홍수 - 어디에?

[푸르름]

홍수 - 어디에?

홍수 의 기원 계정은 중대한 세부사항안에 현지 홍수로 신학자와 학자에의해 때때로 간주되는 현상을 기술한다.

그리고 홍수는 지구에 40 일 이었다; 그리고 증가하는 근해는 방주높은 쪽으로, 드러내고, 지구의 위 들n다 위로 이었다. 그리고 근해는 지구에 통용하고, 중대하게 증가했다; 그리고 방주는 근해의 얼굴에 갔다. 그리고 근해는 지구에 대단히 통용했다; 그리고 모든 높은 언덕은, 저것 전체 천국의 밑에 덮었다 있었다. 15개 완척은 위쪽으로 근해를 통용한다 했다; 그리고 산은 덮었다. 그리고 가금 그리고 가축, 및 짐승, 및 지구에creepeth, 그리고 각 남자 각 긴 것의 모두 지구에, 이동한 모든 살은 저것을 죽었다: 건조한 땅안에 있은 모든의 생활의 흡입이 이던 그의 비공안에 모두는, 죽었다. 그리고 지상의 얼굴에, 남자 모두 이던 각 살아있는 물질은, 천국의 가축, 및 긴 것, 및 가금 파괴되고; 그리고 그들은 지구에서 파괴되었다: 그리고 노아는 단 살아 있고, 방주안에 그와 이던 그들에 남아 있었다. 그리고 근해는 백 그리고 50 일 지구에 통용했다.

기원7:17-24

현지 홍수같이 저 소리? 묘사의 요소를 주의하십시요: 근해는 통용했다, 지구에 대단히 증가했다, 천국의 밑에 높은 언덕의 모두는 덮었다, 15개 완척의 거리에 의하여 높은 산을 덮었다 고 근해는 이렇게 높았다 (완척은 대략 18 인치 이다, 그래서 근해는 높은 산의 위 약 22 및 반 발 이었다). 산Ararat은 고각안에16,946발 이다. 현지 홍수보다는 매우 더의 생각하는것은 근해 22과 저것의 위 반 발에, 곤란하지 않다. 근해는 그것의 자신의 수준을 찾는다, 그래서 터어키안에 산Ararat에17,000발에 있으면,Mesopotamian골짜기 및 사막에서 범람하고, 유럽, 아시아 및 세계 기타 지역의 광막할 부분을 범람할 것이다.

운문 안에 - "가축 이동한 까 어느것이 지구에 모든 살이 죽었다 고21-23우리에 말된다. . . 짐승. . . 각 긴 것. . . 그리고 각 남자: 건조한 땅안에 있은 모든의 생활의 흡입이 이던 그의 비공안에 모두는, 죽었다. 그리고 지상의 얼굴에, 남자 모두 이던 각 살아있는 물질은, 천국의 가축, 및 긴 것, 및 가금 파괴되고; 그리고 그들은 지구에서 파괴되었다: 그리고 노아는 단 살아 있고, 방주안에 그와."이던 그들에 남아 있었다 모든 생물이 방주안쪽에 그들을 제외하고 파괴된 것을 원본은 명확하게 표시한다. 현지 홍수에 사건을 제한함것은 성전의 직접적인 계산서에 중대한 부정을 한다.

그러나 노아의 일이 이기 때문에, 이렇게 또한 남자의 아들의 옴것은 이을 것이다. 를 위해 아니다 홍수가 올 까지 홍수가 그들 마시기 먹을 전에 이던 일안에것과 같이, 일까지 결혼안에 결혼하고 주고 방주로 들어간 노아는, 있있, 그들을 모두 멀리 가지고 갔다; 이렇게 또한 남자의 아들의 옴것은 이을 것이다.

