Discover the Genesis Link that once connected the Birth of the Universe to the Birth of the Ice Age

From CREATION

to the FLOOD by Robert L. Gielow

INTRODUCTION

Before it was published I asked a friend of mine, a retired Doctor of Divinity and student of astronomy and science, if he would be kind enough to proof-read my e-book. His written findings began with the following statement: “Overall the book is an excellent blending of science and Scripture while keeping and respecting the integrity of both. Obviously the truth from God’s Word stands at the center of the text.” I am grateful for his review and kind remarks.

My ebook is divided into two parts. Part I covers the Creation of the world and the subsequent six days which culminated in the forming of Adam and Eve from the dust of the ground. Part II covers the world-wide Flood of Noah and its aftermath.

In Part I readers will discover:

• how the universe began and how its galaxies moved into their current positions

• what the Genesis Link was that connected the world of Adam to the world of Noah

• the origin of water and the role it played in the Genesis Link

• evidence that suggests the ocean basins of the world were once empty

• why the Genesis Link affected the formation of Carbon-14 prior to the Flood

• why Eve likely bore other children in the Garden of Eden

• where the Garden may have been located

In Part II readers will discover:

• why the Genesis Link caused the patriarchs to live ten times longer than we do

• what the Springs of the Great deep were that burst forth at the time of the Flood

• how water covered the world’s tallest mountain to a depth of more than 20 feet

• why the roof of Noah’s Ark stopped 18 inches short of its peak

• where the Ark was built and the duration of its journey to the Mountains of Ararat

• where polar ice came from, leading to the birth of the Ice Age

• how the grand canyon was formed This book also contains a spiritual dimension inasmuch as the Bible reports that God created Adam’s soul, his inner being, making him uniquely human. God also created the spirits of Adam, Eve and other animals by breathing into their nostrils the breath of life. It is my hope that readers will be drawn into a deeper understanding of the words of Genesis and the promises that it offers.

Robert L. Gielow

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Part I . . . CREATION Chapter 1 Understanding Today’s Universe Chapter 2 How it All Came to Be Chapter 3 Hovering Spirit of God Chapter 4 Ezekiel’s Whirling Wheels Chapter 5 Earth’s Atmosphere & Carbon-14 Dating Chapter 6 Earth’s Vegetation Chapter 7 Sun, Moon and Wandering Stars Chapter 8 Living Creatures Chapter 9 Garden of Eden Part II . . . NOAH’S FLOOD Chapter 10 From Adam to Noah Chapter 11 Construction of the Ark Chapter 12 Opening of the Floodgates Chapter 13 Ararat and Beyond Chapter 14 Worldwide Death Chapter 15 Melt-water Runoff

Part I: CREATION

Every human being is faced with the question, “Where did it all begin?” Logic tells us that at some point “something” must have come from “nothing”, a conclusion that

Thomas Aquinas once referred to as an uncaused cause. He argued that nothing is caused by itself, that every effect has a prior cause, leading to a regression that must be

terminated by a first cause; namely, God.

Chapter 1

UNDERSTANDING TODAY’S UNIVERSE

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night

after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.* Psalm 19:1-3

* References are at the end of the chapters

Anyone who has ever viewed the stars in the sky on a cold, clear night from a high and desolate mountaintop cannot help but hear their voice. The Bible describes their creation in one short sentence as follows:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

Over the centuries the above words have remained beyond human understanding. Although the initial creation of star-containing galaxies at the center of the universe is not and may never be understood, their outward movement to their current positions in the sky can be explained based on the pioneering work of scientists such as Edwin Hubble, Albert Einstein and Karl Schwarzschild. This chapter summarizes the foundation on which that explanation is based.

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Galaxies, Stars and Planets

Stars are the basic building blocks of the universe. They are grouped together into clusters known as galaxies. A galaxy typically consists of hundreds of billions of stars, with some numbering over one trillion. The universe consists of approximately 100 billion galaxies.

One example of a galaxy is shown in Figure 1 below, our own Milky Way galaxy. A bright, rotating bar at its center is seen in the NASA-generated rendering. The bar appears to have grown outward from a centralized bulge, spilling out stars from both ends and forming star-studded spirals. Approximately 60% of all galaxies exhibit spirals. All others have either poorly-formed spirals or no spirals at all. An explanation of how the bars and spirals were formed is given in Chapter 2.

Figure 1. A NASA-generated Rendering of The Milky Way Galaxy

According to NASA the stars of the Milky Way galaxy number approximately 300 billion. The Sun is one of those stars whose position is shown in Figure 1. It lies 27,200 light years away from the center of the galaxy (a light year is equal to the distance light travels in a vacuum during one year).

The Pioneering Work of Edwin Hubble

Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer who has greatly increased our understanding of the universe. In 1920 he began developing a method for measuring the speeds and

distances of galaxies using the Hooker Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. Hubble hypothesized that the brightness of starlight coming from a galaxy is a measure of its distance from the earth at the time the starlight began to shine back toward him. He also hypothesized that the color spectrum of the galaxy’s starlight can be used to determine the speed at which it was moving at the time, either toward or away from the earth. In 1929 Hubble concluded that the galaxies of the universe all appear to be moving away from us at speeds that are proportional to their distance from the earth. His conclusion is formally known as Hubble’s Law.

Edwin Hubble

Hubble’s constant of proportionality (outward speed per unit distance) is known as the Hubble Constant. It has been refined over the years. Based on its latest value, the most distant galaxies lie nearly 13.85 billion light years away and appear to be travelling at near the speed of light. In contrast, near-earth galaxies appear to be travelling at near-zero speed. In what follows, the importance of Hubble’s findings will soon become evident.

The Pioneering Work of Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is another scientist who has greatly increased our understanding of the universe. His Theory of General Relativity provides scientists with a mathematical tool that can be used to develop a computer simulation of the outwardly-moving galaxies. The theory teaches that a universal clock exists, one that displays the true timing of all events. His theory also teaches that other clocks run at slower speeds if they are moving relative to the center of the universe and/or drawn by the gravitational attraction of a nearby galaxy.

Albert Einstein

Unfortunately there is no way of knowing when the Creation event began. If there were, one could simply set Einstein’s universal clock to zero. To compensate for not knowing when the Creation event began, universal time is set to zero at the dawn of what the Bible refers to as “the first day”. Thus, universal times prior to the first day appear as negative values. It is noted that the first day is hereinafter referred to as Day One.

A hypothetical clock embedded in a star that appears to be moving away from us is useful in determining the age of the star. Embedded clocks display what Einstein referred to as “proper time”.

Einstein is perhaps best known for his famous equation which expresses equivalence between mass and energy; namely, E = mc2 (the only one of two equations that appears in this book). The interchangeability of mass and energy is later referred to in Chapter 2. The term “mass” may be unfamiliar to some readers. Mass is what gravity attracts. For example, although an astronaut’s mass remains unchanged whether on the earth or on the Moon, his weight changes because gravitational attraction differs.

The Pioneering Work of Karl Schwarzschild

Only months after Einstein published his Theory of General Relativity in 1916, a German physicist by the name of Karl Schwarzschild published a more limited solution to Einstein’s complex equation. He became famous for predicting the existence of black holes in outer space. He predicted that when the mass of a galaxy is sufficiently large, its gravitational attraction prevents light from shining beyond a certain distance away from the center of the galaxy. A spherical boundary surrounding the galaxy is thus established through which no light can pass. The radius of the spherical boundary is referred to as a “Schwarzschild radius” and the spherical boundary itself is known as an “event horizon”. More than a dozen black holes have been discovered in outer space following Schwarzschild’s prediction.

Karl Schwarzschild

The event horizon of a massive galaxy generally lies sufficiently far away so that any irregularity in the galaxy’s mass distribution would not appreciably distort the spherical shape of the horizon. However, when the Schwarzschild equation is used to simulate the universe itself, the mass of galaxies in close proximity to an event horizon can locally distort its spherical shape. It is as if holes are peppered across the face of the spherical boundary by nearby galaxies. In what follows, the term “porous horizon” has been coined to describe an event horizon through which both mass and energy can “leak” through the holes.

An Important Assumption

Edwin Hubble’s observation that the galaxies appear to be moving away from us at ever-increasing speed can be interpreted in one of two ways. The first is that the galaxies themselves are moving and the empty space into which they are flowing is fixed. The second is that space itself is “expanding” at an ever-increasing speed while the galaxies themselves are fixed inside that expanding space.

The first interpretation requires one to believe that planet Earth and its Milky Way galaxy lie at the center of the universe because at any other location the universe would appear skewed in one direction. The odds of residing at the exact center are 1 in 100,000,000,000 because, as stated earlier, there are approximately 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Hence, an acceptance of the first interpretation carries with it an implied belief in a Creator who purposely located His creation at a very special place.* According to the second interpretation, the universe has no center. No galaxy is more important than any other. All galaxies are moving away from each other at ever-increasing speed because the space in which they reside is expanding. Thus, if viewed from any location, the universe would appear to be expanding in the same way. Known as the Standard Model of modern cosmology, this second interpretation is what has been taught at virtually every institution of higher learning in the world since the 1920s when Alexander Friedmann, Howard Robinson, Arthur Walker and Georges Lemaitre developed the mathematics used to describe such a universe. While there are some problems associated with an acceptance of the second interpretation, its followers believe they are more palatable than professing belief in a

Creator. One of those problems is that a background energy field is predicted to exist throughout the universe. So far the energy field has escaped detection. Referred to as “dark energy”, for nearly 100 years followers of the second interpretation continue to hope it will someday be found. An equally disturbing problem is similar to the first. A background mass field is predicted to exist throughout the universe. As with the energy field, the mass field has also so far escaped detection. Referred to as “dark matter”, followers continue to hope that it too will someday be found. This book is based on a belief that mankind is very special to the Creator and that the earth resides at a very special place. It is noted that proponents of the second interpretation would not dispute the mathematics used in this book to describe the first interpretation. Instead, they dispute its pivotal assumption. ________________________________________________________________________ *All italicized references to the Bible are from the New International Version published by Zondervan * Many Christians find the idea of an Earth-centered universe to be not only plausible but predictable. They reason that if God so loved the world that He offered his only begotten Son as a ransom for its people, then why would He not have placed them at the very center of His Creation?

Chapter 2

HOW IT ALL CAME TO BE

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 147:4

The above verse teaches that each of the one hundred billion-trillion stars in the universe was individually created and assigned a name by the Creator. This chapter traces their outward movement from their initial position at the center of the universe to their current locations.

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Origin of the Universe

In keeping with the very first verse of the Bible as cited earlier in Chapter 1, the stars of the universe were all miraculously created in the beginning. Their creation could have occurred either instantaneously or over an extended period of time.

At the time of their creation, groups of stars were likely gathered together to form the centralized bulges of future galaxies. Collectively, the 100 billion centralized bulges can be thought of as mini universes locked inside an enormous black hole. When first created, the stars and their planets were all in a molten state. Inasmuch as no physical process can occur at an event horizon, their extremely high temperatures remained virtually unchanged until outward movement began.

Outward Movement of the Galaxies

In what follows, universal time histories of the star-filled galaxies are followed as they moved outward from the center of the universe to their currently-observed positions. For computational purposes, the entire universe is subdivided into galaxy-containing shells. Initially, the shells are all nested together around the center of the universe. This chapter follows the outward movement of one particular shell located halfway between the common center and the outermost shell. Referred to as the 50% shell, its galaxies are known as the “Midpoint Galaxies”. It is noted that neither the thickness of a shell nor the number of galaxies it contains are specified.

An exaggerated-size bullet point is shown on the far left side of Figure 2 below. (It is noted that a two-dimensional slice is used in Figure 2 to represent the entire three-

dimensional universe.) The bullet point represents the mini universe referred to above whose combined mass produced a universe-encompassing event horizon shown as a dashed arc at Position B on the figure’s far right side. The arc is drawn at a Schwarzschild radius of 13.85 billion light years. It is noted that even though the galaxy-containing shells moved progressively outward, they all remained inside the radius of 13.85 billion light years so that the event horizon at Position B even now remains unchanged.

Figure 2. Three Positions of the Midpoint Galaxies

The first galaxies that were set in motion by the Creator are those of the outermost shell. By the time the Midpoint Galaxies of the 50% shell were set in motion, the mass remaining inside the exaggerated-size bullet point was seriously diminished. Its event horizon reached only to Position A as shown above.

As the Midpoint Shell began to move outward, it crossed over Position 1 on its way to the event horizon at Position A where its galaxies slowly “leaked” through the horizon. Once across the event horizon, the Midpoint Galaxies continued on their way, crossing over Position 2 before reaching Position 3. Light from the galaxies shone back onto planet Earth on Day One from Position 3.

Still referring to Figure 2, it is noted that the region inside the event horizon at Position A is shaded darker than the region beyond the horizon. The darker-shaded region is later referred to as Region I and the lighter-shaded region as Region II.

Time Histories based on a Biblical Creation Model

A computer program has been coded specifically for the writing of this book. Known as the “Biblical Creation Model”, it incorporates the Schwarzschild equation as presented in a 2009 textbook by Professor Bernard Schutz entitled A First Course in General Relativity. The model solves for the universal and proper time histories of the Midpoint Galaxies and other galaxy-containing shells as they moved outward from the center of the universe, through Region I and on to the end of Region II. The overall universal time history of the outwardly-moving Midpoint Galaxies is presented in two parts as shown in Figures 3 and 4 below representing Regions I and II, respectively. The discussion begins with their outward movement through Region I as shown in Figure 3 below. The horizontal axis of the figure displays the radial position of the galaxies as measured from the center of the universe. It is the same horizontal axis as that of Figure 2. The vertical axis displays elapsed universal time. For now, universal time is set to zero at the onset of motion. It will later become a negative number relative to Day One.

Figure 3. Universal Time History of the Midpoint Galaxies – Region I

Defined by Einstein as “light-like” motion, the galaxies moved along the figure’s dashed-line path at the speed of light. Their progress appears to have slowed as they approached the event horizon located at the base of the embedded text. However, the speed of light also slowed so that in fact the galaxies nearly stood still even though they were moving at the speed of light. If the mass of the galaxies were somehow spread uniformly throughout the 50% shell, they would never have crossed over the event horizon. However, their mass was spread out in galaxy-size clusters so that the event horizon was “porous” and, as will be shown, the galaxies eventually made their way across to the other side.

Motion at the speed of light along Region I poses a problem because Einstein’s theory prohibits mass from travelling at the speed of light. One solution to the paradox may involve a transformation of the mass of each star into some form of mass-less energy according to Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence equation shown earlier. In an attempt to learn more about what takes place inside an event horizon, Associate Professor Scott A. Hughes was contacted. Professor Hughes specializes in astrophysical relativity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, focusing in particular on black holes and gravitational-wave sources.

Prof. Scott Hughes

In reply, Professor Hughes wrote that the behavior inside an event horizon is “bizarre”, a term seldom heard from specialists in their field. He concluded with the following statement, “I should say that in truth we have little to no idea about the spacetime inside a black hole.” Professor Hughes’ reply leads one to suspect that whatever the Creator may have done to cause the Midpoint Galaxies to move outwardly through Region I may forever remain a mystery.

Before discussing the actual crossover of the Midpoint Galaxies from Region I into Region II, the universal time history of the Midpoint Galaxies along Region II is discussed. As before, the event horizon of Figure 4 below is located at the base of the embedded text. The solid-line path shows the outward movement of the Midpoint Galaxies from just beyond the event horizon to Position 3 of Figure 2, half the distance to

the outer edge of the universe. Einstein’s light-like motion of Region I became “space-like” motion in Region II, dropping below the speed of light. In the figure, universal time has been set to zero at the dawn of Day One so that all events occurring prior to Day One are shown as negative values.

Figure 4. Universal Time History of the Midpoint Galaxies – Region II

As the Midpoint Galaxies moved beyond the event horizon, the strength of the horizon’s time-warping gravitational field began to diminish. At first, as shown by the solid-line path of Figure 4, the Midpoint Galaxies moved away very slowly. Eventually at a universal time somewhere in the neighborhood of -25 billion years the galaxies began to break away from the influence of the event horizon. They moved outward much more quickly toward the end of Region II, arriving at a universal time of -7.6 billion years. From this endpoint light from stars inside the 50% shell began a 7.6 billion year journey back to the center of the universe, eventually arriving at the dawn of Day One. The faint dotted line of Figure 4 shows the universal time history of that light. Upon its arrival, the time displayed on Einstein’s universal clock read zero.

Day One will later be shown to have occurred in the recent past relative to the time scale of Figure 4. Therefore, because of the coarseness of the scale, the light that we see from the stars of the Midpoint Galaxies today virtually began at Position 3 of Figure 2. Of course, once the light began its 7.6-billion-year journey back to the center of the universe, the Midpoint Galaxies continued to move outward. Although there is no way to prove it,

they currently lie at a radial distance of nearly 10 billion light years away from the center of the universe. No attempt has been made to solve for the universal time at which the Midpoint Galaxies crossed over from Region I to Region II, especially in light of the fact that experts like Scott Hughes have little to no idea about spacetime inside the black hole of Region I. Fortunately, as will be shown, not knowing the exact time of crossover does not affect one’s overall understanding of the Creation event. For the purpose of presentation only, crossover has been assumed to occur at the point where the separation distance between the dashed- and solid-line paths of Figures 3 and 4 equals one light year. In Figure 5 below, the Region I solution of Figure 3 is shown joined to the Region II solution of Figure 4 at the bullet point where the separation distance equals one light year. The figure was constructed by keeping the Region II solution of Figure 4 fixed and moving the Region I solution of Figure 3 up to where the assumed crossover condition was met. As shown in Figure 5, the resulting universal time at which outward movement first began was -68 billion years.

