Page 54 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

The extent of the Genesis Flood is partly determined by the meaning of the word ‘earth’ (Hebrew erets)
in Genesis 1–10 and (Greek kosmos) in 2 Peter 3:5–7. xxxii What is erets in Gen. 6:1 referring to? Genesis
6:5–7 suggests that the reference is, therefore, to the ‘earth’ of Gen. 1:1 and 2:1 (i.e., all that is not the
‘heavens’), for in Gen. 6:7, there is an echo of the creation (Hebrew bara) of men and animal life
recorded in Gen. 1:20–30. Moreover, the words of Gen. 8:22 would hardly follow if the promise in v. 21
applied only to the inhabitants of the early Middle East, for ‘seedtime and harvest’ are universal
phenomena, in the same way, that ‘day and night’ bring us to the universal context of creation (Gen.
1:5). This apparent universality continues in Gen. 9, where it is not the regional man whose life is
protected by law but man made in God’s image (v. 6). Accordingly, the covenant of Gen. 9:9 and
following establishes the universally experienced rainbow as the pledge of God’s promise never again to
destroy the whole earth (the word again is erets).

2 Peter 3 clinches this line of reasoning, for, in this chapter, Peter refutes uniformitarianism (v. 4) and
proclaims that uniformitarians are ‘willingly ignorant.’ He then states that after the creation of the
heavens and the earth in Gen. 1:1–2, the ‘world [Greek kosmos] that then was, being overflowed with
water, perished’ (v.6). The fact that the ‘heavens and earth which are now … are … reserved unto fire’
(v. 7) and will be replaced by ‘a new heavens and a new earth’ (v. 13) strongly suggests that the ‘world’
in v. 6 (equivalent to the erets of Gen. 6) was universal in extent.

We read in Genesis 7 and 8 that “the fountains of the great deep” were broken up and poured out water
from inside the earth for 150 days (5 months). Plus, it rained torrentially and globally for 40 days and
nights (“the floodgates [or windows of heaven] were opened”). No wonder all the high hills and the
mountains were covered, meaning the earth was covered by a global ocean (“the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6). All air-breathing life on the land was swept away
and perished.

Some creationists suggest that a sphere or canopy of ice several miles thick surrounded the earth. xxxiii
It’s called the canopy theory and is a valid explanation of the reason for the drastic climate change from
before the flood to after the flood. Also, it explains the source of the vast amount of water that was
suddenly dumped on the earth’s surface in order to flood the entire world. Those supporting the
canopy theory believe that the canopy acted as a greenhouse on the Earth and made the climate stable
and mild, allowing for a vast amount of vegetation to grow around the Earth. xxxiv

Darwinists and Creationists both agree that to be fossilized, the subjects
had to be buried completely and very quickly to keep the subject from total
decomposition, so that there would be anything to fossilize! The debate is
not that flooding and rapid burial are critical elements in fossilization; the
debate is now whether there were hundreds [or thousands] of small, local
flood events or a single global flood, as the Bible records.

Can a person believe in both Evolution and Creation?

In The Battle for the Beginning, John MacArthur said, “Absolutely nothing in the text of Genesis 1:1-2:3
speaks of evolution or long geologic ages in the creation process. The text itself is, in fact, a
straightforward refutation of all evolutionary principles. Theistic evolution, billion-year-old-earth
theories, and ‘progressive creationism’ are all refuted if we simply take the statements of Genesis at
face value.” xxxv

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