Come on Bullfrog, I'm still working on the coral reefs issue....
As you note, Darwinist evolutionists requires the earth to be billions of years old for any chance for their theory to work. Actually time works against them but that’s another issue.
I had often thought it odd that mankind’s history of civilizations was only a few thousand years old. That did not make sense to me in an evolutionary sense. Humans are VASTLY unique with our culture, languages, music, ability to reason and think abstractly, realization of after life etc. If the earth were billions of years old then certainly the history of mankind would go back at least many millions of years, not a few thousand years just as indicated in the Bible.
I should have come to the realization that the earth can’t be billions of years old based upon my knowledge of Scripture…..but I didn’t. I needed proof…..In spite of apparent Biblical evidence I too used to believe the earth and universe was many billions of years old. After all, the scientists said so and we know the stars that we can see have to be measured in light years. I was a Christian and believed the Bible to be true so during this time in my early years I was a theistic evolutionist. Then when I was in my early 30s that I attended a creation seminar by young earth creationist Ken Ham. I suddenly had a paradigm shift. I heard many examples of proof of a young earth as well as proof that the earth cannot be millions, let alone billions of years old.
Genesis 1:29-30 says that animals and people were both created vegetarian. Thus mankind, Adam & Eve were not killing animals for food, nor were animals feeding on other animals. Genesis 1:31 tells us that our world was perfect (very good) when it was created. Because of Adam’s sin and its consequences, then and only then did death of man & animals enter the world. Romans 5:12 also refers to this. If I as a Christian accepts the evolutionary history of death over millions of years, then when God said that everything He had made was ‘very good’, this would mean that death, suffering, violence, and diseases like cancer were also ‘very good’. So, if millions of years are real, then the fossil record must predate sin. But fossils are the remains of dead creatures—therefore, millions of years entails that death predates sin, which in turn entails that death is not the result of sin which is contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 11:6-9 & 65:25 indicates there will be a time in the future with no bloodshed in the animal kingdom. These are the passages about a lion and calf, wolf and lamb, and a vegetarian lion and a non-harmful viper. These passages are a partial restoration to what it was like in Eden.
Now to the coral reef. When I did a search on this subject some scientists said there are examples where they have found that what was thought to be a millions of years old coral reef turned out to be a thick carbonate platform, likely deposited during Noah’s flood. The living reef growing on top was actually a thin layer. In other cases the reef did not grow in place from coral but it was move there by water. I don’t know if this applies to the example you saw on TV but my guess if this reef was examined by a young earth creationist marine biologist he/she would base their reasoning on their creationist view assumptions rather than Darwinian old age views and they would come up with a very different and logical explanation.
Here is a link relating to young earth creationists views on coral reefs:
How long does it take a coral reef to grow?I've read up on the stalagtite/mite issue in the past but I will have to get back to you....although I do seem to recall reading about stalagtites forming beneath some of our limestone monuments.... In addition, one has to remember the issue on "assumptions". Young earth creationists will assume their was once a great flood and there is lots of evidence other than the Bible to prove this. A catastrophic flood would cause a significant amount of mineral deposits and stalagtite formations that a non-flood long age believer would not take into consideration due to their own "assumptions"...
I'll get back to you on this but first I need to mess with my pond and take care of some honey-doos.....