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The Flood: Evidence and Interpretation

Explore the evidence for a worldwide flood and the different interpretations of this event. Learn about marine fossils on mountains, deserts once underwater, and the biblical account of the flood.

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The Flood: Evidence and Interpretation

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  1. The Flood Based on Discover God’s Creation Chapter 7 By Rebecca Fraker

  2. Is there any evidence for a flood? • What are marine fossils and animals doing on the top of mountains? • Why do some deserts show evidence of once being under water? • Was the Flood described in the Bible a fact?

  3. Interpreting Evidence • Suppose you saw a smashed jelly sandwich with footprints on the kitchen floor. This is your “evidence”. • Brainstorm with a group: • Why is the jelly sandwich on the floor? • Why does it have a footprint on it?

  4. Some “theories” • Someone made the sandwich, accidentally dropped it, and then accidentally stepped on it. • Someone gave a person a jelly sandwich. They didn’t like it, so they threw it on the floor and stomped on it. • The jelly sandwich was on the counter, the cat knocked it down onto the floor, mom didn’t see it, so she stepped on it. • Mom always puts jelly sandwiches on the floor and stomps on them because her children like flat sandwiches. • My brother invited a giant gorilla to make jelly sandwiches and then they threw them around the kitchen and stepped on them in a gorilla jelly dance.

  5. What were your theories? Which of the theories made more sense? • If you have a baby sister who throws temper tantrums, perhaps the theory about him throwing a temper tantrum works for you. • If you have ever made sandwiches, you know that accidents happen, so that theory sounds reasonable. • Maybe, just maybe, the giant gorilla theory might be true.

  6. A true story that happened in Mrs. Fraker’s family: Sometimes There Are Monkeys In The Playhouse • My cousin lived in Pennsylvania about one-half mile from a large highway. One afternoon, the family sent their young daughter out to play in her playhouse. She came back in, crying that she couldn’t play there, because there was a mean monkey in it. • All the adults laughed, and made her go back outside. There are no monkeys in Pennsylvania. She went, but soon returned complaining about the mean monkey. • The adults got very irritated and told her not to tell lies and to go out and play. Again, she went out and back again talking about the mean monkey. • Finally, an adult went out to the playhouse. To his astonishment, there WAS a monkey in the playhouse. And it WAS mean. It tried to bite and scratch. • The monkey was a pet, and its owners were traveling with it on the highway. They stopped along the road, and the monkey escaped. It traveled to my cousin’s house, and went into the playhouse.

  7. Interpreting evidence • The point of the story is that we interpret evidence based on what we already know or assume. My cousin knew that Pennsylvania has no monkeys. He knew that no family member had brought a monkey to the playhouse. There were no zoos or circuses in the area. He knew that little girls sometimes make up stories. So he KNEW that there couldn’t be a monkey in the playhouse. • But there was.

  8. Interpreting evidence • Many of the differences in explanations given by creationists and evolutionists are due to different interpretations of evidence. • Both groups interpret the things they observe based on assumptions they accept by faith.

  9. Interpreting evidence-Creationists’ basic assumptions • Creationists, sometimes called interventionists, believe that God is active in nature and that He does intervene at times to change the outcome of natural events. • They also believe that God created the living things on this planet.

  10. Interpreting evidence-Creationists’ basic assumptions • These scientists believe that the Bible is God’s word and that it is a reliable history of Earth. • In Genesis of the Bible, it is recorded that life on Earth was created in six 24-hour days. • Genesis also records that a worldwide Flood destroyed most life on Earth.

  11. Interpreting evidence-Evolutionists’ basic assumptions • Evolutionists also make some basic assumptions • Most believe that all nature can be explained by natural law and that God does not interfere in nature. • Most evolutionists believe in the principle of uniformity, which states that events always happen at the same rate.

  12. The Flood • The Flood story in Genesis tells of an event that covered the entire planet. It was very violent, and the waters remained high for at least a year. • When the 8 human survivors and the animals on the boat called the ark stepped off onto dry land again, God promised that never again would He destroy the whole earth by a flood. • He gave us the rainbow as a sign of this promise.

