Ever since I was old enough to understand basic English, evolutionary and anti-biblical views had shaped my upbringing. I grew up very confused with other people forcing their ideology upon me yet never providing any evidence or explanation as to why. I was taught what to think instead of how to think. All I can say is that my stubbornness and lack of trust for people has come in handy at times. There will always be a faith aspect to whatever we believe, that’s why the bible says: “without faith it is impossible to please God”. But our Christian faith is not a blind faith, oh no- is a faith built on solid evidence, scientific proof and first hand experiences. The faith we have as Christians makes sense of why we have laws of nature, laws of mathematics, chemistry, physics, a soul and a conscience wired within us.
As a Christian, I have seen how utterly important it is for us to be fully obedient to the truth of God’s word in its entirety and how damaging it can be otherwise. I’ve come across many Christians today that try to fit their own beliefs and theories into God’s word instead of a literal interpretation of it. If we can’t trust in the first part of the Bible, then why should we trust in the middle or the end? If we can’t trust the Bible’s history then why should we believe in what it says about salvation? If even a Christian can’t fully trust the word of God, then how can we ever expect to share the gospel and expect someone to believe any of it? For followers of Jesus, the Bible is the true history book of the universe- it’s the only resource that we have in order to enable us to give an answer to difficult questions with authority and confidence.
1 peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”.
Noah’s ark, for example has been subject to much interest, scrutiny and ridicule throughout human history; depicted in whimsical drawings, most people view the world-wide flood and Noah’s ark as likely an impossible reality; yet the very same people marvel at the Egyptian pyramids and skill of their advanced civilisation. I believe these presumptions that people 4000 years ago would have lacked the physical and mental strength than that as what we have today is none other than an evolutionary myth and a tragic misconception from approaching this subject with the wrong world-view. In fact, the opposite would be more likely to be true. There is compelling scientific evidence that the genomes of all living creatures are slowly degrading due to the accumulation of slightly harmful mutations. This certainly suggests that the genetics of people in Noah’s day were far more superior to ours today- therefore would have more than sufficient means for harvesting, cutting transporting and erecting mass beams. In the beginning God created Adam essentially the best physically and mentally that mankind has ever been. The man’s intellect and physique has suffered unfortunately 6000 years of decay as a result of sin and the fall. We not only see this pattern within Biblical history, but also world history- it was often the earlier dynasties that built more impressive building, finer art and better science and mathematics than those who came later. The ancient Maya for example were the first Mesoamerican civilisation that built stone cities and astronomical observatories with mastery mathematics than the later groups such as the Olmec and Aztecs. We must also realise that many so-called modern inventions we have today such as concrete (such as used by the Romans some 2000 years ago) are just reinventions. In some ways technology today seems to make us feel as though we are superior to our ancestors, but in reality it compensates a great deal for our natural decay. Perhaps it wouldn’t of been so impossible that we would have originally thought. Genesis 6:15 tells us “The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits”. A cubit was the primary unit of measure in the Old Testament and was based on the distance between the elbow to fingertips- therefore varied between people groups. Using the ancient royal cubit of 20.4 inches the ark dimensions would translate to roughly 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high. These dimensions were more than large enough to hold roughly 7000 “kinds” of animals, which is still much less than its maximum capacity (and yes even dinosaurs)- it was roughly as long as 1.5 football fields and as tall as a four-story building. The ark was likely the largest ship ever made till about the late 1800s- in the western world, wooden sailing ships never got much larger than 330 feet long, yet ancient Greeks built vessels at least this size 2000 years ago. China also built huge wooden ships in the 1400s that may have also been as large as the ark. Compared to ships we have in the present, the ark would have been a mid-sized cargo ship. In addition, its important to note that the Bible doesn’t specifically tell us that Noah built the ark all by himself, in fact it probably wouldn’t make much sense if he did. Besides his sons he likely hired skilled labourers along with relatives to help. Based on scripture Noah would have had many many years to construct the ark- so if two men can erect a large house within 12 weeks today, how much do you think 4 men could achieve within a few years- therefore we have no reason to think that this wouldn’t be possible to achieve within the allotted timeframe.
