Science and the
Bible, Part 2: The
Worldwide Flood
Genesis 7:6-12
James Barr, Oriel Professor of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture,
Oxford University, England, in a letter to David C.C. Watson, 4-23-1984
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‘… probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of
Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class
university who does not believe that the writer(s) of
Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the
ideas that:
creation took place in a series of six days which were
the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience;
the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies
provided by simple addition a chronology from the
beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical
story; and
Noah’s flood was understood to be world-wide and
extinguish all human and animal life except for those
in the ark.’
Source of the Great Flood
• During the flood of Noah subterranean
fountains persisted for 150 days. (Gen
7:11-24)
• Spring water such as the famous Artesian
Wells originate from ancient underground
aquifers like the Ogallala aquifer, which
spans 8 states in the US.
• These buried waters are possibly a
remnants of the fountains of the great
deep that bursts forth during the Biblical
flood. (Chris Ashcraft)
Fountains of the Deep
In 1973, the TV personality and worldfamous diver Jacques Cousteau said:
“Were the crust of the earth to be leveled – with
great mountain ranges like the Himalayas and
the ocean abysses like the Mariana Trench
evened out – no land at all would show above
the surface of the sea. Earth would be covered
by a uniform sheet of water – more than 10,000
feet deep! So overwhelming the ocean seems to
be.”
-- Cousteau, J., The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau - Oasis In
Space, Angus & Robertson (U.K.) Ltd. London, England, p.17, 1973
Assuming mountains rose and deep
ocean trenches deepened (as suggested
by Ps. 104) towards the end of the flood
(Gen. 8), the 10,000 feet of water some
secular sources estimate would be plenty.
10,000 feet
Earth
• Psalm 104 (NASB95) 6 You covered
it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the
mountains … 8 The mountains rose;
the valleys sank down To the place
which You established for them. 9
You set a boundary that they may
not pass over, So that they will not
return to cover the earth.
Christian geologists and creation
scientists have suggested:
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Today’s highest mountains formed
toward the end and after the Flood
Tectonic plate collisions may have
contributed to upthrusting
It is interesting that uppermost
parts of Mt Everest contain fossilbearing, water-deposited layers,
including marine fossils near the
peak
Several of the following
slides are from an online
presentation by Chris
Ashcraft “Geology and the
Flood of Noah” and other
online presentations
(Thomas Kindell, etc.) at
below website:
Northwest Creation Network
http://nwcreation.net
Marine Fossils Everywhere
Marine fossils are found on almost every mountain range in
the world (Alps, Andes, etc.), and provide clear evidence that
the oceans covered them and the continents at one time.
Source of the Great Flood
Mid Oceanic Ridge / Lithosphere Plates
The flood possibly began when the earth's crust was fractured
releasing subterranean caverns of water and magma.
Mount St. Helens
The eruptions at Mt. St. Helens
were an important geological
event for creation science.
Rapid deposition and erosion
occurred providing a model of the
type of activity taking place during
the great Biblical flood of Noah.
Phil’s non-inspired comment: We don’t know the
extent of the seismic and volcanic activity
described in Genesis 7:11 except to know that the
breaking open of all these subterranean sources
was an unprecedented and unrepeatable unique
event on this planet. This destruction of God’s
creation is not something scientists observe today
anymore than God’s initial creation, and their
objections can’t prove but can only assume
uniformitarian naturalistic constants; i.e., things
must continue as they have since the beginning, all
changes are slow and there are no catastrophes
like Genesis 7.
God’s inspired Word: 2 Peter 3:3-6
• ‘Scoffers will come in the last days with
scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
They will say, “… all things are
continuing as they were from the
beginning of creation.” For they
deliberately overlook this fact … the world
that then existed was deluged with water
and perished.” (ESV)
What impact might this deluge have had?
‘In their catastrophic plate tectonics model for the
flood, Austin et al. have proposed that at the onset
of the flood, the ocean floor rapidly lifted up to
6,500 feet (2,000 meters) due to an increase in
temperature as horizontal movement of the
tectonic plates accelerated. This would spill the
seawater onto the land and cause massive
flooding—perhaps what is aptly described as the
breaking up of the “fountains of the great deep.”
… In the catastrophic plate tectonics model for the
flood, volcanic activity associated with the
breaking up of the pre-flood ocean floor would
have created a linear geyser (like a wall) of
superheated steam from the ocean, causing intense
global rain.’ (www.answersingenesis.org )
Catastrophic Plate Tectonics:
A Global Flood Model of Earth History
By (In alphabetical order)
Steven A. Austin, Ph.D.
Institute for Creation Research
P.O. Box 2667
El Cajon, CA 92021 USA
D. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D.
9301 Gutierrez, N.E.
Albuquerque, NM 87111 USA
Larry Vardiman, Ph.D.
Institute for Creation Research
P.O. Box 2667
El Cajon, CA 92021 USA
John R. Baumgardner, Ph.D.
