Download Genesis, geology and the Grand Canyon

GENESIS, GEOLOGY AND THE GRAND CANYON
Dr. Gary Gromacki
Associate Professor of Bible and Homiletics
Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania
In June of 2008 I traveled by motorized boat 187 miles down the Colorado River in the
Grand Canyon with 28 Bible teachers and creation scientists. Tom Vail of Canyon Ministries1
led our adventure. Terry Mortenson and Andrew Snelling, with Answers in Genesis2, gave lectures on the age of the earth as well as the geology of the Grand Canyon. Our group started the
rafting trip at Lee’s Ferry. We went through Marble Canyon and then through the Grand
Canyon. Some highlights of the trip for me included rafting the rapids in the Colorado River,
viewing the rock strata in the canyon, visiting some Anasazi ruins, seeing a petrified log, seeing
fossils at Redwall Cavern, jumping into the pool at Elves Chasm, listening to a teacher read
Genesis 1 in the inner gorge, floating down the Little Colorado River, hiking through the slot
canyon at Matkatamiba, surviving Lava Falls rapids, praying as a group to start each day, and
taking a helicopter ride out of the canyon.
The Grand Canyon is an amazing place. Over five million visitors travel there each year to
experience its breathtaking beauty. It is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.3 The
Grand Canyon in northern Arizona contains one of the most exceptional series of exposed rock
formations found anywhere in the world. The sequence of rock layers in the canyon vary in color and thickness and extend from the Colorado River to the Kaibab Plateau. The Grand Canyon
is approximately one mile deep and extends 278 miles between Lake Powell on its eastern end
and Lake Mead to the west. The Colorado River meanders through the Grand Canyon.4
In this article we will examine the question of the age of the earth as we study the book of
Genesis, geology, and the Grand Canyon. How old is the earth? How was the Grand Canyon
formed? Do the rock layers of the Grand Canyon prove that the earth is old? Is Genesis opposed
to geology? Does Genesis teach us anything about the age of the earth? How have Bible scholCanyon Ministries was started by Grand Canyon river guide Tom Vail. Every day Tom would tell us “Let’s
go boatin’,” and we put on our life jackets and got into the boats from Arizona River Runners. Tom shared his testimony of how he came to Christ with us on the trip and his story appears in his beautifully illustrated book Grand
Canyon: A Different View (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003).
1
2
Answers in Genesis sponsored our trip. Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry started by Ken Ham
that has produced many books, DVDs, and online resources that present scientific evidence for biblical creationism
and a young earth. Answers in Genesis recently built the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky which presents an
account of the origins of the universe, life, man, and man’s early history according to a literal interpretation of the
book of Genesis. Its exhibits reject evolution and assert that the earth, man, and all life forms were created by God in
six literal days some 6000 years ago.
3
There is no consensus on the seven natural wonders of the world. One of many lists was compiled by CNN,
listing the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Mount Everest, Aurora, Paricutin Volcano, and Victoria Falls. (<http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9711/NATURAL.WONDERS/>
[accessed 1 September 2008]).
The average width of the Colorado River is 300 feet, and its minimum width is 76 feet. The Colorado River’s
average depth is 40 feet, and its greatest depth is 85 feet. Its average gradient is 7 feet per mile
(<www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/statistics.htm> [accessed 24 July 2008]). The temperature is around 48 F.
4
1
ars and creation scientists interpreted Genesis, geology and the Grand Canyon? This paper will
attempt to answer these questions regarding the Bible and science.
THE GRAND CANYON AND
THE AGE OF THE EARTH
How long ago was the Grand Canyon formed? 5 Evolutionist geologists assert that the rock
strata of the Grand Canyon were formed over millions of years as oceans slowly advanced and
retreated over the North American continent. They believe that the Grand Canyon was cut in six
million years by the Colorado River.6 Belknap argues for an old earth as he describes how the
Grand Canyon was formed:
The dark, contorted rocks of the Inner Gorge are the ancient, highly metamorphosed remains of even older sedimentary and igneous rocks. How ancient? Detailed studies of radioactive elements reveal that the Canyon’s
oldest rock, the Vishnu Schist, was metamorphosed some 1.7 billion years ago; presumably the original rock
was deposited as silt or fine sand a few hundred million years before that during the Proterozoic Era. Above the
inner gorge is a thick sequence of flat lying sedimentary rock. In this sequence the harder sandstone and limestone layers form vertical cliffs; the slopes between the cliffs are softer siltstone beds. Fossil plants and shells
found here indicate that the sediments were deposited in the Paleozoic Era during a time span of 295 million
years, from about 545 to 250 million years ago. Although most rocks younger than Paleozoic have been eroded
away from the Canyon rim, nearby outcrops show that at least 2000 feet of sediment was deposited during the
succeeding 170 million years. This period of deposition occurred during the Mesozoic Era (the age of dinosaurs), a time when the region was low and swampy, but not deeply submerged. The Mesozoic ended about 65
million years ago when vast disturbances began to raise both the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau.