I have realised for myself that science isn’t just about evidence, its really about how you interpret that evidence. We have a body of data but depending on which paradigm we adopt, the data will be interpreted in very different ways- it’s really not between two different views of science, it’s between two competing views of history. The two major governing paradigms is: the conventional paradigm- deep time of 13.7 billion years of gradual process (beginning with primal simplicity ending in what we see today). It’s the belief that all the complexity in life has to be built bottom from nothing through strictly physical process, with no mind, no creator and no design present.
This is radically different compared to the second paradigm- the historical Genesis paradigm where everything starts with a divine mind, creator and intelligence. The historical narrative and genealogy record laid out for us within God’s word proves that Christianity is not a leap in the dark- its understanding has a solid historical basis.
Modern geology really started to develop in the later 18th century. James Hutton from Scotland and Charles Lyell in England advocated for what became known as uniformitarianism (the view that rocks and fossils of the earth where the result of a slow and gradual process of erosion and sedimentation operating at the same rates and frequency we see today). Before this time the Bible was the largely accepted worldview. Charles Lyell was deeply influenced by the work of James Hutton; so much so he wrote a book in the 1830s called ‘ Principles of Geology’ in which he illustrated the views of Hutton in a very direct way. Interestingly it was Lyell (a uniformitarian) who was the teacher of Charles Darwin along with Adam Sedgwick (a catastrophist geologist).
Darwin’s work was deeply influenced by his teachers and network of mentors who ultimately shaped his approach to geology and biology. Tragically, what i have noticed through the years after being deeply into science from a young age, it seems as though there is a stubborn commitment to the millions of years theory- and so once people get locked into that focus anything outside that field of view gets instantly marginalised. This is most likely because it would mean everyone who held to this conventional paradigm such as Darwin is wrong, and the bible right- thus making them more so accountable to God and their rejection of Him.
The secular timescale is radically different from what the bible gives us- yet at the same time this long age timeline seems to contradict many laws and constants of science and nature. All the matter of the universe is fixed within a very narrow range and the very structure of it is determined by the fundamental constants and quantities. Scientists have come to the shocking realisation that each of these numbers have been dialled to an intricately precise value that falls within an exceedingly narrow life-permitting range. For example if we look at the moon which the earth relies on for many things such as the stabilisation of the earths exhale tilt which in result ensures a consistent, moderate climate, while its gravity creates ocean tides and slows earth’s rotation. Studies show the moon is slowly receding from the earth at about 3.78cm per year; but what’s interesting about that is that if you were to extrapolate further back in time- if the moon were only as half as far from the earth as it is now then the recession rate would be several feet per year due to tidal forces (which are much stronger when the moon is closer to the earth). Secular scientists estimate that the earth is about 4.54 billion years old- so if we did the math and extrapolate this back in time just 1.56 years, the moon would be right up against the earth- if this were the case then we have a problem because if it were anywhere in the vicinity of the earth our own gravity would disintegrate the moon and turn it into a ring like Saturn has. Yet scientists explain away anything in order to stick to their timeline. On the other hand, from a biblical view point- over timescale of 6000 years then the moon has only moved a few hundred feet since then.
So what about radiometric techniques dating fossils back to millions of years?- well fossils don’t come with date tags unfortunately. Biblical creationists have long pointed out the many problems with the unprovable assumptions behind these techniques such as carbon-14 and other radioisotope dating methods- and expert geologists too understand the limitations of these methods. So much so they have admitted that they cherry-pick the data.
“If a C14 date supports our theories, we put it in the main text. If it does not entirely contradict them, we put it in a foot-note. And if it is completely ‘out of date’, we just drop it.”
(From a book on Egyptian archeology)
“In general, dates in the “correct ball park” are assumed to be correct and are published, but those in disagreement with other data are seldom published nor are the discrepancies fully explained.”
(An associate professor of geology)
“If the laboratory results contradict the field evidence, the geologist assumes that there is something wrong with the machine date. To put it another way, “good” dates are those that agree with the field data [fossils in the strata].”
