Did Noah's Flood Happen? The Evidence says 'No'
There are tensions between the flood narrative and contemporary science. This post is simply a very compressed version of Mark Isaak's "Problems with a Global Flood" (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html)
Contemporary science does not seem to be compatible with a strictly literal interpretation of the flood story. Among the numerous problems raised are the following:
Logistical Problems
Fitting the Animals Aboard. An ark of the size specified in the Bible would not be large enough to carry a cargo of animals and food sufficient to repopulate the earth, especially if animals that are now extinct were required to be aboard.
Special diets. How did Noah determine and provide for all those special diets?
Fresh foods. Many animals require their food to be fresh. How did Noah keep all these food supplies fresh?
Sanitation. How did such a small crew dispose of so much waste?
Exercise/Animal handling. How were several thousand diverse kinds of animals exercised regularly?
The Water Problem
Where did that much water come from? Where did it go? Whilst one could appeal to miracles (God can do anything, after all) the Genesis story itself presents the flood as the result of God acting through natural processes – the bursting of the fountains of the deep and the opening of the floodgates of the sky.
Lack of Evidence for a Global Flood Where we Would Expect it.
A global flood would have produce evidence contrary to the evidence we see.
Why is there no evidence of a flood in ice core series? Ice cores from Greenland have been dated back more than 40,000 years by counting annual layers. Why doesn't evidence for the flood show up?
Why did the Flood not leave traces on the sea floors? A year long flood should be recognizable in sea bottom cores. Why do none of these show up?
Why is there no evidence of a flood in tree ring dating? Tree ring records go back more than 10,000 years, with no evidence of a catastrophe during that time.
How are the polar ice caps even possible? Such a mass of water as the Flood would have provided sufficient buoyancy to float the polar caps off their beds and break them up. They wouldn't regrow quickly.
Evidence supports the uninterrupted human occupation of the Americas (over 12,000 years) and Australasia (about 30,000-40,000 years) from long before the time that the flood could have happened.
Survival Problems
How did all the modern plant species survive?
- Many plants (seeds and all) would be killed by being submerged for a few months. This is especially true if they were soaked in salt water.
- Most seeds would have been buried under many feet (even miles) of sediment. This is deep enough to prevent spouting.
How did all the fish survive? Some require cool clear water, some need brackish water, some need ocean water, some need water even saltier. A flood would have destroyed at least some of these habitats.
How did short-lived species survive? Adult mayflies on the ark would have died in a few days, and the larvae of many mayflies require shallow fresh running water. Many other insects would face similar problems.
How could more than a handful of species survive in a devastated habitat? The Flood would have destroyed the food and shelter which most species need to survive. (As an aside it is interesting that after the flood we see that the topsoil has not been washed away and that vegetations still grows. This would suggest that the flood was not as severe as the story depicts it).
How did predators survive? How could more than a handful of the predator species on the ark have survived, with only two individuals of their prey to eat?
How did animals get to their present ranges? How did koalas get from Ararat to Australia, polar bears to the Arctic, etc., when the kinds of environment they require to live does not exist between the two points. How did so many unique species get to remote islands?
Why are so many animals found only in limited ranges? Why are so many marsupials limited to Australia; why are there no wallabies in western Indonesia? Why are lemurs limited to Madagascar?
Evidence that Fossil-Bearing Rock Strata Were Not Laid Down in a Single Event
Most people who believe in a global flood also believe that the flood was responsible for creating all fossil-bearing strata. However, there is a great deal of contrary evidence.
How was the fossil record sorted in an order convenient for evolution if they were laid down in the turmoil of a single flood?
How do surface features appear far from the surface? Deep in the geologic column there are formations which could have originated only on the surface, such as: Rain drops, river channels, wind-blown dunes, beaches, in-place trees, soil and footprints.
