://spiritualclarity.blogspot.com