매튜24:37-39

예수 여기 주는 또한 보편 사건 이는 그의 재림 그리고 판단에 조준하기 위하여 보편적인 홍수 및 그것의 파괴의 계정을 이용한다. 노아 그래서 그것의 일안에것과 같이 모든 구원자로 그를 받아들이지 않은 안전의 방주, 예수 그리스도 (그들)이상으로 그들이, 재판되고 비난될 때 방주이상으로 이던 모두가 파괴되었다 때, 남자의 아들의 오기에 있으십시요.

ii피터를 또한3:6을 보십시요: "그때 이던 세계, 그것에 의하여 비명에 죽는 근해에 범람된." 낱말은 "cataclysmized," " 그리스 (kataklusmos ) 평균안에 범람하고" 다만 것을 - 총계 큰 홍수 의미한다. 피터는 것과 그때 이던 비명에 죽는 근해에 범람되는 세계, 말한다. 다른 낱말이 사용하면 어떤 경우에는, 저 묘사는 신약안에 현지 작은 홍수에 노아 일의 단 에 관하여 홍수, 아니다 사용된다 (매튜7:25의 potamos). 기원 예수 그리스도 7이 현지 홍수의 단 말하면, 우리는 피터 주의 선언, 고백 및 낱말의 의미를 "모두 제한해야 한다." 기원 7과 매튜 24안에 낱말이 " 모두 " 간단하게 현지 지역을 의미하면, 언제 다른 성전안에 나타나는 우리는 어떻게 낱말을 "모두" 해석하는가? 예를 들면,Romans 3:23안에, "모두는 신의 명예의sinned온다 짧게." 저것은 나가와 의견이 맞지않는 로스 앤젤레스안에 현지 지역안에 단 그들, 아마 모든 사람, 또는 모든 사람, 또는 나가 좋아하지 않는 모든 사람 있는가? 모두가 sinned것 을 의미한다; 그것은 모든 것을 포함한다. 생활의 흡입이 이던 방주이상으로 이고 파괴된 그의 비공안에 모두가 것과 이 계정은 우리들에게 말한다.

인구는 홍수의 때에 무엇 이었는가? 수학으로, 우리는 아담과 이브로 시작할 수 있고, 발생당 정해진 수 아이들을 추측하고, 죽은 그들 고려한다. 많은 년간 아들 그리고 딸이 있을 수 있은 것을 그들의 장수 경간을 성전안에 기록되는것과 같이 생각해서, 우리는 인정한다. 그런데, 우리는 가족당 단 6명의 소년 그리고 6명의 여아를 추측할 것이다. 합성 숫자는 지구에 살아 가깝게 3십억명의 사람을 그 때까지는 홍수의 보인다. 많을 사람은 매우 더 보다는 다만 현지 지역 및 그것안에 수용된것을 필요로 할텐데 고 파괴될 것이다 그들을 위해 현지 홍수보다는 더를 가지고 갈텐데.

오히려 한계 성전, 보편적인 홍수를 받아들이는 그것은 멀 일관할텐데. 그것은 모든 것을 포함했다. 그것은 모든 지구를 덮었다, 전체 천국의 밑에 높은 언덕의 모두를 덮고 모든 동물과 공장 수명을 파괴했다. 그리고 그같은 사건 있으면, 우리는 2개의 것의 기록을 발견한 해야한다:

모든 땅 집 동물의 그의 가족 그리고 쌍을 수용할텐데 방주를 건축하는것은 1) 노아가 가능했다,

2)은 그같은 사건이 과거안에 일어났다 고 거기서 오늘 세계안에 지질 기록 이어야 한다.