After a long period of stop and go uplift, the present river drainage patterns began forming. In the last 6 million
years, the ancestral rivers organized themselves into the present Colorado. During that time the river cut down
through a mile of rock to form Grand Canyon.7
Belknap holds to a uniformitarian view of historical geology. Uniformitarians argue that the
geological processes seen today are the same processes that occurred in the past and will always
be the same in the future.8 Uniformitarian geologists argue that the present is the key to the past.
5
John Hance, early Grand Canyon guide and storyteller, gave this fanciful explanation of the formation of the
canyon: “It was hard work, took a long time, but I dug it myself with a pick and shovel. If you want to know what I
done with the dirt, just look south through a clearing in the trees at what they call the San Francisco Peaks,”
(<www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/statistics.htm> [accessed 24 July 2008]).
“This most famous of all canyons was formed by swiftly flowing waters of the Colorado River cutting into
rock layers of the southwestern Colorado Plateau,” (Stanley Beus and Michael Morales, Grand Canyon Geology
[New York: Oxford, 1990], 2). Biblical geologist Steven Austin shows the problems with the antecedent river theory
and the “precocious gully” theory in his book Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe (Santee, CA: Institute for
Creation Research, 1994), 85-92.
6
7
Buzz Belknap, Grand Canyon River Guide (Evergreen, CO: Westwater Books, 2008), 4-6. Belknap describes
his view of the formation of the Grand Canyon over millions of years on pages 8 and 9 of his book.
8
The concept of uniformitarianism was first proposed by the Persian geologist Avicenna. Uniformitarianism is
a philosophy of science which was made popular by James Hutton in his book Theory of the Earth and by Charles
Lyell in his three-volume Principles of Geology (1830-1835; repr., New York: Johnson Repr., 1969). Before Darwin
sailed on the Beagle he read Lyell’s Principles of Geology which explained that landforms were the result of gradual
processes over millions of years. Lyell’s uniformitarian geology influenced Darwin and his belief that evolution
took place over millions of years.
2
They reject the worldwide flood of Genesis. They would argue that the earth is millions of years
old and would seek to use the Grand Canyon as exhibit A for their view.
Young earth creationists and biblical geologists have a different view regarding the age and
formation of the Grand Canyon. Young earth creationists believe that the days of Genesis 1
were six literal 24-hour days which occurred a little over 6000 years ago. Biblical geologists
assume that the book of Genesis gives a true, historical account of origins. They would argue
that the earth is not millions of years old, but just thousands. 9 They would interpret the formation of the Grand Canyon in light of the fact that Genesis teaches that there was a global
flood (Gen 6-8). Biblical geologists would argue that most (not all) of sedimentary rock layers
seen in the Grand Canyon are the result of a catastrophic worldwide flood. They believe that the
Grand Canyon was not eroded slowly over millions of years, but in a short period of time either
as a result of receding flood waters or the breaking of a dam from post-flood lakes or a combination of these two events.
THE GRAND CANYON AND
THE GEOLOGIC COLUMN
The Grand Canyon is known for its many different types of rock layers. In 1870 John
Wesley Powell was the first geologist to explore the Grand Canyon. He called the rock strata of
Grand Canyon “a book of revelations in the rock leaved Bible of geology.” 10 Geologists classify
rocks in three main types: igneous11, sedimentary12, and metamorphic.13 All three types of rocks
are found in the Grand Canyon.
Geologists have related these rock layers to different time periods in earth’s history. The
vast ages of earth history have been divided by geologists into a series of geological eras and
periods.14 The whole sequence is known as the Geologic Column. The Geologic Column has
9 Dr. Don DeYoung has written a book called Thousands … Not Billions (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2005). This
book summarizes eight years of research led by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) to determine the age of the earth. The
project title was Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth (RATE). The book argues that the earth is not millions of years old but
rather several thousand years old. Dr. John Morris has written a book entitled The Young Earth (Colorado Springs, CO: Master
Books, 1994) which gives biblical and scientific arguments in favor of a recent creation of planet earth.
