Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040425.htm

ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GENESIS FLOOD
Part II: Answering Questions About The Genesis Flood's Credibility
(Genesis 6-8 with 2 Peter 3:3-18)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

As we learned in the message last Sunday morning, on March 21, 2004, Jeremy Bowen hosted a television program on Britain's BBC where he reportedly claimed, "Noah's ark is a great myth,' devoid of any scientific or historical credibility." (emphases ours) [Story by Chris Hastings, Media Correspondent, "Animals into the ark two by two? Not if you believe the BBC," filed on March 7, 2004]

Mr. Bowen's charge that the Genesis flood account is "devoid of any scientific or historical credibility" reflects a tendency for many to back away from viewing the Genesis flood account as credible:

(1) Dr. Jan Lever, Professor of Zoology at the Free University of Amsterdam concluded Noah's ark could not possibly have contained all the "species" required to save two of all the world's land animals (cited in Whitcomb and Morris, The Genesis Flood, 1978, p. 65).

(2) Then, John Pye Smith in 1840 said Noah could not have gathered all the pairs of every kind of land animal from each of the continents with their land barriers and climactic variations, Ibid., p. 63.

(3) Bernard Ramm felt Noah and his family would not be able to care for all the animals so they could survive on the ark, Ibid., p. 70.

(4) Arthur Custance added that were the flood to have covered all the mountains, the waters would have had to rise over 29,000 feet above sea level to cover Mount Everest; up there, the thin air and frigid air would have killed all life on the ark, Ibid., p. 71, ftn. #1.

(5) Then we have the criticism of what happened to all the water needed to flood the world: Bernard Ramm, then a professor at a Baptist university responded to criticism against the universality of the Biblical flood by explaining it was only a local flood, Ibid., p. 36 in citing Ramms' work, The Christian View of Science and Scripture.

However, Jesus Christ treated the Genesis 6-8 universal flood account as TRUE in Luke 17:26-27 KJV: there He claimed that ". . . Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" [emphases ours]. So, to criticize the Genesis FLOOD account as ERRANT implies JESUS LIED as a SINNER, so such criticism actually counters our Christian FAITH!