How could a flood deposit layered fossil forests? Stratigraphic sections showing a dozen or more mature forests layered atop each other (all with upright trunks, in-place roots, and well-developed soil) appear in many locations. How could these have appeared in the midst of a catastrophic flood? They are evidence of a slow deposition in environmentally sensitive conditions incompatible with a catastrophic deluge.
How were mountains and valleys formed? Many very tall mountains are composed of sedimentary rocks. If these were formed during the Flood, how did they reach their present height, and when were the valleys between them eroded away? Keep in mind that many valleys were clearly carved by glacial erosion, which is a slow process.
Historical Problems
How did the human population rebound so fast? Genealogies in Genesis put the Tower of Babel about 110 to 150 years after the Flood (Gen 10:25; 11:10-19). How did the world population regrow so fast to make its construction (and the city around it) possible? Similarly, there would have been very few people around to build Stonehenge and the Pyramids, rebuild the Sumerian and Indus Valley civilizations, populate the Americas, etc.
Also the table of nations in Genesis 10 makes no reference to Negroid or Mongoloid races which may lead us to conclude that such races were not included in the flood.
So my first point is that we have to be honest about the scientific evidence. We would do well to listen to St Augustine comment on Christians talking about the natural order:
Contemporary science does not seem to be compatible with a strictly literal interpretation of the flood story. Among the numerous problems raised are the following:
Logistical Problems
Fitting the Animals Aboard. An ark of the size specified in the Bible would not be large enough to carry a cargo of animals and food sufficient to repopulate the earth, especially if animals that are now extinct were required to be aboard.
Special diets. How did Noah determine and provide for all those special diets?
Fresh foods. Many animals require their food to be fresh. How did Noah keep all these food supplies fresh?
Sanitation. How did such a small crew dispose of so much waste?
Exercise/Animal handling. How were several thousand diverse kinds of animals exercised regularly?
The Water Problem
Where did that much water come from? Where did it go? Whilst one could appeal to miracles (God can do anything, after all) the Genesis story itself presents the flood as the result of God acting through natural processes – the bursting of the fountains of the deep and the opening of the floodgates of the sky.
Lack of Evidence for a Global Flood Where we Would Expect it.
A global flood would have produce evidence contrary to the evidence we see.
Why is there no evidence of a flood in ice core series? Ice cores from Greenland have been dated back more than 40,000 years by counting annual layers. Why doesn't evidence for the flood show up?
Why did the Flood not leave traces on the sea floors? A year long flood should be recognizable in sea bottom cores. Why do none of these show up?
Why is there no evidence of a flood in tree ring dating? Tree ring records go back more than 10,000 years, with no evidence of a catastrophe during that time.
How are the polar ice caps even possible? Such a mass of water as the Flood would have provided sufficient buoyancy to float the polar caps off their beds and break them up. They wouldn't regrow quickly.
Evidence supports the uninterrupted human occupation of the Americas (over 12,000 years) and Australasia (about 30,000-40,000 years) from long before the time that the flood could have happened.
Survival Problems
How did all the modern plant species survive?
- Many plants (seeds and all) would be killed by being submerged for a few months. This is especially true if they were soaked in salt water.
- Most seeds would have been buried under many feet (even miles) of sediment. This is deep enough to prevent spouting.
How did all the fish survive? Some require cool clear water, some need brackish water, some need ocean water, some need water even saltier. A flood would have destroyed at least some of these habitats.
How did short-lived species survive? Adult mayflies on the ark would have died in a few days, and the larvae of many mayflies require shallow fresh running water. Many other insects would face similar problems.
How could more than a handful of species survive in a devastated habitat? The Flood would have destroyed the food and shelter which most species need to survive. (As an aside it is interesting that after the flood we see that the topsoil has not been washed away and that vegetations still grows. This would suggest that the flood was not as severe as the story depicts it).
How did predators survive? How could more than a handful of the predator species on the ark have survived, with only two individuals of their prey to eat?
