The Natural View and the Spiritual View #3

Monday, February 10, 2014

“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7 KJV).

We continue addressing the associated objections and misconceptions concerning the recent Ken Ham/Bill Nye Creation/Evolution online debate….

GREAT DELUGE OF NOAH’S DAY. The Great Flood is probably the most ridiculed idea in the Creation/Evolution debate. Skeptics ask, How could a few “primitive” (uneducated?) men build a 450-foot-long boat that could actually float for a whole year on a global sea? How could all of today’s species fit into that ark and be fed by eight people? What scientific proof is there of a global flood? How could the natural laws we see operating today be overridden or suspended to produce such an event?

Although more will be said later, for now, we offer the following brief replies:

  • Throughout various ancient cultures worldwide, there exists the basic story of a man building a large boat in anticipation of a global flood. These peoples lived thousands of miles apart, so how did they all adopt this strikingly similar narrative?
  • Ancient cultures and languages can be very complex, so “primitive” Noah was not stupid like Bible scoffers suggest.
  • Animal hibernation probably played a major role in limiting volumes of food and dung on the ark.
  • Apparently, only major animal species boarded the ark (today’s subspecies were represented genetically, not physically, on the ark).
  • Some (compromisingly) suggest the Bible teaches a regional, rather than global, flood. Ridiculous! A single riverbank overflow should have alerted Noah to, not build a boat, but migrate out of the valley and seek higher ground! (Surely, God did not make Noah waste 120 years of his life.)
  • As a geologist (Earth scientist), some years ago, I began developing my own hypothesis regarding the “scientific [geologic] proof” of the Great Flood. I have never published it or shared it with anyone, but I do hope to one day (I am still forming the underlying concepts).
  • Above all, never forget: We geologists admit that, in history, the rates of the operation of natural laws have periodically increased from “normal”/current rates (the Great Flood was not the only event in history to “upset” natural laws)!