방주의 크기

첫째로 모두의, 우리들을 방주의 크기가 성경 계정이 합당하면 볼것을 보는 시키십시요. 기원 6:15안에 우리는, " 읽고 이것은thoushalt이 그것을 만들는 유행 이다: 방주의 길이는 이을 것이다 그것의 300개 완척, 폭 50개 완척, 및 그것의heighth30개 완척." 대략 18 인치의 완척에, 방주는 대략450발 길었다,75발 넓었다 및45발 높았다. 그것은 거대한 직사각형 상자의 모양, 오늘의 원양 항해 배보다는 철도 유개화차같이 더안에 건축되었다. 그것은 방향타를 포함해, 그것을 조타하는 노아를 가능하게 한. 방주에는extra-large수용량, 부낭이 잘 있고, 좋게 홍수를 저항하고기 깊은 것의 샘의 위로 끊기의 안정되어 있고다 가능하다. 노아의 방주를 그것의 밑에 좁은 통로 몇 발 넓은 아래 창의 줄에 정상의 센터와 있는다 고Ararat보고의 산에 휴식 본것을 요구해 사람 방주의 전체 길이를 확장한. 제 16 운문은 말한다, "창shaltthou방주에게, 그리고 완척shaltthou끝안에 만들n다 그것 의 위에."은 그것이 완척 이는, 그러나 "완척shaltthou끝 그것." 정상안에 1개의 적은 정연한 창을 요구하지 않는 것을 주의하십시요 지붕은 올리고Ararat에 이 목표를 본 그들에 따르면 덫치기 민물을 위해 가능하게 이용한 창을 언제나 측, 비치하고 있었다.

1개의 질문은 최고에 보인다: 지구에 생활을 보존하는가 위하여 필요로 하는가 동물의 모두를kacikoiss는가것은 그같은 배가 가능한가? Ernst은Mayr, 걸출한taxonomist및evolutionist, 제안 잘 지구에 오늘 살아 동물의 일백만개의 종의 견적에, 및 저것 곤충의850,000의 종을 포함하지 않는다. 방주안에 동물의 백만개의 종을 두는것은 명백하게 불가능할 것이. 그런데, 우리가, 죤C.Whitcomb의 주니어에의해 기원 홍수안에 토론되는 것과 같이ErnstMayr's숫자를 분석하면. 그리고 우리가 근해안에 살아날 수 있은 많은 동물을 삭제할 수 있는 고가 헨리Morris, 우리는 발견한다. 노아는 방주로 금붕어를 가지고 가야 하지 않았다, 도 아니다 그는 건축한다 피라니아 살인자를 위해 탱크를 whales. The seventh chapter specifies that "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land" - man, cattle, creeping things, fowl of the heaven, every living substance - "was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground." Fish are not mentioned anywhere in that seventh chapter, so Noah did not have to account for fish, sponges, echonoderms, protozoa and all other sea animals. For that matter, we could also eliminate amphibious animals who survive in the sea, but for the sake of argument we will account for these. Using Mayr's figures again, we need only 17,500 species of animals to preserve life on earth. The preservation of life requires one male and one female, so now we need 17,500 pairs of animals, or 35,000 animals, in the ark.

One may immediately envision very large animals, such as elephants and giraffes, but most animals are smaller than sheep. In fact, the average size of all animals is about the size of sheep. Since God sent the animals to Noah, in His wisdom He probably supplied small young animals to be taken into the ark because they would live longer, survive the voyage better and fulfill the purpose of continuing life on the earth. Taking into consideration that we are accounting for amphibious animals, we will also assume the animals were full grown. Thirty five thousand sheep can be placed in 146 railroad boxcars. In accounting for insects and creeping things, we will give insects two inches of flying room and creeping space, provide another twenty-one railroad boxcars. A total of 168 railroad boxcars, then, could accommodate the animal species living on the earth if we adopt Mayr's figures. Using the smallest cubit known, 17.5 inches (though it may be as long as 22 inches), the ark has a capacity of 522 railroad boxcars. This means that all of the animals in the ark could be placed on one of the decks, Noah and his family on another deck, and an entire deck remain for the bowling alley, badminton area, shuffle board and swimming pool. Or perhaps that space was used for animals which have become extinct before our time.