1965 Camino Redondo
Los Alamos, NM 87544 USA
Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D.
Creation Science Foundation
P.O. Box 6302
Acacia Ridge D.D., Qld. 4110
AUSTRALIA
Kurt R. Wise, Ph.D.
Bryan College
P.O. Box 7585
Dayton, TN 57321-7100 USA
Model of catastrophic plate tectonics
after 25 days
How did animals after the flood get
to faraway islands, Australia, etc.?
Encyclopedia Britannica (online edition):
Six months after the eruption of a volcano on the island of
Surtsey off the coast of Iceland in 1963, the island had
been colonized by a few bacteria, molds, insects, and birds.
Within about a year of the eruption of a volcano on the
island of Krakatoa in the tropical Pacific in 1883, a few
grass species, insects, and vertebrates had taken hold. On
both Surtsey and Krakatoa, only a few decades had elapsed
before hundreds of species reached the islands. Not all
species are able to take hold and become permanently
established, but eventually the island communities stabilize
into a dynamic equilibrium.
Paul Taylor writes that the animals
“could have floated on vast floating logs, left-overs
from the massive pre-Flood forests that were ripped
up during the Flood and likely remained afloat for
many decades on the world’s oceans, transported by
world currents. Others could later have been taken by
people. Savolainen et al., have suggested, for example,
that all Australian dingoes are descended from a single
female domesticated dog from Southeast Asia. A third
explanation of possible later migration is that animals
could have crossed land bridges. This is, after all, how
it is supposed by evolutionists that many animals and
people migrated from Asia to the Americas—over a
land bridge at the Bering Straits. For such land bridges
to have existed, we may need to assume that sea levels
were lower in the post-Flood period—an assumption
based on a biblical model of the Ice Age …”
Michael Oard [retired scientist / Ice Age
researcher] suggests that even with present
topography, a number of significant land bridges
would have existed to facilitate migrations if the
sea level were only 180 ft below current levels.
[Did the ocean level rise after the ice age and/or
land bridges sink lower later?] However, there is
even evidence that the land in some places where
land bridges would be necessary could have been
higher still. Thus, land bridges facilitated by the
Ice Age constitute a serious model to explain how
some migrations could have been possible.
-- The New Answers Book, Chapter 11.
What’s more reasonable? An earthly
flood or a catastrophic flood on the
globe of the planet Mars?
“It is proposed that the rapid release of water under
great pressure from deeply buried aquifers is
responsible for the formation of the Martian channels
suggestive of catastrophic flooding (outflow
channels). Fine channels in the Martian surface
suggest the presence of surface water early in the
history of the planet, which would have entered the
ground water system … High pore pressures within
the aquifers are considered to have triggered the
breakout of water from the aquifers at rates of from
10 to the 5th to 10 to the 7th cu m/sec … also
considered to have caused the undermining of
adjacent areas and the collapse of the surface to form
areas of chaos, often associated with channels.”
Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 84, June 10, 1979, p. 2995-3007.
Continued: “It is here proposed that the large channels were
eroded by water released rapidly, under great pressure, from
deeply buried aquifers. Early in the planet's history the old
cratered terrain was probably highly permeable to depths of
several kilometers as a result of its volcanic origin …
Extensive dissection [canyons, etc.] of the old cratered terrain
by fine channels suggests that fluvial action was widespread
at that time and that warmer climatic conditions prevailed.
Much of the water which cut the fine channels was probably
removed from surface circulation and entered the
groundwater system … breakout of water from the aquifers
could have been triggered either by impact or by the pore
pressure reaching the lithostatic pressure … Outflow from the
aquifer probably caused undermining of the adjacent areas
and collapse of the surface to form chaos.”
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1979/JB084iB06p02995.shtml
Reuters, “Mars Calamity May have
Created Conditions for Life.” New
York Times, 16 March, 2001.
'The total release of gases from Tharsis magma
may have produced the equivalent of a global
layer of water nearly 400 feet deep … At the
very end of the Noachian epoch, volcanic activity
dissipated and carbon dioxide and water were
removed from the atmosphere by a combination of
factors…'
“I propose that the megaflood … incised the
crust more than 700 m, penetrated the
cryosphere, and triggered the release of
groundwater and genesis of secondary
chaos zones … At the time of the flood the
cryosphere thickness and groundwater
depth would have been 700 to 1000 m at
this location … of present day Mars.”
-- Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume
110, Issue E12, 09/2005
• A catastrophe “on Mars that produced a flood that the
newspaper actually refers to as a 'Noachian‘ [dictionary
= “relating to Noah or his time”] event.” There you have
it—a veritable Noah's Flood occurred on Mars!
• … Isn't it remarkable that this secular report has no
problem talking about a 'Noachian' event (global flood)
on Mars as a serious theory—but would scoff at the idea
of a global 'Noachian' event on Earth!
• These scientists are very happy to believe in a global
flood on a planet that as far as we know has no liquid
water at the present time, but scoff at even the mention
of a global Flood on a planet (Earth) that is mostly
covered by water!”