Figure 5. One-Light-Year Radius Shift across the Galaxies’ Event Horizon

There is no known naturally-occurring trigger that would have caused the Midpoint Galaxies to begin their outward movement at a universal time of -68 billion years so as to produce the results of Figure 5. It must be concluded that the Creator actively controlled the release of each and every group of star-filled galaxies. In the verse below the

prophet Isaiah refers to each star-filled galaxy as a starry host. He says they were each given a name and brought out one by one:

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26

Figure 6 presents universal time histories similar to that of Figure 5 for eleven galaxy groups including the Midpoint Galaxies. The figure follows the same format and procedure as that of Figures 3 through 5 for the Midpoint Galaxies. The eleven galaxy groups range from 1% to 96% including nine groups that range from 10% to 90% in 10% increments.

Figure 6. Universal Time Histories of Eleven Galaxy Groups

The dashed-line paths of Figure 6 were joined to the solid line paths at separation distances that were made proportional to the one-light-year distance of the Midpoint Galaxies; i.e., the separation distances of groups beyond the Midpoint Galaxies were proportionally larger than one light year and vice versa. A wide range of universal time uncertainty exists along the near-vertical portion of each path due to this assumption. However, it is noted that the uncertainty vanishes at the center of the universe where the universal time is -9.2 billion years. This fact is shown to become important when discussing the age of the earth. It is believed that Figure 6 captures the essence of what took place prior to Day One. As shown in the figure, the first starry hosts to begin moving outward from the center of the universe were those of the outermost 96% group. Based on the assumed separation distances noted above, they began moving outward at a universal time of -342 billion years, followed successively by those of the 90% group and so on. Also, the event horizon of the 96% group began to vanish at a universal time of -176 billion years, followed successively by the 90% group and so on. Thus, the nested event horizons began to vanish from the outermost galaxies to the innermost ones. The stars of the Milky Way Galaxy remained encapsulated by the nested set of event horizons as the universe moved into position. Not until a universal time of -9.2 billion years arrived could they begin to move.

At and Beyond the Farthest-known Galaxy in the Universe

Galaxy MACS0647-JD, the farthest-known galaxy in the universe, is one of the 96% group. The galaxy is highlighted in a NASA-sponsored IMAX film as viewed from the Hubble Telescope. In the film, the galaxy appears to be far dimmer than any others. The reason for this can be explained by the fact that the dotted line of Figure 6 begins to turn downward beyond the 90% group and turns significantly downward at 96%. According to the figure, it required nearly 10 billion years more for light to return to Earth from galaxies in the 96% group than it did from those of the 90% group. At radii beyond the 96% group, the dotted line (which signifies light travelling back to the center of the universe) plunges below the bottom of the figure without ever reaching the universe-encompassing event horizon at 13.85 billion light years away.

During the years 1964 and 1965, Nobel Prize winners Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson who worked at Bell Labs discovered the presence of cosmic microwave background radiation, a background glow coming from the far reaches of outer space that lay beyond the 96% distance. They measured a temperature of minus-455 degrees Fahrenheit, just 4 degrees above absolute zero. Absolute zero is the temperature at the universe-encompassing event horizon.*

Outward Movement of Galaxies within One Percent of the Center of the Universe

Attention is now turned to galaxy groups of 1% or less. Earlier it was stated that the universe contains approximately 100 billion galaxies. Readers may question how many galaxies lie in the near-earth region and if they are of sufficient number to warrant the Schwarzschild assumption of uniform mass distribution. Table 1 below shows the

number of galaxies interior to each of three nearby galaxy groups. The numbers are based on an assumed uniform distribution throughout the universe.

Galaxy Group

Radius at Position 3 of

Figure 2 (percent)

Galaxy Group Radius at

Position 3 of Figure 2

(light years)

Number of Uniformly-Distributed

Galaxies inside Position A of

Figure 2

Event Horizon Radius at

Position A of Figure 2

(light years)

Universal time at the Onset of

Motion (billion years)

1% 138,500,000 100,000 13,850 -9.4

0.1% 13,850,000 1,000 14.0 -9.2

0.01% 1,385,000 1 (Milky Way) 0.20 -9.2

Table 1. Galaxy Groups less than Percent

As shown in Column 1 of the table, three galaxy groups at radial positions ranging from 1% down to 0.01% were selected. Column 2 lists their positions in units of light years. Column 3 shows that 100,000 galaxies lie interior to the 1% galaxy group, likely enough to satisfy the Schwarzschild requirement of uniform mass distribution. According to Column 4, these galaxies initially produced an event horizon 13,850 light years away from the center of the universe.

For the 0.1% galaxy group, the number of interior galaxies is shown to drop to 1,000, perhaps enough to produce a somewhat distorted event horizon at 14.0 light years. Below 0.1%, the Milky Way is virtually the only interior galaxy. Thus, the Schwarzschild assumption of a spherically-symmetric universe breaks down somewhere near the 0.1% galaxy group. It is interesting to note that Hubble too found that the outwardly-moving speeds of nearby galaxies failed to follow his law of proportionality. Finally, in order for the Milky Way galaxy to have remained inside an event horizon prior to -9.2 billion years, it is concluded from Table 1 that the galaxy had to be created somewhere beyond the radius at which the innermost event horizon was no longer stable. From Column 1 of the table, that would suggest a radius greater than 14.0 light years, the event horizon radius of the 0.1% galaxy group. As a result, the stars of the Milky Way galaxy may have been distributed in such a way that a relatively tiny hole, at least 14 light years in radius, lay at its center. Otherwise the age of the very center of the galaxy is extremely old. Some astrophysicists suggest that a black hole currently lies at its center, an idea that would be in keeping with a very old, very dense core.

Proper-Time History of Stars within the Midpoint Galaxies

For those unfamiliar with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, it may be difficult to accept the idea that a perfectly-functioning clock embedded in any star of an outwardly-moving galaxy operates at a speed slower than the speed of God’s perfectly-functioning

universal-time clock. Perhaps even more unbelievable is the fact that, at an event horizon, the speed of an embedded clock slows down to zero. The same is true not only of embedded clocks but also of all physiological processes as well. For example, in his book BLACK HOLES & TIME WARPS Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy, Prof. Kip S. Thorne from Cal Tech provides a detailed account of a fictional astronaut who travels toward a massive galaxy, approaching closer and closer to its event horizon. Thorne’s book relates in vivid detail the experiences of the astronaut as his spaceship approaches the horizon.

In what follows, the Biblical Creation Model has been used to compute the proper time history of the Midpoint Galaxy group. As shown in Figure 7 below, proper time increases smoothly as the galaxy group crosses over from Region I into Region II, a phenomenon attributable to the fact that the speed of an embedded clock and the speed of light both slow down and speed up at the same rate. As a result, the assumed separation distance between the regions at crossover, signified by the bullet point, does not enter into the computation of proper time.

Figure 7. Proper Time History of the Midpoint Galaxy’s Stars

Prior to the onset of motion, a clock embedded in one of the stars of the Midpoint Galaxy group would have displayed zero because it would have remained virtually motionless inside one of the nested event horizons. However, as shown in Figure 7, proper time increased to 1.2 billion years along the dashed-line path of Region I following the onset of motion. Moving into Region II, proper time continued to increase another 8.0 billion years along the solid-line path. At its final 50% position, the total elapsed time displayed on the embedded clock was 9.2 billion years, the age of the Midpoint Galaxies.

The Biblical Creation Model was also used to determine the outwardly-moving speed of the Midpoint Galaxies at their final position, one-half the distance to the outermost edge of the universe. It was satisfying to note that the speed of the Midpoint Galaxies was

exactly one-half the speed of light, a result that is in keeping with Hubble’s constant of proportionality.

Proper-Time History of Stars within Other Galaxy Groups

An examination of the Schwarzschild equation reveals that the proper time of a galaxy group is governed by the mass density of the interior galaxies. Because the mass density of the universe is assumed to be constant, the age of the eleven galaxy groups of Figure 6 is also constant, 9.2 billion years. This result is shown graphically in Figure 8 below.

Figure 8. Proper Time Histories of the Stars inside Eleven Galaxy Groups

For the 96% galaxy group, the age of its stars is shown to accrue mostly at the speed of light along the dashed line path of Region I. In comparison, for the 1% galaxy group the opposite is true. The age of its stars is shown to accrue mostly at speeds below the speed of light along the solid line path of Region II. Like the Midpoint Galaxies, the outwardly-moving speeds of the 1%, 10%, 20%, . . . 90% & 96% galaxy groups were all found to equal exactly 1%, 10%, 20%, . . . 90% & 96% times the speed of light, respectively. Thus, the results of Figure 8 are in full agreement with Hubble’s Law which states that the outwardly-moving speed of a galaxy is proportional to its distance from the earth. This result is viewed as an important validation of the results of the Biblical Creation Model.

Outward movement of Stars within the Milky Way Galaxy

At a universal time of -9.2 billion years the stars of the Milky Way galaxy began to emerge from the exaggerated bullet point of Figure 2. Initially they remained at the center of the universe for more than 9 billion years. During this time the gravitational attraction of adjacent galaxies may have caused stars within the central bright spot of

Figure 1 to be slowly drawn away, forming the galaxy’s star-filled bar. Not until later did the Creator begin moving individual stars away from the center of the galaxy.

The outermost stars of the Milky Way galaxy currently lie approximately 60,000 light years away from its center. Other satellites of the galaxy lie farther away. According to the Biblical Creation Model, at the command of the Creator the outermost stars began to move outward 23 million years prior to the dawn of Day One. Figure 9 below has been constructed to accommodate two extremely different values of time, -23 million and -9.2 billion years, by introducing two different time scales. The lower scale is expressed in billions of years whereas the upper scale is expressed in millions of years.

Figure 9. Universal Time History of Two Stars of the Milky Way

Outward Movement of the Sun and its Planets

The outward movement of the Sun (along with its planets and their moons) is also shown in Figure 9. At the command of the Creator, the Sun began to move outward 8.1 million

years prior to Day One. Thus, although the stars of the Milky Way galaxy are all 9.2 billion years old, some have been moving outward a few million years more or less than others.

The radiometric dating of meteorites places their age at 4.5 billion years. The same is true for Moon rocks and the oldest rocks found on planet Earth. These findings at least suggest that all members of the solar system were created at the same time, a fact that agrees well with the results derived from the Biblical Creation Model. One possible explanation for the difference between the ages of planet Earth based on the Biblical Creation Model vs. radiometric dating is best described by an analogy to the Carbon-14 dating procedure used to determine the age of organic material. As will be discussed in detail later on in Chapter 5, the Carbon-14 dating procedure is shown to rely heavily on the assumption that the amount of a certain isotope of carbon has existed in the earth’s atmosphere throughout the history of the world. However, for reasons explained in Chapter 5, virtually none of the isotope existed prior to the Flood. The Carbon-14 dating procedure therefore cannot be applied to specimen that died prior to the Flood. This little-known limitation on the dating procedure gives evidence to the fact that not all assumptions prove to be true when extrapolated backwards in time, into the ancient past. In an analogous way, radiometric dating relies heavily on the assumption of constant decay rates over time for isotopes of carbon, potassium and uranium. The effect of extremely high initial temperatures over a period of 9.2 billion years may have been what led to a serious error in the dating procedure.

Conditions on Earth prior to Day One

The second verse of the Bible specifies three conditions that prevailed on planet Earth before Day One dawned. It reads as follows:

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:2

The first condition, formless and empty, is discussed here. The last two are discussed in Chapter 3. “Formless and empty” describes the earth’s terrain after 9.2 billion years of geologic formation. Originally the surface of the earth was a sea of hot, molten material. Over time the molten mass slowly began to cool, radiating its energy toward the event horizon located at the outer edge of the universe where the temperature is absolute zero. As the earth cooled from its outermost radius toward its center, the material solidified into the following four main shell-like regions:

1) Inner Core – Because it is under extreme pressure, the inner core of the earth is currently a solid ball with an outer radius of about 800 miles. Its temperature is assumed to be about the same as the surface of the Sun, approximately 10,000ºF. Also, it is believed to consist primarily of an iron-nickel alloy.

2) Outer Core – Next, the earth’s outer core is a liquid layer about 1,400 miles thick. Its outermost temperature is about 8,000 ºF. In addition to iron and nickel, sulfur and oxygen may also be present in the outer core.

3) Mantle – Beyond the outer core lays the earth’s mantle whose thickness is 1,800 miles. In some places under the ocean the mantle is exposed. Although the mantle is predominantly a solid, when viewed in geologic time it behaves like a very viscous liquid. The upper portion of the mantle is broken up into tectonic plates that slowly move relative to one another, resulting in earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain- building activity. Past episodes of volcanic eruption at the mantle’s more shallow levels have produced a thin crust of crystallized melt products atop its surface.

4) Crust - The earth’s outermost shell is known as its crust. The thickness and composition of the crust is significantly different above continents versus oceans due to differences found in the tectonic plates that lie beneath them. Whereas the crust is typically 20 to 30 miles thick below continents, below oceans it is only 3 to 6 miles thick, thus giving rise to ocean basins. Today the crust is composed of a great variety of igneous rocks that are formed by volcanic action, metamorphic rocks that are transformed from existing rock types, and sedimentary rocks formed by water deposits at the surface.

Prior to Day One, the only things to be found on the earth’s surface were rocks. Mountain ranges soared high above the earth’s surface due to the mountain-building activity of tectonic plates. Although igneous and metamorphic rocks were present in great abundance, there were no sedimentary rocks due to the lack of water. Prior to Day One the earth was truly a “formless and empty” place.

Evidence of Empty Ocean Basins

In support of the claim that the world’s ocean basins were void of water on Day One, William Ryan and Walter Pitman in their book entitled Noah’s Flood report on evidence they found that suggests the Mediterranean Sea basin was once empty. The two are both senior scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and recipients of the Shepard Medal of Excellence in marine geology. Ryan and Pitman, along with Dr. Ken Hsu, Professor of Sedimentology at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich, conducted their work aboard the drilling-rig-equipped ship the Glomar Challenger, shown below in Figure 10. After taking numerous core samplings of the seafloor, they concluded that the basin was once a hot, ancient desert that suddenly began receiving water. The water evaporated each day, leaving a salt-like residue behind that built up over time. Later, the salt residue was covered over by what the authors refer to as marine-life-containing “ooze”. At some point in time the ooze was suddenly inundated by a sea of ocean water. To Ryan, Pitman and Hsu their findings remain an unsolved mystery. However, when viewed in the light of what follows in later chapters of this book, their findings are readily explainable.

Figure 10. The Glomar Challenger used to Explore the Mediterranean Seabed

Closing Thoughts

Before leaving this chapter, an important concept needs to be introduced. According to Figure 6 no matter what assumption one chooses to make concerning how Regions I and II are to be joined together, the overall elapsed time during which the universe moved into its current position is at least one hundred billion years. Before this time it is evident that the Creator gave much thought to the design of what would someday become the centerpiece of all Creation; namely, life in all its forms. A fine balance had to be struck between the earth’s many design features if plant and animal life was to survive on its surface. One such life-supporting design feature concerns the fact that planet Earth rotates about its axis once every 24 hours, a rate that was built into its motionless mass at the time of Creation. It is noted that a 24 hour cycle of light and darkness ideally meets the human body’s need for a regular diet of sleep. Numerous studies have been made concerning the destructive effects of sleep deprivation. A second life-supporting design feature concerns the fact that planet Earth lies 93 million miles away from the Sun, resulting in an average temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit, ideal for sustaining human life on the planet. In comparison, the average temperatures of other planets range from minus-328 degrees Fahrenheit (Uranus and Neptune) to +860 degrees Fahrenheit (Venus). The average temperature on planet Mars is nearest to that

on Earth, minus-82 degrees Fahrenheit, still far too cold to sustain human life. Thus, if planet Earth had been placed slightly closer to or farther away from the Sun, its average temperature would have been either too hot or too cold to sustain human life.

________________________________________________________________________ *This finding seems to challenge the earlier-mentioned theory of Friedmann, Robinson, Walker and Lemaitre who claim that because the universe has no center there can be no universe-encompassing event horizon. If their claim is true, then why did Penzias and Wilson measure a near-absolute-zero temperature at the location? And what is the cause of so much radiation cooling in the universe if the event horizon does not exist?

Chapter 3

HOVERING SPIRIT OF GOD

Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in

thick darkness?

Job 38: 8-9

Job was a man who suffered a devastating loss of family and fortune, a man who endured unrelenting pain and bodily discomfort. Although he was a patient and deeply religious man, Job felt abandoned by his Creator and demanded to know the reason behind his seemingly-unwarranted treatment. In reply, God asked him a series of humbling questions. The question quoted above refers to conditions shortly before Day One when the sea behind doors burst forth from the womb, a time when the earth was wrapped in thick clouds of darkness.

This chapter addresses the two remaining phrases of Genesis 1:2; namely, “darkness was over the face of the deep” and “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”.

*****

The Sea Shut Up behind Doors

In this chapter and those that follow, readers will learn more about the waters of the sea that were “shut up behind doors”. According to the thesis of this book, the waters formed a planetary ring that at one time circled above planet Earth.

