Episode 108 – A Flood of Truth Part 4 – St Scientific Support

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script/Notes:

But God remembered Noah ... He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth. After 150 days … from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks became visible.

The Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verses 1 through 5. New Living Translation

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VK: Hello. I’m Victoria K welcoming you to another episode of Anchored by Truth. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, I understand that today you want to continue our discussion about Noah and the flood that’s described in the book of Genesis. We’ve been talking about Noah for a few episodes now. RD, would you like to say hello to the Anchored by Truth audience and catch us up on some of the important ideas that we’ve been discussing?

RD: Sure. Let’s start by reminding people that the Bible makes it clear that the story of Noah is one of the major steps in God’s unfolding plan of redemption. But it couldn’t be a real step in a real plan of redemption if the story wasn’t real history. So, that’s the first really big point. The Bible treats the story of Noah as literal history. A second major point is that because Noah’s story is real we should be able to find evidence of the story’s historicity in at least four different areas: the origin and after effects of the flood itself, the ark, the animals, and anthropology and genetics. By origin I’m obviously thinking about the very basic question of where did all that water come from? By after effects I’m including the paleontological and geological evidence that we should be able to see if the earth was at one time suddenly submerged under water. The questions about the ark and the animals are pretty self-evident. By anthropology and genetics I’m referring to the fact that flood stories exist in hundreds of different cultures around the world and that we can see evidence of a major bottleneck in the world’s population today by looking at DNA. And a third major point is that, unlike some personalities from the Bible, the Bible never tells us that Noah had any special ability. The only reason we know about Noah today is because in a world of unrighteous people Noah was willing to obey God.

VK: Well, I think that sets the stage pretty well. Before we get too far along into the heavy stuff let’s start off on the lighter side with one of Crystal Sea’s Life Lessons with a Laugh. This one will reinforce the historical reasonability of the ark’s design as related by the Bible.

---- NOAH 4 – Stability in Rough Seas

VK: Ok. I think I counted six or seven different names you used for Jerry in that exchange. I’m kind of amazed how much information you two actually manage to exchange while you keep playing ping-pong with something as simple as Jerry’s name.

RD: The challenge is keeping up with Jerry’s ability to return serve. He doesn’t really let me get away with much.

VK: So I’ve noticed. But in between the Jermajesties and Jerbits I noticed that you brought out one of the points that we covered in our Life Lesson in the previous episode – the fact that the dimensions of the ark that God gave to Noah help produce a very stable ocean going vessel. In the Life Lesson we heard previously we heard that the ark had the size to carry a vast cargo of animals and their food. In this humor piece you pointed out that the ark’s dimensions as described in the Bible provide a design that is very stable in rough seas. So, insofar as the ark is concerned we’ve now shown that the ark’s size and stability are consistent with what we know about the real world. Is that one of the points you want to make?

RD: Yep. And in the humor piece we’re planning for next time we’re going to talk about the ark’s strength. So the Life Lessons are helping people have a great start in thinking about what kind of vessel would be necessary to successfully survive a flood of Biblical proportions – the necessary size, stability, and strength. So, that’s one of the four lines of evidence that can be cited to demonstrate that the Genesis account is an accurate record of a historical event – that the ark described by the Bible was suitable for its intended purpose. So, now let’s take a look at one of the other lines of evidence for the historicity of the flood story: the origin and after effects of the flood.

VK: Sounds good. Where do you want to begin?

RD: Let’s start with a relatively simple point. Where did all the water come from?

VK: Well, the Bible tells us that contrary to most of the cartoonish portrayals of the major source of flood the source of the flood came from down below not from up above. Genesis 7:11 tells us that “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” So, the Bible shows us the water came first from sources deep within the earth’s crust.

RD: Exactly. And the fact that there is enough water present on the face of the earth to cover all the land is well known and has been known for over a century. Even Charles Darwin’s colleague, Alfred Russell Wallace, famously wrote that if the surface of the earth were smoothed out the entire globe would be covered with water about two miles deep. We now know that Wallace was pretty close in his estimate. The actual depth would be about 1 and 2/3 miles.

VK: So, there’s plenty of water available on the earth to submerge all the land. But is there evidence that all the land on the earth was at one time submerged?

