Testing the theory
The first real test of the theory came out of a conversation I had with my sister on a flight to Oregon. Flying over the deserts of Utah, both my sister and I stared at the beautiful expanse of ridges and valleys. My sister, who had recently "found" God, asked me how I could look out the window at this beautiful landscape and not believe that it was created by God.
I answered using the knowledge that my past four years of geological education had given me. I told her that I understand how it was formed - The mountains are faulted layers of bedrock eroded by water for millions of years. The basins are the deposited erosion of the once much taller mountains.
Following this, she replied "But what do you think set these processes in action?"
I didn't think of this answer at the time, but I should have replied "Convection deep within the molten mantle of the earth."
It wasn't until returning to Indiana that I reexamined her questions and my answer. She believes that the beautiful geological landscape was created by God, and I believe it was created by the processes of tectonics and erosion. But these processes work so slowly that they require one very important aspect to be realized - Time. And so I thought, she believes in God, and I believe in Time...What if God really is just Time?