Basic
Worldview:
103
Science, the Bible,
and Creation
Origins
- Section Four:
Global Flood Evidence
Origins - Section One: Introduction
and the Basics
Origins - Section Two: Premature
Dismissals
Origins - Section Two: Application
of the Basics
Origins - Section Three: Creation
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Origin of Life
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Environment for Life 1
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Environment for Life 2
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Another Planet
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Origin of Species
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Speciation Factors
Origins - Section Three: Evolution,
Speciation Rates
Origins - Section Four: Time and
Age, Redshift
Origins - Section Four: Philosophical
Preference
Origins - Section Four: Cosmological
Model 1
Origins - Section Four: Cosmological
Model 2
Origins - Section Four: Dating Methods,
Perceptions, Basics
Origins - Section Four: Global Flood
Evidence
Origins - Section Four: Relative
Dating
Origins - Section Four: Dating and
Circular Reasoning
Origins - Section Four: The Geologic
Column
Origins - Section Four: Radiometric
Dating Basics
Origins - Section Four: General
Radiometric Problems
Origins - Section Four: Carbon-14
Problems
Origins - Section Four: Remaining
Methods and Decay Rates
Origins - Section Four: Radiometric
Conclusions, Other Methods
Origins - Section Five: Overall
Conclusions, Closing Editorial
Origins - Section Five: List
of Evidences Table
Origins Debate Figures and
Illustrations
Focus
on Critical Evidence: Evidence for a Global Flood
In
our previous segment, we established from secular and evolutionary
sources that the catastrophism view of geologic history is
undeniable and actually affirmed by the alternative uniformitarian
view. With catastrophism as acknowledged fact even within
the uniformitarian view, the historical accounts of a catastrophic
worldwide flood become extremely relevant.
As
an introductory note, it must be stated that Judeo-Christian
tradition teaches the Flood was global, not regional or even
almost global. We wholly agree with that conclusion. However,
in order to facilitate considering the question of a massive
flood without first accepting the Biblical account wholesale,
the term “nearly-global” flood is also used below.
When
considering the evidence for a global or near-global flood,
the following key questions are extremely important. Why isn’t
a global or near-global flood accepted within uniformitarian
geology? Is a global Flood with a mass extinction incompatible
and unacceptable within uniformitarian geologic principles?
Does accepting a global Flood require accepting or believing
in God? Is there simply no evidence or not enough evidence
to support or suggest a global or near global Flood? Now we
will take a closer look at answering these questions.
First,
is a global Flood with a mass extinction incompatible and
unacceptable within uniformitarian geologic principles? The
answer here is a clear, “no.” A global or near-global
flood with a mass extinction is not incompatible or unacceptable
within uniformitarian principles. This fact is demonstrated
by 3 cases of precedent for what is already accepted within
uniformitarianism.
Number
one, as we have seen in our previous segment, the role of
major catastrophes in shaping geologic features is already
accepted within uniformitarianism. Charles Lyell took an extreme
position that made “no accommodation” for “past
conditions or events, which do not have modern counterparts.”
However, Lyell’s “extreme” position acknowledged
a role for catastrophic events, only if they did not exceed
what we see today.
“Geochronology,
Lyell's promulgation of uniformitarianism – Lyell, however, imposed some conditions on uniformitarianism that perhaps
had not been intended by Hutton: he took a literal approach
to interpreting the principle of uniformity in nature by assuming
that all past events must have conformed to controls exerted
by processes that behaved in the same manner as those processes
behave today. No accommodation was made for past conditions
that do not have modern counterparts. In short, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other
violent geologic events may indeed have occurred earlier
in Earth history but no
more frequently nor with greater intensity than today; accordingly,
the surface features of the Earth are altered very gradually by a series
of small changes rather than by occasional cataclysmic phenomena.
Lyell's contribution enabled the doctrine of uniformitarianism
to finally hold sway, even though it did impose for the time being
a somewhat limiting condition on the uniformity principle.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Modern
uniformitarianism and modern geology rejects Lyell’s
“extreme” position that violent geologic events
(such as massive volcanic activity, asteroids and meteorites,
and floods) only happened at their current rates and significance.
“Continental
landform, Historical survey, Landform theories of the 18th
and 19th centuries, Gradualism – Lyell's
almost total rejection of any geologic process that was abrupt
and suggestive of catastrophe, however, was in itself an extreme
posture. Research has shown that both gradual and rapid changes
occur.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe
Edition
“Continental
landform, Landform theories of the 18th and 19th centuries,
Catastrophism – During the late 18th and early 19th
century, the leading proponent of this view was the German mineralogist Abraham
Gottlob Werner. According to Werner, all of the Earth's
rocks were formed by rapid chemical precipitation from a “world
ocean,” which he then summarily disposed of in catastrophic
fashion. Though not directed toward the genesis of landforms
in any coherent fashion, his catastrophic philosophy of changes of
the Earth had two major consequences of geomorphic significance.
First, it indirectly led to the formulation of an opposing,
less extreme view by the Scottish scientist James Hutton in
1785. Second, it was in some measure correct: catastrophes
do occur on the Earth and they do change its landforms. Asteroid
impacts, Krakatoa-type volcanic explosions, hurricanes, floods,
and tectonic erosion of mountain systems all occur, may be
catastrophic, and can create and destroy landforms. Yet, not
all change is catastrophic.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Notice
from the last quote above that catastrophic floods are listed
side by side with such massive events as Asteroid impacts
and “Krakatoa-type volcanic explosions.” As a
side note, to provide some idea of the scale indicated by
the phrase “Krakatoa-type,” the quote below states
that Krakatoa is regarded as “one of the most catastrophic
in history.”
“Krakatoa
– Bahasa Indonesia Krakatau
volcano on Pulau (island) Rakata in the Sunda
Strait between Java
and Sumatra, Indonesia.
Its eruption in 1883
was one of the most catastrophic in history.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Consequently,
uniformitarianism not only can but does accept the role of
catastrophic volcanic activity, asteroids and meteorites,
hurricanes, and floods. So, there is nothing within uniformitarianism
that prevents the acceptance of a global or near-global flood.
“Geology,
II GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY, C Uniformitarianism
– Uniformitarianism contrasts with, for
example, the idea that
past events such as floods or earthquakes were caused by divine
intervention or supernatural causes. Catastrophism, which
calls on major catastrophes to explain earth's history, is
also sometimes contrasted with uniformitarianism. However,
uniformitarianism can include past catastrophes.”
– "Geology," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Number
two, the occurrence of major extinction events caused by huge
catastrophes is already accepted within uniformitarianism.
The quotes below, which we have seen before, establish that
there have been numerous major extinction events in the uniformitarian,
evolutionary view and that the dominant theories for these
extinction events have asserted catastrophes such as major
volcanic activity and a major asteroid impact as the causes.
“Geologic
Time, I INTRODUCTION – Most
boundaries in recent geologic time coincide with periodic
extinctions and appearances of new species…II DIVISION
OF TIME – An explosion of invertebrate life marks
the end of the Proterozoic and the beginning of the Phanerozoic. The Phanerozoic
Eon started 570 million years before present and continues
into the present…The
Phanerozoic Eon is divided into the Paleozoic (570 million
to 245 million years before present), Mesozoic (245 million
to 65 million years before present), and Cenozoic (65 million
years before present to present) Eras. The Paleozoic Era is divided into six periods.
From oldest to youngest they are the Cambrian (570 million
to 500 million years before present), Ordovician (500
million to 435 million years before present), Silurian (435
million to 410 million years before present), Devonian (410
million to 380 million years before present), Carboniferous
(380 million to 290 million years before present), and Permian
(290 million to 240 million years before present). The Paleozoic began with the appearance of many different life-forms,
which are preserved as abundant fossils in rock sequences
all over the world. It ended with the extinction of over 90
percent of all living organisms at the end of the Permian
Period. The cause of this event is currently unknown…The
Mesozoic began with the appearance of many new kinds of animals,
including the dinosaurs and the ammonites, or extinct relatives
of modern squid. The Mesozoic ended with another major extinction in which about 80 percent
of all living organisms died. This extinction may have
been the result of a large asteroid that crashed into the
earth on the present-day northern Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.”
– "Geologic Time," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Dinosaurs,
The search for dinosaurs, The K–T boundary event –
It was not only the dinosaurs that disappeared
65 million years ago at the Cretaceous–Tertiary, or
K–T, boundary. Many other organisms became extinct or
were greatly reduced in abundance and diversity, and the
extinctions were quite different between, and even among,
marine and terrestrial organisms…Whatever factors caused it, there was undeniably
a major, worldwide biotic change near the end of the Cretaceous…The asteroid theory – The discovery
of an abnormally high concentration of the rare metal iridium
at, or very close to, the K–T boundary provides what
has been recognized as one of those rare instantaneous geologic
time markers that seem to be worldwide…The asteroid
theory is widely accepted as the most probable explanation
of the K–T iridium anomaly, but it does not appear
to account for all the paleontological data…It is entirely possible that a culmination of ordinary biological changes
and some catastrophic events, including increased volcanic
activity, took place around the end of the Cretaceous.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Earth,
History of Earth – Several times in Earth's history,
there have been great extinctions, periods when many of Earth's
living things die out. The greatest of these events, called
the Permian extinction, happened about 250 million years ago.
Almost 90 percent of the species on Earth during the Permian
became extinct in a relatively short time. The cause of
this event is a mystery, though many
scientists suspect that huge volcanic eruptions in what is
now Siberia may have disturbed the climate, causing many organisms
to die out.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
Consequently,
since floods are listed as catastrophes acknowledged by uniformitarianism
and major catastrophes are also acknowledged as the cause
of major extinction events within uniformitarianism, there
is nothing in principle that prevents uniformitarianism from
accepting a global or near-global flood and an accompanying
mass extinction event.
Number
three, uniformitarianism already accepts that the world was
at times nearly and even completely covered by ice, which
is simply frozen water. Occasions when the entire earth was
covered by ice are referred to as “the snowball earth.”
“Earth
[planet], Earth's changing climate, The ice ages –
Throughout the history of Earth, the climate has changed many
times. Between 800 million and 600 million years ago, during
a time called the Precambrian, Earth experienced several extreme climate
changes called ice ages or glacial epochs. The climate grew so cold that some scientists believe Earth nearly or
completely froze several times. The theory that the entire
Earth froze is sometimes called the snowball Earth. Geologists
estimate that Earth experienced up to four such periods of
alternate freezing and thawing.” –
Worldbook, Contributor: Steven I. Dutch, Ph.D., Professor,
Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin,
Green Bay.
