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The Creation Explanation

Creation Explanation Appendix A

A Biblical Model for the History of the World

As everyone who has read The Creation Explanation surely understands, evolutionary scientists have a theoretical model for the origin and development of the universe, the world, life, and man a model that fits their materialistic philosophy. But is there a rational biblical creation model into which the data of the sciences can be fitted? Indeed, there are. In fact, a number of such models have been proposed during the past two centuries. We offer here a tentative or provisional development of one that may serve as a basis for further thought and study by other students of creation from a scientific perspective. Limited aspects of this model or scenario were suggested in Chapter-3.

In science, systems of theories and laws serve as models or frameworks for integrating the observational data of the several scientific disciplines. They provide tentative explanations of the universe, how it works, and its origin and perhaps destiny. The evolutionary model has for more than a century influenced a major part of research, particularly in such fields as geology, paleontology, biological sciences, and anthropology. Remember, however, that scientific models have an essential philosophical character, especially models relating to origins. As we pointed out in Chapter-5, the scientific method cannot be applied to questions of origins in the same way that is possible with, say, a question about the mechanism of genetic inheritance. The evidence adduced for historical scenarios is in general circumstantial, so that interpretations tend to be strongly influenced by philosophical presuppositions. The philosophy of materialism inspires the evolutionary model, whereas the philosophy of biblical theism informs the creation model.

The divinely revealed outline for the creation model is found in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, the opening book of the Bible. What follows is a summary of a creation model that we believe to be inreasonable accord with the biblical record. We believe it is also in better accord with data of the sciences than is the evolutionary model. We make no claim to finality except for those general principles and specific details that are expressly stated in the Scriptures. We do not claim to have all the problems that face young-earth creationists. Therefore, we hope that this provisional creation model will encourage some Christians to study and creation-oriented research in science, biblical chronology, and general scientific research for the glory of God.

Gen. 1:1
Ex. 3:14, 20:11
John 1:1-3
Col. 1:16, 17
Heb. 1:1-3, 11:3
The infinite-personal Spirit, God, created the physical universe and the spiritual creation by His power and word. space, matter, energy, and time all had a beginning. Before or outside of time exists only God who alone is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is the ground and source of all being.
Gen. 1:2 Initially the earth was dark, formless, disorganized except that it was surrounded by waters, perhaps in violent motion. Thus the earliest sedimentary rocks would be laid down without fossil content because life had not yet been created.
Gen.1:1-25
Ex. 20:9-11
In six normal days the entire work of creation was accomplished and the surface of the earth transformed into a proper environment, complete with the entire complex biosphere, for man's abode.
Ps. 115:16
Gen. 1:3-5
In the first day the earth was provided with light and a day- night cycle, and the first day closed.

Gen. 1:6-8 On the second day the watery envelope around the earth was separated into liquid waters that entirely covered the globe, and a surrounding canopy of water in vapor and cloud form, with the open atmosphere (firmament) or the first heaven between.

Gen. 1:19-13
Gen. 2:15
In the third day one huge continental mass was lifted up out of the waters to provide dry land for plant life. Plant life was created, for the most part probably as seeds which then rapidly grew at a miraculous rate, filling the soil with their root networks, establishing the plant foundation for the biosphere. The plant kinds, though relatively more plastic than the animal kinds and therefore suitable for man's intelligent selective breeding and control, were nevertheless created to vary only within the limits of their original created kinds.

Gen. 1:14-19 On the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars were created in a condition that made them suitable as a basis for telling time, seasons, years and days.

Gen. 1:20-23 On the fifth day God created sea life and flying creatures such as birds and perhaps insects.

Gen. 1:24-31 On the first part of the sixth day God created land animal life of all sorts. The higher animal kinds, though generally much less plastic than some plant kinds, were created with considerable potential for variation. But the genetic boundaries of the kinds are absolute. God may have created original specimens of a kind with great genetic potential so that in the course of time through the genetic process of segregation, numerous species could have arisen within the boundaries of that kind. Or He may have created a number of potentially interbreeding types of species within a kind.
Gen. 1:26-28
Gen. 2:7-14
Gen. 2:15-17
Gen. 2:19-20
Then, after the beautiful earth environment was completed in its primeval perfection, God created man in His image, gave him dominion over all the world and its creatures and made him a steward, particularly in the Garden of Eden. Adam, using the language originally given to him by God, first demonstrated his dominion and stewardship, as well as the intellectual capacity of primal, unfallen man, by classifying and naming the land animals and birds.
Gen. 2:18-25 Although made from the dust of the earth as were the plants and animals, Adam's race was founded in any entirely different manner. One man was first created holding within himself all the potential of the race, and from tissue taken from his side Eve was created, so that the entire race generated from them would be one in Adam. Therefore, Adam could represent the race in the test of obedience in Eden.
Gen. 1:31-2:1 At the close of the sixth day the work of creation was completed, and God saw it was very good, containing no trace of imperfection or evil.

