I stumbled upon Randall Carlson and Graham Hancock when browsing Joe Rogan episodes. They are (secular?) scientists who believe that a catastrophic event wiped out much of civilization, and humanity had to rebuild after the world was remade by flood waters. They have been ridiculed for saying this.
Well, I know a Biblical text which supports that idea. Now, if you know me, you know my fascination with Noah and the events which preceded and followed the flood. That time frame is kind of like a keystone in an arch. Without it, you have two sections of arch approaching each other with no way of being connected. Drop that keystone in there, and the arch(the story of God’s people) will support itself without any help whatsoever. For me, that keystone is the story Noah.
When I was growing up(middle and early high school), the Bible seemed like a series of stories which kind of stood separately from each other. Without a common thread, I grew to think many of those stories were just narratives, and maybe slightly made-up to teacher a deeper truth. I thought most of each story was story was true, but there was a “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” mythical quality to those stories. I was afraid to declare my support for Biblical creation as most around didn’t believe it, and I feared being proven wrong.
In school, I was not taught about creation or even the possibility of it. I think the same is probably true today. Everything is based on gradualism, that the organisms on Earth had evolved gradually. However, every time I studied ancient civilizations, ancient peoples all seemed really, really smart – i.e. they weren’t evolving…they were smart from the very beginning. When you look at cathedrals and castles in Europe, they are beautifully made. They are masterpieces. Those buildings will outlast the buildings that we are building in the modern era. I have seen nearly 2,000 year old Roman aqueducts which still stand along the coast of Israel. They look like they could still carry water. I have walked on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and seen stones from the era of Herod which weigh 2-5 tons each. Some of them are much larger, and are the size of full sized vans. Interestingly, the southern end of the Temple Mount sits on a series of arches. People used to enter on ramps under the mount, before emerging on top. I have been under the Temple Mount. I won’t say how, but was a great moment in my life. I have walked those very ramps.
So, my point is that people have been very smart for a very long time. In fact, the timeline of human intelligence gets pushed back with each passing decade, i.e. humans weren’t just smart during the times of Egypt and Sumaria. Our intelligence predates those civilizations.
Fortunately, my Bible study leader brought in a speaker(from Arizona State?) who worked for a local industry. He pulled out The Genesis Record by Harry Morris. We went systematically through Genesis. By the time we were done, I no longer believed in evolution as it was taught in schools. I believe the Lord made us highly intelligent from the word “go.” Some of you will say that science says otherwise. My answer is this, “Trust the science. How did that work out recently?” Now, I am not saying that science doesn’t have an important place in this world. We have lots of nice conveniences and modern medicine which are a direct result of science. However, we saw a lot of critical thinking mocked and buried in order to promote a certain, recent narrative.
My question would be this, “Why are we not considering that a catastrophic event nearly wiped out everything on our planet?” 30 years ago, we weren’t hunting asteroids which could be planet killers. We are hunting them now, because science tells us our civilization could be pulverized by one of these behemoths. It is also true that the collective memories of most cultures have a story of a flood, people riding in a boat to survive it, and then civilization having to rebuild. Now, that sure sounds like Noah.
And if we are willing to believe that Noah existed, and that he and his family survived a global catastrophe…then we have the ingredients to believe all of what is found in Genesis. If we believe Noah survived that flood, then we probably also believe that God spoke to Noah and warned him. He spoke in such a clear and convincing manner that Noah built a boat which was big enough to place a pair of every living thing(that breathed air) into it. And if we are willing to believe all of that, we probably also are willing to believe that our planet had grown so evil that God could not tolerate it any longer, and he shut the door of the ark.
And once Noah is real to us and once the catastrophe of the flood becomes plausible, then that lays the foundation for the rest of what follows (in the rest of the books of Bible) to be true.
It is my assertion that there is a growing bank of evidence for a cataclysm which wiped out the fauna and megafauna of our planet. That cataclysm was likely due to a rapid rise in sea level. I can’t and won’t be able to describe all of that in one post nor even in a 1,000 page book.
And you might be like, “How in the world does this have anything to do with education?” Well, I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Our young people need to be taught that the Old Testament shouldn’t just be discarded as a series of myths. That doubt sowed within our education system falsely cuts the underpinning from beneath the Bible. What’s worse? There is a good chance that what we are teaching is outdated as some are rapidly putting together the pieces that Earth’s civilizations(all of them) likely originated from a single, very intelligent civilization which survived a global cataclysm.
Understanding Genesis changed my life. I became a Christian believer, in part, because of that study in high school about the authenticity of the Book of Genesis. For me, suddenly the Bible became connected. It came to life. The Bible is full of simultaneously faithful, courageous, and deeply flawed people who we can relate to. I believe our young people need to understand that Genesis is true. I believe that we need to teach that the Bible is historically accurate. In my opinion, I think within the next 100 years it will be academically accepted that a catastrophic event destroyed large parts of the surface of the Earth in a renovation that completely wiped out the intelligent civilizations which preceded it.
ProTip: The slanted academic erosion by secular society of the Book of Genesis is pretty massive. I want you to think about the last time you heard a minister preach on Noah. It is rare. I believe Genesis is foundational to the rest that follows. I believe the story of Noah leads us to the foot of the cross. Why wouldn’t Satan say, “The science is settled.” But what if…the science isn’t settled at all? What if it actually points us directly back to the Book of Genesis. Can you imagine in the world today what would happen to a scientist or archeologist who dared to say the Bible was true? Don’t think too hard. We saw brilliant scientists ostracized for saying that COVID was man-made. We saw brilliant doctors mocked for correctly noting that children were better off in school.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”[c]
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
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