The planetary ring of Saturn is familiar to most people. Its water consists of snowballs as depicted in a rendering by Prof. William K. Hartmann, an internationally known scientist, writer, artist and founder of the Planetary Science Institute. Shown in Figure 11 below, the rendering depicts snowballs that grow larger over time due to smaller snowballs that impact and adhere to their outer surfaces. When two larger snowballs collide, they oftentimes break into many smaller ones, starting the cycle all over again. Over time energy loss leads to orbital decay and a lowering of the snowballs’ orbits.

Figure 11. Snowballs in the Rings of Saturn

Because there is no atmospheric pressure in outer space, only the solid and gaseous forms of water can exist. With no liquid water present, the snowballs in Saturn’s planetary ring are dry and easily broken apart.

In a book entitled Planetary Rings by Professor Richard Greenberg at the University of Arizona’s Planetary Science Institute, a technical article appears that reports on the temperature of snowballs in Saturn’s planetary ring. In outer space an object radiates much of its heat to the black hole at Position B of Figure 2 where the temperature is absolute zero, minus-459.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures of snowballs in Saturn’s planetary ring range between minus-297 and minus-360 degrees Fahrenheit.

As shown below in Figure 12, when viewed from above, Saturn’s planetary ring resembles the grooves of a two-dimensional phonograph record. In the next chapter it will be shown that Earth’s planetary ring formed a three-dimensional protective shield around the entire planet.

Figure 12. A Photograph of Saturn’s Planetary Rings

Wrapped in Thick Clouds of Darkness

In the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, the story is told of the Israelite’s 40-year wilderness journey after leaving Egypt and before arriving in the Promised Land. According to the following verse, a pillar of cloud accompanied them by day:

By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel by day or night. Exodus 13: 21

The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were understood by the Israelite’s to be the visible presence of God. Not only did the pillars guide the Israelites on their way but they also served to protect them. In the book of Exodus the story is told of how God sent Moses to lead the Israelites from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land. After enduring ten plagues, Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Israelites go. However, afterwards he had a change of heart. He followed them into the Sinai Peninsula, catching up with them as they were about to cross over the parted Red Sea on dry ground. In order to protect the Israelites from sure capture, the pillar of cloud moved to the rear of the column, keeping Pharaoh and his army a safe distance behind:

Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Exodus 14:19-20

Prior to Day One the earth was also wrapped in a cloud of darkness for the purpose of protection. Several forms of that protection are discussed in what follows.

Water and the Spirit of God

The second verse of Genesis teaches that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Church tradition oftentimes pictures the Spirit of God as a white dove. The phrase “hovering over the waters” can best be explained in light of the actions of a bird that hovers over its nest.

A bird is conceived in the womb of its mother and is soon encased in a protective shell. Following its birth, the mother bird hovers over that shell, warming her young inside and keeping predators away. Once the egg is hatched, the baby bird emerges and continues to be dependent on its mother for nourishment, warmth and protection. In due time, the fledgling becomes strong enough to leave the nest and fly away.

Figure 13. Darkness Covered the Face of the Deep

In like manner, the waters over which the Spirit of God hovered were encased in a cloud of darkness. The cloud was the visible presence of the Spirit of God. Like the mother bird, the Spirit hovered over the waters to keep them at just the right temperature and to protect them from space debris such as meteors and comets. The cloud is depicted in Figure 13 above.

Birds generally build nests high above the ground, in trees. For planet Earth, the nests were located high above the ground in earth-circling orbits. The visible presence of the Spirit of God protected the nests from orbital decay.

Once a baby bird emerges from its shell, the shell is no longer needed and the bird learns to fly away. In the following chapter, when the time came for water to orbit freely above planet Earth in the form of Professor Hartmann’s snowballs, darkness fled as the visible presence of God departed.

In Chapter 2, two life-supporting design features of the universe were identified; namely, a 24-hour rotation rate of planet Earth and the placement of the planet 93 million miles away from the Sun. In this chapter a third life-supporting design feature has been identified; namely, water. It goes without saying that without water life could not survive.

The cloud that surrounded planet Earth was about to be lifted as Day One was about to dawn.

Chapter 4

Ezekiel’s Whirling Wheels

I looked, and I saw . . . four wheels; the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they

moved, they would go in any one of the four directions . . . Their entire bodies . . . were completely full of eyes; . . . I heard the

wheels being called “whirling wheels”. Ezekiel 10: 9-13

Ezekiel was a Jewish prophet to whom God gave a vision. He saw intersecting whirling wheels covered with sparkling, eye-like gemstones. In this chapter the whirling wheels are shown to precisely describe the planetary ring that burst forth on Day One.

*****

The Dawn of Day One

The Bible records the events of Day One as follows:

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

As the cloud of Figure 13 vanished, the first 24-hour day began. The Creator unwrapped his gift to mankind, the centerpiece of all Creation. Except for the Sun which on Day One was still covered in darkness as discussed later in Chapter 7, light from the stars illuminated the planetary ring and the earth below.

Earth’s Planetary Ring

Similar to Professor Hartmann’s snowballs in orbit around Saturn, the snowballs in orbit around planet Earth followed a near-circular path . . . “whirling wheels” as described by Ezekiel in the introductory verse to this chapter. To him the snowball-laden wheels appeared to be “full of eyes” that “sparkled” like gemstones in the sunlight. However, unlike the two-dimensional planetary ring of Saturn, the ring that Ezekiel saw was three

dimensional in nature as suggested by his reference to “four directions”. Whether he looked to the north, south, east or west, he was surrounded by whirling wheels.

A computer-drawn version of Ezekiel’s whirling wheels is shown in Figure 14 below. The shaded figure shows how the whirling wheels he saw formed a continuous, three-dimensional shield around the planet. Spaced 10 degrees apart from one another, highlighted wheels of progressively smaller and smaller diameter show what is meant by wheels that intersect wheels. They intersect much like automobiles on an overpass that simultaneously pass over (intersect) automobiles below. Because the ring was continuous, whirling wheels continuously intersected other wheels along a central axis.

Figure 14. Earth’s Planetary Ring

At this point the design of Figure 14 is only conceptual in nature. In later chapters more information is presented. Although the Bible does not contain sufficient information to

completely define its design, enough is presented in order to understand how life beneath the planetary ring was affected prior to the Flood and how the entire earth was affected following its destruction.

As shown along the left-hand side of Figure 14, Ezekiel’s largest whirling wheel formed the outermost edge of the planetary ring, creating an entryway into its interior structure. The entryway is shown darkened in order to create the appearance of depth. However snowballs are highly reflective, resulting in the efficient transmission of sunlight.

No rainbow can develop without direct sunlight. The three-dimensional planetary ring allowed only diffused sunlight to illuminate the earth’s surface. The following passage attests to this fact. No rainbow ever appeared until after the Flood:

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13

Continuing on with a discussion of Figure 14, in order to view its interior design the planetary ring’s top half has been removed and a view looking down into its lower half is shown below in Figure 15. Formed by cutting through the whirling wheels, two interlaced spirals appear. As discussed later in Chapter 12, planet Earth is shown tilted 10 degrees relative to the planetary ring’s central axis.

Figure 15. An Internal View of the Two Spirals

The interlaced spirals of Figure 15 are shown wrapped around the earth two complete revolutions. However, because the planetary ring design is only conceptual in nature, it is not known how many times the two interlaced curves were actually wrapped around the earth or if the curves were true spirals.

A second entryway into the interior structure of the planetary ring, identical to the one that was visible on the left-hand side of Figure 14, can now also be seen in Figure 15. Ezekiel’s largest whirling wheel formed the outermost edge of both entryways.

Figure 16 below is presented as a means of helping readers better understand the construction of the planetary ring’s design of Figures 14 and 15,. The large shaded circle of Figure 16 is intended to represent a two-dimensional planetary ring, similar to the ring around Saturn except for the fact that it is oriented vertically. Its largest diameter corresponds to Ezekiel’s largest whirling wheel and the water content of its snowballs is equivalent to all the lakes, rivers and oceans of the world, 330 million cubic miles.

Figure 16. A Visual Aid

The reader is asked to envision the shaded circle of Figure 16 being rotated two complete revolutions around the central axis (shown in the figure as a vertical line passing through the center of the earth). As the shaded circle is rotated around the axis, imagine its outer diameter becoming smaller and smaller as its outermost whirling wheels are peeled off and deposited along the pair of spirals. After two complete revolutions of the shaded circle, its snowball-laden whirling wheels are depleted and the three-dimensional planetary ring of Figures 14 and 15 emerges.

In Psalm 104 David seems to be describing the Creator’s actions as he wrapped the shaded circle of Figure 16 around the axis:

He wraps himself in light, as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. Psalm 104:2

The Creator stretched out Ezekiel’s whirling wheels like a tent wrapped around a tent pole, enclosing planet Earth inside. The phrase “beams of the upper-chambers” is a reference to the snowball-laden wheels.

Before leaving the above discussion, it is noted that although two interlaced spirals are shown in Figure 15, the actual number is known only to the Creator.

Chapter 5

Earth’s Atmosphere & Carbon-14 Dating

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work

of God, the Maker of all things. Ecclesiastes 11:5

This chapter deals with the making of the wind (the atmosphere) on Day Two. Snowballs from the planetary ring’s lowermost whirling wheels were vaporized as they became displaced by the newly-made atmosphere, resulting in a torrential rainfall.

This chapter also deals with the science of Carbon-14 dating, a procedure that relies heavily on the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

*****

The Work of Day Two

The following passage teaches that on Day Two God made the atmosphere:

And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening and there was morning – the second day. Genesis 1:6-8

It has been shown in the preceding chapter that the water above the sky was already in place by the time Day Two arrived. The water existed in the form of a planetary ring that extended from near the surface of the earth to thousands of miles above it. On Day Two snowballs in the near-earth portion of the planetary ring were vaporized as the newly-made atmosphere suddenly offered resistance to their motion. The day ended with a worldwide torrential rainfall. It was the first moisture to ever touch the surface of the earth.

Chemical Composition of the Atmosphere

Although the introductory verse to this chapter teaches that God made the atmosphere and that we are incapable of understanding how it was accomplished, its reference to the

body being formed in a mother’s womb suggests the atmosphere may have been made using materials that are commonly found in the ground. One might ask how such a herculean task could have been accomplished in one 24-hour day. The answer may lie in the fact that God transcends time. The Creator is not bound by mankind’s concept of time. The Psalmist puts it this way:

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:4

Because the atmosphere is a mixture of gases, it is invisible to the naked eye. Gas molecules are extremely small compared to the empty spaces that surround them. Our eyes see through these empty spaces. Perhaps it would be more precise to say that God made the gas molecules of the atmosphere on Day Two.

This chapter examines the chemical composition of today’s atmosphere. Its three principal elements are nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Their mass distribution is shown in the following table:

GAS MASS (percent)

Nitrogen 78.09

Oxygen 20.95

Argon 0.93

Trace elements 0.03

Table 2. Chemical Composition of the Atmosphere

All of the above elements including those of the atmosphere’s trace elements can be found in an abundant supply of rocks that lie within the crust of the earth.

Even though the atmosphere’s gas molecules are extremely small, their cumulative mass is not insignificant. They represent the mass of a slab of concrete spread out over the entire surface of the earth to a depth of 15 feet. The weight of the atmosphere produces a surface pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch. When combined with an oxygen concentration level of 20.95% at sea level, the resulting oxygen in the atmosphere is ideal for supporting human life. Too little oxygen results in hypoxemia whereas too much results in oxygen toxicity.

The weight and oxygen content of the atmosphere is now the fourth life-supporting component that was set in place by the Creator, preceded by the earth’s 24-hour per day

rotation rate, its ideal placement 93 million miles away from the sun and life-sustaining water.

Carbon-14 Dating

Carbon-14 dating is a procedure that relies heavily on the chemical content of the atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, one of the atmosphere’s trace elements. We eat the plants and breathe carbon-dioxide-containing air. With the possible exception of marine life, all living organisms take in carbon from the surrounding atmosphere. Carbon atoms all have 6 protons and a variable number of neutrons in their nuclei. 99% of them have 6 neutrons (Carbon-12) and 1% has 7 neutrons (Carbon-13). We also eat and breathe in a tiny number of radioactive Carbon 14 atoms. A Carbon 14 atom (6 protons and 8 neutrons) is formed in today’s upper atmosphere when a cosmic ray strikes a Nitrogen 14 atom having 7 protons and 7 neutrons, causing it to lose a proton and gain a neutron. Cosmic rays are high-energy radiation rays whose origin lies outside our solar system.

Carbon 14 atoms are in a constant state of decay because, for any given number, half will revert back to Nitrogen 14 atoms every 5,730 years. In other words, the half life of Carbon 14 is 5,730 years. In another 5,730 years, half of the surviving half will also revert back to Nitrogen 14 atoms, and so on. However, the number of Carbon 14 atoms in the atmosphere is constant because, as described above, new Carbon 14 atoms are being formed to offset those that decay.

If a living organism were to die and be buried today, it would contain a known ratio of radioactive Carbon 14 atoms to other carbon atoms because that ratio is what exists in the atmosphere today. With minor variation, it is the same ratio that has existed for centuries.

We all carry around this same ratio as long as we are alive because it exists everywhere in the world. Once we die and are buried, we no longer take in carbon and something begins to happen to the ratio in our corpse. The number of Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 atoms is stable and remains unchanged, but the number of radioactive Carbon 14 atoms diminishes. If a deceased specimen is found having a reduced ratio of Carbon 14 atoms to other carbon atoms, one for example that suggests ten half lives have elapsed, then some scientists would conclude that the specimen is 10 x 5,730 (or 57,300) years old. But how could that be true if plants, animals and mankind have not been around that long?

Carbon-14 Dating Prior to the Flood

It is known that water serves as an effective shield in slowing cosmic rays. Furthermore, cosmic rays are drawn toward the polar regions of the earth because of the earth’s magnetic field. The stack of intersecting snowball-laden whirling wheels near the poles

once served to significantly reduce the number of cosmic rays that reached its surface. The pre-Flood water shield would have gone a long way toward reducing the number of Carbon 14 atoms in the atmosphere. Therefore, a much smaller ratio would have existed.

Another important reason why that ratio was likely near or equal to zero prior to the Flood is that the world’s total supply of Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 atoms was much greater. The spring-like climate that existed prior to the Flood and the vast areas of tree-filled ocean basins would have resulted in lush forests extending from pole to pole. The vast reserves of coal and oil found in the ground today are evidence of the huge amount of organic material that was destroyed in the Flood. Based on these known reserves, Dr. Michael Brown on his website www.creation-science-prophecy.com/C14.htm estimates that the world’s carbon inventory of today is 29 (512) times smaller than what it was prior to the Flood.

Incidentally, ten Carbon 14 half lives represents the limit of today’s atom-counting capability. Thus, while the age of a specimen that died in the Flood may appear to be 57,300 years because its ratio of Carbon 14 atoms to other carbon atoms is infinitesimally small, its actual age can be no older than Adam. (See Chapter 10 for a discussion of biblical genealogies.)

For the dating procedure to be in error by 57,300 minus 4,300 years (or 9.25 Carbon 14 half lives), either the ratio’s numerator would have to be 29.25 times smaller (which may be possible due to the reduced production of radioactive Carbon 14 atoms in the earth’s atmosphere), the denominator would have to be 29.25 times larger (which is slightly more than the limit of Dr. Brown’s carbon inventory estimate of 29), or more than likely some combination of both factors.

In conclusion, whenever the Carbon-14 dating procedure indicates that the age of a once-living specimen pre-dates Noah, it is an indication that the specimen lived sometime prior to the Flood. The specimen lived at a time when virtually no Carbon-14 atoms were present in the atmosphere and the carbon content of the earth was hundreds of times greater than what it is today.

Chapter 6

Earth’s Vegetation

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called

the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,

according to their various kinds.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:9-11

On Day Three the torrential rain that fell of Day Two was gathered into one place and vegetation was given life. This chapter gives a full account of what took place.

*****

Gathered Water

In order to prepare the ground for the vegetation that was about to appear, the Creator required that the ground was to be free of standing water on Day Three. Thus, according to the above passage the water of the planetary ring that was displaced by the atmosphere on Day Two was gathered into one place. Although it is tempting to envision the empty Mediterranean Sea basin as being the depository for the water, based on the earlier-cited findings of Ryan and Pitman the basin was empty for an extended period of time following Day One.

Vegetation

The work of Day Three also included the making of vegetation. The full account is given below:

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day. Genesis 1:11-13

The above group of verses is supplemented by another group found in the second chapter of Genesis that includes a partial recap of the events of Creation Week. A portion of that recap is useful in further understanding the work of Day Three. It reads as follows:

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens — and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Genesis 2:4-6

Taken as a whole, the two groups describe a time when, although seeds had been planted on Day Three, no vegetation had yet sprung up. The torrential rain of the previous day had been gathered up so that the only water on the ground was from “streams that came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground”. The translation used here for the Hebrew word “'ed” is “streams”. However, most translators have chosen to use the word “mist” instead. The two words have completely different meanings. The Hebrew word has also been translated by some as “vapor”, perhaps the most accurate translation of all (as explained below).