Well, if criticism against the credibility of Genesis 6-8 must be answered to defend our Christian faith, HOW do we DO that?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "As our faith is at stake, how do we answer the claim that the Genesis flood is neither scientifically nor historically credible?!"
  1. Explaining The SCIENTIFIC Credibility Of The Genesis Flood:
    1. Answering The Question On The Ark's Capacity To House Life: the ark's Genesis 6:15 size would have provided nearly 1.4 million cu. ft. of space so that 522 modern railroad box cars could have fit in it! As 2 of all the 17,600 genetically diverse kinds of today's land animals can fit into 150 box cars, and since dinosaurs, being reptiles could reproduce early and not need to be big, all current and extinct pairs of land animal kinds plus Noah's family and food for all for a year could have gone into the ark, Whitcomb, The Early Earth, 1974, p. 82.
    2. Answering The Question On Noah's Ability To Collect The Animals:
      1. First, Genesis 7:9 reveals God brought the animals to Noah.
      2. Animal migration that shields life from bad weather is complex but real (Ibid., p. 74, citing L. H. Matthews, "The Migration of Animals," 1954 Report of the Smithsonian Institute, 1955, p. 284),
      3. God could have caused select pairs of animals to move into the ark.
    3. Answering The Question On Noah's Obtaining All Animal Kinds: Before the flood, there was one continent (Gen. 1:9-10) and a water canopy over the earth, producing a greenhouse climate; these factors yielded an even distribution of all animal kinds, Ibid., p. 64. All the animal kind samples were close to Noah to make getting them easy!
    4. Answering The Question On All Animal Life Surviving On The Ark: All groups of vertebrates but birds hibernate or turn sluggish, so the secluded setting of the ark could have caused many animals to go into a low-maintenance state where care for them was feasible, Ibid., p. 71!
    5. Answering The Question On The Flood Level's (Problematic) Height:
      1. Today's tall peaks formed after the flood; Montana's Glacier National Park contains folded sedimentary layers that had to be thrust up in a pliable state after the Flood, Ibid., Whitcomb, p. 66.
      2. Also, as the water rose, it pushed the atmosphere up with it, so the ark was kept at a sea level climate, Ibid., Whitcomb & Morris, 71!
    6. Answering The Question On Enough Water For A Universal Flood:
      1. Scripture has God opening underground fountains and causing rain to fall for 40 days and nights (Gen. 7:11-12) and Gen. 2:5-6 notes this had never before occurred. God thus caused the water canopy of Gen. 1:6-7 to fall and the huge underground fountains to open.
      2. Also, great undersea canyons hold massive amounts of water and islands that used to be above sea level, Ibid., p. 124ff. There has been a huge sinking of the sea floors [in the flood's abatement]!
    7. Answering The Question On Evidence For A Universal Flood: Henry Morris, past Chairman of the Applied Hydraulics Committee of the American Society for Engineering Education, co-wrote: "Almost all sedimentary rocks of the earth, which are the ones containing fossils and from which the supposed geological history of the earth has been largely deduced, have been laid down by moving waters," Ibid. This testimony by a noted hydraulic engineer is evidence for a world flood!
    8. [Other scientific questions about the flood are handled by Whitcomb & Morris, The Genesis Flood and by the Answers In Genesis' group.]
  2. Explaining The HISTORICAL Credibility Of The Genesis Flood:
    1. There are 25 points of similarity between the early, Middle Eastern Hebrew people's Genesis 6-8 flood account and a flood story from a remote Aboriginal tribe in Western Australia, a tribe that was found by anthropologists before any missionaries came [Creation 23(1):2]: (1) both accounts present a Supreme Being, Genesis 6:5; (2) both show Him "grieved" at man's abusiveness, 6:13; (3) both have Him (4) telling a man (5) to take (6) his wife, (7) his sons and (8) his son's wives (9) onto a boat, 6:18; (10) both tell of a universal flood, 6:17; (11) both claim the flood comes from the Supreme Being (12) Who uses rain and (13) underground waters, 7:11; (14) both have the man taking food (15) and animals on board, 6:19-21; (16) both show the man sending out birds (17) to test the earth's drying, 8:6-12; (18) both have flood survivors burning meat (19) with its smoke (20) pleasing the Supreme Being, 8:20f; (21) both have that Being (22) sending a rainbow (23) to pledge (24) He will not again flood the whole world, 9:9-15 and (25) both have survivors understanding this pledge, 9:16f.
    2. These 25 points of similarity between such vastly separate, ancient accounts supply evidence that a world flood TRULY HAPPENED!
  3. In view of these findings, we look to Peter's epistles for direction:
    1. 2 Peter 3:3-6 ESV predicted apostates would "deliberately overlook" the flood, showing why they today charge what is false regarding it!
    2. God thus calls us in 1 Peter 3:15-16 to (1) know how to answer every man by using facts like those above, and (2) 2 Peter 3:7-18 calls us to live righteously as God will judge the world again by fire!
Lesson Application: (1) If we have not done so, we must trust in Christ as Savior from sin to receive eternal life and escape God's coming judgment, John 3:16. (2) Then, with Bible prophecy in view, we obey Scripture so as to answer well to God in eternity!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 (1) First, here are excerpts from the remote Aboriginal tribe's account of a flood noted in the sermon, and we have put in bold ink those 25 points that are similar to the Genesis account [We cite the Dec. 2000 - Feb. 2001 issue of Creation Ex Nihilo, p. 29 (it in turn cites H. Coates' article, "The Flood," Creation 4(3):9-12, 1981)]:

" . . . the earliest-time children tormented . . . the Winking Owl, Dumbi. Ngadja, the Supreme One, was . . . grieved . . . for him. He instructed Gajara, If you want to live, take your wife, your sons and your son's wives and get a double raft. Because of the Dumbi affair, I intend to drown everyone. I am about to send rain and a sea flood . . . Put on the raft long-lasting foods . . .'

So, Gajara stored all these foods. He . . . gathered birds . . . and . . . a female kangaroo . . . [along with his family]

Then Ngadja sent the rainclouds . . . the flood waters and the earth opened, drowning and flattening them all . . .

At last, the flood-waters brought Gajara back . . . He sent some birds out from the raft . . . Gradually the waters were going down . . . The land was . . . drying . . . They killed a kangaroo after landing, and Gajara's wife, Galgalbiri . . . cooked it . . . The smoke rose slowly until it reached . . . Ngadja . . . [and] he was pleased.

Ngadja . . . put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back . . . Our people understand . . . When we see the rainbow we say, There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.'"

(2) Then, without prefacing my question in any way, I asked an area secular High School language arts teacher what he would think if he told his students to write a short story, and one of them handed in a story that was similar at 25 points to a short story by a famous author!

The teacher quickly asked, "You mean it was plagiarized?"

I responded, "Would you think the student had plagiarized it?"

He replied, "I would say either the student plagiarized it or that both stories came from the same event known by both authors."

That a remote, Aboriginal tribe with no contact with the ancient Hebrews [aside from contact before the Genesis 11 division of nations] could have a flood story similar at 25 points to Genesis 6-8 argues for the HISTORICAL validity of Genesis flood account!

Let us then TRUST the Bible and heed its message to us!