Universe/Earth Actually Young, Appear Young
Solves: Genesis account is literally valid; some global processes can fit a 15,000 year scenario
Problems:
- No natural short-lived radioactive isotopes
- Distant supernova
- Radiometric dating giving millions/billions of years ages; general tendency for dates to increase as expected with depth in Earth
- Many global processes imply a youngish age (millions of years), but not 15,000 years young
Notes:
Some creationists taking the young Earth/universe view don't put much emphasis on functional maturity as an explanation for old age measurements, but instead discuss scientific evidences that point to a young age, and attempt to find fundamental flaws in techniques giving an old age. They rightly point out that the explanation of functional maturity has little explanatory power, makes no predictions and is therefore untestable, and tends to discourage deeper investigation.
An important assumption in young Earth creationism is that Noah's flood, as described in Genesis chapters 6-9, is literally true (having taken place about 5,000 years ago) and has transformed the face of the Earth to such a degree that all reckonings based on global physical processes must account for this. That is, no age estimate which assumes a largely uniformitarian view of Earth's history can give a correct result. For example, one of the key assumptions of radiometric dating is that the sample has been undisturbed during its lifetime, which was certainly NOT the case during the flood.
Some problems which don't yet have an adequate young-Earth/universe explanation (discounting functional maturity) include:
- The general tendency for radiometric dates to be on the order of millions to billions of years, and the tendency for deeper rocks to have older ages.
- Naturally produced radioactive nuclides having a half-life less than about 80 million years are not found in nature (implying they have completely decayed).
- Distant starlight and supernova.