Gen. 2:2-3 On the seventh day the Creator rested from His work of creation, bringing to a close the creation week.

Gen. 1:7, 2:6 The level of the land surface originally was probably generally lower and more even than at present, with rather low mountains. Also the sea level was probably much lower than the modern level, so that the total dry land area was considerably greater than at present. Evidence from the fossil record suggests that tropical and semi-tropical climate prevailed over much of the globe. One cause of this may have been a greater amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which increased the atmospheric "greenhouse effect." Lush vegetation and forests extended over a much greater proportion of the earth than at present. A much stronger earth magnetic field would also protect the earth from more of the cosmic radiation from space. As a consequence, mutations and other deleterious effects of cosmic rays on living organisms would have been considerably reduced.
Gen. 1:29-30 In Eden before the fall, man was not subject to death. Nevertheless, the biblical data suggest a natural biochemical order, because man and animals lived by eating plants as food. Therefore, the laws of physics and chemistry, including the Second Law of Thermodynamics, were apparently in effect.
Gen. 2:9, 3:22-24 But God had no doubt provided protective arrangements to maintain the original perfection of His created beings. For example, the tree of life was available to enable man to live indefinitely. Even today our bodies have repair systems that continually function to correct damage to the DNA molecules of our genes.
Gen. 2:17 With the fall of man by his disobedience into the estate of sin and misery, death by sin came upon all men, just as God had promised.
Gen. Rom. 5:12
Gen. 3:16-19
The divine curse placed upon man was for his sake also placed upon the world, in fact, upon the entire creation.
Rom. 8:19-23 Thus a perfect creation began to decay. The perfect natural order that the Creator would, no doubt, have supplied with sustaining organizing power, had not sin entered the scene, was allowed to suffer the progressively degenerating effects of the curse. The presently observed Second Law of Thermodynamics fits this picture. Man became immediately spiritually dead, losing his original righteousness, and became subject to the morally and spiritually degrading effect of sin, as well as the physically degenerating influences of a decaying physical order. The entire plant and animal creation was dragged into a parallel downward course, a path not of evolution, but of devolution.
Gen. 3:15, 21 Nevertheless, for man a spiritual path upward through the word of a Redeemer was promised and made available to man.
Gen. 4-5 The conditions of life on the earth from Eden to the Flood were probably basically as described earlier, yet with local disruptions and increasing dislocations of the perfectly balanced order of the initial creation. Man's mental and physical capabilities were still very great. Culture, technology, and cities were rapidly developed. The ungodly line of Cain multiplied as did the godly line of Seth, and a civilization dominated by the materialistic thinking and desires of unregenerate human hearts filled much of the earth. Even the children of believers were drawn into the ungodly relationships and the whole earth was corrupted.
Gen. 6 Finally, God had to judge and cleanse the world. One godly family was chosen by God to preserve the race. By the time the ark was completed and the Flood came, only eight believed strongly enough to break with the world system and go God's way.
Gen. 7-8


2 Peter 3;3-7
The remainder strongly enough to break with the world of the race perished, along with the air-breathing land animals, in a global flood catastrophe so stupendous and so ominous in its portent of judgment for sinful men, that very few people today want to believe that it ever happened.
Gen. 7:11 The waters that inundated the entire surface of the earth probably came from three, perhaps four sources. First, water vapor in the atmosphere condensed and fell as rain. Second, juvenile water from the crust of the earth poured through fissures in ocean floors. Third, the relative levels of the land surface and ocean bottom changed, the land sinking and the ocean floor rising, until every mountain top was covered. Fourth, God may have imported additional water from space by miraculous means.

The Flood was accompanied by violent movements of the earth's crust, and by volcanic activity of momentous proportions. Tremendous tidal waves and rushing currents scoured and deeply eroded the continental surface. Entire forests were ripped up and transported large distances to be dumped where the currents slowed. The sediments formed from the eroded materials were dropped in vast sheets, deeply burying the plant remains, much of which were converted to coal. Animals were fossilized by the billions, preserving plain evidence of their sudden death. The currents shifted, reversed, and laid down layer after layer of sediments, many containing plant and animal remains that were fossilized.

On the bottom of some of the sequences of strata, some of the original sedimentary layers from the creation week were preserved, or sometimes they were eroded away and redeposited elsewhere. In general, bottom-dwelling sea creatures tended to be buried first, whole communities composed of many different species being buried together. Amphibious creatures and other animals living near the continental margins were often trapped next, and the more mobile dry land animals often were able to escape the rising flood waters for longer periods and thus were entombed in strata above the other types of animals. Humans were usually able to protect themselves longer, fleeing to higher and higher ground before they were finally swept away to their death. Thus, their bodies were subjected to the most violent effects of the flood waters, and many were left strewn on the surface after the Flood, subjected to rapid decay, and therefore left few fossils.

