The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and its Ramifications for Life in the 21st Century
In general, each Journal Article Review must contain an introductory paragraph, the body of the work,
and a conclusion. In terms of the body, the following items must be discussed:
- Brief overview of the theme of the article and its main points.
- Strengths of the article. Answer questions such as:
a. What did the author do well?
b. Were any points made exceptionally clear?
c. Did the author write with concision and precision? - Weaknesses of the article. Answer questions such as:
a. What erroneous assumptions does the author make, if any?
b. Are any factual errors made in the article?
c. Is the scientific method violated in any way?
d. Could the author have stated his/her case better? - Remember, every article has weaknesses. You are expected to discuss some of these. Failure to
identify any weaknesses in your Journal Article Reviews will negatively affect your grade.
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The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and its Ramifications for Life in the 21st Century
Introduction
This paper is a review of Dr. Mortenson’s article, Origin of Old-Earth Geology and its
Ramifications for Life in the 21st Century. The paper will also give the article’s strengths and
weaknesses. It is essential to note that Dr. Mortenson’s article does not take sides, but rather
gives information found in his thesis development, for this reason this paper will review of Dr.
Mortenson’s hypothesis and information.
Overview of the articles main points
Doctor Terry Mortenson’s article is about the history of the Old Earth Geology and the
consequences of its ideologies on the present day society. In essence, the article gave limited
background or knowledge of the Old-Earth theory, but it explains the main Scriptural Geology
by arguing on the legitimacy of the belief on Young-Earth, and closing with a generalized
visualization of the impacts of the Old-Earth theory on the society.
Article Strengths
The article make successful attempt of identifying the author’s discontent with the
modern science flaws, as well as, the modern societal downfall. Doctor Mortenson gave vast
details on the validity of his belief and credential of Scriptural Geologist theories. The author in
seven paragraphs successfully gave a discussion on the dynamic background and the
development of Scriptural Geology using important individuals in Scriptural Geology
community. The article successfully depicted flaws in the modern scientific, historical scientific
and scriptural scientific thinking (Mortenson, 2003). Additionally, the article depicts flaws in
science and research that attempts to disprove or prove Old-Earth creation. According to the
author, each hypothesis developed is based on its worldview, and would spend energy attempting
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to prove that it is trues as opposed to proving that it is open to other alternatives. Dr. Mortenson’s
article greatest strength is that it is informative and detailed.
Article Weaknesses
It is evident from the article that the author is biased in the way he significantly deviates
from the article’s main intent. Dr. Mortenson started his article on the right track by giving a
discussion on the background of the Old-Earth, but he ends up deviating and spending about 12
paragraphs discussing on science outside the Old-Earth Geology, as well, as the argument of
such sciences against the Old-Earth’s theory; these sections were irrelevant, but only took away
the article’s discussion from its original intent.
Dr. Mortenson’s claim against naturalist is the weakest point of the article. It is known
that naturalists have greatly contributed to morality and justice in the society. People with
naturalist beliefs in the present day society provide and love their families, go to work, help
others, partake charities and strive to be good people; therefore, , Dr. Mortenson’s position on
naturalist does not sound valid.
Conclusion
Dr. Mortenson’s article had a good premise; the author’s information proved to be
interesting and informative; however, the author fell off the topic for a good part of the article, as
well, as making ridiculous claims at the final section of the article. His idea that the Old-Earth
ideology and naturalism are responsible for the societal downfall is over-generalized and
erroneous. Personally, I think the article is informative, but it loses its credibility and legitimacy
based on the authors’ failure to covey his information in a non-exaggerated and concise manner.
As a person looking forward to understanding the development and history of Old-Earth theory,
as well as, its impact on the society, this article is not impressive.
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References
Mortenson T., (2003.). The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and its Ramifications for Life in the
21st Century, 1/9-6/9