DINOSAURS

What about some of the large, extinct animals such as dinosaurs? Let us first discuss how dinosaurs are dated. When finding dinosaur bone, a paleontologist or geologist will look at the rock strata as well as carefully examine the bone. The dinosaur is determined to be 70 million years old. But how do we know the dinosaur is 70 million years old? Such a time period is advanced because the fossil appears in Cretaceous strata, which are designated as being 70 million years of age. This is reported in all of our textbooks and all of our encyclopedias. Obviously anything found buried in rock laid down 70 million years ago had to be buried when that rock formed and would have to be 70 million years old also. But how do we know Cretaceous strata are 70 million years old? Simply because dinosaurs are found in it. Though this illustration is oversimplified we are confronted with a classic example of circular reasoning. The fossil is dated by the rock in which it is found and the rock is dated by the fossil it contains.

Carl Dunbar, in his book on historical geology, admits the circular reasoning involved. A few years ago the Encyclopedia Britannica, in an article on fossil dating, made a statement that circular reasoning is indeed involved in the dating of fossils, but since it is so consistent it must be correct! Actually, there is no accurate way to date a fossil. Carbon 14, granting all of its assumptions, is accurate to about 30,000 years. How can a 70 million-year-old fossil be dated with a dating method only going back 30,000 years? For this reason scientists do not use Carbon 14 to date fossils.

Sedimentary strata are laid down by water; one can date them by an intrusion. If some lava flow, granite, or other type of igneous rock intrudes through the sedimentary strata, one can date the intrusion and know that the sedimentary layer above had to be laid down before the date of the intrusion. But since there is no accurate way to date the sedimentary rock, there is no accurate way to date the fossil. The geologic column, or fossil record, is built upon the assumption that evolution is true. The geologic column is established by accepting an evolutionary sequence for the fossils and by estimating the time required for one form to evolve to another. The picture of geologic history supposedly recorded in the geologic column is based upon the fact of evolution, which in turn is built on the fact of the geologic column. Again, circular reasoning is involved; neither item can be demonstrated or proved.

All we can really tell about dinosaurs and other large animals is that they lived sometime in the past. If you converse with the paleontologist who is digging at Dinosaur Monument in Vernal, Utah, he will tell you that the dinosaurs did not die in the park area, but were living up-state somewhere. They were crossing a sand bar, or they were walking in a swamp - something happened such as a local flood which caused these dinosaurs to die out; they were then washed downstream by water and buried in the sandstone at Vernal, Utah - destroyed and buried by some type of water action. There is no way to tell when such an event took place. Scientists can only state that dinosaurs lived sometime in the past and were buried sometime in the past by water action. This can easily be placed into a Biblical perspective.

The word "dinosaur" means terrible lizard. A dinosaur is nothing more that a large reptile. But a reptile affords a most unusual growth phenomenon: the longer a reptile lives, the larger it grows. It is certainly not like man, who lives for twenty years growing upward and then (unfortunately) the rest of his life grows outward. If reptiles live for 100 years, they grow for 100 years. The Bible establishes the framework that God created animals, plants and man, placing them into a perfect environment. It was so perfect that even after man fell into sin, he lived 930 years before he died. The average life span during the time of the Flood was 911 years, whereas our average life span today is about 70 years. We would have to increase our present life span some thirteen times to match the former life span. Increase the life span of a reptile proportionately, some thirteen times, and it is not too hard to picture how the iguana, growing for this period of time, could become large enough to look like a dinosaur. Picture the twelve foot reptile living in China today and increase his size to account for another of those gigantic reptiles which lived on the earth.

Consider also that in this pre-Flood world man was instructed to eat from the vegetation. Before the Flood there were tremendous amounts of minerals and trace elements in the soil necessary to produce vitamins and proteins needed for man to gain all the nutrition necessary for life from the vegetation. Animals would share this same food. After the Flood these trace minerals no longer remained in the soil but washed out to sea. This may account for the fact that the largest animal living today, the whale, exists in the sea.

Ted Mantei has developed some interesting studies of minerals in the sea. He has taken the trace minerals out of a lake bed, used this for fertilizer, and grown tomatoes larger than average. The fruits of these plants are disease resistant and bug free, with a lasting quality. They will eventually dehydrate and dry up, but they do not rot. Today man needs to take supplementary vitamins because there is not enough protein or minerals in the soil to enrich the vegetation. Before the Flood the earth had a tropical climate and mineral enriched vegetation, quite conducive to producing large forms of life.