(A quote from a general book on geology).
These types of dating methods are based on measuring certain elements that decay over time, not actually time itself. So all these methods assume the same thing- consistent decay rates; which is a big assumption considering that decay rates can vary considerably in different circumstances, environments and catastrophic events.
When creatures are alive, they absorb carbon-14, however once it dies, radiocarbon slowly decays to nitrogen-14 without being replenished. So the ratio of carbon-14 atoms to regular carbon atoms will decrease over time. If you know the decay rate and the amount of carbon-14 and nitrogen-14 atoms in a sample, you can then attempt to determine its age [Answers InGenesis].
The rate of decay is what geologists attempt to determine. Any organic material thought to be older than 100,000 years should contain no significant amount of c-14 because the carbon should have decayed away by then- yet c-14 has been detected in samples thought to have been millions of years old. Samples such as diamonds thought to be 1-3 billion years old, fossils, dinosaur bones, coal oil natural gas and marble all supposedly spanning more than 500 million years all have traces of c-14, but of course evolutionists are ready to explain anything away that doesn’t fit their criteria.
In 2004, a team led by Dr Mary Schweitzer discovered soft tissue- red blood cells, blood vessels and collagen in the femur of a T-Rex- Unfossilised soft tissue that was supposedly 65 million years old. Bio molecules such as proteins are not estimated to last more than one billion years; however soft tissue is found in dinosaurs ranging fro supposedly 65- 125 million years old.
Evolutionists are desperate to find a way to make the evidence fit with the long-age theories, but the answer is- you can’t. There is a simpler answer however; dinosaurs were burried as a result of Noah’s flood just over 4000 years ago. This tissue would have been very well preserved and is actually relatively young which is why we find it today.
If Noah’s flood was real- then what evidence would we be looking for? Billions of dead things buried in rock layers that has been laid down by water all over the earth- and that’s exactly what we find. 75% of the earth’s land surface is comprised of sedimentary rock (rock that has been washed away, dissolved in fluid then re deposited elsewhere). Fossils are found in many of these sedimentary layers and is very common to find mass fossil graveyards consisting of jumbled, smashed and contorted fossil remains of animals that had been simultaneously preserved by incredible force.
So how exactly are fossils formed and does it take millions of years for the sediment to build up?
A typical example of fossilisation that’s depicted in text books is a fish would die, sink to the bottom and slowly get covered in layers of silt and mud. As millions of years would pass, the sediment would get compressed as new layers gathered resulting in the mud turning into rock-resulting the fish remains to become permineralized. It may be a simple explanation, however what about predators who would have quickly snatched it for food- which is very often the case.
It seems to me as though evolutionary researchers leave us answer-less when it comes to explaining away the long- age paradigm and perhaps that’s why they’ve more recently started embracing catastrophic explanations to their evolutionary hypothesis.
(Figure A) Marine reptile in the process of giving birth
(Figure B) Jellyfish would ordinarily melt in the sun or get ripped apart by the wind and waves.
(Figure C) Crinoids (sea lilies)
(Figure D) How do we fossilise a wasp like this unless its done rapidly?
(Figure E) Naturally flowers wither and die. Without rapid preservation this would be impossible.
We have been so conditioned into ‘long-age’ thinking that most people automatically believe that it takes millions of years for sediments to harden into rock- in reality all it takes is the appropriate mix of ingredients.
(Clock Rock)
This clock rock was found in 1975 by Delores Testerman just a short way south Jetty at Westport Washington, US- where a clock was found encased in solid rock along its seashells. Obviously the clock wasn’t a million years old. Published in a secular article from the university of Bristol called ‘Creating Synthetic fossils in the lab sheds light on fossilisation processes’ where a professor shares that fossils have been made in a lab within 24 hours- matching the real to a ‘T’.
We find clear evidence and consistency of rapid and catastrophic burial on a sheer magnitude globally. If and when we acknowledge the flood as a real event we can understand there would have been huge amounts of biomass being buried in waterborne sediments. This is the reason why we don’t usually find fossils as individual finds- but in mass groups.