As the planetary ring slowly decayed, the pre-Flood world was watered by snowballs that became vaporized as they entered the earth’s atmosphere. In Chapter 10 it will be shown that the daily rate of water supply was one-tenth of an inch across the entire surface of the earth. Water vapor spread throughout the atmosphere. Notice the phrase “for the Lord had not sent rain on the earth”. Apparently the presence of the planetary ring had a stabilizing influence on the earth’s upper atmosphere so that the pre-Flood world remained free of clouds and rain as we know them today. Instead, during cooler nighttime hours the vapor condensed into tiny droplets of water. Much like a terrarium, the droplets settled onto the leaves of vegetation and onto the ground, watering the root systems of the plants and trees. Some groundwater ran off into streams and rivers as it does today. Because Bible translators would have had no knowledge of the planetary ring and its daily supply of water vapor, it is understandable why the Hebrew word “'ed” was so difficult to translate.

The plants and trees that appeared following Day Three were categorized into what the above verses refer to as kinds. There is a field of study currently under development that seeks to identify all the animals and plants that belong to any given kind. Known as baraminology, its developers base their work on the assumption that if two plants or animals can successfully produce a third plant or animal, they are descended from the same kind. For example, in the animal world elephants and mammoths can successfully mate and are therefore of one kind. Sheep and goats can also successfully mate so they are of another kind. Also, if two creatures can hybridize with the same third creature they are all members of the same kind. Most of the work undertaken thus far in the field of baraminology has involved animal life. Little has been done on plant life except for grasses.

Plant Life

On Day Three the Creator caused all kinds of vegetation to grow all across the dry land. Just as Adam’s body was formed from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7), so too did the land produce vegetation from the soil of the earth. Like Adam’s body, each form of vegetation consists of cells having a DNA molecule that describes all of its inheritable traits. In that sense, vegetation is said to be alive. However, unlike Adam’s body and all other forms of living creatures that are discussed later in Chapter 8, no form of vegetation received the breath of life and therefore none has a spirit. So although vegetation is alive, it is not spiritually alive.

Diffused Sunlight

The planetary ring favorably influenced the growth of vegetation. Besides producing a year-long spring-like climate, the planetary ring also served to diffuse sunlight. One important feature of snow is that it is nearly 100% reflective, absorbing only a very small portion of the Sun’s radiant energy. Ezekiel’s whirling wheels would have allowed sunlight to carom from one snowball to another, especially if the number of times they were made to spiral around the planetary ring’s central axis was large (as discussed earlier relative to Figure 16). If so, sunlight would have passed through multiple layers of less-dense snowballs. The sunlight would have become fully diffused before reaching the earth’s surface, approaching from all directions.

Diffused sunlight is a contributing factor to lush plant growth. Plants produce food in relation to the amount of sunlight their leaves receive. Plants are said to produce a greater amount of food from the sunlight they receive on their top leaves. The top leaves do more of the work while the shaded leaves below do less. When a plant is immersed in diffused sunlight the leaves all contribute more uniformly to food production.

Moreover, the top leaves of a plant exposed to direct sunlight can experience excessive heat, suffering from sunburn and increased water loss. Such a plant undergoes developmental stress. That same plant exposed to diffused sunlight will experience healthier development, producing more food.

Fossilized Vegetation

The growth of delicate plants and shrubs was not limited to the temperate zones of the planet. Prior to the Flood there were no ice caps present to cool the arctic regions as evidenced by the findings of Dr. Rehwinkel in his book entitled The Flood. Through extensive fossil research he concluded that a spring-like climate existed in every part of the globe. He writes:

“With respect to the climate, the fossils show that there was a uniformly mild climate in high and in low latitudes of both the northern and the southern hemispheres. That is, there was a perfectly uniform, non-zonal, mild, and spring-like climate in every part of the globe. This does not mean that the

climate was of necessity the same in all parts of the earth. There were differences, but not the present extremes.”

Rainforest-like Conditions Everywhere

In the previous chapter of this book the work of Dr. Michael Brown was cited to introduce the idea that the pre-Flood world contained over 500 times more live plant growth than that which exists in the world today. With a year-long growing season, a spring-like climate, diffused sunlight, a watering system that mimics a modern-day terrarium and an increased land mass that included large portions of the ocean basins of the world, is it any wonder that the amount of vegetation in the pre-Flood world was far greater than today and that the dinosaurs had more than enough food on which to thrive?

Two Special Trees

According to the following verse, the Creator made two special trees to begin growing out of the ground on Day Three. One was the tree of life whose fruit, when eaten, restored eternal life to the human body. The second tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whose fruit, if eaten, resulted in death. It was the second tree from which Adam and Eve eventually ate:

And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

More is said of these two trees in Chapters 8 and 9 as they relate to the disobedience of Adam and Eve while living in the Garden of Eden.

Chapter 7

Sun, Moon and Wandering Stars

.

They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved

forever. Jude 1:13

The author of the above verse is speaking of blasphemers who defile the things of God. In verse 13 he refers to them as “wandering stars”, those who wander away from the faith. In this chapter the origin of the term “wandering stars” is examined in relation to the work of Day Four.

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The Work of Day Four

The work of Day Four entailed the “making” of the Sun, Moon and stars. But wait, weren’t they made billions of years earlier according to Figure 6? The truth is that although the Sun, Moon and stars were “created” billions of years ago, “finishing touches” were “made” on Day Four. The work of Day Four is described as follows:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

Okay, so the above verses do say the Sun, Moon and stars were “made” on Day Four, not “created”. But don’t the verses read as if their light first appeared on Day Four? The answer to that question is “yes”. But before proceeding with an explanation, it is first necessary to introduce the subject of “wandering stars”.

Origin of the term “Wandering Stars”

In ancient Jerusalem at the time of Jude, the author of the introductory verse to this chapter, people oftentimes slept on the roof of their houses, weather permitting. During sleepless nighttime hours they likely had numerous opportunities to stare at the star-lit sky above. They would have been familiar with the sight of a handful of stars that moved relative to the myriad of others that remained fixed. They referred to these few stars as “wandering stars”. In the Genesis verse above, if the “two great lights” and “the stars” refer to the Sun, Moon and wandering stars, then the author was describing what we commonly refer to as our solar system and the wandering stars are what we refer to as planets.

In antiquity, the “classical planets” were the seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky; namely, the Sun, Moon and the five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. It is noted that the outermost planets Uranus and Neptune had not yet been discovered. The name planet comes from a Greek term that means “wanderer”. Ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky with respect to the other stars. They called these objects “wandering stars”. Together, the Sun, Moon and five wandering stars form the seven classical planets.

Okay! So even if one were to accept the idea that the work of Day Four only entailed making the classical planets, not all the stars of the Milky Way or the galaxies of the universe, what about the idea that light from the classical planets first shone on planet Earth on Day Four? Wouldn’t their light also have been visible long before Day One? Can the paradox be explained in terms of the “finishing touches” mentioned earlier?

Finishing Touches

In order to understand the finishing touches of Day Four, all one needs to do is look at the finishing touches that were made to planet Earth on Day One. In Chapter 3 it was learned that prior to Day One darkness covered the face of the deep as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Similarly, prior to Day Four darkness covered the face of the classical planets as the Spirit of God hovered over their waters. Also, on Day One the darkness covering the earth was removed. Similarly, on Day Four the darkness covering the classical planets was removed.

Unlike Earth’s three-dimensional planetary ring that was wrapped around the central axis of the ring, the waters of the classical planets took on different forms. For example, it is known that a two-dimensional planetary ring exists around planet Saturn. Also, like mother birds that lay their eggs in various places other than trees, the Spirit of God likely placed water on the surface of one or more of the classical planets, much like the killdeer lays her eggs on the ground and other surfaces. In all cases, like a mother bird who sits on her eggs to warm them, the Spirit of God maintained the waters at a desired temperature and protected them from damage due to meteors and other space debris.

In what follows, the waters that were deposited on each of the classical planets are discussed.

Water on Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. It has no atmosphere. The surface temperature of Mercury soars to 800 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and plunges to nearly minus-300 degrees at night. One important feature of Mercury is that the tilt of its rotational axis is essentially zero. In comparison, the tilt of Earth’s rotational axis relative to the plane in which it travels around the Sun is 23½ degrees.

Mercury has virtually no atmosphere so liquid water cannot exist. Solar light pushes away any water vapor that may develop. Therefore, water can only exist on the planet in the form of ice. In general, the surface temperature of Mercury is far too hot during daylight hours for ice to be present. However, scientists have long suspected that because the poles never see sunlight, ice may exist in meteor-caused impact craters at both the north and south poles of the planet. Using sophisticated measuring equipment, NASA’s Mercury Messenger probes of 2008, 2009 and 2011 confirmed that ice is indeed present at the bottom of Mercury’s polar craters.

So where did the ice come from that ended up at the bottom of these craters? The Spirit of God likely deposited ice on the surface of Mercury prior to Day Four. Once the dark cloud was removed, most of the ice became vaporized under the heat of the Sun and its hydrogen atoms were lost to outer space. However, the remainder that was deposited at the bottom of Mercury’s polar craters remains there to this day

Water on Venus

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. Surrounded by a massive atmosphere, pressure on its surface is currently 92 times that of planet Earth. Highly-reflective clouds continuously block the surface of Venus from view. The clouds consist mainly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Because of its massive atmosphere, the temperature on the surface of Venus is a relatively constant 860ºF.

Prior to Day Four the Spirit of God deposited water on Venus someplace where it ultimately became engulfed by the planet’s atmosphere, becoming water vapor mixed with carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

In 1978 the NASA-managed Pioneer Venus spacecraft detected traces of “heavy” water vapor in the atmosphere of Venus. In order to explain what heavy water vapor is and what caused its formation, reference is made to the terminology of Chapter 5 concerning stable forms of carbon. Just as carbon has two stable states (Carbon-12 and Carbon-13), hydrogen has two stable states, Hydrogen-1 and Hydrogen-2. Hydrogen-2 is twice as heavy as Hydrogen-1 because a Hydrogen-1 atom has only a single proton in its nucleus whereas a Hydrogen-2 atom has both a proton and a neutron. Except for the atmosphere of Venus, everywhere in the Solar System the ratio of Hydrogen-1 to Hydrogen-2 atoms has been found to be the same, 10,000 to 1. Scientists assume that the ratio was once the

same on Venus, too. However, in 1978 NASA found the ratio of Hydrogen-1 to Hydrogen-2 atoms in the atmosphere of Venus to be severely deficient. It can be shown that the thermal velocity of a Hydrogen-1 atom in the hot atmosphere of Venus closely approaches the speed required to escape from the planet’s gravitational attraction. In contrast, the thermal velocity of a heavier Hydrogen-2 atom is 30% less than that of a Hydrogen-1 atom, making it less likely to escape. Scientists have concluded that the atmosphere of Venus once contained water vapor as we know it today and that at least 99.9% of its Hydrogen-1 atoms have been lost to outer space, leaving a high concentration of Hydrogen-2 atoms behind. Thus, the severe deficiency that NASA discovered is accounted for.

Water on the Moon

Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun. Its Moon is one of the classical planets whose reflected light first shone on the earth’s surface on Day Four. Like Mercury, there is no significant atmosphere on the Moon. During daytime hours its surface temperature soars to over 250 degrees Fahrenheit, plunging to minus-240 degrees during nighttime hours. Also, like planet Mercury, Earth’s Moon has a near-vertical axis of rotation, again raising the possibility of ice at the bottom of impact craters where the Sun never shines.

In a crater near the Moon’s South Pole, NASA reported its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite detected what appears to be “near pure crystalline ice”. Also, in March of 2010 another probe discovered more than 40 craters near the Moon’s North Pole that are thought to contain nearly one million tons of ice.

Evidence strongly suggests that ice also exists in lunar materials over much of the Moon’s surface. In 1978 it was reported that samples returned by the Soviet-built Luna 24 probe contained 0.1% water by mass. Moreover, in March of 2008 National Geographic reported the following:

The water levels detected in Apollo Moon rocks and volcanic glasses are in the thousands of parts per million, at most – which explains why analyses of the samples in the late 1960s and early 1970s concluded the Moon was absolutely arid.

The Spirit of God likely deposited ice on the Moon’s surface prior to Day Four. Once the cloud was lifted, a portion of that ice filled impact craters at the Moon’s North and South Poles where it remains to this day. The remainder became buried beneath the surface of the Moon, forming chemical bonds with lunar materials.

A shallow cover of space dust atop the Moon’s surface is shown in the photograph of Figure 17 below. The photograph was taken on July 20, 1969. Until that time there was no known evidence that water had ever existed on the surface of the Moon. It was feared that anywhere from 50 to 180 feet of undisturbed space dust may have accumulated on its surface over billions of years. The Lunar Lander’s over-sized feet, also shown in the photograph, were designed to guard against the spacecraft sinking into a sea of dust.

Figure 17. Moon Dust atop Chemically-bonded Water below

Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin found the surface of the Moon to be relatively firm just below its shallow cover of dust that has been accumulating since Day Four. The findings attest to the fact that ice once lay atop its surface, leading to chemical bonding with lunar materials below.

Water on Mars

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, lies just beyond the earth. Its atmosphere consists of 96% carbon dioxide, 2% argon, 2% nitrogen and traces of various gases including water vapor. Mars’ annual mean temperature is minus-82 degrees Fahrenheit. At its surface, Mars’ rarified atmosphere produces an air pressure of only 0.6% that of planet Earth.

Approximately 1.2 million cubic miles of ice exists at or near the surface of Mars today, enough to cover the planet to a depth of 100 feet or more. Far more ice may exist at deeper levels. The only place on the planet where ice is visible is at the North Pole. An abundant supply of ice is also present at the South Pole of the planet beneath a permanently-frozen layer of carbon dioxide ice (as opposed to water ice). Moreover, water exists below the surface of Mars, chemically bonded with materials in its soil.

In 1971, NASA’s Mariner spacecraft recorded clear images of huge river valleys. The photographs show where floods of liquid water broke through dams, carved deep valleys, eroded grooves into bedrock, and travelled thousands of miles. Shown below in Figure 18 is the image of a 750-mile-long outflow channel in which water on the surface of Mars once flowed from left to right.

Figure 18. Rivers that once flowed on Mars

The low atmospheric pressure on the surface of Mars places a tight constraint on atmospheric temperature if water is to exist in the liquid state. In Chapter 3 it was stated that a mother bird hovers over the eggs in her nest, warming the young inside. It went on to say that as water burst forth from the womb of the Spirit, a cloud of darkness served to keep the water at just the right temperature. In the case of water on the surface of Mars, because of its low atmospheric pressure the water had to remain at a temperature slightly above freezing throughout the period of water deposition.

All of this leads one to conclude that the Spirit of God deposited water on the surface of Mars prior to Day Four in the form of liquid water at a temperature slightly above freezing. As the water remained beneath the cloud, it flowed across the surface of the

planet, forming the surface features that we see today. On Day Four the cloud was lifted and the liquid water turned to ice.

Water on Jupiter

The mass of Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is 2½ times that of all other planets in the Solar System combined. A rocky core lies at its center, overlaid by a thick layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. Known as a “gas giant”, a massive atmosphere lies above the liquid hydrogen. It consists mainly of hydrogen gas (90%) and helium (10%). According to researchers at the California Institute of Technology, the atmosphere of Jupiter also contains trace elements of water vapor (0.0004%). Near its visible outer surface the atmosphere’s temperature is 150ºF. Much higher temperatures exist at lower elevations.

Like the planet Venus, the Spirit of God deposited water on Jupiter someplace where it ultimately became engulfed by the planet’s massive atmosphere, becoming water vapor mixed with hydrogen and helium gases.

To underscore the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere of Jupiter, it is noted that of the planet’s three largest moons, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, all have been found to have abundant supplies of ice on their surfaces, with oceans of liquid water below.

Water on Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. Similar to Jupiter but not as big, Saturn is a gas giant having a solid core at its center, several inner layers of molten material, and a gaseous outer layer. During 1980, NASA’s Voyager spacecraft discovered water ice in the upper cloud layers of Saturn’s atmosphere. Its lower cloud layers were found to contain water droplets.

The water over which the Spirit of God hovered above the planet Saturn prior to Day Four was deposited in the form of its planetary ring (see Figure 11).

Water on the Sun

On July 17, 1997 the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada issued a press release that read “Water on the Sun?” Its leading sentence reads as follows:

An international team of scientists, including a University of Waterloo chemistry professor, has conclusively demonstrated that water (actually steam) does exist on the sun, confirming a breakthrough finding made two years ago. The team used an innovative method to calculate the water spectrum at sunspot temperatures.

Their findings are reported in the journal Science, Volume 277 dated July 18, 1997. As its cloud of darkness was lifted on Day Four, the Sun appeared.

Uranus and Neptune

Because of its distance away from the sun, the movement of Uranus was not sensed by the ancients. Neptune, farther away yet, cannot be seen with the naked eye. Both planets are referred to as “ice giants”. Prior to Day Four darkness likely covered both planets and the Spirit of God hovered over their waters.

Conclusion

In summary, water has been discovered on the Sun, Moon and wandering stars of our solar system. The waters were deposited by the hovering Spirit of God whose visible presence appeared in the form of a cloud over each one of them. On Day One the Creator unwrapped and gave the earth as a gift to mankind. Three days later he unwrapped the remainder of the solar system, giving it all to us for our enjoyment and exploration.

