Deep Time in Genesis

by Steven R. Webb, Westbow Press, © 2016,
160 pages, $10.36 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-1-5127 -3597-0

Those of us who are trained in the field of geology are constantly disturbed by statements in the press and in many books and pamphlets written by non-geologists that deal with geological subjects. We frequently see statements like, “California is about to slide into the Pacific Ocean,” and we shake our heads at the ignorance of the general public in these areas.

As a Christian, what concerns me most is the level of bad information that is circulated by many religious writers. A majority of them have a doctrinal position that they are trying to defend by throwing up a false geological claim. The age of the earth, what the flood would do, how dinosaurs lived and when, and the whole issue of how fossil fuels were produced are areas where profound ignorance is displayed in creationist literature and DVDs.

Steven R. Webb has advanced geology degrees and has worked for a large oil company as a professional geologist for 33 years doing sequence stratigraphy. He also has a Master of Divinity degree and is an active Christian. The first chapter of the book explains in practical terms what a geologist does and how our understanding of geologic history enables us to locate fossil fuels. The next 118 pages talk about religious views that conflict with known scientific data.

The age of the earth is becoming more of a faith issue as we move deeper into the twenty-first century. Most well-educated young people in today’s world know enough science and geology to be unwilling to accept the idea that dinosaurs never existed, that they coexisted with humans, or that the flood produced the entire stratigraphic structure of the Earth. We daily hear from kids who reject much of what creationists are saying and from their Christian parents who wonder why their kids have abandoned belief in God.

This is a book that people teaching classes and making public presentations in apologetics should read. I may disagree on some issues of how to resolve the claimed conflicts between science and faith, but Webb’s explanations are well written and easy for anyone to understand. Well-meaning believers need to stop building a wall between faith in God and the Bible and the scientific evidence. This book is a good tool to tear down that wall before it gets built any higher and more precious young souls are lost.