As an example; if you are familiar with the chalk cliffs of Dover in the English Channel- this chalk is a type of limestone which is formed from the accumulated remains of marine organisms, so under the microscope you can see trillions upon trillions of microscopic shellfish remains. You can trace this limestone all around the world from Northern Island to Europe to Germany, the Netherlands, Poland all the way down to Isreal and turkey, and Midwest of the USA. These are marine fossil graveyards on a global scale- even found at the highest peak of numerous mountains such as the Alps and Himalayas.
Evolutionary geologists say that chalk beds were formed over millions of years grain by grain- yet what other fossils do we find in these chalk beds which are found today on the continents? The chalk beds in Kansas for example is a mass fossil graveyard, from which not only marine reptiles and invertebrate have been found, but also birds, animals and dinosaur remains. Why would gradual grain by grain deposition bury together such large sea, land and air dwelling creatures on the contents?
Genesis 7:18-19 notes that “the waters rose and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth and all high mountains under the heavens were covered”.
The Bible makes it clear that the flood was so much more destructive than any 40 day rainstorm would ever be- most of us today have seen how devastating just a 3 day rainstorm can be on terrain and wildlife, yet the flood would have been 1000+ times worse. From a single, warmer and more uniform climate- to a post-flood world left in chaos, thus triggering a single, rapid, onset ice age. It wasn’t just a larger version of a modern day flood, but a unique, worldwide cataclysm of unimaginable destructive power that rearranged the earth’s whole surface. Lasting over a year, the flood is responsible for laying down the majority of the earth’s fossil-bearing sedimentary rock layers; something than no modern flood does. It moved continents, created new ocean basins and caused mass erosion that shapes the current topography. Catastrophic plate tectonics produced the immense forces that broke up the earth’s crust caused by rapid, violent geological changes. The rapidly moving plates would have moved at a speed of several feet per hour. As these plates collided- such as the African plate crashing into Asia- the sedimentary layers (which were still wet and soft) were compressed and folded- thrusting it upward. The fact that many mountains show massive layers of rock that are bent, folded with unbroken curves shows that this had to be a rapid tectonic event.
Mountains such as the Himalayas, Alps and Andes were also created during this rapid uplift, which occurred late in the flood year and immediate post flood period and the presence of marine fossils at the top is evidence that these layers were formed under water and later pushed up. Things shifted, rotated, moved and collided. The reason why we have the Appalachian mountains, the Scandinavian highlands and [places like the atlas mountain in Morocco that are found on three different continents all belong to a single mountain chain that collided then spread apart. As the floodwaters subsided and receded from the continents, the massive volumes of water combined with the rising mountains, created enormous erosion that shaped the peaks and cut canyons, such as the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is a great example of the Great Unconformity as we can see the scars of erosion from rapid and catastrophic deposition. The sedimentary layers above (such as the tappets sandstone- the first, lowest horizontal layer which would have been deposited by the first wave of the flood as it swept over the continent) were rapidly deposited and serves as a boundary line between the basement rocks (pre-flood) and the overlying, fossil bearing, flat lying sedimentary rock layers (deposited during the flood). In many areas, it marks the abrupt appearance of hard-shelled organisms called the Cambrian Explosion (the abrupt, fully formed appearance of major organisms within the fossil record without transitional ancestors. These fossils would have been the first creatures buried rapidly during the initial stages of the flood)- usually including diverse marine invertebrates. The great unconformity is not just local to the Grand Canyon; it is found on every continent and is a worldwide phenomenon that fits the biblical description of a global deluge. Pulses from the flood moving over the continents, grabbing ecosystems or dragging marine ones from deeper waters- pulling them into land first and as one gets deposited and waves come back, they start pulling and piling additional ones on top of that: in result it becomes a graveyard on top of graveyard. All of a sudden we have this complex and whole ecosystem that shows up basically out of nowhere. This makes perfect sense from a creationist and flood perspective because the flood is about destroying ecosystems (that’s why God says in Genesis 6:13 “ the end of all flesh is come before me”). Whereas in an evolutionary view, these ecosystems are going to have to arise a little bit more gradually as organisms diversify, evolve and respond to one another in their environment; but this isn’t what we see. We see an explosion of life that is complex and whole.