Chapter 8

Living Creatures

This is what the Lord says — he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, he formed it to be inhabited — he

says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:18

The above words were written by the prophet Isaiah. They testify to the fact that the universe exists for the very purpose of becoming inhabited by animals and man. This chapter deals with the emergence of living creatures on Days Five and Six, culminating with the making of Adam from the dust of the ground and the creation of his spirit (the breath of life):

. . . the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

Special attention is focused on the three-part nature of Adam; namely, his body that was formed from the dust of the ground, his spirit referred to above as the breath of life, and his “being” as used in the phrase “and the man became a living being”. The Hebrew word for “being” is “nephesh”. In other translations the word “soul” is used. More is said of Adam’s spirit and soul later on in this chapter.

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The Events of Day Five

20And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the espanse of the sky.” 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. Genesis 1: 20-23

The Events of Day Six

24And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, ”Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. And it was so.

31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:24-31

Understanding these Events

This book attests to the fact that, ever since the universe was created in the beginning, the Bible teaches that what we see around us was made from what had already been created. Suddenly in verse 21 the word “created” appears when referring to marine life and birds. Later in verses 25 and 26 the words “made” and “make” appear when referring to the wild animals and man. Finally, in verse 27 the word “created” again appears when referring to man. So why do the two terms suddenly appear to be co-mingled? The term “created” is applied in verse 21 to the birds and great creatures of the sea (the first living creatures that were made) and in verse 27 to Adam (the last living creature that was made), thereby implying that the term “created” applies to all creatures that have the mass-less breath of life in them. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to delving deeper into this subject.

Breath of Life

In verse 7 of Genesis 2, quoted just below the first paragraph of this chapter, the phrase “breath of life” appears relative to Adam. In verse 30 of Genesis 1 the same phrase appears relative to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground. To better understand what is meant by the phrase “breath of life”, consider the following:

On April 11th, 1970 NASA’s Apollo 13 spacecraft began its journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its way to the Moon and back again. Two days later before reaching the Moon an oxygen tank exploded in the spacecraft’s Service Module, forcing the mission to be aborted. Commander James Lovell radioed back to Mission Control Center in Houston Texas these historic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” During the next four days, critical communications went back and forth over the radio between Commander Lovell and Mission Control. The Center provided critical information that allowed the Commander and his crew to precisely guide the unpowered spacecraft around the backside of the Moon and, in slingshot fashion, set it on a course that sent them falling back again to planet Earth. On April 17th Apollo 13 safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and the three astronauts aboard were rescued. Were it not for the critical information that flowed back and forth between Commander Lovell and Mission Control, the rescue could never have been accomplished.

All living creatures receive the “breath of life” . . . critical communication on a spiritual radio that connects them to their Creator at Mission Control. There are several spectacular examples in the Bible of how animals received in-coming messages and responded accordingly. They include:

• Leading up to the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt, Pharaoh refused to let the Israelite slaves go free. To help Pharaoh change his mind, God inspired a myriad of frogs to go throughout the land. They obeyed the voice of God. The plague was so great that Pharaoh finally relented. So God inspired the frogs to leave. Unfortunately for both the Israelites and the Egyptians, Pharaoh later changed his mind.

• Shortly afterwards God inspired a myriad of gnats to descend on the land of Egypt. When the gnats arrived, Pharaoh again relented and God inspired the gnats to leave. As with the frogs, Pharaoh later changed his mind.

• God then inspired swarms of flies to infest the Egyptian people and their officials but not the Children of Israel. As before, Pharaoh relented and God inspired the flies to leave. And once again, Pharaoh had a change of heart. All three accounts can be found in the eighth chapter of Exodus.

• In the tenth chapter, Moses similarly recounts the plague of locusts in which God inspired a myriad of locusts to swarm over the land of Egypt.

• During their 40-year wilderness journey, the Children of Israel grumbled because they had no meat to eat. So God inspired a myriad of quail to descend on the entire camp. The account is found in Numbers 11.

• Another example includes the prophet Jonah who, instead of following God’s command to go to Nineveh, boarded a ship and headed in the opposite direction. When he was thrown overboard by the ship’s crew, God saved Jonah by inspiring a whale-size fish to swallow him whole, transport him to the shore from which he came and spit him out. The story is found in the book of Jonah.

• Still another example involved Daniel who was thrown into a den of lions for refusing to bow down and worship the king of Babylon. Throughout the night God inspired the lions to ignore Daniel. In the morning when Daniel emerged from the den unscathed, the king had his accusers thrown into the den instead.

At the time we were first made in our mother’s womb, the Spirit of God created in each one of us a “spirit”, an open line of communication connecting us to our Creator. Outgoing messages include the inner thoughts of our hearts. We often think of out-going messages as “prayer”. However, it is interesting to note that David expanded on the content of out-going messages when he wrote:

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Psalm 139:1-3

Incoming messages are frequently referred to as “inspiration”. They may arrive in a variety of forms, one of which involves the Spirit of God speaking to our hearts. Some readers may scoff at the idea of mass-less messages being transmitted to and from the Creator, but few doubt the reality of invisible radio, television and cell phone messages that come to us every day of our lives. Just as Mission Control communicated with the crew of Apollo 13, so too does our Maker communicate with us, leading us through the trials of life to a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Male and Female

Where was Eve on Day Six? Verse 27 of Genesis 1 above ends with the phrase, “male and female he created them”, signifying that Eve’s spirit was created at the same time as Adam’s. But where was her body? The Bible gives us the answer. The applicable verse reads as follows:

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Genesis 2:20-22

On Day Six Eve’s spirit was created and her body was made in the form of Adam’s rib. Sometime after Day Seven her body was re-formed.

Made in the Image of God

God is holy. He made Adam and Eve holy too. Therefore it can be said that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. In the cool of the day God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He took great delight in being their friend and he sought to experience a genuine relationship with them. God did not want robots like the frogs, gnats, flies locusts, quail, the great fish, and gentle lions that had no choice but to say “yes” to his directives. Instead he gave Adam and Eve a free will. He gave them the opportunity to say either “yes” or “no” to him.

Recall from Chapter 6 that God placed two trees in the garden. One he called the tree of life, a tree from which Adam and Eve were invited to eat regularly and thereby live forever. The only thing they were asked to refrain from doing is eat fruit from the second tree, a tree known as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For however long they refrained from eating the fruit of the second tree, they remained holy. They retained the image of God.

Nephesh

In the following Bible passage, Moses teaches that a human being is made up of three distinct parts, body, spirit and soul:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

The term “strength” refers to our bodies, that part of us that was made from the dust of the ground on Day Six and passed along through the centuries from Adam and Eve to us.

The term “heart” refers to our spirit, the breath of life that was created in us when we were made in our mothers’ wombs. The heart is where our thoughts reside.

In the introductory section to this chapter, the Hebrew word “nephesh” was introduced. The word describes our inner being, more commonly referred to as our “soul”. Nephesh is what sets human beings apart from the animal kingdom. It is closely related to free will. Mankind can choose whether to say yes or no to God’s directives. In the following chapter we learn that Adam and Eve said “no” to their Creator by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Chapter 9

Garden of Eden

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back

and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24

The Genesis account of Creation includes the making of the Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve lived. In this chapter a history of their lives is presented with special emphasis on where the Garden may have been located. The information is used to suggest a likely location and to use that information to determine the water content of the planetary ring at the time of the Flood.

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Angelic War

In the book of Psalms, David writes that angels exist to do God’s bidding, to obey his word:

Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Psalm 103:20

Satan and Michael were two leaders among the angels. In the book of Revelation it is learned that Satan and his army of angels rebelled, saying “no” to their Creator over some unspecified issue. According to the following verses, Satan and his army fought against Michael and his army. Ultimately Satan (referred to below as the dragon, the devil, and that ancient serpent) was defeated and “hurled to earth” along with his army of angels:

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole

world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Revelation 12:7-9

Satan and his army of angels were hurled to the earth sometime after Day Six because, as quoted in the preceding chapter, at the end of Day Six God deemed all that he had made “very good”:

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

Life in the Garden of Eden

By eating from the tree of life, an eternal fountain of youth, Adam and Eve were destined to live forever. Their bodies were continuously restored. Undoubtedly the planetary ring was also destined to exist forever, continuously replenished by the Creator or his angels in order to preserve for present and future garden residents what Rehwinkel described as a perfectly uniform, non-zonal, mild, and spring-like climate in every part of the globe.

Perhaps as a test of their free will, Adam and Eve were prohibited from doing only one thing . . . eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

You are free to eat from any tree in the Garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. Genesis 2:16-17

Most people who have an opinion concerning how much time elapsed between Day Six and the time Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit believe it to be a rather short period. However, Satan may not have been “hurled to the earth” until long after Day Six. If so, fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil may not have been eaten by anyone for quite some time.

The work of Ryan, Pitman and Hsu, cited earlier in Chapter 2, provides a clue as to how much time may have elapsed. The salt deposits that they found on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea were formed by repeated cycles of water application and evaporation, ultimately reaching a depth of 2 kilometers (6,500 feet). Each night waters from rivers like the Nile carried minerals that were deposited on the seafloor of the Mediterranean basin. If, for example, salt accumulated at the rate of one-tenth of an inch per day it would have required 2,000 years to reach 6,500 feet. A far lesser rate of accumulation would have required much more time.

Several passages found in the Bible seem to support the idea that Eve bore children prior to eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One passage has to do with the words God spoke to her after she ate from the tree. The verse reads as follows:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Genesis 3:16a

The verse prompts one to ask the question, “Increase her pain relative to what?” Did Eve bear children painlessly prior to eating of the forbidden fruit? The Bible gives three indications that the answer may very well be “yes”. One is given below. Two others are included in the section below entitled “Banishment”.

1. The first indication that Eve bore children before eating of the forbidden fruit has to do with the four rivers that flowed through the Garden of Eden:

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold . . . The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is Euphrates. Genesis 2:10-11, 13-14

The verses beg the question, “Were Havilah, Cush and Asshur sons born to Adam and Eve prior to her eating of the forbidden fruit? And were the “lands” of Havilah, Cush and Asshur inhabited by future generations of their children?” It may be of interest to note that the names Asshur and Cush were later given to two of Noah’s grandsons and the name Havilah was given to one of his great-grandsons.

The Fall

As cited earlier, Satan is referred to as “the ancient serpent . . . who leads the whole world astray”. According to the following verse he entered the body of a serpent, tempting Eve to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After she succumbed to Satan’s temptation, she invited Adam to join her. The account reads as follows:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’.” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:1-6

Adam and Eve knew better. They said “no” to Mission Control. Their actions were analogous to the oxygen tank exploding aboard Apollo 13. Before speaking to them about the consequences of their disobedience, God turned to Satan and said:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15

With these words God foretold that there would someday be a great struggle between Satan and a descendent of Eve. *

Banishment

After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, God declared:

“The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:22-24

Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, separated from the tree of life by an angel who was assigned to the task of preventing anyone from returning who has eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their bodies began to die. Because of their disobedience, God cursed the ground, causing weeds to grow. Also, the planetary ring ceased to be replenished so that water began to collect in the ocean basins of the world.

The couple was banished somewhere to the east of the Garden of Eden. The Fertile Crescent, known as the “cradle of civilization”, is shown as a shaded region on the map of Figure 19 below. Ancient history suggests that the current country of Syria, centrally-located within the crescent, is where civilization began. If Adam and Eve were banished to a land east of the Garden of Eden, logic suggests that the Garden was located somewhere to the west. Syria is located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, due east of the island of Cyprus (a tiny island in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, shown shaded in the figure). Because the ocean basins of the world would have been empty throughout the time Adam and Eve occupied the Garden of Eden, it has been suggested that the garden may have been located on the floor of the empty Mediterranean Sea basin, somewhere west of the Syrian coast.

Figure 19. Cradle of Civilization and the Cyprus Arc

The four rivers that flowed through the garden were said to have flowed from “Eden”. Rivers commonly flow from mountain highlands. For example, the waters of the Jordan River in Israel flow from Mount Hermon down to the Dead Sea. Perhaps Eden, the headwaters of the four rivers, was in fact the island of Cyprus. If so, the Garden of Eden would have been located east of Cyprus and west of Syria. The region is known as the Cyprus Arc, currently one mile below sea level.

Using underwater sonar scanning technology, writer and explorer Robert Sarmast in his book Discovery of Atlantis provides an interesting graphic of the location. In Figure 20 below, an arrow is shown pointing to “Atlantis” where Sarmast believes Plato’s lost island once existed. It is suggested that instead of Atlantis, the Garden of Eden was located here or somewhere nearby. The figure simulates a Mediterranean Sea one mile below its current level. It is suggested that, during the years leading up to the Flood, water from the planetary ring slowly filled the oceans of the world with 180 million cubic miles of water to the level shown in the figure. The planetary ring still retained 150 million cubic miles.

Figure 20. Sarmast’s Mediterranean Sea Basin

Although residents of the Garden who had not yet eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were likely free to travel to and from the mainland, Adam, Eve and others who had been banished would have been prevented from returning by the sword-wielding angel. Once the crafty serpent began to have his way inside the garden, it is likely that more and more of its residents were banished to the mainland. They and their children would have been prohibited from returning.

By the time Noah was born, the number of residents remaining in the garden had likely dwindled down to a precious few. At the time God sent the Flood, it is suggested that none were left. If so, an empty Garden of Eden may help to explain why God’s heart was filled with pain and why he was grieved that he had made mankind:

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them. Genesis 6:6-7

Continuing on with the second and third indications that Eve may have borne children prior to having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

2. After having eaten of the forbidden fruit and having been driven from the garden, Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel. Some years later, Cain murdered his brother Abel. Sentenced to an unproductive life of restless wandering, Cain exclaimed to God:

“Whoever finds me will kill me.” Genesis 4:14b

Cain’s response begs the question, “Who was around to kill him?” Was he referring to his yet-to-be-born younger brothers? Or was he more than likely referring to visitors from the garden or other of its former residents who had succumbed to the same temptation as did Adam and Eve?

3. Sometime before the Flood, visitors to the mainland who had not yet eaten from the forbidden fruit began to marry the daughters of those who had already been banished from the garden:

When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:1-3

The term “daughters of men” obviously refers to the daughters of those who were no longer allowed access to the tree of life. But who were the sons of God? It is suggested that they were residents of the garden who simply travelled beyond its borders for a visit to see their relatives. God was obviously displeased with their inter-marriages. Neither their wives nor their children would have been allowed to return.

Although not conclusive, these two biblically-based indications plus the one cited earlier suggest that Eve gave birth to children prior to giving birth to Cain. If so, the number of generations born to them prior to eating of the forbidden fruit may have been many and the time that elapsed may explain the depth of salt buildup on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea basin.

* That descendent was referred to by the Israelites as “Messiah”. Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah who crushed the head of Satan by paving the way for all mankind to splash down safely in eternity. However, in the process Messiah’s heel was bruised . . . he suffered crucifixion and death. After three days, however, God raised him from the dead and his victory was sealed.

Part II: NOAH’S FLOOD

Many scientists have reported finding evidences of a worldwide mass annihilation of animals. For example the late Dr. Frank C. Hibben, former

professor of archaeology at the University of New Mexico, wrote in his book The Lost Americans the following excerpts:

• “This was no ordinary extinction of a vague geological period which fizzled to anuncertain end. This death was catastrophic and all inclusive.”

• “It might at first appear that many of these great animals died naturaldeaths. However, where we can study these animals in some detail, such as in thegreat bone deposits of Nebraska, we find literally thousands of these remainstogether. The young lie with the old, foal with dam and calf with cow. Wholeherds of animals were apparently killed together, overcome by some commonpower.”

• “We have gained from the muck pits of the Yukon Valley a picture of quickextinction. The evidences of violence there are as obvious as in the horror campsof Germany. Such piles of bodies of animals or men simply do not occur by anynatural means.”

• “As the icy glaciations of Europe, Asia and America were apparentlysynchronous, and the animal populations also were similar, it is not strange todiscover that the end as well was universal. The mammoth herds of Siberiabecame extinct at about the same time as the European rhinoceros. The cave bearof Europe and the bison of Siberia met a common end. The American camels mettheir death apparently at about the same time as the Asiatic elephants. Anyargument as to the cause of so much death must apply not only in North Americabut in Europe and Siberia as well.”

• “Their death marked the end of an era. But how did they die? What caused theextinction of forty million animals? This mystery forms one of the oldestdetective stories in the world”.

Chapter 10

FROM ADAM TO NOAH

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until

you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. Genesis 3:17-19

Life changed drastically for Adam and Eve following their forced separation from the tree of life and their banishment from the garden. Their bodies began the process of aging. Ultimately they died. This chapter chronicles the family history of Noah. The genealogical data can be found in the fifth chapter of Genesis.

The presence of the planetary ring hovering over the heads of Noah’s ancestors may have been a contributing factor to their unusually long lives. Following the Flood the average lifespan of Noah’s descendants dropped from 912 to approximately 120 years. This chapter offers one possible explanation for the marked difference.

*****

The genealogy of this chapter traces the lineage of those male children through whom the promise given in the Garden was to be fulfilled, the promise that a descendent of Eve would someday crush the head of Satan. In general, the firstborn child of each generation inherited the right to carry on that promise. It is noted that according to the verses below one of Adam’s tasks while living in the garden was to give names to all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He may have been proficient in the use of a written language. Perhaps the firstborn child of each new generation was given the written testimonies of Adam and others.