10
Beus and Morales, Grand Canyon Geology, 8.
11 Igneous rocks are formed as a result of the cooling of molten rock. Below the surface molten rock is called magma. At the
earth’s surface it becomes lava. Magma or lava is a mixture of elements such as silica, iron, sodium and potassium. As it cools
these elements combine or crystallize to form igneous rocks. Some types of igneous rocks include obsidian, pumice, granite, and
basalt (<http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/Fichter/IgnRx/Introigrx.html> [accessed 15 September 2008]).
12
Sedimentary rocks are the results of weathering, transportation by water, and deposition of quartz sand, clay and calcite in
a solution which result in sandstone, shale and limestone (<http://csmres.jmu/edu/geollab/ Fichter/SedRx/index.html> [accessed
15 September 2008]).
13
Metamorphic rocks are changed over time from a preexisting rock by heat, pressure, and chemical activity. Metamorphism occurs when a preexisting rock (the parent rock) is buried in the earth under layers of other rocks. The deeper the rock is
buried, the hotter it gets and the higher pressure it experiences. The rock becomes a metamorphic rock. Marble comes from limestone that experiences heat and pressure; quartzite comes from sandstone and slate comes from shale. Any rock can be metamorphosed including igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks (<http://csmres.jmu/edu/geollab/Fichter/SedRx/index.html>
[accessed 15 September 2008]).
14
The geologic time scale is based on supposed differences in evolution of fossil animals. Index fossils also
known as guide fossils or zone fossils are fossils used to define and identify geological periods in different rock
strata. Rock strata are often dated by the index fossils and index fossils are dated by the rock strata in which they are
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never been found in its totality in any one location. It is an artificial construct developed by geologists who believe in an old earth. The Geologic Column is used by evolutionist geologists to
date rocks and fossils. It is used as an argument to support the teaching of evolution. The Geologic Column is often displayed in books on the Grand Canyon. Geologists believe that the
youngest rocks are at the top of the Grand Canyon and the oldest rocks are at the bottom.
The Geologic Column is divided into two supereons: Phanerozoic and Precambrian. The supereons are divided into eons. The Precambrian supereon is divided into two major eons: Archean and Proterozoic. The Phanerozoic supereon is divided into three major eras: Paleozoic,
Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. The eras are divided into periods. The following description of time
periods in the Geologic Column will be given from oldest to youngest.
The oldest rocks come from the Precambrian15 eon. The Archean (formerly called
Archaeozoic) is a geological eon that has rocks that date from 2500 million years ago and older.
Some geological columns place the Hadean before the Archean while others have the Hadean as
included the Archean. Supposedly the first continents formed during this eon. The Proterozoic
eon dates before 542 million years ago. Evolutionists believe that primitive water dwelling
plants and animals evolved during this time.
Evolutionist geologists believe that the Paleozoic 16 era (542-250 million years ago) was
marked by the first appearance of animals with shells such as clams, invertebrates (animals
without backbones), fish, land plants, and amphibians. The Paleozoic era is divided into
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian periods.
Evolutionists believe that all invertebrate animals evolved in the primordial seas during the
Cambrian period. Brachiopods and trilobites were common. Evolutionists believe that during
the Ordovician period the earliest known vertebrates evolved. Graptolites, corals, brachiopods,
cephalopods, and trilobites were abundant. The oldest primitive land plants also evolved at this
time. During the Silurian period evolutionists believe that the earliest known land animals
evolved along with fish. During the Devonian period evolutionists believe that amphibians
evolved along with a great variety of boneless fish and the first known seed plants. The
Mississippian period supposedly saw the rise of the amphibians and culmination of crinoids.
The Pennsylvanian period is known for the earliest known insects. Evolutionists believe that
during the Permian period primitive reptiles evolved, the trilobites became extinct, and the first
modern corals were formed.
The Mesozoic17 era (251-65 million years ago) is divided by geologists into the Triassic,
Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. During the Triassic period evolutionists believe that the earliest dinosaurs evolved along with flying reptiles, marine reptiles and primitive mammals. Cycads
and conifers were common. Ammonites also evolved during the Triassic period. During the
found. This is an obvious case of circular reasoning to justify millions of years. Anomalous fossils are problems for
evolutionists. Anomalous fossils are two fossils of different ages found in the same rock layer. If the evolutionist
cannot extend the stratigraphic range of the fossils, he must determine which fossil is the index fossil and represents
the true age of the rock strata.