As we move up in the geological column in the fossil record, we start seeing snapshots of more and more ecosystems. As the flood waters increase, they get closer and closer to shore, destroying more and more organisms until reaching inland. The conventional paradigm is trying to tell us that the fossil record is an evolutionary picture of life as life is evolving; opposed to the Genesis paradigm that tells us all of this life in all of its complexity already existed.
Genesis 7:11 tells us “The fountains of the great deep were broken open”; in other words, earthquakes, volcanoes, molten lava and scalding water were squeezed out of the earth’s crust in a violent, explosive upheaval. The earth was literally churning underneath the waters. Due to the flood creating two main conditions- extremely warm waters from volcanic activity (causing high evaporation rates) along with abundant ash and gas trapped in the stratosphere- this would act as an “anti-greenhouse” resulting in the deflection of sunlight while inferred radiation would continue to escape the earth (thus dramatically cooling the continents). Together these conditions caused heavy snowfalls so rapidly and without break until it would have accumulated into thick sequences of ice until built up into thick ice sheets building up over a few hundred years over certain areas. An “Ice Age” is defined as a time of extensive glacial activity in which substantially more land is covered in ice. During this period of time in history that took place around 4000 years ago, around 30% of land was likely to be covered in ice.
Following the warm, post-flood oceans that powered the high speed evaporation, the ocean eventually cooled to a point where it would no longer be able to sustain the heavy, continuous snowfall needed for glacier growth- this along with a decrease in volcanic activity, the ash and gas would have slowly settled thus letting more sunlight to reach the surfaces which caused an acceleration in melting and a transition to the modern climate as we know it today.
The ice age likely significantly lowered sea level creating land bridges such as the Bering strait and shallow island chains that allowed animals to walk or island hop to distant continents. Massive quantities of trees torn up during the global flood would have also formed huge floating debris rafts that transported animals cross the oceans for decades after the flood. These methods along with human-facilitated migration and environmental adaptation over centuries is more than likely to explain the present day distribution of animals worldwide.
After the flood, Noah and his family stepped into a grave new world covered by destruction. The landscape would have also been covered in the remains of plants and carcasses. This initial scarcity of vegetation and immediate abundance of meat and animal products likely contributed to God’s post flood permission for humans to eat meat from that time on (Gen. 9:3) along with the clean animals that were also brought onto the ark in pairs of seven, providing meat, milk and other products for Noah’s family during the flood and while the earth recovered.
I find it absolutely fascinating to see the world how it is today and be able to actually see residue from this huge biblical event in history that completely changed the world as we know it today. If you live in Devon like me, a local example would be the tors on Dartmoor- from a biblical perspective, these would have been formed through rapid, massive tectonic activity during the global flood. The granite (such as which we find on Dartmoor) is formed from these intrusions and subsequent shaping occurred through rapid tectonic uplift and magma that was transported and broke into the upper crust in a short matter of time during the flood. Instead of a 280-300 million years process, the granite magma is considered to have been intruded and cooled rapidly during the early to middle stages of the flood, allowing for crystal formation in a much shorter timeframe.
During the rapid, post flood, cold period; water trapped in the fractures of the granite would have broke the rocks apart through intense freezing and thawing (periglacial weathering), leaving behind the rocks that form the tors today.