How did animals get to their present ranges? How did koalas get from Ararat to Australia, polar bears to the Arctic, etc., when the kinds of environment they require to live does not exist between the two points. How did so many unique species get to remote islands?
Why are so many animals found only in limited ranges? Why are so many marsupials limited to Australia; why are there no wallabies in western Indonesia? Why are lemurs limited to Madagascar?
Evidence that Fossil-Bearing Rock Strata Were Not Laid Down in a Single Event
Most people who believe in a global flood also believe that the flood was responsible for creating all fossil-bearing strata. However, there is a great deal of contrary evidence.
How was the fossil record sorted in an order convenient for evolution if they were laid down in the turmoil of a single flood?
How do surface features appear far from the surface? Deep in the geologic column there are formations which could have originated only on the surface, such as: Rain drops, river channels, wind-blown dunes, beaches, in-place trees, soil and footprints.
How could a flood deposit layered fossil forests? Stratigraphic sections showing a dozen or more mature forests layered atop each other (all with upright trunks, in-place roots, and well-developed soil) appear in many locations. How could these have appeared in the midst of a catastrophic flood? They are evidence of a slow deposition in environmentally sensitive conditions incompatible with a catastrophic deluge.
How were mountains and valleys formed? Many very tall mountains are composed of sedimentary rocks. If these were formed during the Flood, how did they reach their present height, and when were the valleys between them eroded away? Keep in mind that many valleys were clearly carved by glacial erosion, which is a slow process.
Historical Problems
How did the human population rebound so fast? Genealogies in Genesis put the Tower of Babel about 110 to 150 years after the Flood (Gen 10:25; 11:10-19). How did the world population regrow so fast to make its construction (and the city around it) possible? Similarly, there would have been very few people around to build Stonehenge and the Pyramids, rebuild the Sumerian and Indus Valley civilizations, populate the Americas, etc.
Also the table of nations in Genesis 10 makes no reference to Negroid or Mongoloid races which may lead us to conclude that such races were not included in the flood.
So my first point is that we have to be honest about the scientific evidence. We would do well to listen to St Augustine comment on Christians talking about the natural order:
Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian,
presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these
topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing
situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to
scorn.
Comments
That's always dismissed with a hand wave by saying the animals quickly sorted each other out based on their ability to compete for the shrinking high ground. It overlooks an important issue: Since fossil layers were really constructed over millions of years, there was sufficient time to accumulate a consistent layer of corpses from many many generations of animals over wide areas. You could dig up a layer of trilobite fossils in Boise, for example, and it would have the same density of trilobite fossils as the same layer in Kansas City. So if you read back the Noah story into this observation, the antediluvian world must have been wall-to-wall trilobites, not to mention all the other animals in the other layers. In fact, there must have been far more animals than the biosphere could reasonably be expected to support, all because YECs compress a billion years of fossil building into a few weeks.
From what I have read elsewhere that is indeed correct.
You seem to have thought a lot about Noah's flood. That's unusual (at least, it is in the UK). Is it your specialist subject?
Robin
Well, some members of my family are Seventh Day Adventists, who elevate the literal seven day creation in order to shore up their Sabbatarianism. So I have been through the wringer on this one. My personal interest in the story is slight, because I know it is a Hebrew redaction of earlier Mesopotamian myths such as we find in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
I'm an ex-young-earth creationist, and might edit a book of such testimonies. Leaving the Flood.
From YEC (Young Earth Creationist) to Evolutionist
www.edwardtbabinski.us/articles/yec.html
My other articles include...
Creationist "Flood Geology" Vs Common Sense
-Or Reasons why "Flood Geology" was abandoned in the mid-1800s by Christian men of science
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/babinski/flood.html
See also these articles at the same site above:
Order of the Geologic Column - Flood Geology
Why Isn't Flood Geology Accepted Today
Mt. St. Helens, Flood Geology, Modern Geology
The Bible Knows Nothing of Science
Mountains of Ararat
Liberal Trend Among Evangelicals?