15
Precambrian is the word used to describe the time before the Cambrian period. Evolutionists believe that it
includes 85% of geologic time (Nicholas Coch and Allan Ludman, Physical Geology [New York: Macmillan, 1991],
198).
16
From a word meaning ancient life.
17
From a word meaning middle life.
4
Jurassic period, evolutionists believe that dinosaurs ruled the world. Also during this time evolutionists believe that birds evolved. Evolutionists believe that dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and
ammonites became extinct during the Cretaceous period.
The Cenozoic era (65 million years ago to the present) is the time when mammals and flowering plants became dominant. The Cenozoic era is divided into the Tertiary and Quaternary
periods. The Tertiary period is divided into five epochs (from oldest to youngest): Paleocene
Epoch, Eocene Epoch, Oligocene Epoch, Miocene Epoch, and the Pliocene Epoch. The
Quaternary period is divided into the Pleistocene Epoch and the Recent Epoch. Evolutionists
believe that during this time modern plants, animals, and man evolved.
Biblical geologists are divided over the Geologic Column and its significance. Reed and
Oard have edited a book entitled The Geologic Column: Perspectives Within Diluvial
Geology.18 Some biblical geologists (Tyler, Coffin) believe that the Geologic Column should be
accepted as foundational for developing an understanding of the geological history of planet
earth, but they reject the chronology of the Geologic Column. They believe it is helpful in identifying various rock strata and index fossils within the strata. 19 A second approach by biblical
geologists is called recolonization. Recolonization accepts the Geologic Column and seeks to
understand the fossil and rock strata within a framework of biblical history with short time periods.20 A third group of biblical geologists accepts the Geologic Column as a general flood order
with many exceptions. Oard gives arguments for Walker’s biblical geological model. The sedimentary rocks labeled as Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic strata are viewed as early
Flood. Cenozoic strata can be early Flood, late Flood, or post-Flood depending upon their location and the particular fossil used to date the Cenozoic.21 A fourth group of biblical geologists
calls for a rejection of the Geologic Column and an interpretation of the rock record within a
biblical framework of creation, fall, and flood. They would argue that the rock record is a descriptive term for those sections of the rocks that can be observed by geologists today. They
believe that the Geologic Column is an interpretation of the rock record by means of assumptions of millions of years, evolution and the continuity of depositional processes. Reed,
Klevberg, and Froede Jr. state their position: “If the column rests on the presuppositions of evolution, deep time, and uniformitarianism—all inimical to creationism—then it has no meaningful role in creationist stratigraphy.”22
The different rock layers in the Grand Canyon are classified by evolutionist geologists using
the Geologic Column. These different layers and their geologic ages are listed from top to bottom according to this scale. The youngest rocks are listed first and the oldest rocks are listed
last. The rock record of the Grand Canyon strata is in bold print and the Geologic Column ages
are given in regular type:
18
John Reed and Michael Oard, ed., The Geologic Column: Perspectives Within Diluvial Geology (Chino
Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society Books, 2006).
19
Ibid., 53-71.
20
David Tyler argues that the universal flood starts with the Hadean and the fossilized plants and animals belong to the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic eons (Ibid., 73-88).
21
Ibid., 99-121.
John Reed, Peter Klevberg, and Carl Froede Jr, “Interpreting the Rock Record Without the Uniformitarian
Geologic Column,” in The Geologic Column, 129.
