Episode 8 – Science, History, and Noah – Part 1

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: (dramatic opening music)(music under voice over)

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. ... In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

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VK: I’m Victoria K welcoming you to another episode of Anchored by Truth. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, the Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, obviously from the scriptures we just heard we are continuing with our series on the story of Noah. Are we going to discuss more about how the flood account from Genesis has something to tell us about God’s plan for the world?

RD: Yes, no, and sort of. Today I want to start to take a look at the intersection of science, history, and the Bible – something we’ll talk a lot about on Anchored by Truth. To get us going let’s listen to another of Crystal Sea’s Life Lessons with a Laugh where we take a humorous look at some of the details of Noah’s story that are often overlooked.

VK: Sounds good to me.

---- NOAH 3 – Big Enough

VK: Ok. That piece had some truly amazing parts. First, is how many different variants you can manage to come up with for Jerry and Noah’s names. Second, was the information about the actual cargo capacity of the ark. I’m sure some people would wonder where those numbers came from.

RD: The capacity estimate for the ark that I used in the Life Lesson can be found in the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties written by Gleason L. Archer who was a truly gifted Biblical scholar and theologian. He would often go back to the original Hebrew or Greek documents when he was trying to resolve a difficulty with a particular passage. One of the things I like about his encyclopedia is that he provides his analytical process to the reader instead of just making pronouncements. So, a reader can review the evidence he’s relying upon not just get his conclusion. I’d highly recommend his encyclopedia for anyone who has a serious interest in studying the Bible more deeply.

• VK: So the ark’s immense cargo capacity helps address one issue that’s often raised about the truth of the flood account. But size isn’t the only reason the ark’s dimensions are so important is it?

◦ No. The ark’s dimensions also give us important information about it’s stability. The ark’s dimensions as given in the Bible use the classic 6-to-1 ratio that is a staple of modern naval architecture.

◦ Korea Research Institute of Ships and Engineering’s (KRISO’s) large towing tank, with a wave generating system in order to validate the theoretical analysis.

◦ The ark’s dimensions produce a vessel that is extremely stable in an ocean-going environment and scale model tests in wave tanks suggest that the ark could endure wave heights more than 100 feet high without capsizing. (Consult the article at answersingenesis.com about testing the ark’s stability in a seaway)

• Ok. So this is all pretty interesting. I mean I think a lot of people know the Bible contains the Ten Commandments and some other moral instructions but a lot of people today have probably never focused on the fact that the Bible contains an amazing level of historical fact and detail. I don’t think most people ever think about the huge volume of information of all types that’s present in the Bible.

◦ And that’s one of the reasons we are doing Anchored by Truth and the Life Lessons.

• So when you said that you wanted to begin to discuss the intersection of science, history, and the Bible this is part of what you’re talking about. The Bible is a book that contains a lot of history and the overwhelming bulk of that history is verified by historical sources outside the Bible. And you’re saying that the same thing is true of the Bible’s discussion of matters that pertain to our physical creation.

◦ Yes. Because the Bible describes the creation of everything and events pertaining to that creation it inevitably contains statements about scientific matters.

◦ The ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea. The modern names are Bab edh-Dhra, thought to be Sodom, and Numeira, thought to be Gomorrah. Both places were destroyed at the same time by an enormous conflagration. The destruction debris was about three feet thick. What brought about this awful calamity? Startling discoveries in the cemetery at Bab edh-Dhra revealed the cause. Archaeologists found that buildings used to bury the dead were burned by a fire that started on the roof.

◦ What would cause every structure in the cemetery to be destroyed in this way? The answer to the mystery is found in the Bible. “Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens” (Genesis 19:24). The only conceivable explanation for this unique discovery in the annals of archaeology is that burning debris fell on the buildings from the air. But how could such a thing happen?

◦ There is ample evidence of subterranean deposits of a petroleum-based substance called bitumen, similar to asphalt, in the region south of the Dead Sea. Such material normally contains a high percentage of sulfur. It has been postulated by geologist Frederick Clapp that pressure from an earthquake could have caused the bitumen deposits to be forced out of the earth through a fault line. As it gushed out of the earth it could have been ignited by a spark or surface fire. It would then fall to Earth as a burning, fiery mass.

◦ It was only after Clapp formulated this theory that Sodom and Gomorrah were found. It turns out that the sites are located exactly on a fault line along the eastern side of a plain south of the Dead Sea, so Clapp's theory is entirely plausible. There is some evidence for this scenario from the Bible itself. Abraham viewed the destruction from a vantage point west of the Dead Sea. The Bible records what Abraham saw: “He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace” (Genesis 19:28). Dense smoke suggests smoke from a petroleum-based fire. Smoke rising like smoke from a furnace indicates a forced draft, such as would be expected from subterranean deposits being forced out of the ground under pressure. (For more information consult the article on christiananswers.net on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah)

• So there is scientific confirmation for many of the details that are contained with Bible stories. But there are some obvious points where contemporary science and the Bible seem to diverge?

◦ Let’s distinguish between science and scientists for a moment.

◦ Science as a body of facts, observations, and evidence is different from the people who interpret the facts. Scientists are people are subject to the same forms of bias as non-scientists. The pronouncements of scientists when made within the province of their expertise should be given due weight. The pronouncements of scientists about historical events should be evaluated alongside other relevant evidence.

• Ok. I think that’s fair. But before we close let’s to circle back to Noah. The story of Noah is an important episode in the Bible because it is a historical event but it also contains or implies a number of things of scientific interest. I mean a world-wide flood would affect the earth in dramatic ways, so evidence would be left behind in the earth’s shape, its crust, and in its geology. So that’s evidence that we can gather and examine to help make a determination about the validity of the Bible’s truth claims.

◦ Scientific questions versus historical questions.

◦ Scientific questions are concerned with repeatability.

◦ Historical questions are concerned with one-time events.

◦ Science can shed light on historical questions but cannot completely resolve them particularly for events in the distant past.

• Well, as you said that will be a discussion we will continue next time. But before we end today you wanted to talk about the importance of people reading the Bible for themselves?

◦ Yes. Most people who are Christians recognize that the importance of the Bible but a lot of times they find it difficult or imposing to read it for themselves. They prefer to get it from their church or another source where they are a passive listener.

◦ 1. Romans 10:17. The content of the Christian faith starts with and is largely contained in the Bible. The depth and strength of your Christian faith is inextricably tied to your understanding of that content. Without a deep awareness of the contents of scripture it’s impossible to build a deep and abiding faith. And only a deep and abiding faith can get us through life’s hard times.

◦ 2. We can’t keep God’s commandments if we don’t know them. “Trust and obey”

◦ 3. It pleases God when we seek to be obedient and walk in his ways. Proverbs 11:20

Given God’s miraculous and merciful preservation of the human race through Noah it seems only appropriate that before we close we praise the Son who has saved from our sins - a much greater salvation than even that from the flood. Let’s close with a prayer.

---- Prayer for the Nation, radio version.

VK: We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quotes from the English Standard Version)

The Book of Genesis, chapter 7, verses 6 through 9

The Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verses 13 through 19

1 Peter, chapter 3 verses 18 through 22

Editorial Note: It is important to state, however, that just because all observers may not be persuaded that a flood of the type described in the Bible actually occurred does not do away with the evidence, nor does it mean that their conclusions are correct. 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 and we’ll talk about some of the specific evidence next time. Everyone is free to evaluate the evidence and gather more if they desire. What unbelievers are not free to do, though, is to assert that Christians who hold to the truth of the Biblical account are required to suspend their trust in science in order to continue to place their trust in scripture.

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