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. Genesis 2:19-20a

Because Adam and Eve’s firstborn son Cain murdered his brother Abel, he lost the right to pass along to future generations Adam’s testimony concerning life in the garden and God’s promise to send someone who would crush the head of Satan. Their third son Seth who was born to them 130 years after leaving the garden was chosen instead. The first couple also had other sons and daughters. Adam lived long enough to witness the birth of eight future generations including the births of Noah’s grandfather Methuselah and his father Lamech. Counting from the day Adam ate of the forbidden fruit and began to die, he lived another 939 years.

At the age of 105, Seth and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Enosh. Seth died at the age of 912. Noah was born 14 years later.

At the age of 90, Enosh and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Kenan. Enosh died at the age of 905, 84 years after Noah was born.

At the age of 70, Kenan and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Mahalalel. Kenan died at the age of 910, 179 years after Noah was born.

At the age of 65, Mahalalel and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Jared. Mahalalel died at the age of 895, 234 years after Noah was born.

At the age of 162, Jared and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Enoch. Jared died at the age of 962, 366 years after Noah was born.

At the age of 65, Enoch and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Methuselah. The Bible says that Enoch “walked with God”. Like Moses and Elijah, it is thought that God took Enoch without ever having tasted death. Altogether Enoch lived 365 years.

At the age of 187, Methuselah and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Lamech. Methuselah died sometime during the year of the Flood at the age of 969 when Noah was 600 years of age. He and Lamech would have been the ones who made sure the stories of life in the Garden of Eden and beyond were aboard the Ark, information they received directly from their ancestor Adam and others.

At the age of 182, Lamech and his wife gave birth to their firstborn son Noah. Lamech lived long enough to assist Noah with the construction of the Ark. He died at the age of 777, 5 years before the Flood arrived. The Flood arrived when Noah was 600 years of age, 1,656 years after Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. As reported in the previous chapter, 180 million cubic miles of water entered the earth’s atmosphere, a daily rate of 300 cubic miles. Distributed across the entire planet, it represented a daily supply of 0.1 inches.

A Summary of Important Dates

One other set of genealogical data found in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, combined with the one above, reveal that Adam and Eve began to die 1,948 years before the birth of Abraham, the father of the Jewish race. Furthermore, according to both religious and secular scholars, Abraham lived approximately 4,000 years ago. Consequently, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit roughly 6,000 years ago, placing the date of the Flood 1,656 years later (or approximately 4,300 years ago).

As suggested in the previous chapter, the number of years Adam and Eve lived in the garden prior to eating of the forbidden fruit could have numbered in the thousands. Consequently, although Day One began an unknown number of years ago, a rough approximation is on the order of 10,000 years. It may be of interest to know that the light we see coming from the center of the Milky Way today began its journey 27,200 years ago, well before Day One dawned.

From Figure 6 of Chapter 2 it was learned that the universe was created some unknown hundreds of billions of years ago and that the Milky Way emerged from inside nested event horizons at the center of the universe 9.2 billion years ago. Also, from Figure 9 of Chapter 2 it was learned that at the command of the Creator the Sun and its planets began to move away from the center 8.1 million years ago.

Aging and the Planetary Ring

In this section it is suggested that the patriarchs led much longer lives due to a substantially thicker layer of ozone in the pre-Flood atmosphere than that which exists today. Ozone serves as a filter, preventing many of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching us. Ozone is formed in the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) as one photon of high energy sunlight strikes an oxygen molecule (O2), breaking it into two separate oxygen atoms. Whenever one of the oxygen atoms combines with another oxygen molecule, one molecule of ozone (O3) is formed.

Throughout the existence of the planetary ring, the earth’s upper atmosphere would have contained far more oxygen-containing water molecules than it does today due to the daily addition of 300 cubic miles of water vapor. Thus, the ozone layer would have been considerably thicker.

Excluding Enoch, the average age of the patriarchs at the time of their deaths was far more than today, 912 years. While it is generally accepted that ultraviolet light accelerates the aging process of the skin, is there any evidence that its effect on the human body is more than skin deep?

In his book Canopy of Ice, Arthur E. Brown recounts the story of the Dickerson family who lived with their six children in a rented house. The story first appeared in the July 29, 1960 issue of the Windsor Star newspaper. According to the article, the Dickersons told their landlord that they had only three children, not six. Their three youngest children were kept inside the house during daylight hours. Although the three children

were likely exposed to some reflected ultraviolet light from the Sun that entered the attic where they were being kept, they were protected from direct exposure for a period of 10 years.

Figure 20. Dickerson Children showing Glenda, 13, on the right

As shown in Figure 20 above, a picture of the Dickerson’s three younger children appeared in the article. Their ages at the time the article was written were 18, 15 and 13 years, so the effect of 10 years of shielding from direct sunlight should have appeared to be the most pronounced on Glenda, the youngest child. That appears to be the case. According to the article Glenda was only 38 inches tall at the time the picture was taken, having the height and physical appearance of a perfectly healthy 5 year old. If she aged normally during the first 3 years of her life, that would mean she aged an additional 2 years during her 10 years of confinement, only 20% of the normal rate.

If that same ratio, 20%, is applied to the ages of the patriarchs, their average age would be reduced from 912 to 182 years, more in line with the ages of future generations. For example ten generations after Noah Abraham lived to be 175 years of age.

It is also likely that the animals today age faster than they did during the time of Noah. Assuming that God directed only young animals to board the Ark, their size and rate of food consumption would have remained relatively constant during their one year of confinement.

Chapter 11

CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARK

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:8

Because he was a righteous man, God commissioned Noah to build an ark in which he and his family plus two of all living creatures were to survive:

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. Genesis 6:14–16

*****

Noah walked with God during the first five hundred years of his life. Sometime afterward God called on him to undertake a very special task. Noah was told to build an ark in which he would save himself, his family and all living creatures. He was to build it according to the above design specifications.

The Bible contains the story of another ark that was later used to help save God’s chosen people. The story is found in the second chapter of Exodus. It involves baby Moses and the basket in which he was floated among the reeds of the Nile River. The Hebrew word used for “basket”, tebah, is the same Hebrew word used in the verses above for the word “ark”. In this chapter the connection between the two arks is examined.

Overall Design

Noah’s Ark was designed for stability rather than speed. Its most important requirement was that it remained upright atop the floodwaters. A flat-bottomed barge meets that requirement better than any other watercraft design. The top view of the Ark was a rectangle 450 feet long and 75 feet wide.

As for its cross-section, the Ark resembled a steep-roofed A-frame house 45 feet high as shown in Figure 23 below. It was to have three main decks.

Figure 23. A Cross-section of Noah’s Ark

The first deck is where animals and other living creatures lived during their year of confinement aboard the Ark.

The second deck is where water was stored. The curious requirement that the roof was to be finished to within 18 inches of the top comes into focus when viewing Figure 23. At some point God must have explained to Noah that the earth was to be destroyed by a thick blanket of ice crystals and that the open roof design would allow the crystals to fall through the two-feet-wide opening, completely filling the second deck. Fresh water was to be supplied throughout the year by the melting ice crystals.

The third deck was devoted to food storage. God commanded Noah to store a variety of food for the animals:

You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and them. Genesis 6:21

Three additional floors above the third deck are shown in Figure 23. They served to segregate the different foods that were to be taken aboard the Ark, add structural support to the roof, and facilitate food storage and retrieval.

An estimated allocation of the Ark’s height of 45 feet is as follows:

• The first deck accommodated the living creatures. With an estimated overall height of 7 feet, its ceiling clearance may have been 6 feet with a one-foot-thick floor.

• The second deck is where ice crystals were stored. With an estimated overall height of 6 feet, a one-foot-thick floor would have allowed for 5 feet of ice crystal storage. Just over 160 thousand cubic feet of ice crystals filled the deck. When melted, they provided a daily water supply of approximately 3,000 gallons throughout the year.

• The third deck is where a variety of foods were stored on four levels, each having a 7½ feet ceiling clearance and a six-inch-thick floor. The volume of the Ark’s third deck was likely twice the volume of the second deck. This assumption is based on an animal’s ratio of water-to-dry-food consumption of 2 to 1 by weight and on a 4-to-1 density ratio of water-to-dry-silage.

It will later be shown that the blanket of ice crystals that fell in the vicinity of where the Ark landed could have filled the second deck more than ten times over. Perhaps the two-feet-wide opening was segmented along its 450-feet length, still allowing for a filling of the second deck. Below the covered segments, access from the first deck to the top floor of the third deck could have been provided via one or more enclosed stairways. Moreover, if later the stairway coverings were partially removed, daylight would have illuminated the stairwells and the first deck below.

Make Rooms in It

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the growth rate of Glenda Dickerson was stunted by the presence of the planetary ring. So too was the growth rate of the young animals aboard the Ark stunted during their year of confinement. They came to Noah in the same way that the frogs, gnats and locusts descended on the land of Egypt . . . they each received an incoming message from their Creator. The Bible says:

Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God commanded Noah. Genesis 7:9

While it is not known how many living creatures were involved, Dr. Marcus Ross in an article entitled “No Kind Left Behind” places the number at approximately 2,000. Dr Ross is an Associate Professor of Geology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia and Assistant Director of its Center for Creation Studies. In his estimate he includes two of every “kind” plus a few for the ceremonially clean animals needed for the burnt

offerings that Noah was to sacrifice. The study was conducted in support of Ark Encounter, a project sponsored by Answers in Genesis. With so many living creatures to care for during their year-long stay, it is reasonable to assume that God also directed them to enter in and occupy the rooms that Noah prepared for each one of them. The Hebrew word for “rooms”, used in the introductory verses to this chapter, is “qen”. The same Hebrew word is used again in Deuteronomy 22:6 to signify a “bird’s nest”. Also, in Numbers 24:1 it represents a “secure dwelling place”. In the context of the Ark, the rooms that Noah was to make were undoubtedly stalls for the animals and sanctuaries for the birds and living creatures that move along the ground.

God may have also inspired the living creatures to assist Noah and his family by commanding them to:

1. keep from looking at one another as prey.

2. go to sleep at a certain time and stay asleep until morning.

3. stay in their assigned stalls and sanctuaries without the need for restraints of any kind.

4. leave their assigned stalls and sanctuaries in pre-determined groups and go to an assigned place where they were to eat food and drink water from troughs that were continuously supplied by the melting ice crystals.

5. exercise in an orderly manner while outside their stalls and sanctuaries.

6. promptly return after eating, drinking and exercising.

7. temporarily vacate one set of rooms at a time and wait as it was cleaned by Noah, his sons and/or daughters-in-law.

8. return immediately afterwards.

Before discussing the layout of the rooms and how they were likely cleaned, it is necessary to understand the limitations placed on their design due to the type of material from which the Ark was made.

Gopher Wood

Noah’s Ark was the length and width of one-and-one-half football fields placed end-to-end. The Ark’s height was that of a five-story building. Born only ten generations after Adam and Eve, it is highly unlikely that Noah had at his disposal modern-day equipment such as a saw mill, forklift or hydraulic-powered crane to raise heavy wooden beams into place. How could Noah and his three sons have constructed such a huge structure? It is suggested that the question can be sidestepped by adopting a new paradigm concerning the wood from which Noah’s Ark was made.

According to the original Hebrew text the Ark was made of “gopher” wood. No one knows for sure what the Hebrew word means. It is the only occurrence of the word in the entire Hebrew Torah. Bible translators struggle to understand its meaning. Some cite the wood of cypress and other trees. The King James translation sidesteps the problem by simply citing “gopher wood”, letting its readers draw their own conclusions.

According to Exodus 2:3, the basket (tebah) in which baby Moses was placed was made from the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge grass found along the Nile Delta of Egypt. Shown in Figure 24 below, papyrus was used to make reed boats, mats, rope and baskets. If Noah lived somewhere near the Tigris River (as is later suggested), perhaps he was familiar with making items such as these.

Figure 24. Papyrus Plants used to make Reed Boats, Mats, Rope and Baskets

The term “gopher” wood may refer to an assortment of woods rather than one specific type. For example, what if Noah’s Ark (tebah) was made principally from the wood of plants, supplemented by wood from trees (logs) wherever high strength was required?

Woody shrubs are distinguished from trees by their multiple stems that grow no more than three inches in diameter and no taller than 13 feet. In the pre-Flood world, Noah would likely have had a wide choice of woody shrubs from which to choose. Some may have offered stiffness and strength while others flexibility and toughness. One example of a woody shrub is pictured in Figure 25 below.

Figure 25. One Example of Woody Shrubs

Greater resistance to the buckling of columns may have been achieved using logs no larger than that which two men could carry and place into position. If the ends of the logs were held in place by woody shrubs and woven into the fabric of a basket-like structure, then no fasteners would have been required. Of particular concern was the weight of the stored ice crystals on the second deck and the stored foods on the third deck. These loads were likely supported by log-reinforced posts on each deck that were firmly woven both top and bottom into the upper and lower deck panels. Spacing between posts may have been on the order of 6 feet, requiring a 12 by 75 pattern (or 900

posts in all) on the first deck. Fewer posts would have been required on successively higher levels because the sloped roof narrowed their widths.

Water pressure would have exerted crushing loads on the sidewalls of the Ark between the first and second decks. The Creator likely directed Noah to place posts around the perimeter like soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder.

Roof panels and end walls were undoubtedly made primarily from woody shrubs that were woven into thick panels capable of resisting high shear loads. To provide additional support, there may have been other intermediate panels similar in shape to the end walls of Figure 23 that were placed at intermediate positions along the length of the Ark and woven into the roof and deck panels. In all, the panels formed what engineers refer to as a “box structure”, one that offers great strength. The panels would have been woven on-site, starting at the bottom of the first deck and culminating at the top of the third deck

Stalls and Sanctuaries

As stated earlier, the width of the Ark was 75 feet, likely having an aisle down its center where the feeding and exercise of animals took place. If the maximum distance between posts was 6 feet, the aisle may have been 18 feet wide.

The door mentioned in the introductory verses to this chapter is shown as a dotted line in Figure 23. It is where the animals entered the Ark prior to the Flood and exited one year later. Once all the animals and Noah and his family had entered the Ark, the Bible says:

Then the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16

Although the placement of stalls and sanctuaries on the first-deck is unknown, one floor plan is suggested that may have greatly facilitated the cleaning of stalls. It involves 6-feet-wide suites placed side-by-side along both sides of the aisle for a total of 150 suites. Each suite extended 28 feet from the aisle to the outer wall of the Ark. It featured a single stall, 28 feet long and either 4 or 5 feet wide depending on the size of the young animal that was to occupy the stall. All stalls opened onto the center aisle. Each suite also featured cubbyholes placed along one side of the stall, each measuring either 1 or 2 feet deep depending on the width of the stall. The cubbyholes opened into the stall with widths that depended on the birds that were to occupy the upper-level cubbyholes and the creatures that move along the ground who were to occupy the lower ones.

If an average of 5 of the larger animals occupied each stall, up to 750 could be accommodated aboard the Ark. Other smaller animals could have been assigned places below the cubbyholes on the ground floor. Hundreds of birds and creatures that move along the ground could have occupied the cubbyholes above the smaller animals.

One advantage of the suite arrangement is that fecal matter from the cubbyholes could have been scraped onto the floor of the stall and swept toward the outer wall. Once the Flood subsided after the first day aboard the Ark (for reasons explained in the next

chapter), slots could have been cut in the outer wall of each suite through which fecal matter could have been discarded, falling to the ground.

The slots would have also served as a source of ventilation air throughout the year, air that could have been exhausted through the earlier-mentioned uncovered stairways that extended from the center aisle to the two-feet-wide opening at the top of the Ark.

To complete the cleaning process, if 3,000 gallons of water were available each day throughout the year, perhaps 1 or 2 gallons per day were used to clean the floor of each suite (representing a depletion of 5 to 10 percent of the total daily water supply.)

Coat it with Pitch Inside and Out

The Hebrew word for “pitch” is “kopher”. Moses used the same Hebrew word four other times in his writings; in Exodus 21:30, Exodus 30:12, Numbers 35:31 and Numbers 35:32. In each instance the word “kopher” clearly means “ransom”, a payment made to buy back the life of one who would otherwise die. Recall from Chapter 9 how deeply God was grieved that he had made mankind:

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them. Genesis 6:6-7

Notice that Noah and his family were not specifically excluded from those who were destined to die. Fortunately in Exodus 21:30, cited below, God provided an “out” for Noah and his family. The passage reads:

However, if payment (kopher) is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded. Exodus 21:30

So what was the ransom payment of “pitch” that God demanded for the life of Noah and all that were aboard the Ark? It wasn’t some form of petroleum-based product such as tar because coal and oil did not yet exist. They were formed later by the pressure of glacial ice crystals acting on organic materials such as trees and animals that were covered over during the Flood. Some have suggested that the pitch Noah used was from the sap of trees. However, given the size of the Ark and the rate at which sap flows from trees, the suggestion appears to be implausible.

The one material that would have been available to Noah in great abundance is clay. Clay has been used as a binder throughout history. Perhaps the main reason why clay has not been suggested as the pitch of Noah’s Ark is that, until now, the Ark’s journey has always been assumed to be atop liquid water for an extended period of time when, in fact as will be shown, it floated atop liquid water for only a matter of hours.

God’s command to Noah to coat the Ark with pitch inside and out is unusual in that few people seal a boat from the inside, especially if it is to be used for only a matter of hours. One interpretation of the “inside and out” command is that the structure was to be coated from the inside through-and-through to the outside. Such an interpretation only makes sense in light of an Ark that was made using the stems of woody shrubs.