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/0327news.asp
A Question of Logic
How much liquid water has
been found on Mars? None
Three-fourths of the Earth is covered
with water, over 7 miles deep
Do evolutionists believe a worldwide
flood occurred on Earth?
No!
Are they unable to believe or
unwilling? (Read Romans 1)
What is this a picture of?
A canyon carved slowly over millions of years?
Palouse Canyon in southeastern Washington which was
eroded through solid basalt by Lake Missoula floods..
(
(Photo by Steven A. Austin)
Geologic Processes
The Little Grand Canyon of the Toutle River
Picture by Steve Austin, Ph.D. Geology
Geologic Processes
Palouse Falls Gorge, WA
Geologic Processes
Rapidly formed strata on the
North Fork of the Toutle River
Mount Saint Helens
Rapid canyon formation
Rapid sedimentation
Canyon in 6-Days
500 meters long
40 meters deep
Burlingame Canyon near Walla Walla, Washington
Catastrophism vs
Uniformitarianism
• Catastrophism - Prior to the 19th
century it was largely assumed by
geologists that catastrophes such as
the Biblical flood were responsible
for the majority of the earth’s
fossiliferous rock.
Is the Grand Canyon
evidence of a catastrophe
or millions of years of
erosion?
• Uniformitarianism - Around 1850 the
non-catastrophic view of earth’s
geology began to develop, which
suggested that gradual processes and
uniform intensities were instead
responsible.
Bias Against Catastrophism
In the 1920s Harlen Bretz
proposed that features in
eastern Washington must
have been formed by
flooding of catastrophic
proportion.
Channeled Scablands
The Missoula Flood
Glacial Lake Missoula covered
over 3,000 square miles of what
is now western Montana, and
was over 2,000 feet deep at the
edge of the glacial dam.
Giant Ripples
Rolling hills west of
Spokane are actually
giant ripples up to 30 feet
high and 250 feet apart.
Channeled Scablands
Harlen Bretz
The Seattle Times - 2/10/2003
Natural Wonders: Rock of Ages’ Roiling Tale
“Mystified by the forces that could have exposed such massive
features, Bretz set out in the early 1920s to solve the riddle. He returned
with a hypothesis that was dismissed as near lunacy: in a region that
sees less moisture in a year than Seattle gets in a month, Bretz concluded
the entire landscape was carved by water.”
“Bretz, according to some reports, was quickly isolated as a crank,
while his critics' theories continued to make it into textbooks. Fifty years
later, Bretz was hailed as a hero, and in 1979, at age 96, given geology's
highest honor — the Penrose Medal, which rewards one researcher each
year for exceptional contributions to geology.”
“Two years later, he passed away.”
Bretz Dedication Placque
Dry Falls Visitor Center
Rapid Strata
Formation
Touchet beds
Missoula Flood
Slackwater Deposits
Burlingame Canyon
Near Walla Walla, WA there
are up to 40 distinct rhythmite
layers exposed in the
Burlingame Canyon, that were
formed during the Missoula
Flood.
Rapid Strata Formation
at Mt. St. Helens
March 19, 1982
June 12, 1980
May 18, 1980
Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens
Stratified layers up to 400 feet thick formed as a result of landslides, air fall tephra,
pyroclastic flow, and mudflows, during the Mt. St. Helens eruptions.
Rapid Erosion at Mt. St. Helens
Little Grand Canyon
Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens
On March 19, 1982 a small eruption melted the snow causing a mud
flow, which eroded a canyon system up to 140 feet deep.
Rapid Erosion of Burlingame Canyon
In 1926 the
Burlingame Canyon
was observed to have
formed in less than
six days.
It measures 1500 feet
long, up to 120 feet
deep, and 120 feet
wide.
Burlingame Canyon
“Spilling from the crater, Loowit Falls reshapes the
north slope of the volcano. ‘You’d expect a
hardrock canyon to be thousands, even hundreds
of thousands of years old,’ says Peter Frenzen,
monument scientist, ‘but this was cut in less
than a decade.’” National Geographic, May 2000,
p. 121.
Rapid Erosion at Mt. St. Helens
Loowit Falls Canyon
Mt. St. Helens
100ft deep canyon in hard basaltic rock
formed on Mt. St. Helens from avalanches.
• Highly respected Westminster Seminary Hebrew
scholar E.J. Young asked why is it that ‘Whenever
“science” and the Bible are in conflict, it is always
the Bible that, in one manner or another, must give
way[?] We are not told that “science” should correct
its answers in the light of Scripture. Always it is the
other way round. Yet this is really surprising, for the
answers which scientists have provided have
frequently changed with the passing of time. The
“authoritative” answers of pre–Copernican scientists
are no longer acceptable; nor, for that matter, are
many of the views of twenty–five years ago.
’(E.J.
Young, Studies in Genesis One, 53)
Psalm 118:8
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in man
Jeremiah 17:5
Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man
who trusts in man”
v. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the
LORD”