Creation vs. Evolution (Part 3)

D. There was a global flood approximately 4,400 years ago. i. The Bible describes the great flood in detail. a. The earth had become corrupt and full of violence in the years preceding the flood (Gen 6:11). b. God had had enough and told Noah that he was going to destroy the earth and all flesh with it (Gen 6:12-13). c. God told Noah to build an ark of gopher wood (Gen 6:14). 1) The dimensions of the ark were (Gen 6:15): A. Length: 300 cubits (450ft - 550ft) B. Width: 50 cubits (75ft - 92ft) C. Height: 30 cubits (45ft - 55ft) (1 cubit = 18-22 inches, 1.5-1.83 feet) 2) The ark was three stories (Gen 6:16). 3) The total floor space of the ark was approximately 101,250ft² (450ft x 75ft x 3) - 151,800ft² (550ft x 92ft x 3). 4) That is between 2.3 - 3.5 acres. 5) The ark had 1.04 to 1.56 times as much floor space as the average Walmart store. 6) The total volume of the ark was 1.5 - 2.8 million ft³ (450ft x 75ft x 45ft - 550ft x 92ft x 55 ft). 7) Noah and his sons had plenty of time to build the ark. A. In Gen 6:3, God gave men 120 years before He would destroy them. B. Noah was said to be 500 years old in Gen 5:32. C. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came (Gen 7:6,11). D. Shem was born 98 years before the flood (Gen 11:10) when Noah was 502 (Gen 5:32 doesn't say that Noah begat Shem when he was 500 years old - read it carefully). E. God told Noah to build the ark and said that Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives would be saved in the ark (Gen 6:18). F. Noah's three sons were already born when God spoke to Noah (Gen 6:10). G. Assuming that 1) the sons were born within a few years of each other, and 2) that they were all three married at the time when God spoke to Noah, and 3) that they were married young in their late teens or early twenties, and 4) that they began working on the ark soon after God told them to, it is very possible that they could have had as much as 70-80 years to build the ark. 8) Noah was to take two of every land animal and every bird on the ark (Gen 6:19-20) and seven of every clean beast and birds (Gen 7:2-3). 9) Noah was also to take enough food to sustain he and his family and all the animals (Gen 6:21). 10) With 15-18ft ceilings on each of the three floors (1.5 - 2.8 million ft³), there would have been lots of overhead room for shelves and bins to store the food, and cages for the birds and smaller animals. d. Once all the animals and Noah and his seven family members were in the ark, all the "fountains of the great deep" were "broken up" and the "windows of heaven were opened" (Gen 7:11). 1) It rained on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights (Gen 7:12). 2) The entire earth was flooded including the mountains, over which the water prevailed 15 cubits (approx. 22.5 ft) (Gen 7:17-20). 3) All flesh on the earth, including all men, died (Gen 7:21-23). 4) The waters covered the earth for 150 days (Gen 7:24). e. This was clearly not a local flood, but a global flood. 1) For those compromising Christians who claim that Noah's flood was not a global flood, but simply a local flood that didn't destroy the earth, listen again to Thomas Huxley: 2) "When Jesus spoke, as of a matter of fact, that "the Flood came and destroyed them all," did he believe that the Deluge really took place, or not? It seems to me that, as the narrative mentions Noah’s wife, and his sons’ wives, there is good scriptural warranty for the statement that the antediluvians married and were given in marriage; and I should have thought that their eating and drinking might be assumed by the firmest believer in the literal truth of the story. Moreover, I venture to ask what sort of value, as an illustration of God’s methods of dealing with sin, has an account of an event that never happened? If no Flood swept the careless people away, how is the warning of more worth than the cry of “Wolf” when there is no wolf? If Jonah’s three days’ residence in the whale is not an “admitted reality,” how could it “warrant belief” in the “coming resurrection?” … Suppose that a Conservative orator warns his hearers to beware of great political and social changes, lest they end, as in France, in the domination of a Robespierre; what becomes, not only of his argument, but of his veracity, if he, personally, does not believe that Robespierre existed and did the deeds attributed to him?" (Thomas Huxley, quote from creation.com) f. There is a theory called the Hydroplate Theory which hypothesizes that there was a layer of water approximately 10 miles under the earth's crust which was about 3/4 of a mile deep. 1) The water under the earth's crust would have been under extreme amounts of pressure and when the earth's crust cracked, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and all the water under the earth violently shot up into the atmosphere and rained down on the earth, flooding it completely. 