So why did God command Noah to infuse the Ark’s structure with clay? Earlier in Chapter 3 Job was introduced as a man who suffered a devastating loss of family and fortune, a man who endured unrelenting pain and bodily discomfort. During his suffering, Job cried out to God:

Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Job 10: 8-9

Job’s reference to his body being molded like clay may shed light on why God accepted the pitch of the Ark as a ransom for the lives of Noah and his family. In a sense, God was asking Noah to construct the Ark as a living sacrifice, a ransom payment for his life and the lives of his family.

Chapter 12

OPENING OF THE FLOODGATES

The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Genesis 7:20

All living creatures except for those aboard the Ark were destroyed as the planetary ring collapsed, causing a worldwide Flood in which the earth was covered with a thick blanket of ice crystals. In this chapter a detailed analysis of its collapse is presented along with a prediction of the depth of the blanket across the face of the earth.

*****

The Bible describes the onset of the Flood as follows:

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. Genesis 7:11

Two phrases appear in the above passage that require further explanation; namely, “springs of the great deep” and “floodgates of the heavens”. This chapter also provides an understanding of why the waters that fell from high above the earth’s surface arrived in the form of ice crystals.

Springs of the Great Deep

The term “springs of the great deep” is a reference to streams of whirling snowballs as they passed through the central axis of the planetary ring. A computer-drawn version of Ezekiel’s whirling wheels was presented earlier in Figure 14 showing highlighted wheels of progressively smaller and smaller diameter. The wheels were shown to “intersect” one another along a central axis. In the photograph of Figure 26 below, a spiral staircase is shown having steps that project outward from a central pole. The figure is presented to help readers visualize what the intersecting streams of snowballs once looked like. It is suggested that the central pole is analogous to the central axis of the planetary ring and that each step of the staircase is analogous to a stream of snowballs flowing outward from the axis.

Figure 26. Springs of the Great Deep Analogy

The Trigger

In Chapter 4, Figure 16 was presented as a means of helping readers visualize how the whirling wheels of the planetary ring were wrapped around the central axis. Figure 27 below is identical to Figure 16 except for the fact that two whirling wheels, wrapped one-half revolution apart, are shown with arrowheads that depict the direction of their moving snowballs. The figure shows the snowballs moving in opposite directions, toward one another. If the path of the whirling wheels were to suddenly become disrupted, it would be possible for snowballs to collide head-on.

Figure 27. Snowballs in Adjacent Wheels Move in Opposite Directions

For simplicity, the whirling wheels of the planetary ring of Figure 27 are shown wrapped around the central axis only two revolutions. Earlier when discussing Figure 16 it was noted that the exact number of revolutions cannot be specified. If, for example, twenty revolutions were used to construct Figure 27 instead of two, its two whirling wheels would lie ten times closer to one another. It is likely that the Creator selected a greater number of revolutions, thereby causing more snowballs to collide head-on with one another as the springs of the great deep burst forth.

So what caused the path of the whirling wheels to suddenly become disrupted? One possible answer is that God purposely caused an asteroid to strike the planetary ring. In

Figure 28 below an exaggerated-size asteroid is shown striking the ring. Snowballs in one or more of the outermost whirling wheels would have become disrupted, causing them to no longer mesh with other whirling wheels at the top of the springs of the great deep. Collisions with other snowballs would have begun to occur.

Figure 28. A colliding Asteroid . . . One Possible Means of Destruction

Floodgates of the Heavens were Opened

The snowballs in Ezekiel’s whirling wheels orbited the earth at very high rates of speed, ranging from 10,070 miles per hour for the uppermost wheel to 17,150 miles per hour for the lowermost wheel. They remained in orbit because their weight was counter-balanced by centrifugal force. The floodgates of the heavens were thus an invisible speed-dependent force that continuously acted on each snowball to keep it in suspension. The floodgates were opened when snowballs suddenly began to collide with one another, losing their high rates of speed.

As the snowballs in Ezekiel’s whirling wheels collided, their speed-related energy was transformed into heat-related energy. They suddenly became a multitude of hot water vapor molecules. Based on the work of two 19th century scientists, Maxwell and

Boltzmann, the average speed at which the water vapor molecules burst forth along the springs of the great deep can be calculated. For the uppermost snowballs that had been orbiting the earth at a speed of 10,070 miles per hour, the average speed at which their newly-transformed water vapor molecules burst forth in starburst fashion was 5,800 miles per hour. For the lowermost snowballs travelling at a speed of 17,150 miles per hour, their molecules burst forth at an average speed of 9,900 miles per hour.

An interesting phenomenon occurred within moments of a water vapor molecule leaving a starburst. It has to do with the rate at which the water vapor molecule would have cooled, becoming a water ice molecule. (It is noted that because liquid water cannot exist in the vacuum of outer space, a water vapor molecule would have become a water ice molecule without ever passing through the liquid state.) The molecule’s rate of cooling has to do with its surface area and internal volume. Surface area increases with the square of a body’s diameter and internal volume increases with its cube. Because a water molecule is so unimaginably small, its ratio of surface area to volume is enormously large. Thus, an individual water molecule loses and gains heat very rapidly. A breakaway water vapor molecule would have first cooled to become a water ice molecule. It would then have formed a chemical bond with other water ice molecules to become an ice crystal. Finally, the ice crystal would have cooled, reaching its steady-state temperature in a matter of seconds.

Bursting Forth

In Figure 29 on the next page, two starburst positions are shown along the springs of the great deep in the northern hemisphere. Although the starbursts are three-dimensional in nature, only those water vapor molecules that lie in a two-dimensional plane are shown. Each starburst is represented by 36 equally-spaced hot water vapor molecules emanating from a single point. Those moving upward along the central axis are referred to as 12:00 o’clock molecules, those moving horizontally as 3:00 o’clock and 9:00 o’clock molecules, and those moving downward as 6:00 o’clock molecules. The two starbursts are positioned so as to demonstrate interference between their molecules. Statistically, the momentum of the downward-moving 6:00 o’clock molecules of the upper starburst is cancelled out by the momentum of the upward-moving 12:00 o’clock molecules of the lower starburst. In this particular case, the resulting horizontal momentum is also zero. For the 3:00 o’clock and 9:00 o’clock molecules of each starburst there is no interference and thus no loss of horizontal momentum. However, for the other 32 intermediate positions, vertical momentum is lost and horizontal momentum is reduced.

Figure 29. Starbursts at the Springs of the Great Deep

Once the outermost whirling wheels of the planetary ring became disrupted, their hot water vapor molecules interfered with other whirling wheels. A chain reaction began at the top of the springs of the great deep. Disruptions eventually worked their way down along its central axis until the entire planetary ring was destroyed. Overall, the energy released was equivalent to the explosion of more than 200 trillion Nagasaki-style atomic bombs, 100 trillion bombs in each hemisphere. The event gives new meaning to what Moses described as “bursting forth” of the springs of the great deep.

Even though a single ice crystal is very small, its trajectory in the absolute vacuum of outer space can be calculated if its starting conditions are known. In Figure 30 below, 38 ice crystal trajectories are shown falling toward an earth-sized, three-dimensional sphere. Displayed along a two-dimensional plane, the blue-line trajectories all begin at a starburst altitude of 8,250 miles above the sphere.

Figure 30. Ice Crystal trajectories in a 2-D plane, falling onto an Earth-sized Sphere

The 3:00 o’clock and 9:00 o’clock trajectories all reach just beyond the equator of the sphere. This result did not happen by accident. It demonstrates the manner in which the altitude of the uppermost whirling wheel at the time of the Flood was determined. Higher starting altitudes were found to reach too far across the equator and lower altitudes failed to reach the equator at all. In this way, a starting altitude of 8,250 miles was selected, one that insured the ice crystals “covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” (0.004 miles) along the equator.

The other 34 trajectories of Figure 30 all emanated from the same starting altitude of 8,250 miles. They all had initial velocities that were less than 5,800 miles per hour because of their interaction with adjacent starbursts. Each of the 34 trajectories intersected the sphere somewhere above the equator (at latitude greater than zero degrees).

Ice Crystal Depth Distribution

In the same way that the ice crystal trajectories of Figure 30 were calculated, over 2,000 other combinations of starting altitude and starburst angle were introduced in order to determine the distribution of 150 million cubic miles of ice crystals across the surface of the earth-sized sphere. The results are shown in Figure 31 below. At the central axis, ice crystal depth is shown to soar well above 10 miles. At the equator it remains slightly above 0.004 miles (20 feet).

Figure 31. Ice Crystal Depth on the Surface of a Sphere

A qualitative assessment of Figure 31 can be made by comparing it to evidence that still exists today concerning where ice sheet penetration is known to have occurred and where icecaps still remain. The discussion begins relative to the earth’s northern hemisphere.

Comparison to known Ice Sheet Penetration

A view looking down at the earth’s northern hemisphere is shown in Figure 32 below. The map, prepared by Hannes Grobe and published by Wikipedia is based on an article by John Schlee that appeared in a United States Geological Survey entitled “Our Changing Continent”. The North Pole’s location inside the Arctic Ocean basin is noted. The light blue region denotes areas where evidence suggests ice sheet penetration once occurred. It would appear as if the region is biased toward the North American continent, centered on 80ºN, 60ºW where the now-abandoned settlement of Etah, Greenland lies. Greenland boasts of having the second-largest ice sheet in the world. It covers 80% of the island’s surface and averages 1.2 miles in thickness, with 1.9 miles at its thickest point.

Figure 32. Ice Sheet Penetration in the Northern Hemisphere

One would expect the ice sheet to be centered about the North Pole if the earth had been rotating below the falling ice crystals. But because the distribution is centered about Etah, it would appear as if the ice crystals all fell within a very short period of time. It is

suggested that as ice crystals fell at a high rate of speed from high above the earth, so too was the chain reaction along the springs of the deep moving downward at a high rate of speed. They all arrived at nearly the same time, resulting in a massive ice crystal dump across the entire surface of the earth.

But wait . . . the onslaught could not have occurred so quickly because, according to the Bible, the waters kept coming over a period of 40 days:

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. Genesis 7:17

Known as Rayleigh-Taylor flow, the ocean-sized blanket of ice crystals completely overpowered the earth’s atmosphere, forcing their way through it quickly and with little resistance. Once the heavy onslaught subsided, it would have required another 80 days for stragglers falling from the stratosphere to reach the earth’s surface below if no moisture in the atmosphere was present. However, below an altitude of 20 miles atmospheric pressure is sufficient to allow for moisture to be present. So it seems reasonable to believe that the total length of time required for the slowest of the stragglers to complete their journey in the form of rain was 40 days.

Because the center of the ice dump was 10 degrees away from the North Pole, a titled earth must be taken into account when discussing the depth of ice crystals that fell onto the surface of the earth. Figure 33 below depicts such a scenario. The central axis is shown intersecting the earth at a tilt angle of 10 degrees, presumable piercing it at Etah, Greenland.

Figure 33. Ice Crystals Falling onto a Tilted Earth

To determine the depth of ice crystals that fell anywhere on the surface of the earth, one must first determine the number of degrees of arc that separate the location from either 80ºN, 60ºW in the northern hemisphere or 80ºS, 120ºE in the southern hemisphere, whichever is least. Figure 31 may then be entered along the axis labeled “degrees of arc along the surface of the sphere” to find the depth of ice crystals at the desired location.

The average depth of ice crystals that blanketed the earth averaged 0.71miles. Once the ice crystals melted, they raised the level of the world’s oceans by one mile.

Southern Hemisphere

In the southern hemisphere the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans completely surround the continent of Antarctica. The only land mass on which ice sheet penetration could have occurred is the continent itself where the world’s largest ice sheet remains to this day. The continent accounts for 90% of the world’s ice, representing 70% of its freshwater supply.

At its thickest point, 3 miles of ice lies atop the surface of Antarctica. According to the map of Figure 33 below, the point of thickest ice lies only 10 degrees north of the location at which the central axis pierced the continent (80ºS, 120ºE).

Figure 34

Thermodynamics of a falling Ice Crystal

Figure 35 below presents the same information as was presented earlier in Figure 30 in which the trajectories of ice crystals falling onto an earth-sized sphere were shown. The only difference between the two figures is that the information of Figure 30 was shown pictorially whereas that of Figure 35 is presented in graphical format. The vertical axis of Figure 35 shows the altitude of the falling ice crystals above the surface of the earth-sized sphere and the horizontal axis shows their latitude, expressed as degrees of arc above the equator. Starburst angles range from 90 degrees (the 3:00 o’clock position) to 0 degrees (the 12:00 o’clock position) in 10 degree increments. In order to show the details of an ice crystal’s trajectory as it nears the surface of the earth, its altitude is plotted on a logarithmic scale.

Figure 35. Ice Crystal Descent from the Uppermost Elevation

The ice crystals of Figures 30 and 35 began their descent at temperatures that are similar to those of the snowballs in Saturn’s planetary ring, ranging from minus-297 to minus-360 degrees Fahrenheit (as presented earlier in Chapter 3). Throughout their descent, radiation cooling (to the universe-encompassing event horizon) would have maintained these low temperatures. At an altitude of approximately 100 miles above the earth’s surface, the ice crystals would have begun to acquire heat due to friction with air molecules in the earth’s stratosphere. The influence of the earth’s atmosphere can be seen in Figure 35 as the trajectories slowly turn straight downwards. In Chapter 14

physical evidence is presented which shows that the average temperature of the ice crystals upon reaching the ground was no warmer than minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chapter 13

ARARAT AND BEYOND

and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:4

It took 6 months and 17 days for the ice crystals to melt completely away from beneath the Ark before it finally settled down somewhere on the mountains of Ararat. But how did the Ark get there? Where did the journey begin? This chapter provides answers to these and other questions concerning Noah’s year aboard the Ark.

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On December 26, 2004 more than 250,000 people lost their lives due to a tsunami wave that raced across the Indian Ocean at 300 miles per hour, affecting 18 countries and leaving 1.7 million people homeless. One eye witness to the wave in Sri Lanka wrote, “It wasn’t a typical wave that curled over as it approached the shore. It was more like a wall, like a cliff face coming straight for the beach. When it arrived, everything went dark.”

Construction Site

In the 600th year of Noah’s life a much larger tsunami wave originated near the earth’s South Pole, passing unobstructed as it raced northward through the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The wave was generated by 75 million cubic miles of ice crystals that suddenly fell onto the continent of Antarcticaand its surrounding oceans. It carried the Ark to the mountains of Ararat, shown as a plus sign (+) on the map of Figure 36 below.

Figure 36. Mount Ararat (+) with a Suggested Construction Site (O) to the South

The wave moved northward from Antarctica, across the Indian Ocean, through the Arabian Sea and onto the ice-crystal-covered Arabian Peninsula, reaching the southern edges of the Zagros and Taurus Mountain Ranges more than one quarter of the circumference of the earth away, a distance of more than 8,000 miles. If the wave traveled at the same speed as the 2004 wave, 300 miles per hour, it would have required one full day to arrive at the mountains of Ararat, well after most of the ice crystals had already settled onto the surface of the earth.

The mountains of Ararat lie roughly 55 degrees of arc away from Etah. By entering the horizontal axis of Figure 31 at 55 degrees, the resulting ice crystal depth is found to be roughly one-half mile (or 2,600 feet).

If the tsunami wave was moving northward, the Ark likely began its journey somewhere to the south of the mountains of Ararat. It is suggested that the Ark was constructed atop a peak of the Zagros Mountains somewhere near the border between Iraq and Iran. Without being told by the Creator where to build the Ark, Noah would have had no way of knowing where to begin. It had to be a site where, instead of being buried by falling ice crystals, the Ark’s steeply-sloped roof would send ice crystals cascading down

a mountainside. The site also had to be where, once the tsunami wave arrived, the barge-like craft would be gently lifted by a swell, transporting it to the mountains of Ararat.

As one example of where the Ark may have been constructed, the white circle of Figure 36 lies approximately 200 miles to the south of Mount Ararat and due east of Syria where Adam and Eve were exiled following their banishment from the garden. The location also lies near Nineveh, a city later built by Noah’s great-great grandson Nimrod. Following the Flood, perhaps Noah and his family returned to where they had once lived.

One side benefit to the Ark’s mountaintop building site is that it offered some degree of protection from the lawlessness that surrounded Noah and his family prior to the Flood. Similar to the fortified castles that rise above the riverbanks of Europe today, the Ark may have appeared to on-lookers as a large, windowless dwelling.

The Journey

One can only speculate what went through the minds of Noah and his family as the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. As the descent of 2,600 feet of ice crystals filled the second deck of the Ark, it strained under the newly-arrived load. The next day the tsunami wave arrived, propelling the Ark northward as a gentle swell lifted it from its moorings. It would have been impossible for Noah and his family to imagine what was taking place outside because nothing like it had ever happened before.