RD: Actually there is. There are vast stretches of the planet covered by layers of sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks are the type of rocks that are formed by the deposit and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles from a flowing body of water. Such deposits regularly happen on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water on the earth’s surface. One of the best known of these layers is the Coconino sandstone that has an average thickness of over 300 feet and combined with equivalent sandstones to the east it covers an area of almost 200,000 square miles. Moreover, there is fossil evidence that demonstrates that some the highest geological structures on earth were at one point under water. Fossil evidence also demonstrates that large numbers of animals were, at one point, buried suddenly and in groups that contained mixtures of land and marine animals. Harold Coffin has a good article on Bibleinfo.com entitled “Is there evidence that the flood was global,” which has some good examples.

VK: Why don’t we mention one or two of the examples that Mr. Coffin cites?

RD: Sure. There are massive graveyards of thousands and even millions of fish, dinosaurs, and mammals that are found in North America, Europe, and Africa. The same is true of plants. From Utah-Colorado north to Alberta-Saskatchewan, Canada, thousands of dinosaurs are found in certain beds such as the Morrison Formation. These sites along with others mentioned above reveal that great quantities of animals were buried together rapidly. The rapid burial resulted in excellent preservation of the remains and the position of mammals that suggest death by drowning. The geological processes seen in the modern world cannot account for such unusual conditions. A world-wide catastrophe involving water is the easiest explanation for these observations.

VK: So part of the thinking is that such huge fossil beds wouldn’t be present if all the animals hadn’t been buried suddenly simultaneously? And that would make them all having been covered suddenly by a huge volume of mud and silt. The easiest explanation for how that could happen is being caught unexpectedly in a catastrophic flood. I mean if the water had risen gradually or the flood hadn’t been so extensive they could have gotten away.

RD: Exactly. And such fossil evidence isn’t limited to North America. In Brazil there is a large plateau where fish fossils are found with the skin, muscles, organs etc. all preserved. The fish look like they had just been caught but they are petrified and hard as stone. They are abundant and distributed over several thousand square miles. The plateau where these fossils are found is well above sea level and a good 500 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. This is remarkable because experiments with fresh dead fish have shown that dead fish in water will disintegrate and their skeletons will fall apart in less than one week. Only catastrophic conditions would have enabled such an extensive collection of animals and plants so exquisitely preserved. A final example of fossil evidence is found unexpected fossil mixtures of amber which is petrified pitch from trees. It is easy to understand how insects could be caught in sticky pitch and wind could blow pieces of leaves and even flowers into the pitch. But how could sea animals such as coral be included? One explanation would be that waves or strong currents from the sea must have broken up and carried bits of coral that stuck to the pitch before it became hard or petrified meaning that forests where such amber is found must have been underwater at one time.

VK: The point is then, that there is a lot of fossil evidence that is consistent with a sudden, widespread inundation of truly mammoth proportions. Naturally, we recognize that non-Christians would offer a different explanation other than a world-wide flood. But that just means that there are two competing truth claims on the table, right? And the fact that there are competing explanations means people should investigate the evidence for themselves to decide which explanation is more credible. But you mentioned that in addition to fossils there is also geological evidence that is consistent with an ancient, massive flood.

RD: Yes. But before I move away from the fossil evidence, I just want to emphasize that the examples I mentioned are exactly that – only a few examples. There are lots of others. In these radio episodes we only have time to skim the surface – no pun intended – of the evidence available that supports the Biblical flood account. There are entire books that have been written on the subject as well as a lot of great resources available from the internet.

VK: Well, to quote Jerry from the Life Lesson, true dat. We’re really just starting the discussion here in the hope that listeners can take some time to investigate this subject for themselves.

RD: True dat. So let’s move on and take a brief look at some of the geological evidence. First, we’ve mentioned the presence of huge layers of sedimentary rocks are found all over the world. These include at levels that are far above current sea levels. The most common cause for the formation of sedimentary rocks is sediments – essentially earth and mud being carried along by moving water – being deposited when the water slows down or disappears completely. The sediments then cement together and the sedimentation process occurs fairly quickly if the sediment is given the opportunity to dry out. When the 2011 tsunami struck Japan, sedimentary layers were deposited as much as kilometers inland and formed layers up to 20 centimeters thick. All that occurred from an event that would have been dwarfed in size by an inundation such as the one described in Genesis.

VK: But people who don’t accept the Biblical account might say that these layers were built up over thousands or millions of years and not in a single catastrophic incident?