In
conformity to the uniformitarian principle in which feature-forming
processes are regular and normative, these ice ages are made
cyclical or recurring, as indicated by both the quote above
and the quotes below. Essentially repetition is thought to
be more in line with uniformity than unique catastrophe is.
“Fossil,
III WHERE FOSSILS FORM – The
global climate has also changed over geological time,
alternating between periods of warmth and
ice ages.” – "Fossil," Microsoft®
Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
"Atmosphere,
Development of the Earth's atmosphere, Sequence of events
in the development of the atmosphere, Variation in abundance
of carbon dioxide – The approximately hundredfold
decline of atmospheric CO2 abundances from 3,500,000,000 years ago to the present
has apparently not been monotonous. During that interval, numerous ice ages have come and gone.”–
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
It
should also be stated that geologists and evolutionists alike
have accepted the occurrence of global and near-global ice
ages even though the cause of the ice ages remains unknown.
Consequently, it would not be necessary for uniformitarians,
geologists, or evolutionists to identify an exact cause for
a global or near-global flood in order to accept it.
“Earth
[planet], Earth's changing climate, Why ice ages occur
– Scientists do not fully understand why Earth
has ice ages.” – Worldbook, Contributor: Steven
I. Dutch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Natural and
In
summary, we find that uniformitarianism accepts and asserts
the following concepts. Major catastrophes, including floods
comparable to asteroid impacts and Krakatoa-type volcanic
eruptions are accepted within uniformitarianism. Major extinction
events, which result from such catastrophes and in which 80
to 90 percent of the species on earth were wiped out is accepted
within uniformitarianism. Ice ages, in which a great deal
of the entire earth or even all of the earth to the equator
is covered with ice, are accepted within uniformitarianism
(even as occurring more than once throughout history) and
even though the cause of such ice ages is not fully understood.
It
should be stated that the creationist view holds that the
global flood was a singular historical event rather than a
cyclical or recurring phenomenon. However, the idea that the
world was entirely or nearly covered with water, resulting
in a mass extinction, is not incompatible with uniformitarianism,
particularly if such floods were viewed as cyclical or recurring.
Therefore, a global or nearly global Flood is compatible with
the uniformitarian view of earth history. Thus, in terms of
geologic principles, there are no grounds for uniformitarians,
geologists, or evolutionists to have to reject a global or
nearly-global flood out of hand.
So,
if there is no geologic principle for rejecting a global or
near-global flood, what reason is there to reject such a flood?
In the continuing effort to answer this, we move to our next
question.
Second,
does accepting a global Flood require accepting or believing
in God? What this question addresses is that, even if there
are no geologic principles requiring a global flood to be
rejected, perhaps a global flood is rejected on philosophical
grounds because it requires presuming the existence of a God.
In other words, maybe a global flood or near-global flood
is rejected because such an event could not occur unless one
first accepts the reality of divine beings.
However,
this is not true either. Accepting a global flood simply does
not require accepting the existence of divine beings.
As
we covered earlier in this article series, in the evolutionist,
naturalistic, and atheistic worldviews, religion is believed
to have originated as a way of explaining “natural events,
such as storms and earthquakes” by regarding such events
as the will of deities.
“Mythology
– Later in the
19th century the theory of evolution put forward by English
naturalist Charles Darwin heavily influenced the study of
mythology. Scholars excavated the history of mythology,
much as they would excavate fossil-bearing geological formations,
for relics from the distant past. This
approach can be seen in the work of British anthropologist
Edward Burnett Tylor. In
Primitive Culture (1871), Tylor organized the religious and philosophical
development of humanity into separate and distinct evolutionary
stages. Similarly,
British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer proposed a
three-stage evolutionary scheme in The Golden Bough (3rd edition,
1912-1915). According to Frazer's scheme, human beings first attributed natural
phenomena to arbitrary supernatural forces (magic), later
explaining them as the will of the gods (religion), and finally
subjecting them to rational investigation (science).”
– "Mythology," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Religion,
The origin of religion – The
earliest recorded evidence of religious activity dates from
only about 60,000 B.C. However, anthropologists and historians
of religion believe that some form of religion has been practiced
since people first appeared on the earth about 2 million years ago. Experts
think prehistoric religions arose out of fear and wonder about
natural events, such
as the occurrence of storms and earthquakes and the birth
of babies and animals. To explain why someone died, people credited supernatural powers greater
than themselves or greater than the world around them…Leading theories were developed by Edward Burnett Tylor, Friedrich Max
Muller, and Rudolf Otto.” – World Book 2005
There
are numerous examples from historic cultures where the natural
phenomena and natural catastrophes are attributed to deities.
Thunder was attributed to thunder gods.
“Germanic
religion and mythology, Mythology, The gods, Thor –
Thor is a god of very different stamp. Place-names, personal
names, poetry, and prose show that he was worshiped widely,
especially toward the end of the pagan period. Thor is described as Odin's son, but his
name derives from the Germanic term for “thunder.”
Like Indra and other Indo-European thunder-gods, he is
essentially the champion of the gods, being constantly involved
in struggles with the giants.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Indra
– chief of the Vedic gods of India. A warlike, typically Aryan
god, he conquered innumerable human and demon enemies, vanquished
the sun, and killed the dragon Vṛtra, who had prevented
the monsoon from breaking. His
weapons are lightning and the thunderbolt, and he is strengthened
for these feats by drinks of the elixir soma, the offering
of the sacrifice.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
Additional
“thunder gods” are also listed in the following
quotes where we see that storms were also attributed to storm
gods.
“Hadad
– Ha’dad, Haddad
(Phoenician, Semite, Syrian), Also
known as: Adad, Addu, Aleyn-Baal, Baal, Martu (Amorite),
Rimmon. Storm God. Originally, Hadad was a Syrian
deity but in cuneiform text he was called Addu, who as a chief
deity. Later, he was known as Rimmon, a thunder
god of air and storm…Hadad resembled Reseph in his thunder
god guise. Some say he is identical with Balmarcodes.
See also Adad (A);
Aleyn-Baal; Baal; Shaushka. – Haddad (Babylon)
see Adad; Hadad.” – Dictionary of Ancient Deities,
Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University
Press, New York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 200-201
“Tlaloc
– (Aztec People, Mexico),
Also known as: Atonatiuh, Chac (Mayan), Cocijo (Zapotec),
Dzaui (Mixtec), Muye (Otomi), Nahualpilli, Tohil (Quiche of
Guatemala). Tlaloc is the god of thunder, rain, moisture, and mountains…The
rain gods known as the Tlalocs are his children.”
– Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner &
Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New York,
New York, Copyright 2000, p. 469
“Pillan – Pilan (Araucanian People, Chile,
South America), Weather god. Thunder god.
After death, tribal chiefs, assuming the form of volcanoes,
were met by Pillan. Pillan’s activities cause lightning
and earthquakes.” – Dictionary of Ancient Deities,
Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University
Press, New York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 384
“Hawaiian
– The Hawaiians
held a vague belief in a future existence. They had
four principal gods—Kane, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono—and innumerable lesser gods and tutelary deities.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Lono – (Polynesia, Hawaii),
God of thunder, rain
and darkness. God of fertility. God of agriculture. God of
singing (in the Marquesas). One of the traid with Kane and
Ku. He is associated
with cloud signs and the phenomena of storms.” –
Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner & Charles
Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New York, New York,
Copyright 2000, p. 294
“Syrian
and Palestinian religion, Gods, mythology, and worldview,
Other early gods – At 3rd-millennium Ebla
the most important god was Dagan, “Lord of Gods”
and “Lord of the Land.” Other gods of Ebla included
El, Resheph, the storm god, Ishtar, Athtart, Chemosh, and the sun goddess…Little
is known of the religion of the Hurrians beyond the names
and general character of their chief gods: Teshub,
a storm god, and his consort Hepat; their son, Sharruma, also a storm god; the goddess Shaushka, identified with
the Mesopotamian Ishtar; and Kushukh and Shimegi, lunar and
solar deities, respectively. Hurrian mythology is known only
through Hittite versions. King Idrimi of Alalakh designates himself
‘servant of the storm god; of Hepat; and of Ishtar,
the Lady of Alalakh, my lady.’…Developments
in the 1st millennium BC – The
storm god, Hadad, appears as the chief god of the Aramaeans
in northern Syria in the
9th and 8th centuries. – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Indra
– Among his allies
are the Rudras (or Maruts), who ride the clouds and direct
storms…” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Cizin
– One aspect of the dualistic nature of the Mayan religion
is symbolically portrayed in the existing codices, which show
Cizin uprooting or destroying trees planted by Chac,
the rain god.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Chac
– Chaac (Maya People, Yucatan),
Also known as: “B” (possibly) Xib Chac. Rain god. Patron of agriculture. Chac is analogous to the Aztec
god Tlaloc. The Mayas sacrificed to Chac for rain.”
– Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner &
Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New York,
New York, Copyright 2000, p. 120
Volcanic
eruptions and volcanic activity were attributed to volcano
gods.
“Volcano
– People have
always been both fascinated by the spectacle of volcanic eruptions
and terrified of their power. Eruptions have caused some
of the worst disasters in history, wiping out entire towns
and killing thousands of people. In early times, volcanoes played a role in the religious life of some
peoples. The word volcano, for example, comes from Vulcan,
the name the ancient Romans gave to their god of fire. The
Romans believed the god lived beneath a volcanic island off
the Italian coast. They called the island Vulcano.”
– Contributor: David I. Kertzer, Ph.D., Paul Dupee University
Professor of Social Science and Professor of Anthropology
and Italian Studies, Brown University.
“Vulcan
– in Roman religion,
god of fire, particularly in its destructive aspects as volcanoes
or conflagrations. Poetically, he is given all the attributes
of the Greek Hephaestus (q.v.). His worship was very ancient,
and at Rome
he had his own priest (flamen). His
chief festival, the Volcanalia, was held on August 23 and
was marked by a rite of unknown significance: the heads of
Roman families threw small fish into the fire.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Vulcano
Island – southernmost island of the Lipari
Islands (Isole Eolie), in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off northern
Sicily, in Italy. Vulcano Island contains several volcanoes, including Gran Cratere,
or Fossa Vecchio, which is still active…According to classical mythology, the forges of Vulcan, the god of fire,
were on one of these volcanoes.” – "Vulcano Island," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Vulcan
– (Latin Volcanus), in
Roman mythology, the god of fire. Originally
an old Italian deity who seems to have been associated with
volcanic fire, Vulcan was identified with the Greek god Hephaestus
in classical times. At Rome
his festival, the Volcanalia, was celebrated on August 23.
