A Drop in Earth's Magnetic Field: A Threat to the Planet?

According to the article, "Shields Down! Earth's Mag Field May Drop In A Flash," reversed polarity in the planet's magnetic field could endanger life by interfering with electrical equipment on the ground, and posing a risk to passengers on aircraft. It could also short circuit satellites and even expose the planet to dangerous amounts of radiation existing in space. Some scientists believe that a reversal in the earth's magnetic field has taken place throughout the ages and that the last one occurred approximately 800,000 years ago. The article stressed that the reversal would probably have to last decades or longer in order to actually pose a threat to life on the planet. It also mentioned that there's a prediction of a possible flip in polarity within a few thousand years.

Do Earth's inhabitants really have any reason to be concerned? Certainly, exposure to abnormal amounts of radiation from space should be a dread to have to face; but there's reason to believe that scientist might be drastically wrong about such a prediction--at least within the time frame they give. First, it's doubtful that Earth has even existed for as long as 800,000 years. You don't have to be a scientist to know that something is wrong when "scientists" have changed the Earth's age several times. These changes indicate great uncertainty. Although, the biblical time line would make Earth only around 10,000 years old, many people aren't away of this fact. Others could simply care less how old Earth is unless speaking of predictions such as these. But, those who are interested should desire scientific fact that a lay person can understand.

If it's true that our planet hasn't even existed for 800,000 years, there could also be doubt as to whether scientists are correct when they speak of a possible flip in earth's magnetic field within a few thousand years. It's said that man can know that Earth is billions of years old because light from stars billions of light years away can be seen from the planet and that it would have taken this light billions of years to reach Earth. The first thing wrong with this thought is very easy to see. Who's to say the stars weren't created first and billions of years later the Earth in the path of their light which would already have traveled to where Earth sits? Second, a popular method for measuring stellar differences, the parallax method, is terribly flawed. It involves determining the distance of a distant star by comparing changes in its position as Earth rotates around the sun relative to the changes in position of a star known to be close to the planet such as Alpha Centauri. If the position of the near star changes only a little, the unknown star is said to be far away. If the position of the near and known star changes drastically, the unknown star is said to be close. There are serious flaws with this method. First, the Big Bang theory states that the universe is constantly expanding at rapid speeds. This means that the earth and other planets, and the sun and other stars are rapidly moving. How can moving things be accurately measured when stars only show as twinkles with the most powerful of microscopes? Also, gravitational belts in space cause light to bend. Consequently, a star that's 10,000 light years away can easily appear to be 200,000 light years in the distance. The polarity of Earth's magnetic field might be on the verge of flipping; but, if scientists are wrong regarding Earth's age, they might just be wrong regarding time frames for such a reversal.