RD: They could, but when geologists examine these layers they don’t see evidence that the sedimentary layers were built up in successive events. If successive events were involved geologists would expect to see either soil formation or evidence of organic activity such as holes from burrowing insects or plant roots, but such soil formation or bioturbation is absent in many of these really thick layers. In general, the deeper the layer of sedimentary rock the larger the amount of sediment that was deposited in a relatively short amount of time and thus the greater the volume and flow of water that was involved. If a single tsunami deposited sediment layers up to 20 centimeters think, imagine how much water would have been involved to create a sediment layer hundreds of times thicker.

VK: So both the fossil evidence and the geological evidence are both consistent with a flood of Biblical proportions?

RD: Absolutely. And the geological evidence is not limited to just the presence of massive layers of sedimentary rocks present all over the world. Geologists also acknowledge that many of the great river valleys all over the world were created by truly epic floods. David R. Montgomery, a geology professor at the University of Washington, labeled the floods that created these river valleys “Noah-like” in a 2012 article for Discover magazine. In that same article Montgomery noted that the first geologist to propose that the river valleys of eastern Washington were caused by such floods, J. Harlan Bretz, was met with widespread disbelief when he first proposed the idea in the 1920’s. Yet acceptance of the truth of Bretz’s observations is so widespread today that, at the age of 97, Bretz was awarded the Geological Society of America’s highest honor. Nor is the evidence of ancient flood carved landscapes limited to North America. It is also found in Europe and Asia. Other, geological phenomena also demonstrate that at one or more times in history megalithic hydrodynamic forces were acting on the surface of the earth. There are huge boulders perched on the tops of mountains in many parts of the world that are of are distinctly different from their surroundings. It’s hard to see how they would have arrived there unless carried by to their positions by an enormous force such as that which would occur during a flood. In other words there is substantial evidence that at one point the entire surface of the world was affected by major hydrological forces. We recognize that not all observers will agree with this conclusion. But the point is that there is evidence from both paleontology and geology that is consistent with the Biblical account. And though all people might not arrive at the same conclusion about what the evidence means that doesn’t do away with the evidence.

VK: I think that’s a point that should be emphasized. Just because there are people who are not persuaded that the fossil or geological evidence demonstrates the certainty of Noah’s flood does not do away with the evidence, Disbelief in the occurrence of Noah’s flood does not render the account any less likely. Science provides solid support that the earth contains physical remains of one or more past cataclysmic floods. Everyone is free to evaluate the evidence and arrive at their own conclusions. But it is entirely reasonable for Christians to use science as well as scripture in their pursuit of truth. So, again, what we see is that the Bible story makes perfect sense when we compare how the story stacks up against real-world considerations.

RD: Exactly. One final reminder for today. By their very nature past events, especially those of the distant past – like the flood of Noah - cannot be repeated. So to make intelligent assessments about whether such a flood took place or is highly likely to have occurred we have to look evidence that is available today. And as we reminded everyone last time, all investigators, all interpreters of evidence, bring a viewpoint, a lens through which they interpret evidence. I’m hesitant to say they bring a bias because that word can have a negative connotation but we certainly should be aware of our interpretive lens. This is particularly important when it comes to evaluating the historicity of Bible events.

VK: That is a very important point. Today Bible critics may try to criticize – say a geologist – who believes that the earth’s crust provides evidence that a worldwide flood occurred by saying the geologist is a Christian. But that criticism would be no more valid than someone criticizing a non-Christian geologist who doesn’t believe a flood occurred by pointing out that that geologist isn’t a Christian. It’s no more fair to say that a Christian geologist can’t interpret geological evidence fairly than to say that a non-Christian geologist can’t. Sounds to me like a good time for a prayer. Today let’s listen to a prayer for us all to receive the illumination we need to bring the light of truth to our friends, communities, and world.

---- PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (episode 92)

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(Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation)

The Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verses 1 through 5. New Living Translation

https://creation.com/topics/global-flood

https://activechristianity.org/6-unbelievably-good-reasons-to-read-your-bible

https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/safety-investigation-of-noahs-ark-in-a-seaway/

https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a007.html

Safety investigation of Noah's Ark in a seaway - creation.com

https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/geologic-evidences-for-the-genesis-flood/

https://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-biblical-type-floods-real-absolutely-enormous

https://considerthegospel.org/2014/03/28/the-noah-controversy-could-that-flood-have-happened/

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/there-evidence-flood-was-global