He was particularly revered at Ostia,
where his was the principal cult.” – "Vulcan,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Vulcan
– Vulcan was originally a god of fire, especially fire
as a destructive force. The English word volcano comes from
the Italian form of Vulcan's name. Vulcan
came to be identified with the Greek god Hephaestus and
thus became associated with metalworking and craftwork.”
– Contributor: Daniel P. Harmon, Ph.D., Professor and
Chairman, Department of Classics, University
of Washington.
“Hephaestus
– As god of fire,
Hephaestus became the divine smith and patron of craftsmen;
the natural volcanic or gaseous fires already connected with him were
often considered to be his workshops…His Roman counterpart
was Vulcan.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Hephaestus
– in Greek mythology,
god of fire and metalwork, the son of the god Zeus and
the goddess Hera, or sometimes the son of Hera alone…His
workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in
Sicily. Hephaestus is often identified with
the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.” – "Hephaestus,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Hephaestus
– was the blacksmith of the gods in Greek mythology…The Greeks associated Hephaestus with volcanic
areas, especially the island
of Limnos (also spelled
Lemnos).” – Worldbook, Contributor: F. Carter
Philips, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Classics, Vanderbilt University.
“Pillan
– Pilan (Araucanian People,
Chile, South America),
Weather god. Thunder god. After
death, tribal chiefs, assuming the form of volcanoes, were
met by Pillan. Pillan’s activities cause lightning
and earthquakes.” – Dictionary of Ancient Deities,
Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University
Press, New York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 384
“Fuji,
Mount – Japanese Fuji-san, also called Fujiyama,
or Fuji No Yama, highest mountain in Japan, rising to 12,388
feet (3,776 m) near the Pacific coast in Yamanashi and Shizuoka
ken (prefectures), central Honshu, about 60 miles (100 km)
west of Tokyo. It is
a volcano that has been dormant since its last eruption in
1707 but is still generally classified as active by geologists.
The mountain's name, of Ainu origin, means “everlasting
life.” Mount Fuji, with its graceful conical form, has
become famous throughout the world and is considered the sacred
symbol of Japan.
Among Japanese there
is a sense of personal identification with the mountain, and
thousands of Japanese climb to the shrine on its peak every
summer.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe
Edition
“Fuji – (Japan), Sun goddess. Mountain goddess. Fire goddess. Goddess
of the hearth. In one legend Fuji is a female and Mt. Haku
(a male) who stands higher…Fuji
was probably a volcano goddess of Mount Fujiyamma.”
– Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner
& Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New
York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 182
“Kilauea
– During the 19th century, the main floor of Kilauea's
caldera went through several periods of lava filling and collapse.
By 1919 it assumed its present depth of 500 feet (150 m).
The floor, paved with recent lava flows, contains the Halemaumau
(“Fern House”) Pit, an
inner crater that is Kilauea's
most active vent. Halemaumau
is the legendary home of Pele, the Hawaiian fire goddess.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Hawaii – Among the lava features associated with volcanic eruptions are Pele's
hair and Pele's tears, which are named for the Hawaiian goddess
of volcanoes. Pele's hair is formed when small particles
of molten material are thrown into the air and spun out by
the wind into long hair-like strands. Pele's tears are formed
when the particles fuse into tearlike drops of volcanic glass.”
– "Hawaii
(state)," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
As
an interesting side point, notice that the eruptions of Pele,
the goddess inhabiting the Kilauea
volcano, is attributed in two different ways to a flood. Even
in this aspect, the correlation of massive volcanic activity
and the Biblical global Flood are reflected. We will cover
this issue in more detail later on.
“Pele
– (Hawaiian, Polynesian), Mother goddess. Fire Goddess.
Goddess of the Kilauea volcano. Goddess of Dance. Pele, the goddess of
the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii, erupts when she is angry…There are several versions of her arrival
in Hawaii; she was expelled from her distant homeland;
she was driven to the island by a flood;
she was driven out of Kahiki (Tahiti) by her sister; she went
in search of her brother Kamo-hoali’i: or that she simply
loved to travel. It is said that she caused the flood when
sea water poured from her head while searching for the
husband who deserted her.” – Dictionary of Ancient
Deities, Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford
University Press, New York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 377
Moving
forward, we can also see that earthquakes were attributed
to earthquake gods.
“Nature
worship, Heaven and earth as sacred spaces, forces, or processes,
Earth, Earthquakes – According
to the beliefs of many peoples, earthquakes originate
in mountains. In areas of Africa where the concept of mana
is particularly strong, many believe that the dead in the underworld are the causes of earthquakes,
though in the upper Nile basin
of The Sudan and
in East Africa an earth deity is sometimes blamed…
Generators of earthquakes
also may be the gods of the underworld, such as Tuil, the
earthquake god of the inhabitants of the Kamchatka
Peninsula,
who rides on a sleigh under the earth.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Tuil
– (Kamchatka
Peninsula,
Sibera), God of earthquakes. He rides his sleigh beneath the earth. Tuil
can be convinced to go elsewhere with his sleigh by poking
holes in the ground with a very sharp stick of the proper
length.” – Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia
Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press,
New York, New York, Copyright 2000, p. 476
“Nereid
– in Greek religion, any of the daughters (numbering
50 or 100) of the sea god Nereus (eldest son of Pontus, a
personification of the sea) and of Doris, daughter of Oceanus
(the god of the water encircling the flat Earth)…the
best known of the Nereids were Amphitrite, consort of Poseidon (a sea and earthquake god)…”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“[CHART]
GREEK NAME: Poseidon,
ROMAN NAME: Neptune,
ROLE IN MYTHOLOGY: God of the sea and earthquakes.”
– "Ancient Roman and Greek Gods," Microsoft®
Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
“Poseidon
– was the Greek
god of the sea, earthquakes,
and horses.” – Worldbook, Contributor: Nancy Felson,
Ph.D., Professor of Classics, University of Georgia.
“Cizin
– also spelled Kisin (Mayan: “Stinking One”),
Mayan earthquake god and god of death,
ruler of the subterranean land of the dead.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Pillan
– Pilan (Araucanian People,
Chile, South America),
Weather god. Thunder god. After death, tribal chiefs, assuming
the form of volcanoes, were met by Pillan. Pillan’s
activities cause lightning and earthquakes.” –
Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner & Charles
Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New York, New York,
Copyright 2000, p. 384
“Poseidon
– (Greek; possibly Indo-European origin), Poseidon is
the Greek god of the sea. God of rivers (in Thessaly).
Patron of horse racing. One of the twelve great Olympians.
Poseidon is the son of Cronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus, Hades,
Hera and Hestia…He is usually depicted seated in a chariot
as he is drawn across the sea by horses, holding a trident
in his hand (used for creating earthquakes).” –
Dictionary of Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner & Charles
Russell Coulter, Oxford University Press, New York, New York,
Copyright 2000, p. 387-388
And
eclipses were attributed to gods as well.
“Nature
worship, Celestial phenomena as objects of worship or veneration,
Eclipses of the sun and moon – An
eclipse of the sun or moon—usually interpreted as a
battle between the two heavenly bodies or as the dying or
the devouring of one of the two—in many religions
is met with anxiety, shouting, drum beating, shooting, and
other noises. Many
Native Americans, the Khoisan in Africa, the Ainu in Japan,
and the Minangkabau in Sumatra
interpret the eclipse as the fainting, sickness, or death
of the darkened heavenly body. In
Arctic North America, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Tlingit believe
that the sun and moon have moved from their places in order
to see that things are going right on earth. The explanation
that heavenly monsters and beasts pursue the stars and attempt
to injure and to kill them, however, is a view found over
a larger area. Noise and shooting are believed to deter
the monsters from their pursuit or to force them to return
the celestial bodies if they have already been captured. In parts of China
and in Thailand
the monster is the heavenly dragon; in other Chinese regions
and among the Germanic tribes and northern American Indians
the culprits are dogs and wolves (coyotes); in Africa and
Indonesia
they are snakes; in
India they are the star monsters Rahu and Ketu;
and in South America
the beast is the jaguar. The
belief in the darkening of one star by the other in a battle—e.g.,
between the sun god Lisa and the moon goddess Gleti in Benin—is about as widespread.
An eclipse may also
be interpreted (as in Tahiti)
as the lovemaking of sun and moon, who thus beget the stars
and obscure each other in the process.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Rahu
– Bhangi (Cambodia;
Hindu; India),
Originally a Daitya, this
monster demon, know as “The Grasper,” causes eclipses by eating the sun.” – Dictionary of
Ancient Deities, Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter,
Oxford University Press, New York, New York, Copyright 2000,
p. 397
In
summary, the point here is very simple. In all of these cases,
evolutionists, uniformitarians, atheists, and naturalists
alike accept that ancient peoples did indeed experience such
natural events. They simply reject the supernatural cause
that these people ascribe to these events. Accepting that
such events occurred does not require belief in divine beings
or require accepting ancient people’s explanation that
the cause was divine.
Consequently,
accepting major catastrophes, accepting major extinction events
caused by catastrophes, and even accepting that the earth
was covered with ice does not require belief in the existence
of divine beings. Nor does accepting the occurrence of a global
flood, on its own, require belief in the existence of divine
beings. Uniformitarians, evolutionists, atheists, and naturalists
could very well accept the occurrence of the natural event
itself while rejecting the attribution of that event to a
deity as a mere “primitive” explanation, just
as they do wholesale all the time. Their underlying, foundational
philosophies simply do not prevent accepting a global or near-global
flood. As such, a global or nearly global Flood is compatible
with atheistic and even evolutionary views about religion
and there is no philosophical reason to reject a global or
near-global flood out of hand.
So,
if there is no geologic principle and no philosophical reason
to reject a global or near-global flood, why is such a flood
rejected? This leads us to our next question.
Third,
is there simply no evidence or not enough evidence to support
or suggest a global or near global Flood? Since the Flood
cannot be rejected on the grounds that it is compatible with
both evolutionary, atheistic, and uniformitarian views, maybe
it is rejected because there is simply no evidence for it.
But this is simply not the case either. There are 2 strong
lines of evidence that here was a global or near-global flood,
the historical record and geological evidence.
In
light of the fact that evolutionist and uniformitarians do
not reject other natural phenomena described in “primitive”
cultures as the work of deities, the question arises as to
why, with so much testimony from cultures all around the world,
a global-flood is rejected out of hand? With no geologic principles
or philosophical grounds for rejecting a flood, why not simply
accept the widespread testimony for such a flood? Why ignore
the historic testimony of people who were there when there
is no principle that prevents doing so?