How did these animals die out? The evolutionist has about seventy different answers, which can be divided into some thirty-five categories. In fact, evolutionist answers are largely contradictory. The climate was too hot or too cold, there was too much food or not enough food, and so on. Yet it is agreed that if large fossils are buried in sedimentary strata, some type of water action was responsible.

When did these animals die out? In a river bed in Glen Rose, Texas, dinosaur prints are found in the same strata with human prints. Dinosaur eggs, or large reptile eggs, were found along the coast of Madagascar up to 1000 years ago. Cave paintings in Rhodesia show a brontosaurus painted by bushmen, known to have left the caves about 1500 B.C. The interesting factor here is that the bushmen painted only things they could really see. How then can we account for the painting of a brontosaurus unless one was actually seen living at the time (a much more recent dating than evolutionists allow)? Everett Purcell of the Creation-Science Research Center wrote to a paleontologist in Rhodesia and asked him about this. The reply was classic. He answered that obviously the painting could not be of dinosaurs because dinosaurs died out 70 millions years ago (this conclusion was made without even going to view the paintings). The cave paintings must be either of giraffes or ant bears (an ant bear is a type of aardvark or anteater). We decided that any paleontologist who could not tell the difference between a giraffe and an anteater probably would not know a brontosaur if he saw one! The point is, he would not even leave his office to investigate; his mind was made up.

If we re-eval‎uate the position of the geologic column, the age of the earth, and even the position concerning the evolutionary bias, we can come up with better answers. The Biblical framework allows for dinosaurs: they would have been created in the Garden of Eden, died out or destroyed in the Flood, and buried in various sedimentary strata.

Why did these large animals die out? After the Flood conditions necessary for longevity of life no longer existed. Even man's life's span dropped to 400 years, then to 200 years at Babel; after another 200 years, in Abraham's time, Sarah was too old to have children at age 90. Man's life span has been dropping ever since. (Incidentally, today's increase in life spans does not mean that we live longer but that fewer children die at birth. The average life span in the United States is 70 years; in India it is only 35 years because more children die at birth in India than in America. People in India live as long as people in America, but the infant mortality rate lowers the average life span).

The ninth chapter of Genesis says that the day Noah left the ark "the fear of you [man] and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, an upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all thing" (verses 2-3). For the first time Noah is instructed to eat meat, and man and best are now at enmity one with the other. This is necessary because the earth lacks the foliage and vegetation necessary to sustain man's life.

The fact that dinosaurs and other large animals are extinct is not an unusual problem. Over the years many animals have become extinct - for instance, we are in danger of losing the bald eagle and man's destruction almost eliminated the buffalo. If it were not for our wild life and game preserves, many more animals would probably be extinct.

We often think of dinosaurs as being terribly ferocious. Two evolutionary scientists in England who have done research on the tyrannosaurus rex and allosaurus conclude that both were vegetarians. The teeth are quite strong, suggesting a carnivorous animal, but the shape of the jaw and the nature of the upper arm is such that they would no be able to rip and tear, much less grab at their prey. The shape of the jaw indicates a tendency for them to lean upward and take things from a tree. Thus they do not at all seem the ferocious animal we envisage. Few complete skeletons of dinosaurs are found, and thus our information is extremely limited. In fact, museum reconstructions and drawing in books may not give a true picture of the animals at all.