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/cgi-bin/webring/list.pl?ringid=flood_geology;siteid=flood01
I agree with you (and disagree) as you'll see in the final post tomorrow. But the headline ("the evidence says 'no'") was for effect. I was hoping it might annoy some people enough to make them read it :-)
RAP
Got it! I understand. Thanks
RAP
+++++++++++++
Edward
I guess that I was never into young earth creationism (though I flirted with it on a couple of occasions) but I know where you are coming from. Thanks for the info on your articles.
RAP
Or ... maybe it does ... just in a different way of looking at it.
"A literal biblical chronology would mean a world created in seven days, about 4000 B.C., give or take one or two hundred years. But many creationists do not want to be biblical literalists. Of course the Bible in a general way is a big source of inspiration for their movement, but the exact figures of the Bible are not a matter of principle for them, as I understand them. In my opinion, it was a big mistake for many of the mainline religious organizations when they opposed the creationists by saying that the Bible should not be taken literally. This is not what the creationists do. It is, on the contrary, what the churches and other organisations should do: that is, to argue that, in this respect, the Bible's figures should be taken literally, because it is when they are taken literally it becomes clear that they are not historically or scientifically true."
—James Barr, Pre-Scientific Chronology: The Bible and the Origin of the World (1999) [bold emphasis mine]
L
I'm not sure what I am right now. I used to call myself a Christian, was in Church and full of the dogma, and like a Parrot rattled it off when called upon.
That was years ago. I'm a slow learner I suppose.
We're all conditioned, programmed, from an early age to accept the Bible as the literal Word of God. The formative years of that conditioning affects how one approaches the Bible, how it's read.
I'm approaching 60, and haven't picked up a Bible in years, but recently I began reading it once again from a purely objective,unbiased (Either way) critical perspective.
It's been illuminating.
So many inconsistencies and problems of credibility and ethics leap at you when you read the Bible this way.
I'm in the early chapters of Genesis, up to the flood, and I honestly don't understand the Creationists dogged determination to see to it that the Biblical account of creation etc. is made law, and taught in schools as true science and historical fact.
It's utter nonsense to push that agenda.
I live in America, we have religious lunatics over here erecting Natural History Museums with displays of Dinosaurs and Humans interacting in forest settings!
Creation Scientist devoting time and energy to write theoretical papers, heavy with technical jargon, to explain away the starlight problem regarding calculating the age of the Universe.
I live as a hermit in the middle of the Bible Belt because these people take the Bible literally in every aspect. There's no having any sort of intelligent conversation with anyone here when it comes to these matters.
All of it leaves me confused..Not Evolution, I firmly believe the evidence for evolution is overwhelming. I'm just confused about what I am ultimately going to decide upon when it comes to the existence or non-existence of God.
If I relied upon what I see practiced by the Christian influence on Politics here in the States, I'd have to say definitely there's no God, not if these people are representatives of His, doing what they are doing. There's nothing Godly about the influence of Religion on Politics here in the States.
If I'm to rely on the Bible as God being revealed to me, well, like I said, I'm already seeing major problems with that in just the first few Chapters of Genesis.
It never hit me before how much the Fall of Man in these pages was a set up.
Everything was geared for the fall to happen. It was planned from the very start, and I have problems with that. Questions pile up, but no answers to be found.
A counseling session with a Pastor will only elicit standard platitudes and the generic speech about man not knowing the mind and ways of God.
I don't completely agree with that. Some of what I'm seeing in the creation story is as plain as the nose on your face, there are problems with it.
So I'm in a quandary and I'm only just beginning my new assessment of the Bible.
Wish me luck.
I'm not sure what I am right now. I used to call myself a Christian, was in Church and full of the dogma, and like a Parrot rattled it off when called upon.
That was years ago. I'm a slow learner I suppose.
We're all conditioned, programmed, from an early age to accept the Bible as the literal Word of God. The formative years of that conditioning affects how one approaches the Bible, how it's read.