The
simple fact is that the event of a global or near-global flood
is dramatically attested to by cultures from all around the
world, as the quotes below will indicate. And it is also important
to state, as noted in some of the quotes below, that these
tales of a global flood from other cultures are not derived
from the Biblical texts but appear to be independent traditions
that predate the writing of the book of Genesis. Furthermore,
the fact that the cultures reporting this massive flood are
distributed all around the known world rules out the possibility
of only a local flood limited to one particular region or
portion of a continent. Moreover, the Old Testament Jewish
account, the Mesopotamian Atrahasis, the Sumerian Ziusudra,
the Greek Deucalion, the Armenian legend, and the Hawaiian
legend all specifically include that the survivors were warned
in advance by the gods to build a boat to escape the flood.
This also indicates that the flood was not merely local or
regional because, if that was the case, then gods could have
warned the survivors to leave in advance and escape over land.
What is essential here is that these points prove that the
cultures telling the legends understood the flood to be global,
not merely local or regional and they reported the stories
as global floods. To reinterpret them in modern times to mere
“regional tales” of “local floods”
is not accurate to the legends themselves.
In
Mesopotamia, we find more
than one legend of a massive global flood. The first, and
probably most famous, is the
Epic of Gilgamesh.
“Noah
– also spelled Noe, the
hero of the biblical Flood story in the Old Testament book
of Genesis, the originator of vineyard cultivation, and,
as the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the representative
head of a Semitic genealogical line…The story of the Flood has close affinities with Babylonian traditions
of apocalyptic floods in which Utnapishtim plays the part
corresponding to that of Noah. These mythologies are the
source of such features of the biblical Flood story as the
building and provisioning of the ark, its flotation, and the
subsidence of the waters, as well as the part played by the
human protagonist. Tablet
XI of the Gilgamesh epic introduces Utnapishtim, who, like
Noah, survived cosmic destruction by heeding divine instruction
to build an ark…Despite the
tangible similarities of the Mesopotamian and biblical myths
of the flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic
perspective.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Gilgamesh
– The fullest
extant text of the Gilgamesh epic is on 12 incomplete Akkadian-language
tablets found at Nineveh in the library
of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–627 BC).
The gaps that occur in the tablets have been partly filled
by various fragments found elsewhere in Mesopotamia and Anatolia. In addition, five short poems in the Sumerian
language are known from tablets that were written during the
first half of the 2nd millennium BC…The Gilgamesh of
the poems and of the epic tablets was
probably the Gilgamesh who ruled at Uruk in southern Mesopotamia
sometime during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC and
who was thus a contemporary of Agga, ruler of Kish; Gilgamesh
of Uruk was also mentioned in the Sumerian list of kings as
reigning after the Flood…Afterward, Gilgamesh made a
dangerous journey (Tablets IX and X) in search of Utnapishtim,
the survivor of the Babylonian Flood, in order to learn
from him how to escape death. He
finally reached Utnapishtim, who told him the story of the
Flood and showed him where to find a plant that
would renew youth (Tablet XI). But after Gilgamesh obtained
the plant, it was seized by a serpent, and Gilgamesh unhappily
returned to Uruk.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Middle
Eastern religion, Middle Eastern worldviews and basic religious
thought, Views of man and society – In the ancient
Middle Eastern worldview, gods could become mortal, and men
could become gods. Utnapishtim, the hero of the Babylonian Flood story…After the Flood the biblical Noah won God's
goodwill, for “the Lord smelled the pleasing odor”
(Genesis 8:21) of the tasty flesh and fowl offered up to him.
Noah was following a long tradition, for
Utnapishtim (Gilgamesh epic 11:155–161) had, after the Flood, offered sacrifices and libations to the gods who
“crowded like flies” as they “smelled the
sweet savor.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Mesopotamian
religion, The literary legacy: myth and epic, Akkadian literature
Epics
– The Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh seems to
have been composed in Old Babylonian times but was reworked
by a certain Sin-leqe-unnini later in
the 1st millennium BC…After
many adventures he reaches his ancestor Utnapishtim, to
whom the gods have granted eternal life, but his case proves
to be a unique one and so of no help to Gilgamesh. Utnapishtim
was rewarded for having saved human and animal life at the
time of the great Flood. Eventually, just as Gilgamesh
is ready to return home, he is told about a plant that rejuvenates
and transforms old people into children. Gilgamesh finds it
and begins his return journey. But, as the day is warm, when
he passes an inviting pool he leaves his clothes and the plant
on the shore and goes in for a swim. A serpent smells the
plant, comes out of its hole, and eats it.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Deluge
– Stories about
great floods occur in the religious tradition of many peoples.
A famous account is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia.
Many scholars believe the Mesopotamian and Biblical accounts
are related.” – Contributor: H. Darrell Lance,
Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Old Testament Interpretation, Colgate
Rochester/Bexley/Crozer Theological Seminary.
“Gilgamesh
Epic – an important Middle Eastern literary work,
written in cuneiform on 12 clay tablets about
2000BC…After
Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh seeks out the wise man Utnapishtim
to learn the secret of immortality. The sage recounts to Gilgamesh
a story of a great flood (the details of which are so remarkably
similar to later biblical accounts of the flood that scholars
have taken great interest in this story). After much hesitation,
Utnapishtim reveals to Gilgamesh that a plant bestowing eternal youth is in the sea. Gilgamesh dives into
the water and finds the plant but later loses it to a serpent
and, disconsolate, returns to Uruk to end his days.”
– "Gilgamesh Epic," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The
second Mesopotamian legend of a massive flood is the legend
of Atrahasis.
“Judaism,
The Judaic tradition, Jewish myth and legend, Sources and
development, Myth and legend in the Old Testament, Myths
– Old Testament myths are found mainly in the first 11 chapters of Genesis,
the first book of the Bible…The basic stories are derived from the popular lore of the ancient Middle
East and can be paralleled in the extant literature of the
peoples of the area…Again,
the story of the Deluge, including the elements of the ark
and the dispatch of the raven and dove, appears already in
the Babylonian myths of Gilgamesh and Atrahasis.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Mesopotamian
mythology – Other
Mesopotamian myths include the story of Atrahasis, a wise
man who was saved from the Flood after being warned by one
of the gods to build a ship to save himself.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Mesopotamian
religion, The literary legacy: myth and epic, Akkadian literature,
Myths – Also
important is an Old Babylonian ‘Myth of Atrahasis,’
which, in motif, shows a relationship with the account of
the creation of man to relieve the gods of toil in the ‘Enki
and Ninmah’ myth, and with a Sumerian account of the Flood in the ‘Eridu Genesis’…With
this, however, Enlil's patience was at an end and he thought of the Flood as a means
to get rid of humanity once and for all. Enki, however, warned
Atrahasis and had him build a boat in which he saved himself,
his family, and all animals. After the Flood had abated and
the ship was grounded, Atrahasis sacrificed, and the hungry
gods, much chastened, gathered around the offering…The
myth uses the motif of the protest of the gods against their
hard toil and the creation of humans to relieve it, which
was depicted earlier in the Sumerian myth of “Enki and Ninmah,”
and also the motif of the Flood, which occurred in the ‘Eridu
Genesis.’” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
The
Sumerians also had a flood legend involving a hero named Ziusudra.
“Shuruppak
– Shuruppak was
celebrated in Sumerian legend as the scene of the Deluge,
which destroyed all humanity except one survivor, Ziusudra.
He had been commanded by a protecting god to build an ark,
in which he rode out the disaster, afterward re-creating
man and living things upon the earth, and was himself endowed
with eternal life. Ziusudra
corresponds with Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh epic and with
the biblical Noah.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
Armenia
also has a flood legend. Notice from the last line of the
quote that all of the “first race of humans” is
reported to have been destroyed by this flood, which indicates
the flood was global, not limited to merely one local group.
“Ararat,
Mount – Ararat
traditionally is associated with the mountain on which Noah's
Ark came to rest at the end of the Flood…Ararat is sacred
to the Armenians, who believe themselves to be the first race
of humans to appear in the world after the Deluge.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Phrygia
in Asia Minor also has a
flood legend. Notice once again that the flood is reported
to have “destroyed humanity,” which indicates
that the flood was global and not limited to one population.
“Konya – Konya is one of the oldest urban centres in the
world; excavations in Alâeddin Hill in the middle of the
city indicate settlement dating
from at least the 3rd millennium BC. According to a Phrygian
legend of the great flood, Konya
was the first city to rise after the deluge that destroyed
humanity.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Phrygia
– ancient district
in west-central Anatolia, named after a people whom the Greeks
called Phryges and who dominated Asia
Minor between the Hittite collapse (12th century BC) and the Lydian ascendancy
(7th century BC).
The Phrygians, perhaps of Thracian origin,
settled in northwestern Anatolia
late in the 2nd millennium…This early civilization borrowed
heavily from the Hittites, whom they had replaced, and established
a system of roads later utilized by the Persians. About 730
the Assyrians detached the eastern part of the confederation,
and the locus of power shifted to Phrygia proper under the rule of the legendary king Midas.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Greece
also has a flood legend. And in the Greek version, “the
human race” is destroyed, indicating that the phenomenon
was not limited to just a local population.
“Lycaon
– in Greek mythology, a legendary king of Arcadia. Traditionally, he was an impious
and cruel king who tried to trick Zeus, the king of the gods,
into eating human flesh. The
god was not deceived and in wrath caused a deluge to devastate
the earth.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Deucalion
– in Greek mythology,
son of the Titan Prometheus. Deucalion
was king of Phthia in Thessaly
(Thessalia) when the god Zeus, because of the wicked ways
of the human race, destroyed them by flood. For nine days
and nights Zeus sent torrents of rain. Only Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, survived
drowning. They were saved because they were the only people
who had led good lives and remained faithful to the laws of
the gods. Having been warned by his father, Prometheus, of
the approaching disaster, Deucalion built a boat, which carried
him and Pyrrha safely to rest atop Mount Parnassus. The oracle at Delphia
commanded them to cast the bones of their mother over their
shoulders. Understanding this to mean the stones of the earth,
they obeyed, and from the stones sprang a new race of people.”
– "Deucalion," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Deucalion
– was the "Noah"
of Greek mythology. He was the son of Prometheus, who
was a member of the earliest race of gods, called Titans.
When Zeus decided to
destroy all human beings by a flood because of their wickedness,
Prometheus warned Deucalion and Deucalion's wife, Pyrrha.
He told them to build a wooden ark. They floated in this ark
for nine days until they landed on the top of Mount
Parnassus.