  13. The Flood • SEDIMENTARY deposits • Layers of rocks that make up 75% of Earth’s surface • Layers are made up of small particles of rock called sediments, soil, dead plants, and animals. • Some of the plant and animal remains became hardened to form fossils • Sedimentary rocks often have a layered appearance. A worldwide flood could have spread these sediments over Earth’s surface.

  14. Sedimentary Rock

  15. The Flood • FOSSILS • for fossils to form, the remains of a plant or animal must be buried quickly. If the remains are buried gradually, no fossils will form because the material decays before it can harden. • The rapid burial required for the formation of fossils could have happened during the flood.

  16. The Flood • THE GEOLOGIC COLUMN • Fossils usually occur in layers arranged in roughly the same order. • This layered sequence of fossils is called the geologic column. • Evolutionists believe this shows the evolution of life from simpler marine animals to mammals. • Creationists believe this can be explained by ecological zonation: marine animals would have been the first covered by a flood, while mammals could have escaped to higher areas before they were covered. • Today, for convenience, creationists refer to these eras, periods, and epochs which have names like “Cambrian” and “Jurassic” to describe the life forms in them, but they do not believe that they stand for millions of years.

  17. Fossils • http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/ • http://www.zeesminerals.com/fossils.htm • http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/creation/fossilrecord1.html

  18. Comparison of fossils and modern day plants and animals • Check out this site! • http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/creation/fossilrecord1.html

  19. The Flood COAL • A dark-colored rock found around the world, is made from the remains of plants and animals. • Scientists have determined that it would take about 13 feet of these remains to make a layer of coal 1 foot thick. • A deposit of brown coal in Australia is nearly 500 feet thick! It would have taken a layer of plants over a mile deep to make a coal seam this thick! • Without the flood, it is difficult to explain how enough vegetation could have accumulated to make the huge deposits of coal we find today.

  20. The Flood GEOLOGICAL FEATURES • The Grand Canyon • Evolutionists believe it took millions of years of erosion and upthrusts to create the canyon. • Even small local flash floods cause an enormous amount of damage today. Something on the scale of the flood could have formed these canyons rapidly.

  21. The Flood GEOLOGICAL FEATURES • Mountain ranges such as the Bighorn mountains of Wyoming appear to have had their tops rapidly eroded away. • Guyots, flat-topped mountains, can be found in the oceans. They look like the tops were washed away by a great flood.

  22. The Flood FLOOD LEGENDS • Stories of a worldwide flood exist in almost every society around the world. • An old saying goes: “If you find a turtle on a fencepost…..it didn’t get there by itself. Something put it there.” • If almost every society has a flood legend….then maybe the flood story is true!

  23. One idea of how animals and man spread over the earth after the Flood

  24. One version of events in Earth’s history • Year 0 ( 4230 BC ) - Creation • Year 1656 ( 2574 BC ) - Flood • Salvation history • Year 2083 (2147 BC) - Call of Abraham. Israel is chosen by God to witness to the world. • Year 2728 (1502 BC) - Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Israel receives the ten commandments • Year 2768 (1462 BC) - Israel enters the promised land • Year 3625 (604/5 BC) 70 year rule by Babylon begins • Year 3773 (457 BC) - Third Decree to restore and build Jerusalem. Medo-Persian empire conquers in 535 BC • Year 3896 (334 BC) - Greek empire • Year 4033 (197 BC) - Roman empire • Year 4256 (27 A.D.) - Jesus is baptized • Year 4260 (31 A.D.) - Crucifixion • Year 4263 (34 A.D.) - Christianity is chosen to witness to the world • Year 4299 (70 A.D.) - Fall of Jerusalem and the second temple • Year 4697 (538 A.D.) - Beginning of the 1260 year time prophecy • Year 6027 (1798 A.D.) - Pope imprisoned • Year 6073 (1844) - Judgment • Year 6230 (2001) - Current time • Second Coming • Millennium • www.teachinghearts.org/dre04legends.html (has a very nice correlation of world empires and events)

  25. The Flood Interpretations • No interpretation can yet answer all the questions or explain all of the geologic evidence found in Earth’s crust. • The interpretation is influenced by a person’s faith, accepted assumptions, and personal experience.

  26. Noah’s Ark

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