Siccar Point in Scotland has been described as the place where “enlightened men” were first able to throw off the blinders of the biblical timeline and clearly see in the rocks the immense age of the earth. Siccar Point is a rocky peninsular outcrop located about 40 miles east of Edinburgh. A man by the name of James Hutton (1726-1797) put this place on the map when he famously said he saw there “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.” Hutton is given credit as the initial inventor of the principle of uniformitarianism that Charles Lyell later adopted and promoted in his books on geology in the 1830s.
The importance of Siccar Point and the principle of uniformitarianism are still foundational to the idea of evolution and the secular paradigm. This is because deep time must be accepted and the Bible’s timeline rejected if the idea of macroevolution is to be imagined.
Siccar Point from above
To the non-geologist the above image is not particularly helpful. What is seen at Siccar Point are two different kinds of sandstone connecting. The lower, older strata are tilted to be approximately vertical. This grouping of tilted strata has been cut off almost horizontally. The upper, younger strata are deposited on top. The geological term for this meeting is an “angular unconformity.”
James Hutton visited Siccar Point by boat in 1788. At that time most people in the West believed God had created the world in six ordinary days about 4,000 BC and judged it about 1,700 years later with a global Flood at the time of Noah. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the writings of Hutton, Lyell and other deep time promoters convinced many (even in the Church) that this way of thinking about the age of things was wrong. But the creationist geologist of today sees the geology at Siccar Point as catastrophic evidence for the Genesis Flood and strong support for the biblical account. Hutton had a predisposition against the Bible* which affected his worldview and so he reasoned the lower, older rocks at Siccar Point had eroded down, producing the sand that forms on the upper rocks. He thought there must have been even older rocks which eroded away to produce the sand for the lower rocks. Hutton assumed the same slow processes eroding the Scottish highlands today formed the rocks in the past.
Siccar Point is a sort of geological “holy place” for old-earth geologists, and in 2006 they celebrated “the father of modern geology” by erecting an interpretive sign at the location. This sign praises Hutton and says the rocks at Siccar Point have proved geological time was virtually unlimited. The timeline of the Bible is therefore wrong.
Interpretive Sign at Siccar Point (Photo by Richard Webb)
Today many secular geologists disagree with the application of the principle of uniformitarianism to all of geology and agree that catastrophe is commonly seen in the rocks all over the earth. We can know that James Hutton and Charles Lyell did not see deep time in the rocks, they only assumed it.
In 2013, Dr. Tas Walker of Creation Ministries International published a chart** that compares the interpretation of the Siccar Point sign with what really happened according to a creationist geologist viewpoint. This comparison is reproduced in the image below. The middle column is the old-earth interpretation and the right-hand column is Walker’s interpretation.
Creation Magazine chart by Tas Walker
The creationist explanation makes a lot more sense for many reasons, such as:
- We do not see geology on a large scale taking place today slowly according to uniformitarianism and the secular worldview. Rivers and lakes of today do not make grand canyons or move the immense loads of dirt, rocks, and mud that uniformitarianism requires.
- We have every reason to believe the biblical timeline is correct.
- The secular geological timeline is clearly an abstraction that depends on a deceptive correlation of fossils.
- With an understanding of the tectonic, hydraulic and volcanic actions of the global Flood, there is no need to imagine 55 million years of lost rock layers.
Again, we find that the evolutionist ideas are not realistic and persist in the secular world only because they allow for people to feel it is acceptable to reject the Creator God. This is not acceptable by God as is learned specifically from a reading of Romans chapter one.
Additional Related Articles on this Website:
HISTORICAL CERTAINTY & MILLIONS OF YEARS
WHY DOES THE EARTH “LOOK” OLD?
WHAT EVOLUTIONISTS SAY – ABOUT RADIOMETRIC DATING
WHAT EVOLUTIONISTS SAY – ABOUT THE FOSSIL RECORD
WHAT EVOLUTIONISTS SAY – ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
WHAT EVOLUTIONISTS SAY – ABOUT UNIFORMITARIANISM
J.D. Mitchell
*For details about James Hutton and how he became the person he was I recommend the following resource: Marcy, Milt, The Emperors Who Had No Clothes, Create Space Publishing, 2013, pp. 47-95.
**See Walker, Tas, “The Heritage Trail at Siccar Point.” Creation, vol. 35, No. 2, 2013, p. 18-19.