When the water went down, they were the only living creatures
left on the earth…Deucalion and Pyrrha became the
ancestors of the Greeks through their son Hellen, for whom
the Hellenes (Greeks) were named.” – Contributor:
William F. Hansen, Ph.D., Professor of Classical Studies and
Folklore, Indiana University.
Moving
farther away, China also has a legend of a massive
flood. Notice that Chinese history begins with their civilization
starting after a massive flood.
“Ta
Yu – Pinyin Da Yu (Chinese: “Yü the Great”),
in Chinese mythology, the Tamer of the Flood,
one of China's
saviour-heroes and reputed founder of China's oldest dynasty, the
Hsia. One legend among
many recounts Ta Yü's extraordinary birth: a
man called Kun was given charge of controlling a great deluge.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“The
Chinese have a story…it’s one of the oldest
stories in the world. It says the father of their civilization
is a guy named Fuhi. The story says that Fuhi, his wife, three
sons and three daughters escaped a great flood. After the
flood, they were the only people alive on earth and they repopulated
the world.” – “Dinosaurs and the Bible,”
Dr. Kent E. Hovind, Creation Science Evangelism, Pensacola,
FL, www.drdino.com, Windows Media Video, 15 minutes, 15 seconds
Even
farther away, moving off of the Asian continent, we find flood
legends in North, Central, and South
America. Notice from the Central and South American
legends in particular that all of the world and all of the
previous population of mankind are destroyed, further indicating
that the flood was experienced by all of humanity, not just
regional groups.
“Iroquois
– An elaborate
Iroquois cosmology was based on the myth of a woman who
fell from the sky, and it featured deluge and earth-diver motifs.
No other tribes showed
such a preoccupation in their mythology with supernatural
aggression and cruelty, sorcery, torture, and cannibalism.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Pre-Columbian
civilizations, Meso-American civilization, Pre-Classic and
Classic periods, Late Classic Lowland Maya (600–900),
Classic Maya religion, Creation – The Maya, like other
Middle American Indians, believed that several worlds had
been successively created and destroyed before the present
universe had come into being. The
Dresden Codex holds that
the end of a world will come about by deluge: although
the evidence derived from Landa's Relación and from the Quiché
Popol Vuh is not clear, it is likely that four worlds preceded
the present one. People were made successively of earth (who,
being mindless, were destroyed), then of wood (who, lacking
souls and intelligence and being
ungrateful to the gods, were punished by being drowned in
a flood or devoured by demons), and finally of a corn
gruel (the ancestors of the Maya).” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Pre-Columbian
civilizations, Meso-American civilization, Aztec culture to
the time of the Spanish conquest, Aztec religion, Cosmogony
and eschatology – The Aztec believed that four worlds had
existed before the present universe. Those worlds, or
“suns,” had
been destroyed by catastrophes. Humankind
had been entirely wiped out at the end of each sun. The present
world was the fifth sun, and the Aztec thought of themselves
as ‘the People of the Sun.’…The fourth sun, Nahui-Atl, “Four-Water,” ended in a gigantic
flood that lasted for 52 years. Only one man and one woman survived, sheltered in a huge cypress.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Arts,
Native American, Literature, Oral literatures, North American
cultures: Southwest, Eastern Woodlands, and Plains, Plains
– The last of the Plains tribes, the Comanche, believe that the Great
Spirit created some people, but that there were white people
existing before them. A flood washed these white people away,
and they turned into white birds and flew away. A secondary
spirit was then sent to create the Comanche.” –
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Arts,
Native American, Literature, Oral literatures, Middle American
cultures – The Aztecs
of the Toltec period had four mythological eras: those of
(1) the Water Sun, which was destroyed by flood…The Inca civilization of Peru has been
added to the higher cultures of Meso-America because it resembles
them more closely than it does its neighbours, the simpler
tribes of South America. As far back as mythological history
can be traced, the Incas have worshiped Viracocha, the creator.
He was the omnipotent being who took part in every mythological
incident…In all
of these myths the flood is present, which requires the recreation
of man after each incident.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“The
Toltec Indians in Mexico
have a legend that says ‘the
first world lasted 1716 years and was destroyed by a flood
that covered the highest mountains.’ Only one family
named Coxcox survived.” – “Dinosaurs
and the Bible,” Dr. Kent E. Hovind, Creation Science
Evangelism, Pensacola, FL, www.drdino.com, Windows Media Video,
15 minutes, 40 seconds
Even
as far away as Hawaii,
there are flood legends.
“The
Hawaiian’s had
a legend that said, “Long after the death of Kuniuhonna,
the first man, the world became a wicked terrible place to
live. There was one good man left; his name was
Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled
it with animals. The waters came up over all the earth and
killed all the people. Only Nu-u and his family were saved.”
– “Dinosaurs and the Bible,” Dr. Kent E.
Hovind, Creation Science Evangelism, Pensacola, FL, www.drdino.com,
Windows Media Video, 14 minutes, 40 seconds
In
conclusion, the destruction of the world by a massive if not
global flood is attested to by a variety of independent ancient
sources around the world, as the following sources all summarize.
Notice that the last quote below also includes the Japanese
as having flood legends, which is a group that was not covered
in the quotes above.
“Today
there are 270 surviving flood legends…in many cultures that have never heard of the Bible.” –
“Dinosaurs and the Bible,” Dr. Kent E. Hovind,
Creation Science Evangelism, Pensacola, FL, www.drdino.com,
Windows Media Video, 14 minutes, 40 seconds
“Religious
myths – The
tale of man's creation and moral decline forms part of the
myth of the Four Ages (see below Myths of the ages of
the world). His subsequent
destruction by flood and regeneration from stones is partly
based on folktale.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Creation
Stories – When
the gods decide to destroy their human creations, they do
so by sending a flood (see Ancient
Middle Eastern Religions; Deluge).” – "Creation
Stories," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Nature
worship, Elements and forces of nature, Water, Water as primal
matter – Myths of a great flood (the Deluge) are widespread
over Eurasia and America.
This flood, which destroys with a few exceptions
a disobedient original population, is an expiation by
the water, after which
a new type of world is created.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Deluge
– A number of
ancient nations had folklore that predated the Bible and also
made reference to the great flood. An example is the Gilgamesh
Epic, an ancient Babylonian story dating from 2000BC and
written on 12 cuneiform tablets. It concerns a ruler (Gilgamesh)
who, after losing his dearest friend to a mysterious death, seeks out a wise man (Utnapishtim) who
is a survivor of the great flood and knows the secret of immortality.
Accounts such as this have intrigued biblical scholars
because they lend further credence to the later biblical version.
Although a number of
these scholars have concluded that the biblical narrative
is derived from the Babylonian story, it is possible that
each was taken from a common earlier source, now lost. Events
similar to those described in the biblical story occur also
in Greek mythology (see Deucalion). Among other peoples whose folklore and legends contain
accounts of a devastating deluge are those of southern Asia,
the aborigines of North, Central, and South America, and the
natives of Polynesia. The Chinese and Japanese have stories of floods,
but these do not, as a rule, destroy the entire earth. Curiously,
flood legends do not occur among the ancient inhabitants of
the Nile Valley
and are not common anywhere else in Africa or in Europe.”
– "Deluge," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
As
we can see, legends of a massive flood with only a few survivors
after which human civilization was regenerated virtually from
scratch exist all around the world from Mesopotamia to China
and Japan to Hawaii to North, Central, and South America and
back again to Greece, Phrygia, and Armenia, and Sumeria. (Even
the well-known story of Atlantis includes the idea of a great
civilation that was destroyed by water.) In terms of historical
attestation, it’s hard to imagine what more we could
possibly expect to find than this: the legend of such a massive,
flood-based extinction event attested to independently by
cultures spanning the globe from east to west. What we find
is exactly what we would expect to find if such a flood did
occur. Furthermore, the fact that such a flood-based extinction
event is reported in cultures on every continent rules out
the suggestion that the flood was merely on a smaller “local”
or “regional” level.
And
given that a global flood-based extinction event is not incompatible
with uniformitarian principles (or even atheism and evolutionary
views of religion), there is no grounds for rejecting worldwide
historical testimony for such in favor of mere speculations
and suppositions from eighteenth and nineteenth century persons,
such as Hutton and Lyell, who lived almost 3,500 years after
these events.
“Hutton,
James – born June 3, 1726,
Edinburgh, Scotland, died March 26, 1797,
Edinburgh…His
chief contribution to scientific knowledge, the uniformitarian
principle…Hutton claimed that the totality of these
geologic processes could fully explain the current landforms
all over the world, and no biblical explanations were necessary
in this regard.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Lyell,
Sir Charles – Building on the pioneering work of
the 18th-century Scottish geologist James Hutton, Lyell
developed the theory of uniformitarianism…Uniformitarianism contradicted the theory of catastrophism, which
was popular among scientists of Lyell's time. Catastrophism claimed that only major catastrophes could change the
basic formation of the earth, and that the earth was only
about 6000 years old. Most scientists believed that catastrophism
was consistent with the Bible's account of the earth's creation.”
– "Lyell, Sir Charles," Microsoft® Encarta®
Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
We
can speculate all we want about events 3,500 years ago, but
our remote speculation from such a great distance simply cannot
overturn the weight of the worldwide record of history. When
it comes to the record of history, all that we have is the
ample evidence of a global or near-global flood from the historic
record spanning from Mesopotamia to Greece, to China,
and to the Americas
and Hawaii. Thus, while we
can derive any conclusion we want based upon speculation thousands
of years after the fact, the only conclusion that can be derived
from the evidence is that there was such a flood.
Consequently,
since a global or near-global flood cannot be rejected due
to geologic principles, philosophical preferences, or a lack
of evidence in the historic record, perhaps the idea of a
global or near-global flood is rejected on the grounds that
it contradicts actual geologic evidence. However, this is
not the case either. Not only is there no contradiction between
the geologic evidence and the historical record, but the geologic
evidence for a global flood is so massive that it almost dwarfs
even the substantial evidence in the historic record.
Evidence
from the geologic record can be placed into 4 categories:
the evidence of rock layers themselves, the evidence from
the mere existence of fossils, the evidence from the location
of fossils, and the evidence for an extremely rapid climate
change.
Concerning
the evidence provided by rock layers themselves, the most
obvious and significant fact is that sedimentary rock layers
are laid down by water. And this is a fact agreed to by uniformitarian,
evolutionary geology as indicated by the quotes below. Notice
from the first quote that the alternate causes of wind or
glacial ice are said to be “less frequent” than
water, which is the predominant mechanism for laying down
sedimentary rock. The second and third quotes below likewise
attest that “Most sedimentary rock” is formed
“when grains of clay, silt, or sand settle in river
valleys or on the bottoms of lakes and oceans.”