ANIMALS IN THE ARK

God told Noah to take all of His animals into the ark. Poor Noah - sitting with 35,000 animals and 850,000 species of insects. He and his family must care and feed all of these animals for a year, which would certainly tax the strength of any individual. But observe one verse in passing: Genesis 8:1, "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark . . ." That word "remembered" is an interesting word. Usually we think of remembering as recalling something we forgot. This definition would convey the idea that God was so busy destroying the whole earth that suddenly He looked down and remembered Noah was there. For an explanation of the term, we find a parallel in the New Testament. The thief on the cross said to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Was it only after the Lord died, was resurrected and ascended into heaven that He thought, "I remember the thief on the cross"? Not at all. While still upon the cross He told the thief, "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise." He not only remembered but gave full assurance that He would take care of his need. This is what the Genesis text conveys. God remembered Noah, all the cattle and every living thing that was in the ark, and He cared for their needs.

Many animals living today hibernate. Scientists, though studying these animals, cannot fully understand why animals hibernate, with some animals sleeping through the winter, some through the summer (called aestivation), living the whole time in a type of suspended animation. What is the reason for this? A close study of the Bible discloses that tropical conditions existed throughout the world before the Flood. There were seasons, but they were very mild, for it did not rain upon the earth before the Flood, and there was a tropical climate throughout the Earth so animals would not need to hibernate. Why do animals go into hibernation? To escape drastic seasonal changes. This is possibly a carry-over from the animals who were on the ark. God slowed down their metabolic processes to such a level that they spent their time in the ark in a state of hibernation. This would make it easier for them to survive the voyage and would simplify Noah's care for them. There is good evidence from the text that such an event took place, because the Bible tells us that the animals entered the ark two by two and left the ark a year later two by two - including the rabbits. God's purpose according to Genesis 8:17 was to preserve life on the ark so that after the Flood they could multiply and repopulate the earth, not the ark. It seems logical that God performed this miracle and slowed down the metabolic processes.

FOSSILS AND THE FLOOD

If a worldwide Flood occurred, we would expect to find evidence of animals and plants buried by some type of water action throughout the earth. We find this in sedimentary strata - strata which are laid down by wind or water. The entire geologic column is built of sedimentary strata, even some Pre-Cambrian rocks. This type of strata is found in the Grand Canyon, which is one of the best areas of the earth to study because of the extensive series of strata exposed. A drastic change in strata is brought about by some type of water action. The historical geologist, the evolutionist and the uniformitarian would explain this change as a gradual formation, a gradual laying down of the sediments, based on the present rate of sedimentation. If the rates of erosion and deposition were sufficiently increased, the Grand Canyon could be formed or eroded in a short period of time.

According to the Bible, the Flood was such that the fountains of the great deep were broken up. Throughout the ocean floor in the mid-oceanic ridges, a rift circles the entire earth. This suggests that some time in the past the ocean floor was uplifted about two miles, which would be enough to cause a flood and cover the entire land mass with water. There is enough water in the ocean even now to cover the entire earth if it were rearranged. A study of oceanography points to various places in the earth where water would have drained out; the easiest way to cause that drainage after the Flood would be to raise the land mass and the mountains. Estuaries, oceanic canyons and underwater caverns which go back underneath the seashore are places where drainage and erosion have taken place. Visual evidence at Lake Bonneville today shows that in the past it covered a vast area. The mountains in that area have shorelines where the lake used to be. It has gradually subsided to the present level. Vast portions of land were under water, as shown by the evidences of fossils buried on the tops of mountains by water action. Even on Mount Ararat itself sedimentary strata are found at the 13,000 foot level, an indication that water was at that level. Pillow lava, molten lava cooled under water, is found at the 15,000 foot level on Mount Ararat. The conchoidal fractures indicate that it had to be cooled under water. Found everywhere on the earth's surface, such illustrations offer good evidence for the global effects of water action.

Geology books tend to give the impression that the geologic column is found in the exact order traditionally proposed by historical geology. However, nowhere on earth are the strata laid down in exactly the same order as in the books. In the Grand Canyon, which is probably the best single area for investigation, over half of the geologic column is missing. Such an irregularity is usually explained as due to uncomformities. That is, erosion somehow wiped out the strata which are now missing in that area, and the next stratum was laid down, omitting the eroded layers of strata.

