Although scientific creationism is widely perceived as an instrument for establishing the correctness of testimony in the Bible concerning history and natural science, the author contends that its proper function is the application of rigid scientific analysis to the interpretation of data concerning the natural world from the perspective of the testimony given by writers of the Bible. Success in developing such interpretations will contribute to the confidence which is necessary for enjoyment of the benefits for which the testimony in the Bible has been provided, and may also contribute to the understanding of some natural phenomena.
The chronological data in the book of Genesis, and the available data concerning carbon-14 concentrations in the biosphere can be harmonized in a model which specifies an increase on the order of IOO-fold in the biosphere carbon-14/carbon-12 ratio over the time between the Flood (Genesis 6-8) and the migration of Jacob and his family into Egypt (Genesis 46). The data on carbon-14 age profiles indicate that during at least a portion of the time in which the carbon-14/carbon-12 ratio was increasing, there was a decrease in the rates of peat growth and of erosional transfer from land to the ocean, and a decrease in the mixing of surface and bottom water of the ocean