2) The following is an excerpt which gives an overview of the Hydroplate Theory from Walt Brown's book In The Beginning: 3) "Rupture Phase. Centuries of tidal pumping (explained on page 121 and pages 539–541) in the subterranean chamber steadily increased its temperature and pressure. The subterranean water soon became supercritical, as explained on pages 121–122. Increasing heat losses in the chamber eventually balanced the constant heat input by tidal pumping, so temperatures (and pressure) no longer increased. The overlying crust was stretched, just as a balloon is stretched by internal pressure. "The rupture began with a microscopic crack at the earth’s surface. Because stresses in such cracks are concentrated at each end of the crack, both ends grew rapidly—at about 3 miles per second. Within seconds, this crack penetrated down to the subterranean chamber and then followed the path of least resistance. The rupture probably completed its path around the earth in about 2 hours. Initial stresses were largely relieved when one end of the crack ran into the path left by the other end. In other words, the crack traveled a path that intersected itself at a large angle, forming a “T” on the opposite side of the earth from where the rupture began. "As the crack raced around the earth along a great-circle path, the 10-mile-thick crust opened like a rip in a tightly stretched cloth. Pressure in the subterranean chamber directly beneath the rupture suddenly dropped to nearly atmospheric pressure. This caused supercritical water to explode with great violence out of the 10-mile-deep “slit” that wrapped around the earth like the seam of a baseball. "All along this globe-circling rupture, whose path approximates today’s Mid-Oceanic Ridge, a fountain of water jetted supersonically into and far above the atmosphere. Some of the water fragmented into an “ocean” of droplets that fell as rain great distances away. This produced torrential rains such as the earth has never experienced—before or after. "Other jetting water rose above the atmosphere, where it froze and then fell on various regions of the earth as huge masses of extremely cold, muddy “hail.” That hail buried, suffocated, and froze many animals, including some mammoths. [For details, see “Frozen Mammoths” on pages 253–283.] The most powerful jetting water and rock debris escaped earth’s gravity and became the solar system’s comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. [For details, see “The Origin of Comets” on pages 287–319, and “The Origin of Asteroids and Meteoroids” on pages 323–349.] To understand the gigantic energy source that launched this material, one must study “The Origin of Earth’s Radioactivity” on pages 351–396. "Carried up in the fountains were seeds and spores. Those that remained in the atmosphere settled for years after the flood, repopulating the plant kingdom globally. "Flood Phase. Each side of the rupture was basically a 10-mile-high cliff. In the bottom half of the cliff face, compressive, vibrating loads greatly exceeded the rock’s crushing strength, so the bottom half continually crumbled, collapsed, and spilled out into the jetting fountains. That removed support for the top half of the cliff, so it also fragmented and fell into the pulverizing supersonic flow. The 46,000-mile-long rupture rapidly widened, reaching an average width of about 800 miles all around the earth. Water trapped in the spongelike openings in the chamber’s roof and floor was steadily forced into the chamber during the flood, so the hydroplates settled slowly. Sediments swept up in the escaping flood waters gave the water a thick, muddy consistency. These sediments rapidly settled out over the earth’s surface, trapping and burying many plants and animals. The world’s fossils then began to form. "The rising flood waters eventually blanketed the jetting fountains, although water still surged out of the rupture. Because today’s major mountains had not yet formed, global flooding covered earth’s relatively smooth topography." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) ii. Most ancient cultures have stories of a great flood and only a few people and animals being saved in a boat. a. "Dr. Duane Gish, in Dinosaurs by Design, says there are more than 270 stories from different cultures around the world about a devastating flood." (Flood Legends, Answers In Genesis) b. "Hawaiians have a flood story that tells of a time when, long after the death of the first man, the world became a wicked, terrible place. Only one good man was left, and his name was Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. In this story, the waters came up over all the earth and killed all the people; only Nu-u and his family were saved." (Ibid) c. "Another flood story is from China. It records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters escaped a great flood and were the only people alive on earth. After the great flood, they repopulated the world." (Ibid) iii. The geography of the earth shows abundant evidence of a global flood. a. "If Noah’s flood were true you would expect to find billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth, and what do we actually see in the fossil record? Billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth!” (Ken Ham) b. By a process called Liquefaction, all the sedimentary rock layers would have been formed in Noah's Flood. 1) "If water flows up through a bed of sediments with enough velocity, water pressure will lift and support each sedimentary particle. Instead of thinking of water flowing up through the sediments, think of the sediments falling down through a very long column of water. Slight differences in density, size, or shape of adjacent particles will cause them to fall at slightly different speeds. Their relative positions will change until the water’s velocity drops below a certain value or until nearly identical particles are adjacent to each other, so they fall at the same speed. This sorting produces the sharply-defined layering typical in sedimentary rocks worldwide. The vast, sharply-defined sedimentary layers we have all seen are unmistakable characteristics of liquefaction and a global flood." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) c. Polystrate fossils (fossils crossing two or more sedimentary layers) could not have been fossilized over vast eons of time, but they are easily explained by rapid burial and liquefaction in the global flood. d. Just Google "polystrate fossils" and you will find lots of pictures of trees "growing up" through "millions of years" of rock layers. 6. The complexity of life demands design. A. Genetic information i. Genetic information could not have possibly formed by chance. ii. "Information never self-assembles. The genetic information in the DNA of each human cell is roughly equivalent to a library of 4,000 books. Even if matter and life (perhaps a bacterium) somehow arose, the probability that mutations and natural selection produced this vast amount of information is essentially zero. It would be similar to producing 4,000 books with the following procedure: a. Start with a meaningful phrase. b. Retype it, but make some errors and insert a few letters. c. See if the new phrase is meaningful. d. If it is, replace the original phrase with it. e. Return to step “b.” "To produce just the enzymes in one organism would require more than 10^40,000 trials. (To begin to understand how large 10^40,000 is, realize that the visible universe contains fewer than 10^80 atoms.)" (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) B. DNA production i. DNA could not have evolved. ii. "DNA cannot function without hundreds of preexisting proteins, but proteins are produced only at the direction of DNA. Because each needs the other, a satisfactory explanation for the origin of one must also explain the origin of the other. Therefore, the components of these manufacturing systems must have come into existence simultaneously. This implies creation." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) C. Improbabilities i. To believe that life evolved is to believe in miracles. ii. "To claim that life evolved is to demand a miracle. The simplest conceivable form of single-celled life should have at least 600 different protein molecules. The mathematical probability that even one typical protein could form by chance arrangements of amino acid sequences is essentially zero—far less than 1 in 10^450. To appreciate the magnitude of 10^450, realize that the visible universe is about 10^28 inches in diameter." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) D. Complex Molecules and Organs i. The complexity of organs such as the human eye and the brain proves the impossibility of them evolving into their present form. ii. "Many molecules necessary for life, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, are incredibly complex—so complex that claims they have evolved are absurd. Furthermore, those claims lack experimental support. "There is no reason to believe that mutations or any natural process could ever produce any new organs—especially those as complex as the eye, the ear, or the brain. For example, an adult human brain contains over 10^14 (a hundred thousand billion) electrical connections, more than all the soldered electrical connections in the world. The human heart, a ten-ounce pump that will operate without maintenance or lubrication for about 75 years, is another engineering marvel." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) E. Sexual reproduction i. The impossibility of sexual reproduction evolving. ii. "If sexual reproduction in plants, animals, and humans is a result of evolutionary sequences, an unbelievable series of chance events must have occurred at each stage. a. The amazingly complex, radically different, yet complementary reproductive systems of the male and female must have completely and independently evolved at each stage about the same time and place. Just a slight incompleteness in only one of the two would make both reproductive systems useless, and the organism would become extinct. b. The physical, chemical, and emotional systems of the male and female would also need to be compatible. c. The millions of complex products of a male reproductive system (pollen or sperm) must have an affinity for and a mechanical, chemical, and electrical compatibility with the eggs of the female reproductive system. d. The many intricate processes occurring at the molecular level inside the fertilized egg would have to work with fantastic precision—processes that scientists can describe only in a general sense. e. The environment of this fertilized egg, from conception through adulthood and until it also reproduced with another sexually capable adult (who also “accidentally” evolved), would have to be tightly controlled. f. This remarkable string of “accidents” must have been repeated for millions of species. "Either this series of incredible and complementary events happened by random, evolutionary processes, or sexual reproduction was designed by intelligence." (Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning) F. This is why the Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa 139:14).