22
5
Kaibab- Paleozoic era; Permian period
Toroweap- Paleozoic era; Permian period
Coconino Sandstone- Paleozoic era; Permian period
Hermit Formation- Paleozoic era; Permian period
Supai Group- Paleozoic era; Pennsylvanian/Permian periods
Esplanade Sandstone- Paleozoic era; Permian period
Wescogame Formation- Paleozoic era; Pennsylvanian period
Manakacha Formation- Paleozoic era; Pennsylvanian period
Watahomigi Formation- Paleozoic era; Pennsylvanian period
Redwall Limestone: Paleozoic era; Mississippian period
Temple Butte Formation: Paleozoic era; Devonian period
Unclassified Dolomites: Paleozoic era; Cambrian/Devonian periods
Tonto Group: Paleozoic era; Cambrian period
Muav Limestone: Paleozoic era; Cambrian period
Bright Angel Shale: Paleozoic era; Cambrian period
Tapeats Sandstone: Paleozoic era; Cambrian period
Great Unconformity
Grand Canyon Supergroup: Late Proterozoic era;
Precambrian period23
Chuar group: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Sixty mile formation: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Kwagunt formation: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Galeros formation: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Nankoweap: Middle-Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Unkar group: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Cardenas Basalt: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Dox Sandstone: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Shinumo Quartzite: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Hakatai Shale: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Bass Limestone: Late Proterozoic era; Precambrian period
Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite: Early Proterozoic era24
OLD EARTH VIEWS AND
THE BOOK OF GENESIS
Most geology textbooks date the age of the earth as 4.6 billion years old.25 Many geologists
would argue that the many sedimentary layers of the Grand Canyon prove that the earth is old.
23
“Pre-Cambrian sedimentary and volcanic rocks are exposed along the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon
National Park. The angular attitude of these beds indicates that they were tilted after deposition, according to the
principle of original horizontality first proposed by Steno” (Coch and Ludman, Physical Geology, 187)
24
Beus and Moralis, ed. Grand Canyon Geology, 9. Belknap gives a colorful chart of these rock layers in his
book Grand Canyon River Guide, 10-11. Belknap also has color pictures of the rock layers in the Grand Canyon
that he identifies, which provide a guide for visitors who want to know what rock layers they are viewing (Ibid., 1215).
25
Geologic time differs from historic time because it is measured in millions and billions of years back to the
supposed origin of the earth about 4.6 billion years ago. Isotopic dating has provided new information about the age
of the earth (4.6 billion years), the oldest rocks found so far (3.96 billion years), the oldest fossils (3.1-3.5 billion
years) and evolutionary stages that culminated in modern humans. (Coch and Ludman, Physical Geology, 212).
6
Many Christian scholars (Hugh Ross, Davis Young, Norm Geisler) believe in an old earth.26
They argue that millions of years can be inserted in the Bible, and so they try to reconcile geology and Genesis. The following is a summary of old earth views.
Atheistic Evolution
Atheistic evolutionists believe that the universe has always existed or came into existence as
a result of a big bang.27 They believe that the sun existed before the earth and that the earth spun
off from the sun and was at first a hot molten sphere. Atheistic evolutionists believe that a single cell evolved from non-living chemicals in the hot, primordial seas. Mutations were beneficial and led to the evolution of multi-cellular organisms. Some amphibians evolved into reptiles,
including the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs lived millions of years before man came on the scene.
Many evolutionists believe that the dinosaurs were killed off by a meteor that hit the earth and
caused a change in climate. Some shrew-like creatures survived which evolved into the mammals of today. Atheistic evolutionists believe that man evolved from some ape like creature a
few million years ago.
Carl Sagan writes, “The secrets of evolution are death and time—the deaths of enormous
numbers of lifeforms that were imperfectly adapted to the environment, and time for a long succession of small mutations that were by accident adaptive, time for a slow accumulation of patterns of favorable mutations.”28
Atheistic evolutionists reject the biblical account of creation in Genesis. They view Genesis
as myth. They would view the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon as a result of millions of
years of changing environments including a time when the region was like a desert (Tapeats
Sandstone) and times when the region was covered with water (Redwall Limestone).
The teaching of Genesis on the origins of life contrasts with the teaching of evolution.
Genesis teaches that God created the earth on day one before the sun, while evolution teaches
that the sun existed before the earth (Gen 1:1). Genesis teaches that God created light on day
one before he created the sun on day four, while evolution teaches that the sun and light have
always existed or came into existence as a result of a big bang. Genesis teaches that life began
on dry land (Gen 1:11-12) while evolution says that life began in the ocean. Genesis states that
birds existed before insects (Gen 1:20, 24) while evolution reverses this order. Genesis states
that birds and fish were created on the same day (the fifth day of creation; Gen 1:20-23), but
evolution says that fish evolved before birds. Genesis indicates that God created plants and animals to reproduce after their kinds (Gen 1:11, 12, 21, 24), while evolution teaches that animals
can change their genetic makeup as a result of positive mutations and become different types of
animals. Genesis teaches that God created Adam from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7) and
breathed into him the breath of life, while evolution teaches that man descended from a sub-ape
creature. Genesis teaches that man and dinosaurs were created on the same day (sixth day; Gen
1:24-31) and existed at the same time, while evolution teaches that dinosaurs existed millions of
26
Davis Young and Ralph Stearley, The Bible, Rocks and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008) gives a comprehensive history of geology and presents evidence for an
old earth.