Several hours passed as the Ark floated atop the rapidly-moving tsunami wave. Approaching the mountains of Ararat it began to slow, eventually coming to a halt. As the water receded, the Ark gently settled down atop a horizontal plane of newly-fallen ice crystals, all orchestrated in advance by the Creator. Normally it would have required 50 years or more for the ice crystals to melt completely away. However, God sent a wind to significantly speed the drying process:

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Genesis 8:1

Intermediate Stages of Ice Crystal Melting

Before the ground was completely dry, there were intermediate stages of ice crystal melting. For example, the following passage indicates that exactly 5 months (150 days) elapsed before the ice crystals that were directly below the Ark melted completely away:

The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:3-4

Noah and his family remained aboard the Ark as the ice crystals on nearby mountains continued to melt. According to the following passage, mountaintops became visible after another 2½ months had passed:

The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. Genesis 8:5

Another 3 months passed before the ice crystals on nearby mountains were completely melted:

By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundredth and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Genesis 8:13

Noah must have been a truly patient man. He remained aboard the Ark for nearly another 2 months as greenery began to grow outside for the animals that would soon exit the Ark in search of food. Finally, after living inside the Ark for 1 year and 10 days, God gave Noah the green light to come out:

By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. Then God said, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.” Genesis 8:14-15

Life beyond the Flood

After leaving the Ark and moving down the mountains of Ararat, Genesis 9:20 reports that Noah, a man of the soil, planted a vineyard. He obviously planned to put down his roots there. It was mentioned earlier that Nimrod, one of Noah’s great-great grandsons, later built the city of Nineveh near the Tigris River. Perhaps Noah planted his vineyard somewhere near the city that his descendent would someday build.

While aboard the Ark, Noah and his son Shem carried with them the promise given to Eve in the garden that one of her descendents would someday crush the head of Satan, bruising his own heel in the encounter. Following the Flood, that promise passed from Shem’s firstborn son Axphaxad, later to Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah and finally to Abram . . . ten generations of firstborn male children as recorded in the eleventh chapter of Genesis. Over time the families moved eastward along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Terah and his sons Abram, Nahor and Haran were all born in Ur of the Chaldeans, an ancient city on or near the Persian Gulf.

Following the untimely death of his son Haran, Terah decided to move his family to Canaan. However upon reaching the city of Haran, Terah’s plans suddenly changed. He and his family remained in Haran for some time before God later called Abram to go to Canaan. Although the Bible does not say what route Terah and his family took, the map of Figure 37 below shows two possibilities. The northern route passes through

Nineveh. It is suggested that Terah may have taken the northern route in order to visit Noah and the site where the Ark was built.

Figure 37. A Possible Meeting in Nineveh between Abraham and Noah

Noah lived for another 350 years following the Flood. He died at the age of 950 (Genesis 9:28-29). If Abram visited Nineveh sometime before he was 58 years old, he could have met with Noah, a meeting that would have had a profound influence on the man whose name God later changed to Abraham. Noah would have undoubtedly told Abraham about how his father Lamech and his grandfather Methuselah both heard from the mouth of Adam all the events that took place in the Garden of Eden and how his life with Eve had changed after eating of the forbidden fruit.

Chapter 14

WORLDWIDE DEATH

Every living thing that moved on the earth perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the

breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the

ark. Genesis 7:21-23

The introductory page to Part II of this book contains highlights from The Lost Americans by the late Dr. Frank C. Hibben. The highlights give support to the above verses from Genesis that attest to the worldwide death of all animal life on the planet. In this chapter supporting evidence for each of Dr. Hibben’s highlighted entries is presented, much of which has been derived from Dr. Rehwinkel’s earlier-cited book The Flood. The chapter ends with a discussion of one particular animal, the Beresovka Mammoth, whose remains were preserved in the frozen tundra of northern Siberia near the Arctic Circle from the time of the Flood until their discovery in 1900.

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Catastrophic and All Inclusive

Dr. Hibben writes: “This was no ordinary extinction of a vague geological period which fizzled to an uncertain end. This death was catastrophic and all inclusive.” He is referring to a period in the history of the earth during which time scientists erroneously believe that animals died in great numbers due to multiple ice ages. They claim the period began roughly 2 million years ago and fizzled to an uncertain end roughly 10 thousand years ago. This book stands in direct opposition to the idea of multiple ice ages, claiming instead there was only one ice age that began roughly 4,300 years ago when the planetary ring collapsed. The reason for such a vast disparity in ice age dating has been explained in great detail in Chapter 5. The chapter shows why the Carbon-14 dating procedure cannot be applied to the dating of any specimen that died prior to the Flood.

Thousands of Remains Together

Dr. Hibben goes on to write: “It might at first appear that many of these great animals died natural deaths. However, where we can study these animals in some detail, such as in the great bone deposits of Nebraska, we find literally thousands of these remains together. The young lie with the old, foal with dam and calf with cow. Whole herds of animals were apparently killed together, overcome by some common power.”

Animals have been known to sense danger well before it becomes evident to humans. For example, in Sri Lanka elephants were reportedly seen fleeing inland toward higher ground before the tsunami wave of 2004 became evident to those on shore. Also, a man whose dog had always been eager to walk with him along the Sri Lankan beaches each morning refused to leave home that day. Some attribute such behavior to an animal’s ability to sense humanly-imperceptible ground vibrations or sounds. Perhaps prior to the Flood animals across the face of the globe sensed visual changes in the planetary ring and instinctively sought protection in caves and on higher ground where many of their bones remain to this day.

In his book Dr. Rehwinkel offers several examples of animals that sought safety in great numbers before meeting their death on high ground. In one case the remains of bears, wolves, horses and oxen were found in a common grave on an isolated hill 1,030 feet above the surrounding plain in the valley of the Soane in France. In another case nearly the same mix of animal remains was found in crevices at altitudes as high as 1,100 feet on the Rock of Gibraltar in southern Spain. In a third case on the island of Cerigo off the coast of Greece a hill known as the” mountain of bones” is covered with a variety of animal bones. They all perished as ice crystals, one quarter-mile deep in the region, suddenly descended upon them

Dr Rehwinkel also offers several examples of animals that were grouped together before meeting their death in caverns and caves. In one case twenty tons of hippopotamus bones along with bones of the deer, the ox and the elephant were discovered in a cavern near Palermo, Italy on the Island of Sicily. In another case the bones of at least one hundred bears were discovered in a cave near Odessa along with the bones of cats, hyenas, horses, boars, mammoth, rhinoceros, wild oxen and deer along with the remains of insectivores and rodents such as hares, otters, martens, wolves and foxes.

Dr. Rehwinkel concludes his discussion with the following:

“It does not require an overactive imagination to reconstruct a picture of the scenes which were enacted on those hills and hundreds of thousands of other hills like them in every part of the earth. One can see the terrified and panic-stricken beasts stampeding to higher grounds before the onrushing Flood. The lion took no heed of the lamb, nor the wolf or the hare; all were bent on saving their own lives.”

Quick Extinction

Dr Hibben also writes: “We have gained from the muck pits of the Yukon Valley a picture of quick extinction. The evidences of violence there are as obvious as in the horror camps of Germany. Such piles of bodies of animals or men simply do not occur by any natural means.” Death came suddenly as the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

The results of Chapter 12 seem to support the idea of quick extinction. In particular, Figure 32 suggests that a near-simultaneous ice crystal dump occurred. Otherwise the distribution of ice sheet penetration would have shown evidence of earth rotation.

Synchronous Death

Dr. Hibben continues: “As the icy glaciations of Europe, Asia and America were apparently synchronous, and the animal populations also were similar, it is not strange to discover that the end as well was universal. The mammoth herds of Siberia became extinct at about the same time as the European rhinoceros. The cave bear of Europe and the bison of Siberia met a common end. The American camels met their death apparently at about the same time as the Asiatic elephants. Any argument as to the cause of so much death must apply not only in North America but in Europe and Siberia as well.”

Recall from the lead-in verse to Chapter 12 that “the waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet” and that the altitude of the highest whirling wheel was sized to meet that requirement. No animal on the surface of the earth escaped the suffocating blanket of ice crystals no matter how tall the mountain on which it sought refuge.

One of the Oldest Detective Stories in the World

And finally, Dr. Hibben concludes: “Their death marked the end of an era. But how did they die? What caused the extinction of forty million animals? This mystery forms one of the oldest detective stories in the world”. It is noted that nowhere in his book does Dr. Hibben suggest that the biblical Flood may have produced the worldwide extinction of animals to which he refers. However, for those who accept the biblical account and subscribe to the Flood model of this book, the mystery is solved.

Death of the Beresovka Mammoth

The January 16, 1960 edition of The Saturday Evening Post contained an article written by Ivan T. Sanderson entitled “Riddle of the Frozen Giants”. In it the author focused his attention on the Beresovka Mammoth whose corpse was found encapsulated in the frozen tundra of northern Siberia. The discovery was made around the turn of the century. A scientific expedition was sent by the National Academy of Sciences from St. Petersburg, Russia. The corpse of the mammoth was carefully removed and transported to the

Zoological Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. A glass-encased full-scale model of the mammoth was constructed and put on permanent display (see Figures 38 and 39 below).

Figure 38. A Model of the Beresovka Mammoth as found in Northern Siberia

In his article Sanderson addressed many of the riddles posed by the scientists’ findings. However, the one riddle on which he focused most of his attention is the question concerning how an animal the size of an elephant could have become frozen so quickly. Its flesh was found to be grocery-store fresh and the flowering buttercups, tender sedges and grasses found in its teeth and stomach were found preserved and readily identifiable.

People in the frozen-foods industry were consulted. They were professionals who had experience with freezing sides of beef and other food products. Sanderson was told the most important requirement is that the animal must be fast-frozen in order to preserve the quality of its meat. Furthermore, they estimated that the fast-freezing of a live animal the size of an elephant would require a sudden drop in the temperature of the surrounding air down to a point “well below minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit”. Thus, the descending ice crystal temperature increased from minus-297 degrees Fahrenheit or lower while in outer space (as presented in Chapter 3) to well below minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit as they reached the earth’s surface. In Chapter 12 it was stated that physical evidence is presented in this chapter which shows that the average temperature of the ice crystals upon reaching the ground was no warmer than minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit. The Sanderson finding of well below minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit fulfills that promise.

Concerning the requirement of fast-freezing, an analysis was made to determine the length of time required to engulf the Beresovka Mammoth in ice crystals. From what was presented in Chapter 12, it is estimated that at the time of the Flood a blanket of ice crystals covered this location to a depth of nearly one mile. The mammoth would have found itself buried in a matter of seconds.

Another piece of evidence that death came quickly is supplied by Rehwinkel who noted that before animals die they generally lay down on their side. Oddly, the Beresovka Mammoth was found upright as shown in Figure 38. The findings suggest that one moment the animal was peacefully grazing in an open field of spring-like flowers when suddenly very cold ice descended from above, crushing its bones and cutting off its air supply.

According to Sanderson, the National Academy of Scientists concluded that the animal did not drown. Instead, it seems reasonable to assume that death came by suffocation. Rehwinkel reports that the male animal was found with an erect penis, thought to be proof positive of death by suffocation. In the photograph of Figure 39 below its flattened penis is visible in the foreground.

Figure 39. A Front View of the Beresovka Mammoth

A heavy load rested atop the Beresovka Mammoth’s body at the time of its death and beyond. The fact that the animal’s penis was found flattened is one piece of evidence. Another is that the mammoth was found with its right front leg broken at multiple positions along its length, suggesting that it was encased while being crushed under a heavy load (as opposed to being free to buckle and snap). Between the surrounding muscles and tissues a large outpouring of blood was found, suggesting that the mammoth was still alive when the breaks occurred and that its blood pressure may have been highly elevated at the time. Still another piece of evidence that the animal struggled beneath a heavy load is that its pelvis was found broken in two places.

One last thought . . . some readers may be wondering how readily identifiable spring-like flowers could have survived for any length of time in the stomach of the deceased mammoth. Similar to that of an elephant, the stomach of the Beresovka Mammoth did nothing to aid in the digestion of the food it ate because its stomach is essentially a big bag located close to the bottom of its midsection. Digestion would have occurred downstream of the stomach. Thus, because the animal died suddenly there would have been no mechanism acting to move the stomach’s 30 pounds of plant material into its digestive tract. The flowering buttercups, tender sedges and grasses sat idle in the big bag until freezing began to set in.

Chapter 15

MELT-WATER RUNOFF

But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as waters wear away stones and torrents wash

away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope. Job 14:18-19

In the above passage Job likens the setbacks he was experiencing to the damaging effects of erosion. This chapter highlights several examples of how erosion changed the earth’s surface following the Flood as the ice crystals melted away from the heat of direct sunlight. As the glaciers retreated, they formed massive lakes in the earth’s newly-formed depressions. The eroding soil of mountain ranges helped to form vast plains. And melt-water runoff from mountain watersheds eroded massive canyons.

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Canyon Formation

A globe is a convenient tool that can be used to envision the various paths that the tsunami wave may have taken in other parts of the world. For example, a nearly straight-line path through the Pacific Ocean leads from the South Pole, across the ice-crystal-covered southwest tip of the United States, across California and into Nevada where the Grand Canyon is located.

According to Davis A. Young and Ralph F. Stearly in their book The Bible, Rocks and Time, the canyon exposes a pile of stratified sedimentary rock more than three miles thick. One Flood advocate Larry Vardiman writes, “It appears that a slurry of mud and sand was formed in the oceans . . . which was deposited onto the continents and ocean floors to form the sedimentary rock layers.” It is suggested that the northerly-flowing tsunami wave laid down the slurry.

The canyon itself was carved out of the sedimentary rock soon afterwards by the Colorado River, a primary tributary of the American Southwest. A photograph of the canyon is shown in Figure 40 on the next page.

Figure 40. A view of the Grand Canyon

The Colorado River drains approximately 242,000 square miles of land from the states of Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California as shown in the map of Figure 41 below. It normally flows at the rate of 85,000 cubic feet of water per second through the Grand Canyon. Peak flow rates reach 250,000.

Figure 41. A Map of the Colorado River Watershed

At the time of the Flood, 3,750 feet of ice crystals were deposited onto this general location. At a melt rate of 40 feet per year, water would have flowed from the land area that the river drains at a rate of 8.5 million cubic feet per second, 100 times more than the normal flow rate, for a period of nearly 100 years.

Another Explanation

In another portion of their book, Young and Stearly report on a finding that a shallow ocean once covered many of the landmasses of the world, thought by some to be due to the melting of polar icecaps prior to the last ice age. According to the hypothesis of this book, that explanation cannot be true because the oceans of the world were one mile below their current levels prior to the only Flood-induced ice age that ever occurred. A more plausible explanation is that because the world’s oceans were suddenly filled with 150 million cubic miles of ice crystals, they sloshed around for a very long period of time, especially while tsunami waves in both the northern and southern hemispheres were still active due to breakaway glaciers. It doesn’t require a stretch of the imagination to accept the idea that the boisterous waters washed up onto the lower regions of today’s continents.

It is estimated that immediately following the Flood, ice crystal depth on the northern border of the United States at International Falls, Minnesota would have been one mile (5,280 feet). The estimate is based on the information presented earlier in Figure 31. Furthermore, it is estimated that at this location the heat of direct sunlight would have melted the ice crystals an average rate of 35 feet per year, extending over a period of 150 years. In contrast, at the southern tip of the Florida Keys the depth of ice crystals would have been over one-half mile (2,900 feet). It is estimated that they would have melted at the higher rate of 45 feet per year, extending over a period of nearly 65 years.

Ice Sheet formed Lakes

In the United States the ice sheet of Figure 32 reached as far south as the Ohio River valley, covering over what today is known as the Great Lakes region. Geologists believe the Great Lakes were formed as the advancing ice sheet carved out their basins and were later filled as the retreating glaciers left behind a large amount of melt-water.

Figure 42. Great Lakes Region of the United States

Plains Formation

The Continent of North America offers a good example of how the Flood served to form plains of massive proportion. Known as the Interior Plains (or the Great Plains of the U.S. and Canada), the plain extends from the Arctic Ocean on the north to the Rio Grande River in Texas on the south and from the Rocky Mountains on the west to the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains on the east. The map of Figure 43 shows the overall extent of the Interior Plains.

Figure 43. Great Plains of the United States and Canada

As ice crystals melted from this vast region following the Flood, massive amounts of water were trapped between the mountain ranges. Lasting over a period of 200 years or more, the water tended to flatten the Interior Plains. Also, deposits from the eroding mountainsides added rich minerals to the soil.

Figure 44. Fertile Plain of Argentina (Patagonia Pampas)

Another example of a large plain that was formed following the Flood is the Fertile Plain of Argentina (Patagonia Pampas). Shown as a shaded region in Figure 44 above, it extends from the Colorado River (Rio Colorado) on the north to the southern tip of Argentina on the south and from the Andes Mountains on the west to the South Atlantic Ocean on the east. Deposits from the eroding Andes Mountains, along with massive melt-waters, served to form the fertile plain.

A Fitting Conclusion

A concluding thought for this chapter and those that preceded it is found in Psalm 104, a psalm that is known as a hymn to the Creator. David writes (along with the author’s comments in brackets):

You covered it (the earth) with the deep (orbiting snowballs that later filled the world’s empty ocean basins) as with a garment (that prevented direct sunlight from reaching the earth); the waters (Ezekiel’s whirling wheels) stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke (perhaps by sending an asteroid to strike the planetary ring) the waters fled (the floodgates of the heavens were opened), at the sound of your thunder (the energy of 200 trillion atomic bombs) they took to flight (ice crystals covered the surface of the earth); they flowed over the mountains (glaciers covered the arctic regions), they went down into the valleys (where they formed plains), to the place you assigned for them (the ocean basins). You set a boundary they cannot cross (shorelines are now fixed); never again will they cover the earth (because the planetary ring has been destroyed). Psalm 104: 6-9

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