I'm approaching 60, and haven't picked up a Bible in years, but recently I began reading it once again from a purely objective,unbiased (Either way) critical perspective.
It's been illuminating.
So many inconsistencies and problems of credibility and ethics leap at you when you read the Bible this way.
I'm in the early chapters of Genesis, up to the flood, and I honestly don't understand the Creationists dogged determination to see to it that the Biblical account of creation etc. is made law, and taught in schools as true science and historical fact.
It's utter nonsense to push that agenda.
I live in America, we have religious lunatics over here erecting Natural History Museums with displays of Dinosaurs and Humans interacting in forest settings!
Creation Scientist devoting time and energy to write theoretical papers, heavy with technical jargon, to explain away the starlight problem regarding calculating the age of the Universe.
I live as a hermit in the middle of the Bible Belt because these people take the Bible literally in every aspect. There's no having any sort of intelligent conversation with anyone here when it comes to these matters.
All of it leaves me confused..Not Evolution, I firmly believe the evidence for evolution is overwhelming. I'm just confused about what I am ultimately going to decide upon when it comes to the existence or non-existence of God.
If I relied upon what I see practiced by the Christian influence on Politics here in the States, I'd have to say definitely there's no God, not if these people are representatives of His, doing what they are doing. There's nothing Godly about the influence of Religion on Politics here in the States.
If I'm to rely on the Bible as God being revealed to me, well, like I said, I'm already seeing major problems with that in just the first few Chapters of Genesis.
It never hit me before how much the Fall of Man in these pages was a set up.
Everything was geared for the fall to happen. It was planned from the very start, and I have problems with that. Questions pile up, but no answers to be found.
A counseling session with a Pastor will only elicit standard platitudes and the generic speech about man not knowing the mind and ways of God.
I don't completely agree with that. Some of what I'm seeing in the creation story is as plain as the nose on your face, there are problems with it.
So I'm in a quandary and I'm only just beginning my new assessment of the Bible.
Wish me luck.
I'm not sure what I am right now. I used to call myself a Christian, was in Church and full of the dogma, and like a Parrot rattled it off when called upon.
That was years ago. I'm a slow learner I suppose.
We're all conditioned, programmed, from an early age to accept the Bible as the literal Word of God. The formative years of that conditioning affects how one approaches the Bible, how it's read.
I'm approaching 60, and haven't picked up a Bible in years, but recently I began reading it once again from a purely objective,unbiased (Either way) critical perspective.
It's been illuminating.
So many inconsistencies and problems of credibility and ethics leap at you when you read the Bible this way.
I'm in the early chapters of Genesis, up to the flood, and I honestly don't understand the Creationists dogged determination to see to it that the Biblical account of creation etc. is made law, and taught in schools as true science and historical fact.
It's utter nonsense to push that agenda.
I live in America, we have religious lunatics over here erecting Natural History Museums with displays of Dinosaurs and Humans interacting in forest settings!
Creation Scientist devoting time and energy to write theoretical papers, heavy with technical jargon, to explain away the starlight problem regarding calculating the age of the Universe.
I live as a hermit in the middle of the Bible Belt because these people take the Bible literally in every aspect. There's no having any sort of intelligent conversation with anyone here when it comes to these matters.
All of it leaves me confused..Not Evolution, I firmly believe the evidence for evolution is overwhelming. I'm just confused about what I am ultimately going to decide upon when it comes to the existence or non-existence of God.
If I relied upon what I see practiced by the Christian influence on Politics here in the States, I'd have to say definitely there's no God, not if these people are representatives of His, doing what they are doing. There's nothing Godly about the influence of Religion on Politics here in the States.
If I'm to rely on the Bible as God being revealed to me, well, like I said, I'm already seeing major problems with that in just the first few Chapters of Genesis.
It never hit me before how much the Fall of Man in these pages was a set up.