The same type of stratum is not always found directly lying on top of basement rock. Cretaceous rock, supposedly 70 million years old, is found lying right on top of basement rocks, and so is Cambrian, supposedly older than 500 million years, or Permian, frequently dated at 200 million years. In numerous places on earth strata have been found drastically out of order. At Chief Mountain, Montana, at the Lewis Overthrust, the older pre-Cambrian rock lies on top of the younger Cretaceous. A pre-Cambrian rock, according to evolutionary dating methods, would be over 500 million years old. A Cretaceous rock would be 70-100 million years old. This presents a slight problem: a rock which is over 500 million years old is lying on top of one that is 70 million years old; 430 millions years are missing and the rocks are in an upside-down order. The evolutionist explains it quite simply: at one time all were level, but a horizontal thrust took place, forcing the strata to rise up, fold over, shear off all the adjacent strata, and leave this little block lying on top of the younger block. Erosion washed away 500 million years of strata above it leaving a pre-Cambrian block (13,000 square miles in area) on top of a Cretaceous block.

In opposition to this, there is no real physical evidence of a thrust fault or a theory to explain the origin of the thrusts. There is no evidence of sliding, of pressure, of any rock movement between the two strata at the contact line between the two layers at Chief Mountain. In fact, the older layer lies conformably on top of the younger layer. In checking out overthrusts, such as the Owl's Head formation at Tortillita Mountains in Arizona and other places, evidence of small overthrusts clearly exists; up to forty feet of ground-up rock are found between the strata. At Chief Mountain 350 billion tons of rock must slide a distance of fifty miles in order to leave this block of pre-Cambrian strata on top of the Cretaceous, but there is absolutely no evidence of rock movement. Some say that you would not expect to find evidence of rock movement because it would be possible for the rock to slip in on kind of a plastic flow and drop into place. But that is a theory without any physical evidence to support it. There is simply no evidence of such an event. Fossils are found out of order in the Swiss Alps also. Some scientists would suggest that at one time the Alps were in Africa and slid magically into Europe. At Chief Mountain, however, 430 millions years of geologic column have been done away with and reversed. All that can be deduced by looking at the geologic column and studying the fossils in any local area is that the stratum on the bottom was laid before the stratum on top, unless one can find real evidence of thrusting, folding or faulting. In the absence of such evidence it cannot be determined if the strata were laid down a week apart, two days apart or a year apart.

If there were a worldwide Flood, we would expect to find evidence of the destruction of plants and animals on a large scale. For instance, to form a seam of coal in the earth one foot thick, about twenty feet of vegetation is needed, compressed adiabatically - i.e., compressed under pressure without the loss of the heat of compression. Theories for the formation of oil demand the burial of animal life on a large scale, again compressed adiabatically. If you were to bury me in the earth under the proper conditions and proper amount of pressure, supposedly you could later come along, stick a tube into me, pump me out, put me into your car and drive down the street. The formation of coal and oil does not require millions of years as the evolutionist sometimes claims but, can really be accomplished in relatively short periods of time. Recently oil has been formed by converting a ton of garbage into a barrel of oil with the proper pressure and temperature conditions. In an hour and a half a piece of wood was converted to coal in Germany by using a pile driver. This was not their intention, but they applied the right amount of pressure and converted the material into coal. The proper amount or pressure determines the formation of coal or oil, not long periods of time.

When we compare the ratio of carbon to hydrogen contained in the animal kingdom to the corresponding ratio for the plant kingdom, we find an interesting relationship. For when the ratio of carbon to hydrogen contained in petroleum is compared to the ratio of carbon to hydrogen in coal, one finds that that same ratios hold. This indicates that sometime in the past there was an event which destroyed one biosphere, or one total amount of animals and plants, in order to form the amounts of coal and oil found in the earth. When did such an event take place? As we drill into the earth and find oil, we discover that it is still buried under geostatic pressure, which in some places is three times greater than hydrostatic or fluid pressure. This means that overburdens of rock are on top of the oil, trapping it and causing the tremendous pressure. But the pressure would have dissipated if the trap had been formed any longer than 10,000 years ago. In fact, since oil is still found buried under near geostatic pressure, the indication is that it was buried less than 5000 years ago! Further study can be done in this area through a book entitled Pre-History and Earth Models, by Melvin Cook, Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale. Oil may have formed from the animals buried on the earth at the time of the Flood. Because we find oil under geostatic pressure, it is a good indication that this burial took place sometime less than 10,000 years ago - very much in agreement with the Bible's 4000 - 5000 year-old date for the Flood.