“Sedimentary
Rock – Sedimentary
Rock, in geology, rock composed of geologically reworked
materials, formed by the accumulation and consolidation of
mineral and particulate matter deposited by the action of water or, less
frequently, wind or glacial ice…Sedimentary rocks
are classified according to their manner of origin into mechanical
or chemical sedimentary rocks. Mechanical
rocks, or fragmental rocks, are composed of mineral particles
produced by the mechanical disintegration of other rocks and
transported, without
chemical deterioration, by
flowing water. They
are carried into larger bodies of water, where they are deposited
in layers. Shale, sandstone, and conglomerate are common
sedimentary rocks of mechanical origin. The materials making
up chemical sedimentary rocks may consist of the remains of
microscopic marine organisms precipitated on the ocean floor,
as in the case of limestone. They
may also have been dissolved in water circulating through
the parent rock formation and
then deposited in a sea or lake by precipitation from the
solution.” – "Sedimentary Rock,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Sedimentary,
rock – Sedimentary, rock
pronounced sehd uh MEHN tuhr ee, is rock formed when mineral matter or remains of plants and animals settle
out of water or, less commonly, out of air or ice. Sedimentary rock covers about three-fourths of Earth's land area and
most of the ocean floor…Most
sedimentary rock starts forming when grains of clay, silt,
or sand settle in river valleys or on the bottoms of lakes
and oceans. Year after year, these minerals collect and
form broad, flat layers called beds or strata…Some
sedimentary rock forms during the evaporation of water.
For example, beds of rock salt were formed in bays cut off
from the ocean or in saltwater lakes. As the trapped water evaporated, layers
of salt crystals were left behind.” – Worldbook,
Contributor: Maria Luisa Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Geology,
Bryn Mawr
College.
“Sedimentary
rock – rock formed at or near the Earth's surface
by the accumulation and lithification of sediment (detrital
rock) or by the precipitation from solution at normal
surface temperatures (chemical rock)…These processes
produce soil, unconsolidated rock detritus, and components
dissolved in groundwater and runoff. Any unconsolidated deposit of solid
weathered material constitutes sediment. It can form as the
result of deposition of grains from moving bodies of water
or wind, from the melting of glacial ice, and from the
downslope slumping (sliding) of rock and soil masses in response
to gravity, as well as by precipitation of the dissolved products
of weathering under the conditions of low temperature and
pressure that prevail at or near the surface of the Earth.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Consequently,
water is the predominant mechanism for laying down sedimentary
rock. And, the uppermost portion of earth’s crust is
almost entirely a covering of sedimentary rock.
“Igneous
rock – The
Earth is composed predominantly of a large mass of igneous
rock with a very thin veneer of weathered material—namely,
sedimentary rock.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
"Dating,
General considerations, Determination of sequence –
Most methods for determining relative geologic ages are well
illustrated in sedimentary rocks. These rocks cover roughly
75 percent of the surface area of the continents, and unconsolidated
sediments blanket most of the ocean floor. They provide
evidence of former surface conditions and the life-forms that
existed under those conditions." – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Sedimentary
rock – rock
formed at or near the Earth's surface by the accumulation
and lithification of sediment (detrital rock) or by the precipitation
from solution at normal surface temperatures (chemical rock).
Sedimentary rocks are
the most common rocks exposed on the Earth's surface but
are only a minor constituent of the entire crust, which is
dominated by igneous and metamorphic rocks…Sediments
and sedimentary rocks are confined to the Earth's crust,
which is the thin, light outer solid skin of the Earth ranging
in thickness from 40–100 kilometres (25 to 62 miles)
in the continental blocks to 4–10 kilometres in the
ocean basins. Igneous and metamorphic rocks constitute thebulk
of the crust. The total volume of sediment and sedimentary
rocks can be either directly measured using exposed rock sequences,
drill-hole data, and seismic profiles or indirectly estimated
by comparing the chemistry of major sedimentary rock types
to the overall chemistry of the crust from which they are
weathered. Both methods indicate that the Earth's sediment-sedimentary
rock shell forms only about 5 percent by volume of the terrestrial
crust, which in turn accounts for less than 1 percent of the
Earth's total volume. On
the other hand, the area of outcrop and exposure of sediment
and sedimentary rock comprises 75 percent of the land surface
and well over 90 percent of the ocean basins and continental
margins. In other words, 80–90 percent of the surface
area of the Earth is mantled with sediment or sedimentary
rocks rather than with igneous or metamorphic varieties. The
sediment-sedimentary rock shell forms only a thin superficial
layer. The mean shell thickness in continental areas is 1.8
kilometres; the sediment shell in the ocean basins is roughly
0.3 kilometre. Rearranging this shell as a globally encircling
layer (and depending on the raw estimates incorporated into
the model), the shell thickness would be roughly 1–3
kilometres. Despite the relatively insignificant volume
of the sedimentary rock shell, not
only are most rocks exposed at the terrestrial surface of
the sedimentary variety, but many of the significant events
in Earth history are most accurately dated and documented
by analyzing and interpreting the sedimentary rock record instead of the more voluminous igneous and metamorphic
rock record.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004
Deluxe Edition
“Sedimentary,
rock – Sedimentary, rock
pronounced sehd uh MEHN tuhr ee, is rock formed when
mineral matter or remains of plants and animals settle out
of water or, less commonly, out of air or ice. Sedimentary
rock covers about three-fourths of Earth's land area and most
of the ocean floor.” – Worldbook, Contributor:
Maria Luisa Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Geology, Bryn
Mawr College.
Therefore,
it is simply a matter of fact that almost all of the earth’s
crust is covered by a thin layer of rock that was laid down
by water. Rivers and lakes are smaller local phenomenon. Their
ability to disperse sedimentary rock, although perhaps powerful
(as in the case of the Mississippi Delta) is limited to particular
locations. So, it is certainly possible that rivers and lakes
contributed to isolated, local deposits. However, since nearly
the entire surface of the earth is covered with sedimentary
rock, there is no way for rivers and lakes to have been responsible
for the majority of sedimentary rock layers. The only way
for most of the earth’s surface to be covered with sedimentary
rock layers is if all areas of the earth were at one time
covered by ocean water. On this point, there are only 2 options.
Either all portions of the earth’s surface were covered
by ocean water at different times or all portions of the earth’s
surface were covered by ocean waters at the same time.
Consequently,
the fact that almost the entire surface of the earth is covered
by rock that is predominantly laid down by water is certainly
consistent with and suggestive of a global flood. Conversely,
the fact that lakes or rivers could not have produced such
a global “veneer” of sedimentary rock rules out
the possibility that covering of sedimentary rock was formed
through slow, gradual, uniform processes such as erosion in
rivers or lakes, etc. Effectively, the sedimentary rock layers
that cover the earth are evidence that massive amounts of
water covered all the various portions of the earth at some
time.
If
all that we had was the worldwide independent testimonies
of a global flood from the historic record and the coating
of the earth with a form of rock that is predominantly laid
down by water, we would be forced to conclude that the earth’s
history contained at least one massive global or near-global
flooding event. The only thing preventing this very rational
and observationally unavoidable conclusion is some yet unidentified
reason that is not part of geologic or general philosophical
principles. It is hard to reject such an observationally-driven
and well-evidenced conclusion based on merely an unknown,
shadowy aversion. And rejecting global flood on such vague
grounds continues to be even harder given the fact that there
is even more physical, geologic evidence for such a flood.
Concerning
the evidence for a global or near-global flood provided by
the existence of fossils, there are 2 obvious and significant
facts. First, almost all of earth’s fossils are found
in sedimentary rock, which means that almost all of earth’s
fossils are found in the thin veneer of sedimentary rock at
the top of earth’s crust that was deposited by vast
amounts of water.
“Fossil,
I INTRODUCTION – Fossil, remains or traces of prehistoric
plants and animals, buried and preserved in sedimentary rock,
or trapped in organic matter…Fossils
are most commonly found in limestone, sandstone, and shale
(sedimentary rock).” – "Fossil,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Fossil
– Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks. These
fossils formed from plant or animal remains that were quickly
buried in sediments-the mud or sand that collects at the bottom
of rivers, lakes, swamps, and oceans. After thousands
of years, the weight of upper layers of sediment pressing
down on the lower layers turned them into rock (see
SEDIMENTARY ROCK).”– Worldbook, Contributor:
Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Johns
Hopkins University.
“Dating,
General considerations, Distinctions between relative-age
and absolute-age measurements – Unlike ages derived
from fossils, which occur only in sedimentary rocks, absolute
ages are obtained from minerals that grow as liquid rock bodies
cool at or below the surface.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Sedimentary,
rock – Most
fossils are found in sedimentary rock. The fossils formed
when sediments covered dead plants and animals. As the sediments
changed to rock, either the remains or the outlines of the
plants and animals were preserved. Some limestone is made
entirely of fossil shells. See FOSSIL.” – Worldbook,
Contributor: Maria Luisa Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Geology,
Bryn Mawr
College.
“Sedimentary
rock – Despite
the relatively insignificant volume of the sedimentary rock
shell, not only are most rocks exposed at the terrestrial
surface of the sedimentary variety, but
many of the significant events in Earth history are most accurately
dated and documented by analyzing and interpreting the
sedimentary rock record
instead of the more voluminous igneous and metamorphic rock
record. When properly understood and interpreted, sedimentary
rocks provide information on ancient geography, termed
paleogeography…Sedimentary rocks contain the fossil record of
ancient life-forms that enables the documentation of the
evolutionary advancement from simple to complex organisms
in the plant and animal kingdoms.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Stratigraphy,
II PRINCIPLES OF STRATIGRAPHY – Stratigraphy relies
on four simple principles to unveil geologic history…The
principle of faunal and floral succession states that because
animals and plants evolve into new species, sedimentary
rocks of different ages will contain fossils of different
species.” – "Stratigraphy," Microsoft®
Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
"Geologic
Time, III DATING METHODS – In order to determine
the relative age of rock layers, scientists
use three simple principles…The third principle, that
of fossil succession, deals with fossils in sedimentary rock."
– "Geologic Time," Microsoft® Encarta®
Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
“Dating,
General considerations, Distinctions between relative-age
and absolute-age measurements – In fact, even in
younger rocks, absolute dating is the only way that the fossil
record can be calibrated. Without absolute ages, investigators could only determine which fossil
organisms lived at the same time and the relative order of
their appearance in the correlated sedimentary rock record.”–
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
Second,
fossils are formed when organisms are buried when sedimentary
rock layers are being laid down.
