Turning Teddy Bears Into Stone

A Few Months, Not Millions of Years

There is a place in England called the Dripping Well of Yorkshire in the town of Knaresborough. It has been a tourist attraction since the year 1630 because it was discovered that items hung where the water drips (see above) become petrified quite quickly. In fact, compared to traditional teaching which claims this type of fossilization and petrification can take many thousands of years to form, the experiments at Knaresborough have shown that teddy bears and other items can turn to stone in a matter of months!

The water that drips down constantly over these overhanging rocks originates underground similar to a spring, and has an extremely high mineral content. It contains calcium carbonate along with small amounts of other minerals. As it continues to drip over the hanging items it coats them with a crust of rock. The time it takes to petrify something depends on the size and absorption capability of the object. Small teddy bears can be petrified less than six months, while larger items may take up to a year.

Dr. Monty White writes, “I was surprised to read recently that small teddy bears placed under a waterfall in Yorkshire ‘turned to stone’ in three to five months. After all, I had been told by my geology lecturers at university that stalactites and stalagmites take many thousands of years to form, so how could teddy bears petrify so quickly? … the most impressive petrified objects are now just two bulges sticking out of the flowstone. These are the remains of a Victorian top hat and a lady’s bonnet left at the waterfall in 1853—some 148 years ago! These hats are now completely covered in a thick layer of flowstone—so much for its taking thousands of years for such flowstone thicknesses to form!” (Monty White, Creation 24, no 3, June 2002, 48,49).

What is unfortunate about real evidence that indicates a shorter time for processes like petrification to take place, is the tendency of some to overlook such evidence as unworthy of mention. This would be the every-day attitude of those who see the need to cling to the idea of millions and billions of years of history for this planet and the universe. The thinking is that since they believe in evolution, there would need to be vast periods of time to elapse for it to take place. Such evolutionary-minded individuals would feel comfortable with the thought that given enough time combined with chance, anything is possible.

How long did it take God to create this earth, our solar system and the universe at large? The Bible says,

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11, NKJV correctly translates the Hebrew word heavens as plural).

God can do things fast if He wants to do so. The Bible indicates that He created Adam and Eve as mature young adults ready to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). When we see the finished product of something that has been created, we cannot tell when it was created unless it has the date of manufacture on it.

Unfortunately, those who have already decided to be in agreement with unscientific and unverified dating methods, don’t usually want to discuss the problems with these methods, and will cling to the millions and billions of years ideas—even though there is evidence from science of a young earth and universe.

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs. 28:26).