God could have started the earth's magnetic field in a very simple way. He could have created the earth's original atoms with some of their nuclear magnetic moments pointing in the same direction. In one plausible scenario, this would produce a magnetic field of dipole character about eighteen times stronger than the earth's present field. The alignment of nuclei would disappear in a short time, but the field would preserve itself by inducing an electric current in the earth's interior. The field strength would gradually diminish due to resistive losses, as Barnes has calculated. If the field has always decayed at the present rate, it would take about 6,000 years to reach its present strength. In other words, the initial value for the field is consistent with the observed decay rate and the scriptural time scale. It is a striking confirmation of the Biblical creation account.