Carl Sagan wrote, “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” (Cosmos [New York: Ballantine,
1985], 1).
27
28
Ibid., 30.
7
years before man came into existence. Genesis teaches that death and suffering came into the
world because of man’s sin (Gen 3), while evolution teaches that death and suffering existed
before man evolved.
Charles Darwin himself realized that the theory of evolution had problems. He writes,
The number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed on the earth must be enormous. Why then is
not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not
reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this perhaps is the most obvious and gravest objection
which can be urged against my theory. 29
Even scientists today who are not creationists have written books critiquing evolution.
Michael Denton has written a book called Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Denton points out that,
It is still, as it was in Darwin’s day, overwhelmingly true that the first representatives of all the major classes
of organisms known to biology are already highly characteristic of their class when they make their initial
appearance in the fossil record. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in the case of the invertebrate
fossil record. At its first appearance in the ancient Paleozoic seas, invertebrate life was already divided into
practically all the major groups with which we are familiar today.30
The fossil record reveals sudden appearance of species and stasis. This supports a creation
model not an evolution model of origins. Evolutionists have not discovered any transitional
forms to prove their theory of evolution. Robert Barnes writes that “the fossil record tells us
almost nothing about the evolutionary origin of phyla and classes. Intermediate forms are nonexistent undiscovered, or not recognized.”31
Neo-Catastrophism, Local Floods
and Punctuated Equilibrium
Some evolutionists are neo-catastrophists. They would view the rock layers of the Grand
Canyon as being formed by local floods, but not a universal flood. Robert Dott argues that the
geological record is a record of local and regional catastrophes and not slow uniform rates of
deposition.32 Derek Ager writes, “But I maintain that a far more accurate picture of the stratigraphical record is one of long gap with only very occasional sedimentation.”33
Stephen Gould, an evolutionist and paleontologist, proposes that the degree of gradualism
championed by Darwin is non-existent in the fossil record. This lack of transitional forms in the
fossil record led him to propose his view of punctuated equilibrium. Punctuated equilibrium is
the view that evolution is marked by long periods of stability which is later punctuated by rare
instances of branching speciation.34 Gould proposes that the degree of gradualism championed
29
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection (1859), 287.
30
Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1985), 162.
31
Robert Barnes, “Invertebrate Beginnings,” Paleobiology 6 (1980): 365.
Robert Dott, “Episodic View Now Replacing Catastrophism,”
Geotimes, November 1982, 16.
32
33
Derek Ager, The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record (New York: Wiley and Sons, 1973), 34.
N. Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould, “Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism” in
Models in Paleobiology, ed. T. Schopf (San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper, 1972), 82-115.
34
8
by Darwin was nonexistent in the fossil record. This lack of transitional forms in the fossil record led him to propose his view of punctuated equilibrium.
The book of Genesis indicates that there was a global flood, not just a local flood in
Mesopotamia. The lack of transitional forms in the fossil record supports a biblical view of creation and a worldwide flood.
Theistic Evolution
Theistic evolutionists believe that God superintended the process of evolution to bring our
world and life into existence five billion years ago.35 They believe that God created the first cell
and that from that first living cell all living things evolved. They also believe that all species of
land animals, fish, and birds have evolved from a common ancestor. Theistic evolutionists believe that the first man evolved from some remote, sub-human male ape. They believe that
Genesis 1-3 is a spiritual allegory. They believe that the days of Genesis should be viewed as
millions of years rather than literal 24-hour days. They think that it is inappropriate to refer to
science using Genesis since they believe Genesis was written in a pre-scientific age and was
intended for religious instruction. Theistic evolutionists believe that the Grand Canyon is millions of years old. Genesis 1 contradicts the teaching of evolution and shows that God did not
superintend the evolution of animals or men. Genesis 2:7 emphasizes that man was a special
creation of God. God took dust and breathed into it and man was formed (Gen 2:7). God did not
create a soul and place it into the body of an ape. 36
Progressive Creation or Day-Age View
Progressive creationists37 believe that God created the universe over six or more long ages
of time. The geologic ages are placed during the six days of creation of Genesis 1. Sometimes
progressive creation is called the day-age view.