Although the preceding scenario describes the formation of the most common fossil sequences in the strata, the violence and erratic character of the currents and tidal waves associated with the global flood resulted in many anomalous sequences. This explains the numerous areas where so-called reversed strata occur, such as in the famous Lewis Overthrust in Glacier Park. There actually was no 'overthrust," but the erratic action of water laid down non-fossiliferous sediments on top of shallow sea sediments containing many marine fossils.

When the flood waters subsided, seeds soon began to sprout and twigs and branches of many kinds of plants were able to take root quickly. The ark, a 30,000 ton vessel some 450 feet long, disgorged its precious cargo of animals and humans which overspread the ruined earth's surface, taking directions determined by the providence of a sovereign Creator. the land mass was still, for the most part at least, connected in one great supercontinent. This explains how certain animal types are found only on particular continents, for example, most of the marsupials such as kangaroos in or near Australia.

Following the Flood, the family of Noah began the slow and difficult process of reestablishing the human race on the earth. They brought through the Flood much of the culture and technology of the pre-Flood civilization. Thus civilization could develop relatively rapidly. No doubt the living conditions were rigorous in those first centuries after the Flood. The earth's crust was shuddering from its recent ordeal. Tremendous torrents of lava poured over large areas of the world, and high mountain chains were pushed up to dominate many landscapes.

The global climatic pattern was completely upset and changed by the Flood. The more or less global pre-flood semi-tropical climate was replaced by an entirely new regime. The greenhouse effect was less than previously, and average temperatures dropped suddenly, perhaps as much as fifteen degrees. Great ice caps spread from centers near the poles and subjected large areas of the land surface to glacial action. If the Flood was, indeed, at around 5000 B.C, perhaps there were a number of glacial advances and retreats in the next 2000 years. The center of human population expansion in the Middle East would not be directly affected by the glaciers, but the pioneer elements of mankind which pushed out rapidly to the far reaches of the globe after the flood would be greatly affected. Probably there was a number of post-Flood catastrophes that swamped large segments of the animal and plant populations which rapidly occupied the land after the Flood. Perhaps one or more of these events accounted for the tremendous destruction of life now evidenced by the frozen mammoths and other creatures as well as the vast bone deposits found in some of the Arctic island north of Siberia.

It should be pointed out that the pioneer groups of humans who extended the frontiers of the race were mostly living and traveling as small, isolated breeding populations. They tended to undergo much more rapid degenerative changes and genetic alternations, especially since they would also be under the pressure of difficult living conditions on the outer reaches of human exploration. Their fossil remains would be expected to show some differences from those of the average human types, the peoples that remained closer to the cradle of civilization. Animal populations may also have tended to change rather rapidly within the limits of their created kinds as they overspread the earth. And it must be remembered that the Flood was a miraculous intervention by God into the earth history. The Creator may have supernaturally influenced some populations of plants and animals by speeding up the normal processes of adaptation to new environmental conditions.

Another effect that may have contributed to more rapid genetic changes and to shortening of human and animal life-spans is related to the post-Flood world climate. Weakening of the earth's magnetic field may have allowed more cosmic radiation to reach the earth's surface. This and other conditions differing from those before the Flood may have increased the rate of deleterious mutations, thus accelerating the rate of degeneration of all creatures.

Gen. 5 & 11 Genesis 11 records a rather rapid decrease in human longevity.
Gen. 10:8-12 By a thousand years after the Flood another materialistic civilization had been built in the Middle East, with large cities and increasingly centralized control of religion, government, and culture. Mankind was uniting in a cooperative system that was man-centered and anti-God.
Gen. 10:25 God broke this up by confusing their language, scattering the peoples as different nations and ethnic groups.

Perhaps at this time in the days of Peleg, God also accelerated the division of the major dry land mass physically, producing the pattern of separate continents we know today. At this time when plates of the earth's crust were moved rapidly by forces know only to God, further upthrusting of the major mountain chains occurred, and this continued for perhaps another thousand years as the continents moved into their modern relationships on the globe.

In the meantime the great ancient civilizations, the Sumerian and the Egyptian, had developed and left their remains which so puzzle the cultural anthropologists who wonder where they came from, fully developed in art, technology, government, and religion.

Gen. 11:31-12:5 'The stage of history was now set for God to choose Abraham and separate him from the polytheistic culture of the Chaldeans, to bring him into a very small land, Palestine, to serve the God of Creation. This land would for some two thousand years be the scene of God's direct dealings with Adam's race. Even now this land is again becoming the enter of events that promise to shake the world and drive the course of human history until the end of the age.

This creation model is in many respects tentative, not final or complete. It is offered as a framework for understanding the data of science in a manner that recognizes the authority of the Bible as the verbally inspired and infallible Word of God. It may also serve as a guide to Christians who desire to pursue scientific research in channels that will be blessed by God because His truth has been made the foundation for expanding human knowledge of His creation.

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