Preface: The Post That Started This

In June 2026, Ken Ham's Facebook page carried a post claiming that most fossils formed during Noah's flood about 4,300 years ago. A comment was posted in response:

"this unnecessary theory sows discord and is a stumbling block for new christians.. nothing in the bible says that. it's a theory laid on top of scripture, but it isn't scripture.. you say Sola Scriptura - the shout of reformist against rome - that scripture is superior to tradition? you hypocrits - dont you see that this 4300 year theory is your own tradition which you make a requirement to be true for scripture to be correct? You grieve the holy spirit with your pride over this"

That comment is not polished. It was posted live, in a public group, during a real argument. But the charge is exact. A community that waves the Sola Scriptura banner was defending a 17th century calculation and a 20th century geological theory as though both were Scripture itself.

That is the contradiction this document examines.

The people in these exchanges are not enemies, and the reader must not be allowed to forget it for a single page. They love Scripture. They love Christ. Many of them have defended the faith in public at a cost most Christians never pay. This document is not interested in winning an argument against them. It is interested in asking one question honestly — of them, of the reader, and of the one writing it: are you doing to your own tradition what the Reformers accused the Church of Rome of doing? And have you noticed?