Mississippi State University’s Society for the Advancement of Creation Science will bring Dr. John Baumgardner to campus Thursday to present evidence of a young Earth and a global flood cataclysm. The speech will begin at 7 p.m. in the Lee Hall auditorium.
“Baumgardner is a very educated scientist, but he believes in the Bible,” said SACS President Lee Woodall. “His speech will not be religious; it will be a scientific presentation.”
Baumgardner will present evidence which demonstrates carbon-14 dating is not a valid way to measure the age of the Earth. He will also demonstrate how a large-scale global tectonic catastrophe was the cause of a “water cataclysm,” also known as Noah’s flood. Woodall said this information is relevant to students and faculty on campus.
U.S. News and World Report claims that Baumgardner to be the world’s pre-eminent expert in the design of computer models for geophysical convection. He is currently on staff at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Baumgardner said he has always had an aptitude for science, which is why he chose the field as a career.
“My primary goal in my scientific career is defense of God’s word, plain and simple,” he said. “God’s Word is being mocked and ridiculed today throughout the academic world, and I say it’s time for Christians to stand up and take on these challenges.”
SACS is a creationist organization, Easley said.
“We are a group that supports a young earth (meaning it’s about 6,000 years old) and that it took six days for God to create Earth,” Easley said. “We believe this because of Scripture and back it up with evidence because we are creationists,” said Amanda Easley, secretary of SACS.
“A lot of people think that belief in a young Earth can only be a matter of faith, but Dr. Baumgardner has proof that it has more scientific backing and has been more scientifically proven than older Earth theories,” she added.
Woodall said SACS brings speakers like Baumgardner to campus to present a logical counter to the theory of evolution that is taught as fact in most science classes at MSU.
“We believe evolution is not true, and scientific evidence points to that,” he said.
SACS’s purpose is to reinforce people’s faith in God’s word, Woodall said. The SACS Web site www.msstate.edu/org/sacs states the group’s purpose as “to strengthen people’s faith in the Word of God concerning the origin of life as a literal six-day genesis.”
Baumgardner was studying to be an electrical engineer and was a member of Campus Crusade for Christ when he realized that people were trying to use evolution to attack the Christian faith. He left Campus Crusade to pursue a doctorate in geophysics and space physics at UCLA. He is on staff as a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.