All around us today we see a silent testimony to God’s global judgment whether through rock formations or archeology. Genesis 6 gives us the sad account of the state of humanity prior to the flood: “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). In addition Genesis seems to be stating that, somehow, there was a physical union between angels and human women: Genesis 6:2 tells us that “The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful and they married any of them they chose”- “sons of God” (translated “bene elohim” referring to angles). The unnatural offspring of this union were the nephilim (Genesis 6:4). The word “nephilim” is directly transliterated from the Hebrew ancient root of the word that implies a “fall” or “giants”. It wasn’t just a matter of evil and wickedness, disease, bloodshed and death- it was also a matter of genetic tampering like never seen before. The world of Noah was so incredibly corrupt and perverted Genesis 6:6 tells us “The LORD regretted that He made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled”- but the LORD’s regret is not liked ours, the creation of mankind was not a mistake on the part of the Lord. The Hebrew word ‘nahem’ can be translated into “grieved”; the deprived actions of man grieved God’s heart.
The account of Noah’s ark bothered me as a new believer as I didn’t have a full understanding of the reasons behind this event- but once you do a deep dive into His word, it’s not long until it’s not an issue anymore. It can be a huge temptation for us to criticise God and assume that He’s doing something wrong- but thanks to God’s word we don’t have to live by assumptions. God tells us that before the flood came, the entire earth was full of evil. What people were doing were horrifically, dangerous, sensual pagan acts that were so bad that the Bible tells us that Noah was the only one found ‘perfect’ (not tainted) yet he was still a sinner like everyone else. We can look at account like this when God says to people like Moses or Joshua to kill and burn everything including animals because those worship systems used animals and children in pagan practices.
Everything at that point was contaminated, contaminated blood and biology, it is horrific and it sounds cruel but really was an act of mercy to preserve mankind and prevent these poisonous transmittable diseases from spreading- we too can see this in our modern day in small amounts of horrific diseases that effect adults, children and animals alike. The people were not innocent, the children had been used, raped and abused and the animals had been vandalised and victimised by the perverse people. So before we instantly jump to conclusions about the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ we need to get to know the heart of our maker- He is merciful beyond measure -which is exactly why the world gets to a breaking point like in the days of Noah.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9. Righteousness and justice can be a brutal thing and something that can only be executed by creator God.
Psalm 92:15 Tells us The LORD is upright . . . and there is no wickedness in him”. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of [God’s] throne” Psalm 89:14. God always does what is right. His decrees and judgments are always just. If He decreed that the whole world be flooded, then we can trust that He was just in doing so, no matter what human skeptics say. It is not surprising that we tend to define ‘justice’ in a way that will only benefit ourselves. Just like uniformitarians (who believe the present is the key to the past) such as Charles Darwin who was heavily influenced by and adopted principles from the work of people like Charles Lyell- He applied this concept of slow, gradual change over a vast timescale of biological uniformitarianism where small, continuous variations would accumulate over generations. So too are people today heavily influenced by their ideologies: “In the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “where is this coming He promised? Ever since our ancestors dies, everything goes on as it has been since the beginning of creation” 2 Peter 3:3-4. However, the Bible shows us that God has a timeline: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecc.3:1-8) and God is yet again going to judge the earth and destroy it- not by water, but by fire. He’s going to make all things new.
Revelation 21:4 holds the promise of restoration where the current world will pass away and God will bring about a new reality: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
The fallen nature of this world is evident; everyone has experienced suffering in one way or another, but Christian’s are not without hope. “The biblical view of things is resurrection- not a future that is just a consolation for the life we never had, but a restoration of the life you’ve always wanted. This means that every horrible thing that ever happened will not only be undone and repaired but will in some way make the eventual glory and joy even greater” [Timothy Keller].
Despite suffering and tears , we can trust that God’s character remains untarnished because He willingly took on our suffering for our sake.
“If we again ask the question : “why does God allow evil and suffering to continue? And we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we now know what the answer isn’t. It can’t be that He doesn’t love us. It can’t be that He is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that He was willing to take it on Himself” -Timothy Keller
What God creates, He redeems. I just hope and pray you too will allow in your life the love and power of God to do the same- that you may be redeemed and made new. Our God is a restorative and a redeeming God. He takes us who are fallen, broken and helpless, puts a new heart in us and works His will from the inside out. He’ going to reassemble the dust in the resurrection because Hd redeems that which is broken.
I implore you- “seek The Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).
Brooke Hunter | Art Blog 