“Fossil,
I INTRODUCTION – Fossil, remains or traces of prehistoric
plants and animals, buried and preserved in sedimentary rock,
or trapped in organic matter…Fossils
are most commonly found in limestone, sandstone, and shale
(sedimentary rock).” – "Fossil,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Fossil
– Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks. These
fossils formed from plant or animal remains that were quickly
buried in sediments-the mud or sand that collects at the bottom
of rivers, lakes, swamps, and oceans. After thousands
of years, the weight of upper layers of sediment pressing
down on the lower layers turned them into rock (see
SEDIMENTARY ROCK).”– Worldbook, Contributor:
Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Johns
Hopkins University.
“Sedimentary,
rock – Most
fossils are found in sedimentary rock. The
fossils formed when sediments covered dead plants and animals.
As the sediments changed to rock, either the remains or
the outlines of the plants and animals were preserved. Some
limestone is made entirely of fossil shells. See FOSSIL.”
– Worldbook, Contributor: Maria Luisa Crawford, Ph.D.,
Professor of Geology, Bryn
Mawr College.
Furthemore,
the vast, vast majority of organisms do not form fossils.
To become a fossil, an organism must be buried quickly.
“Fossil,
How fossils form – The
great majority of plants and animals die and decay without
leaving any trace in the fossil record. Bacteria and other
microorganisms break down such soft tissues as leaves or flesh.
As a result, these tissues rarely leave fossil records. Even most hard parts, such as bones, teeth, shells, or wood, are eventually worn away by moving water
or dissolved by chemicals. But
when plant or animal remains have been buried in sediment,
they may become fossilized.” – Contributor:
Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Johns Hopkins
University.
“Fossil
– In general,
for an organism to be preserved two conditions must be met:
rapid burial to retard decomposition and to prevent the
ravaging of scavengers; and possession of hard parts capable
of being fossilized.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
2004 Deluxe Edition
“Fossil
– Most fossils
are found in sedimentary rocks. These
fossils formed from plant or animal remains that were quickly
buried in sediments-the mud or sand that collects at the
bottom of rivers, lakes, swamps, and oceans. After thousands of years, the weight
of upper layers of sediment pressing down on the lower layers
turned them into rock (see SEDIMENTARY ROCK).” –
Worldbook, Contributor: Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor
of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University.
On
this point it is important to note that the presence of fossils
in sedimentary rock actually demonstrates that sedimentary
rock layers were not laid down slowly over long periods of
time by gradual, normative physical processes such as erosion.
Such processes are too slow to bury organisms rapidly in order
for them to be preserved as fossils. Thus, not only do fossils
require rapid burial but, in direct contradiction of uniformitarianism,
the sedimentary rocks that contain fossils also had to have
been formed extremely rapidly.
In
addition, it is acknowledged scientific fact that most fossils
are admittedly formed in a watery environment.
“Fossil
– The great majority
of fossils are preserved in a water environment because land
remains are more easily destroyed.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Fossil,
How fossils form – Fossils
may be preserved in several ways. The main processes of fossilization
are (1) the formation of impressions, molds, and casts;
(2) carbonization; and (3) the action of minerals…Molds form after hard parts have been buried
in mud, clay, or other material that turns to stone. Later, water dissolves the buried hard part,
leaving a mold-a hollow space in the shape of the original
hard part-inside the rock. A
cast forms when water containing dissolved minerals and
other fine particles later drains through a mold. The
water deposits these substances, which eventually fill
the mold, forming a copy of the original hard part. Many seashells
are preserved as molds or casts…The
action of minerals – Many plants and animals became
fossilized after water that contained minerals soaked into
the pores of the original hard parts. This action is called
petrifaction. In many such fossils, some or all of the original
material remains, but it has been strengthened and preserved
by the minerals. This process is called permineralization.
The huge tree trunks in the Petrified Forest of Arizona were
preserved by permineralization. In other cases, the minerals in the water
totally replaced the original plant or animal part. This
process, called replacement, involves two events that happen
at the same time: The water dissolves the compounds that make
up the original material, while the minerals are deposited
in their place.” – Contributor: Steven M. Stanley,
Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns
Hopkins University.
What
is most important is the statement from the first quote above
that “The great majority of fossils are preserved in
a water environment because land remains are more easily destroyed.”
Yet, we do have an enormous amount of fossilized remains from
land organisms. Remains do not fossilize unless under water
and sedimentary rock layers, which are where fossils are found,
only form in water. This indicates that both the fossilized
land organisms and the land in which they are fossilized were
covered with water at their time of death. Here again, the
rapid burial of land organisms in a watery environment and
in rocks that are laid down by water is strong physical evidence
for a global flood.
If
all that we had was the worldwide independent testimonies
of a global flood from the historic record, the coating of
the earth with a form of rock that is predominantly laid down
by water, and the fact that we have numerous land organisms
that must have died and been quickly buried in rock layers
laid down by water, we would be forced to conclude that the
earth’s history contained at least one massive global
or near-global flooding event. Since neither uniformitarian
geologic nor evolution or even atheistic philosophical principles
prohibit the acceptance of a global flood, with all this evidence,
the question remains as to what the elusive reason is for
rejecting such a flood.
Concerning
the evidence provided by the location of the fossils, we find
the following acknowledged, scientific facts. Keeping in mind
that both the fossils and the rock layers that contain them
must be formed quickly, it is important that fossils were
formed and distributed in out-of-place locations around the
world. This means that animals died and were quickly buried
in rock layers in places that those types of organisms don’t
belong.
First,
geographic areas that are presently land-locked contain marine
fossils. This indicates that areas, which are inland today,
were once under water.
“Geology,
History – In the 400's B.C., the historian Herodotus observed how water shapes the land. He understood that
land at the mouth of the Nile
River
had formed from sand and mud deposited by the river. He
also believed that marine fossils found in Lower
Egypt were evidence that the sea had once covered
the land.” – Worldbook, Contributor: Maria
Luisa Crawford, Ph.D., Professor of Geology, Bryn Mawr
College.
For
example, fossilized oysters have been found in Kansas.
“Fossil,
How fossils reveal the past, Recording changes in the earth
– Paleontologists use fossils to determine
how the earth's climate and landscape have changed over millions
of years…Paleontologists have found fossil oysters in
Kansas and other areas that are far inland today. Such fossils
reveal that a shallow sea once spread over these areas.”
– Worldbook, Contributor: Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D.,
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins
University.
Similarly,
not only are marine fossils deposited inland, but sometimes
marine rock formations exist over rock formations made by
rivers, indicating that the area was once covered by ocean
water.
“Stratigraphy,
II PRINCIPLES OF STRATIGRAPHY – The principle of superposition states that, in an undeformed sequence
of strata, younger strata lie on top of older strata…For
example, where marine-deposited rock lies above river-deposited
rock, geologists reason that the site evolved from a river
environment to a marine environment during the period when
the sediments were deposited. Either the land sank, or the
sea rose.” – "Stratigraphy," Microsoft®
Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
For
example, there are 6,000 meters of exposed marine limestone
in Nevada.
“Stratigraphy,
IV HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF STRATIGRAPHY – Stratigraphy developed in England during the early 1800s with the
work of a land surveyor named William Smith…For example,
sedimentation rates of marine
limestone not deposited on reefs typically range from
about 2 to 20 cm (about 0.8 to 8 in) per thousand years. At
these rates, about 6000 m (20,000 ft) of marine limestone exposed as tilted beds
in southern Nevada
required at least 30 to 300 million years of continuous
deposition.” – "Stratigraphy," Microsoft®
Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
In
addition, marine fossils have been found on mountaintops.
“Fossil,
How fossils reveal the past – In
the distant past, when
most fossils formed, the
world was different from today. Plants and animals that
have long since vanished inhabited the waters and land. A
region now covered with high mountains may have been the floor
of an ancient sea.” – Worldbook, Contributor:
Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Johns
Hopkins University.
“Fossil,
III WHERE FOSSILS FORM – Fossils
are found in all parts of the world, from Greenland to Antarctica.
They can be found in cores drilled in and retrieved from
the ocean floor, and on
top of the highest mountains. Their
wide geographical distribution is a result of the way the
earth's surface has changed throughout its history.”
– "Fossil," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This
indicates that those mountaintops were once under water and
that the mountains have risen higher since then.
Furthermore,
polar regions have tropical fossils, indicating that the whole
earth may have at one point had a tropical climate.
“Fossil,
How fossils reveal the past – In
the distant past, when
most fossils formed, the
world was different from today…Where a lush tropical
forest thrived millions of years ago, there may now be a cool,
dry plain.” – Worldbook, Contributor: Steven
M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Johns
Hopkins University.
“Fossil,
III WHERE FOSSILS FORM – Fossils
are found in all parts of the world, from Greenland to Antarctica…Their
wide geographical distribution is a result of the way the
earth's surface has changed throughout its history…Some
land that is now in the polar regions was once closer to the
equator, and many modern mountain ranges were once under water.”
– "Fossil," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia
99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Fossil,
IV LEARNING FROM FOSSILS, A Evolution – Because
of the movement of the earth's tectonic plates, most continents
have drifted through various climatic zones over geological
time. As a result, a particular region may have passed more
than once through equatorial regions with rain forests, through
tropical latitudes with deserts, and through temperate zones.
The fossil record suggests that climatic
variation is greater now than it was during the Jurassic Period.
In Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand,
which were all close to the South Pole during the Jurassic
Period, fossils of plants and animals that are normally associated
with warm climates have been found.” – "Fossil,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
“Fossil,
How fossils reveal the past, Recording changes in the earth
– Paleontologists use fossils to determine
how the earth's climate and landscape have changed over millions
of years. For instance, they have found fossils of tropical
palm trees in Wyoming, an area that
has a cool climate today. These fossils indicate that
the climate in that area has cooled.” – Worldbook,
Contributor: Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth
and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins
University.
This
brings us to the fourth category of evidence. The evidence
indicates that this climate change was not slow and gradual
as uniformitarianism asserts but instead was extremely rapid.
In Alaska and Siberia, mammoths
froze quick enough to have their “soft” organic
parts and their “last meals” preserved.
“Fossil,
How fossils form – In
Alaska and in Siberia, a region in northern Asia, woolly mammoths
thousands of years old have been found frozen in the ground.
Their hair, skin, flesh, and internal organs have been preserved
as they were when the mammoths died.” – Contributor:
Steven M. Stanley, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Johns Hopkins
University.