Everything was geared for the fall to happen. It was planned from the very start, and I have problems with that. Questions pile up, but no answers to be found.
A counseling session with a Pastor will only elicit standard platitudes and the generic speech about man not knowing the mind and ways of God.
I don't completely agree with that. Some of what I'm seeing in the creation story is as plain as the nose on your face, there are problems with it.
So I'm in a quandary and I'm only just beginning my new assessment of the Bible.
Wish me luck.
I appreciate your situation. Coming from the UK things are a tad different — the churches here are not anything like so fundamentalist as some US churches. (You might like it here :-)).
You may find Kenton Sparks' book, "God's Word in Human Words" (Baker Academic) helpful. It is a non-innerrantist approach to the Bible.
Fit the Animals Aboard.
Provide for special diets.
Keep all the food supplies fresh?
Maintain sanitation.
Provide a way to dispose of so much waste?
Etc................
Yes or no?
You said: "Whilst one could appeal to miracles (God can do anything, after all) the Genesis story itself presents the flood as the result of God acting through natural processes – the bursting of the fountains of the deep and the opening of the floodgates of the sky."
Could God, acting through natural processes, bring forth water from the fountains of the deep as well as the sky?
Provide for survival of the modern plant species, in view of the fact that many plants (seeds and all) would be killed by being submerged for a few months?
Provide for survival of all the fish considering that some require cool clear water, some brackish water, some ocean water...?
Provide for the survival of short-lived species on the ark?
In view of the notion that a world wide flood would have destroyed the food and shelter which most species need to survive,could God have provided for said food and shelter after the flood, just as God did prior to the flood?
Provide for the survival predators?
Get the animals to their present ranges? For example, relocate the koalas from Ararat to Australia?
Or would these things be impossible for God, who created everything from nothing, to do?
Without God's intervention, I would have to agree with everything you have presented. With God's intervention................
So you are looking for verifiable proof, regarding the following thingsmentioned by Robin Parry: How God all fit the Animals Aboard, provide for special diets, kept all the food supplies fresh, maintained sanitation, provided a way to dispose of so much waste, provided for survival of the modern plant species, in view of the fact that many plants (seeds and all) - would be killed by being submerged for a few months, provided for survival of all the fish considering that some require cool clear water, some brackish water, some ocean water, provided for the survival of short-lived species on the ark...?
I wasn't there to see it happen or how it happened, or even if it happened, so you are right, "God could" - is not an adequate response." My response is, there is no way for anyone on this planet, without a time machine, to know one way or the other. Just as many people have faith that the infinite universe (at least from a human perspective) - need no designer, I suppose I have faith that the flood really happened.
The book is online here
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/
but you can get it on Amazon as well
How did I lay the foundation for the earth? Were you there? Doubtless you know. What supports the foundation? Who placed the cornerstone?
Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey?
Robin, have you ever walked on the ocean floor?
Have you seen the gate to the world of the dead?
And how large is the earth? Tell me, if you know!
Where is the home of light, and where does darkness live? Can you lead them home? I’m certain you must be able to.
Have you been to the places where I keep snow and hail? From where does lightning leap, or the east wind blow?
Who carves out a path for thunderstorms? Who sends torrents of rain on empty deserts? Who is the father of the dew and of the rain? Who gives birth to the sleet and the frost?
Can you arrange stars in groups such as Orion and the Pleiades? Do you control the stars or set in place the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper? Do you know the laws that govern the heavens, and can you make them rule the earth?
Can you order the clouds to send a downpour, or will lightning flash at your command? Did you teach birds to know that rain or floods are on their way? Can you count the clouds or pour out their water on the dry, lumpy soil?
When lions are hungry, do you help them hunt? Do you send an animal into their den?
And when starving young ravens cry out to me for food, do you satisfy their hunger?
When do mountain goats and deer give birth? Have you been there when their young are born? How long are they pregnant before they deliver?
Who set wild donkeys free? Would a wild ox agree to live in your barn and labor for you?
