The Great Flood: Repudiation of Evolution and the Depravity of Man
Many phenomena, seemingly well explained by the theory of evolution, are even better explained by biblical history.
The Bible speaks of a great worldwide flood which dramatically changed the earth. And almost all cultures recall a great flood in their folklore. And, for example, such a catastrophic flood would account for the layering of the evolution-based “geologic column”, which categorizes the layers of the earth in terms of the ancient eras assumed by evolution, reflecting supposed time-scales of millions of years. The geologic column makes note of the fact that fossilized micro-organisms are generally found in the lowest layers, while larger plant and animal life are generally found in the higher layers of sedimentary rock. This is taught as an indication of stages of evolution from lower to higher forms of life.
But as every diver knows, smaller living things generally have less buoyancy than larger living things, such that in a great world-wide flood the gradation of smaller to larger life-forms would mirror the geologic column of evolutionary timescales. Furthermore, nowhere on earth is the idealized geologic column perfect.
Layers are missing or occasionally the layers are reversed. There are also cases of fossilized large animals and trees which are somehow deposited standing on end, and which penetrate several layers of the column. How can this be if the layers are separated by millions of years to supposedly allow evolution to take place? In addition, huge caches of fossils jumbled together in small areas, and fossilized sea life on high mountain peaks and mountain plateaus don't fit the evolutionary model.
They do, however, fit a conceptual model of the earth's history which points to catastrophic changes. Catastrophic flooding with mountain formation and torrential draining of floodwaters into the present oceans, together with volcanic activity, would radically change the earth and account for most of the distribution of sedimentation and geologic features in our world today. This is the Biblical model.
The world was at one time radically different than it is today. Fossilized evidence of lush tropical vegetation in the Arctic, Antarctica, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Australian Outback suggests that the world had a much more moderate and uniform temperature, and more evenly distributed precipitation. Fossilized specimens of many very large species of land animals now extinct also suggest a world which was more capable of supporting and prolonging life (and thereby prolonging growth). And indeed, the lifetimes of Jewish patriarchs prior to the flood of Noah were hundreds of years (Gen 5). Also, the traditions of Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Indians include great longevity of Earth's earliest inhabitants. This too suggests that the earth was radically different at one time than it is today.
Yet modern man insists on only one option for conceptualizing world history – evolution over millions and millions of years. This irrational insistence is part of the depravity of man characterized famously in Romans 1:18-23.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man...”
And God’s judgment through the Great Flood is something that modern man has tried to censor from history: "For this they willingly are ignorant of (willfully forget): that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:5-6).
We must work hard to educate ourselves otherwise, if we want to believe that there is no Creator. The creation declares its Maker. Faith in God is compellingly logical. God says that evidence from the design of "what has been made" is evidence enough that He exists. By ignoring the evidence from design, or by trying to explain our way around it, the Bible goes on to say that we willingly "exchange the truth of God for a lie", i.e., we allow ourselves to be brainwashed to believe what is false.
The consequence of washing our minds free of responsibility to our Maker, to our highest authority, to a higher principle, is that we become responsible only to ourselves and our own desires. This rebellious desire to do whatever we want is the root motivation for explaining away the evidence of design in the creation and its implications of responsibility to our Maker and therefore Owner.
The point is that mankind is not rationally motivated to disbelieve in God. The clearest and most straightforward reasoning points to God. People deny God out of pure and simple pride and rebellion, and then try to develop rationale to justify their unbelief. Indeed, as the prophet Hosea put it, "Their drink is rebellion..." (Hosea 4:18). People are driven to irrationality by pure rebellion. This is the depravity in mankind that God judged in the Great Flood, and will judge again at the consummation of the age.
But the Bible tells us that God’s mercy triumphs over judgment, and that is why He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take the judgment in our place. “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself… we pray in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).
- Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman of Creation Moments
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