“Fossil,
II PROCESSES OF FOSSILIZATION, E Soft-Tissue Preservation
– The soft tissues of animals are preserved
only under extremely unusual conditions, and the preserved
tissue usually lasts for only a short period of geological
time. In the Siberian permafrost (earth that remains frozen
year-round), for example, entire mammoths have been preserved in ice
for thousands of years. The remains of the mammoths' last
meals have sometimes been preserved in the stomachs, allowing
paleontologists to study the animals' diet.” –
"Fossil," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. ©
1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
When
we consider the evidence what might have caused the earth’s
climate to change rapidly enough to preserve the soft tissue
of mammoths, including their “last meals,” we
find further evidence that the outer veneer of sedimentary
rock was formed rapidly. This evidence comes from the role
that carbon dioxide gas plays in climate and temperature.
The
amount of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere determines
how warm the global climate is overall
“Earth
[planet], Earth's changing climate – Many scientists also believe that variations in the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere are responsible for long-term
changes in the climate. Carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas,"
traps heat from the sun and warms Earth's atmosphere. Most
of Earth's carbon dioxide is locked in carbonate rocks, such
as limestone and dolomite. Earth's
climate today would be much warmer if the carbon dioxide trapped
in limestone were released into the atmosphere.”
– Contributor: Steven I. Dutch, Ph.D., Professor, Department
of Natural and Applied Sciences, University
of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
“Chemical
compound, Inorganic compounds, Oxides, Nonmetal oxides, Oxides
of carbon, Carbon dioxide – The
carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has significantly
increased in the last several years largely because of the
burning of fossil fuels…There is increasing concern that the resulting
increased heat in the atmosphere could cause the Earth's average
temperature to increase 2° to 3° C over a period of time.
This change would have a serious impact on the environment,
affecting climate, ocean levels, and agriculture.”
– Encyclopaedia Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
“Paleoclimatology
– Changes in atmospheric chemistry affect climate
in a number of ways. Oxygen, ozone, and carbon
dioxide levels have varied throughout time, with corresponding effects on solar heat absorption and, therefore,
on global temperature.
High carbon dioxide levels trap heat from
the sun in the atmosphere, leading to a greenhouse effect.”
– "Paleoclimatology," Microsoft® Encarta®
Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
“Environment,
VI Current Issues, B Global Warming – Like the glass panes in a greenhouse, certain gases in the earth's atmosphere
permit the sun's radiation to heat the earth but retard
the escape into space of the infrared energy radiated back
out by the earth. This process is referred to as the greenhouse
effect. These gases,
primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and
water vapor, insulate the earth's surface, helping to
maintain warm temperatures. Without
these gases, the earth would be a frozen planet with an average
temperature of about -18° C (about 0° F) instead of a comfortable
15° C (59° F). If the concentration of these gases were higher,
more heat would be trapped within the atmosphere, and worldwide
temperatures would rise.” – "Environment,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
A
very large amount of the earth’s carbon dioxide is buried
in sedimentary rock, which as we have seen would have had
to be laid down very rapidly in order to form fossils.
“Earth
[planet], Earth's changing climate – Many scientists also believe that variations in the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere are responsible for long-term
changes in the climate. Carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas,"
traps heat from the sun and warms Earth's atmosphere. Most
of Earth's carbon dioxide is locked in carbonate rocks, such
as limestone and dolomite. Earth's
climate today would be much warmer if the carbon dioxide trapped
in limestone were released into the atmosphere.”
– Contributor: Steven I. Dutch, Ph.D., Professor, Department
of Natural and Applied Sciences, University
of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
"Atmosphere,
Composition of the present atmosphere, Major components of
the lower atmosphere, Distribution of carbon, nitrogen, and
oxygen compounds, Carbon compounds – The
bulk of the Earth's volatile carbon resides in sediments,
either as organic carbon or as a component of carbonate
minerals such as calcite, CaCO3.” – Encyclopaedia
Britannica 2004 Deluxe Edition
So,
not only did the outer veneer of sedimentary rock have to
form rapidly in order to preserve the fossils, but the outer
veneer of sedimentary rock would have to form rapidly in order
to quickly remove “most of earth’s carbon dioxide”
and explain a cooling of climate so equally rapid as to preserve
the soft tissue and undigested food of mammoths.
Once
again, if all that we had was the worldwide independent testimonies
of a global flood from the historic record, the coating of
the earth with a form of rock that is predominantly laid down
by water, the fact that we have numerous land organisms that
must have died and been quickly buried in rock layers laid
down by water, the location of marine fossils on mountaintops
and deep inland, and evidence for an extremely fast cooling
of the climate as large amounts of carbon dioxide gas were
quickly buried in sedimentary rock layers, we would be forced
to conclude that the earth’s history contained at least
one massive global or near-global flooding event.
All
of these facts are consistent with the idea of a global flood,
such as the one described in the Bible, which even includes
a climate shift. In the Biblical account, the first mention
of cold and winter come after the Flood, indicating that the
global climate before the flood was much warmer all around.
Genesis 8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy
sons’ wives with thee. 17 Bring
forth with thee every living thing that is
with thee, of all flesh, both
of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth,
and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth…22 While
the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Consequently,
when we compare the Judeo-Christian scripture as a historical
record, we find that it is accurate even concerning its description
and prediction of a rapid climate shift, which is now indicated
by the observable physical evidence.
We
can also consider this issue in terms of a theory’s
ability to make predictions. If a global or near-global flood
did occur, what predictions would that lead to? Would we expect
to see accounts of a global flood in cultures in every hemisphere?
We do. Would we expect to see multitudes of organisms rapidly
buried in rock formations also laid down by water very rapidly?
We do. Would we expect to see fossil and mineral evidence
that marine (ocean or sea) water covered regions far inland
and the tops of the mountains? We do. If we consider the record
of a flood as a hypothesis, we find that it not only makes
predictions but that those predictions are confirmed exactly
by the observable evidence.
Near
the start of this segment, we asked some key questions concerning
why the idea of a global flood is rejected. The first question
was general. Why isn’t a global or near-global flood
accepted within uniformitarian geology? The remaining 3 questions
were more specific.
We
asked, “Is a global Flood with a mass extinction incompatible
and unacceptable within uniformitarian geologic principles?”
We found out that the answer was “no,” a global
flood and an accompanying mass extinction are in no way incompatible
with uniformitarian or geologic principles. Floods, mass extinctions
caused by unique catastrophic events, and even a world covered
by ice are all accepted within the uniformitarian and evolutionary
views. Furthermore, there is no reason that global flooding
could not be considered to be semi-regular just as ice ages
are under uniformitarian principles.
We
then asked, “Does accepting a global Flood require accepting
or believing in God?” We found out that the answer to
this question was also “no.” Cultures deemed “primitive”
attribute all kinds of natural phenomena and natural disasters
to deities. Yet, all these natural events are accepted as
real events by evolutionists, uniformitarians, and even atheists
alike, even though they reject any divine causation for such
events.
Finally,
we asked, “Is there simply no evidence or not enough
evidence to support or suggest a global or near global Flood?”
And once again, we have found that the answer to this question
is “no.” There is more than ample evidence from
both the historic and geologic record to substantiate the
occurrence of a massive global or near-global flood in earth’s
recent geologic history. This evidence includes independent,
worldwide accounts of a global flood resulting in the destruction
and subsequent restart of human civilization, the need for
fossils to be buried rapidly, the subsequent need for sedimentary
rock to be laid down rapidly enough to form fossils, the fact
that fossils are formed primarily in watery environments,
the fact that marine fossils and marine rock formations were
formed quickly in watery environments in places that are deep
inland or on mountaintops, and the fact that there was a rapid
cooling of the climate requiring the rapid burial of large
amounts of carbon dioxide in sedimentary rock layers.
So,
since neither uniformitarian geologic nor evolution or even
atheistic philosophical principles prohibit the acceptance
of a global flood, and with all this massive historic and
geologic evidence, the nagging question still remains. If
a global flood is compatible with uniformitarianism, does
not require belief in god, and is supported by vast amounts
of historical and geological evidence, why is a global flood
rejected?
The
answer is that a global flood is rejected precisely because
it explains too much of the evidence. If sedimentary rock
layers were laid down quickly rather than gradually, and the
climate changed rapidly rather than slowly, and the fossils
around the world resulted from these rapid events, then what
evidence is left for an earth that is hundreds of millions
or billions of years old? None.
Since
the occurrence of a global or near-global flood would indicate
that the rock strata or layers around the earth formed quickly,
rather than slowly, and the fossils in them likewise formed
within that short timeframe, the occurrence of a global flood
would simply demolish relative dating schemes, which are based
upon assigning distinct, long ages to different rock layers.
And, the occurrence of a flood would also significantly incapacitate
many of the central absolute dating methods. For instance,
the removal of larger amounts of carbon dioxide would dramatically
affect the carbon-14 ratio necessary to calculate absolute
ages. And the volcanic activity that would trigger heating
events in igneous and metamorphic rocks would drastically
affect the isotope ratios for other absolute dating processes
as well. Later on, as we cover radiometric dating in-depth,
we will cover these problems in more detail.
In
summary, so far we have seen that uniformitarianism, which
is the direct basis for relative dating methods and the indirect
basis for radiometric dating methods, is simply an un-provable
assumption while the alternative catastrophic view of creationism
has been directly observed. Far from being able to deny or
reject catastrophism in principle, uniformitarianism actually
acknowledges the role of major catastrophes in forming the
geologic features of the earth and in causing major extinction
events. And finally, uniformitarianism, evolution, and atheism
have no principle or reason to reject the massive, worldwide
historical and geologic evidence for a global or near-global
flood in the relatively recent past. As we continue to build
our understanding of these issues, we will see that there
is no evidence, including from relative dating methods and
radiometric dating methods (such as carbon-14 or potassium-argon
dating), that the earth is more than a several thousand years
old and that its features were formed, not slowly, but rapidly
as a result of this well-attested, catastrophic, global flood.
For
now, the important point as we leave this issue is that the
case of the flood reveals the drastic and stubborn unscientific
bias behind evolutionary geology. The Flood cannot be rejected
on the grounds that it is compatible with uniformitarian geology.
The Flood cannot be rejected on the grounds that it requires
belief in divine beings. The Flood cannot be rejected on the
grounds that there is no evidence for it. There is vast geologic
and historic evidence of a Flood. The only reason that the
Flood is rejected is because it removes sedimentary rock,
fossils, and the main forms of absolute dating from being
indicators of the earth’s age. Since these 3 items (sedimentary
rock, fossils, and absolute dating) are the only 3 avenues
of evidence used to indicate a very long age of the earth,
this would leave the evolutionary theory that the earth is
millions or billions of years old entirely without any support.