Could you force him to plow or to drag a heavy log to smooth out the soil? Can you depend on him to use his great strength and do your heavy work? Can you trust him to harvest your grain or take it to your barn from the threshing place?
Did you give horses their strength and the flowing hair along their necks? Did you make them able to jump like grasshoppers or to frighten people with their snorting?
Did you teach hawks to fly south for the winter? Did you train eagles to build their nests on rocky cliffs, where they can look down to spot their next meal?
I am the Lord All-Powerful, but you have argued that I am wrong. Now you must answer me.
I am confused. Is that really you? You say that you are the LORD Almighty and yet you have signed in anonymously. Do you have a blogger account? You say that I have said that you are wrong and yet I neither think nor say that you are wrong. So I am confused.
Is that really you or is someone else pretending to speak for you?
Hmmmm. I suspect that it is not really you but a fundamentalist Christian in disguise.
Dear fundamentalist Christian — please feel free to speak your mind and to say what you think (and do not be afraid to give your name) but please do not write me little notes from the Lord. I do not receive them as such.
With Kind Regards,
Robin
I find the posts most interesting.
Maybe someone can help me out. If God says 1 day is as a 1000 years why is his creation not determined from 12000 years ago instead of 6000 as stated by all most religions. This may fit in with some people who have studied the pyramids and other events dated futher back.
There is also much evidence of a world wide flood. Fossils are formed best under a quick covering of sediment and then being sealed w/ water (to prevent air from seeping in). The slow of long method that is dictated to us, is hogwash. Animals would eat the marrow, bones would decompose, etc.
There are fossilized trees that are standing straight up thru MILLIONS of yrs worth of geological layers (per the liberal Science groups). That is not even possible. Logic/ reason/ and critical thinking would dictate that, maybe- at most, the lower part of the tree might fossilize, but the upper part wouldn't just wait. Being exposed to air, and devoid of nutrition from its roots being rock, the upper part of the tree would've decayed/ rotted.
Evolution (Macro), is absolutely impossible! One analofy, by a Nobel prize winner in Physics, stated- A Tornado tearing through a junk yard, and putting together a perfectly working boeing 747 airplane, is much more like lt to happen than that of even an amoeba evolving. Says it all!
I actually was not a Young Earth believer. And I'm not sure I buy the true Young Earth mind set. The Bible states that to G-d a day is like 1,000 yrs. Thus, 1 day to G-d could be many, here. BUT, I have done a lot of honest research (crisis of faith, you could say), and the evidence for a world wide flood is massive. Having huge groups fossilized together, all of the world, around the same time. We have dating that is beyond off- it's a joke that it is still used (even a controlled test. KNOWING that the rock was only 8yrs old, sent to be tested (blindly), came back as 500,000 - 1 Million yrs old).
We are being taught to laugh at anything but evolution. This isn't science, this is an agenda! :o/
How is it that you believe the rock was only 8 years old? Unless you live near a volcano that was active in the last decade, I guarantee you that the rock you sent in was indeed the age they told you. But I am curious: What makes you say the rock is that young? Do you even understand the process of forming rock?
Are you being sincere about the research? If you're still drawing the same conclusions as the stuff they are brainwashing you with, maybe you aren't reading the right documentation or looking at the real evidence. These references you point at seem rather vague and hard to track down to real people. Could you elaborate?
The 'crisis of faith' is nature's inbuilt BS detector. Take notice of it. So you don't buy the Young Earth mindset either? Well there's a start, shows you are capable of some free independent thought! That's a GOOD thing!
I suggest a course in geology basics might help you.
I was once like you, brought up to believe unquestioningly.
There IS life after religion. Enjoy! :)
I am actually not very interested in life after religion. I am more interested in life after fundamentalist religion. Christianity can do very well without the biblical literalism of fundamentalism.
So my arguments that there was not a global flood in history are not an attack on religion nor on the Bible. I remain committed to biblical Christianity.