FLOOD TRADITIONS

If there were a worldwide Flood, we would expect to find some record of flood traditions around the world. Almost every major culture - Chinese, Indian, Greek, Roman, Babylonian - possesses records of a major flood. Some suggest it was a local flood, but all relate that the entire area and civilization they knew was destroyed. Their hero, whether his name was Utnapishtim or Noah, was instructed to build some type of ark, or raft, and climb to the highest mountain. He was to take his wife and all of his animals with him. They were instructed to take all of their possessions because there was to be a great Flood which would destroy the wickedness of the earth. The Chinese story adds that after the Flood their hero got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. One of his sons went into the father's tent, saw his nakedness and told the other two sons. These sons, Charma and Japote, backed in and covered their father. It tells of the subsequent judgment of one of the sons and later talks about the building of a tower to heaven.

Near the Fiji Islands a missionary was giving an account of Noah and the ark when one of the natives jumped up and exclaimed, "That is exactly like our account. Our ancestor was instructed to build an ark and take all of his family and animals into the ark. But your ancestors wrote your account down, so it is more accurate than ours, which has been passed on by word of mouth." Though in themselves these Flood traditions would not prove much, coupled with the other evidences they certainly support the premise of a worldwide Flood.

NOAH'S ARK

In addition to what has been discussed, evidence from archeology points to an ark buried on top of a mountain. This ark has been seen on Mount Ararat in Turkey. Ten times in the last 115 years. Three expeditions claim to have gone inside the ark of Noah, and it has been photographed on three other occasions. Wood has been found on the mountain three different times. What is so important about finding wood on a mountain? The wood found is hand-hewn timber, impregnated with a black substance, which has been tooled and worked on. It is said to by cypress, a derivative of gopher wood. It was found buried in an ice cap at the 14,000 foot level of the mountain on top of a lava flow. There are no trees native to that mountain for a distance of 200 miles. Five different laboratories dated the same piece of wood by the Carbon 14 method, providing dates of 1500 - 6000 years (which gives an idea of the accuracy of Carbon 14). In 1883 a group of Turkish commissioners entering the ark reported finding on the side wall of the third compartment a supposed record or log.

There is good evidence that the ark is presently resting on the mountain of Ararat. The Creation-Science Research Center has published Noah's Ark: Fact or Fable? By Violet Cummings, which relates all of the history regarding expeditions in search of the ark.

CONCLUSIONS

Note the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in Matthew 24:37: "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." He warned that at His second coming man would be eating, drinking, giving in marriage and being overly concerned with material things, as in the days of Noah. This was man's condition when the Flood came and destroyed them all. As we consider the importance of the study of creation and the Flood, we find that it declares God's right to judge the world. God is a God of mercy and of love, but He warns of impending judgment. What better way to warn the world than to demonstrate His right to judge the world - I created, I have the right to judge.

As judgment came in the past, destroying perhaps three billion people and saving only eight, another judgment is imminent. God's time of judgment will come. Man today who rejects Jesus Christ and says it is foolish to believe in the Bible will one day meet Jesus Christ as his judge. The One who had the power to create, the One who had the power to destroy, is the One who has the power to save. As eight people were inside the ark of safety in the days of Noah and found salvation, so also today people who are inside the ark of safety, Jesus Christ (those who have accepted Him as Saviour), will be saved from that judgment which is to come.

Where do you stand? Have you assured your eternal safety in Him? Have you placed yourself within the ark of salvation - Jesus Christ?