Film director Tim Mahoney recently completed a three-part interview with marine biologist Dr. Rob Carter. In it, they address several important topics related to the age of the earth and biblical creation. What follows is a brief overview of some of those discussions. Part I, Part II, Part III

Dr. Carter began his academic career as a committed evolutionist, teaching and promoting evolution as established fact. That confidence began to unravel, however, when he was challenged on the subject of whale evolution. As he dug deeper into the evidence- particularly the claims surrounding Pakicetus, often presented as a transitional form- he realized that he himself had been misled by the narrative.

From there, Carter began a serious study of Scripture, paying close attention to the Genesis account of creation. For years, he wrestled with how to reconcile what he was reading in the Bible with what he had been taught as “settled science.” That journey ultimately led him to conclude that the conflict was not between faith and science, but between Scripture and a particular philosophical approach to science.

The interview explores how secular thinking has effectively hijacked science by insisting on strictly naturalistic explanations. This philosophical constraint is what gave rise to the idea of long ages. More troubling is that this thinking has increasingly taken root within the church, where many Christians attempt to blend evolution and naturalism with biblical faith. Carter pushes back strongly against this compromise, explaining that Christianity rests on the truthfulness of the Old Testament as a whole. If Scripture is true, then evolution and long ages cannot also be true; they are fundamentally incompatible. As he points out, “There are many ways to express long periods of time in Hebrew, and none of them are used in Genesis one.”

Skeptics often raise familiar objections, asking whether the fossil record, radiometric dating, or distant starlight can be explained within a biblical framework. Carter’s response is straightforward: “The answer is yes.” He then proceeds to explain how these issues can be addressed using sound scientific reasoning without abandoning Scripture.

One striking example he discusses is mitochondrial DNA, which he argues can be used to fact-check the Bible’s historical claims. By calculating how long it would take for humans to accumulate the observed number of mitochondrial mutations using realistic mutation rates, Carter concludes that the female ancestor of all living humans (Eve) would have lived roughly 6,000 years ago. Secular models, he contends, rely on unrealistically low mutation rates to stretch this timeline. He also emphasizes that human mitochondrial DNA is dramatically different from that of chimpanzees, further challenging common evolutionary assumptions.

Carter makes a similar case with the male Y chromosome. While humans share very similar Y chromosomes with one another, the similarity between human and chimp Y chromosomes is only about 30 percent. The observed mutation rate among humans, he argues, aligns well with the biblical timeframe for Adam. In his view, a recent creation provides the most coherent explanation for the genetic data.

The full three-part interview goes into greater depth, covering genetics, evolutionary claims, and the broader question of how science should be interpreted. It offers a compelling case for why Christians can be confident that the Bible presents reliable history, and why the data increasingly support that conclusion.