Hugh Ross teaches an old earth and progressive creationism in his writings. 38 Ross rejects
evolution and abiogenesis as explanations for the history and origin of life. He believes that
God formed different life forms in incremental or progressive stages. Ross believes that the
days of Genesis are historic, distinct, and sequential, but not twenty-four hours in length. One
argument used is that 2 Peter 3:8 says that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a
thousand years as one day.” It is important to see that Peter uses a simile here. Peter does not
equate one thousand years with one day. Progressive creationists also like to argue that too
many activities occurred on the sixth day for it to have been a 24-hour day. But Genesis 1:24-31
35
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a geologist and paleontologist who wrote to incorporate evolution into
Christianity (Pierre de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1940; repr., New York: Harper, 1959). Theistic evolution
is widely held today and is taught in liberal Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and some Jewish schools.
36
Richard Niessen gives a critique of theistic evolution and the day-age theory in Impact #81 of the Institute of
Creation Research (<http://www.icr.org/articles/print/164> [accessed 19 September 2008]).
37
Progressive Creationism was coined by Bernard Ramm and is the official position of Wheaton College
(<http://www.wheaton/edu/ Biology/ faculty/ppp/other_files/progtheo2.html> [accessed 19 September 2008]).
38
Hugh Ross has written several books arguing for the progressive creation view: Hugh Ross, The Genesis
Question (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1998); Hugh Ross, Origins of Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress,
2004); Hugh Ross, Creation as Science (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006)
9
indicates that God did several things on the sixth day: He created the beasts of the earth, cattle
and every creature on the earth. He then created Adam from the dust of the ground. God
brought the animals to Adam, and Adam gave names to the animals. Then God created Eve
from the side of Adam and performed the first wedding in Paradise (Gen 2:21-25). Ross believes that when God said “Let there be light,” that the atmosphere changed and the sun’s light
began to shine through. But Genesis states that God did not create the sun until day four (Gen
1:14-19). Ross accepts uniformitarian geology. He believes that Noah’s flood was local, but
killed all humans except Noah and his family. Genesis teaches that the flood was global. If the
flood were local, why did God command Noah to build an ark? He could have commanded him
to take his family to a different region to avoid a local flood.
The Gap Theory or Ruin-Reconstruction View
The Gap Theory or ruin-reconstruction view attempts to harmonize Genesis 1 with geology
that teaches that the rocks are millions of years old. 39 This view maintains that Genesis 1:1 describes the original perfect creation. Gap theorists believe that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2
there is an indefinite time gap. In this view the geologic ages of millions of years are placed
before the six days of re-creation described in Genesis 1:3-31. This view teaches that a preAdamic race of humans inhabited the original creation. Lucifer (unfallen Satan) ruled over these
people in the Garden of Eden. When Lucifer rebelled (Isa 14), sin entered the world. The earth
was then judged by God as a result. The universe became formless and void. Gap theorists believe that Genesis 1:2 describes a judged world after the fall of Satan. Darkness is viewed as
indicating Satan’s presence in the world. The waters that covered the world are sometimes referred to as “Lucifer’s flood.” Gap theorists believe that fossils are a result of the global flood in
Genesis 1:2. They therefore advocate death before the sin of Adam in Genesis 3. Gap theorists
believe that Genesis 1:3 describes the first day of re-creation of the world.
The Gap Theory presents several problems. First, Gap theorists believe that there is a chronological sequence between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. They believe that the verses should be translated, “And the earth became formless and void.” The Hebrew text does not support this translation. The disjunctive waw begins Genesis 1:2 and introduces a disjunctive clause and not a
consecutive clause. The verse should be translated, “Now the earth was formless and void.” The
Hebrew verb ‫ הָ יְ תָ ה‬should be translated “was” rather than “became” (cf. Jonah 3:3; Zech 3:3).
Second, Gap theorists argue that “formless and void” imply judgment and an evil condition
that could not have been part of the original creation by God. “Formless and void” (‫ ) תֹ הּו וָבֹ הּו‬do
not necessarily imply judgment and an evil condition. The word “formless” (‫ ) תֹ הּו‬appears in the
OT referring to outer space (Job 26:7) and the wilderness (Deut 32:10) without any evil connotations. Isaiah 45:18 says that it was not God’s ultimate intention that the earth be formless and
void. In other words, God did originally create the world formless and void, but since this was
39 Thomas Chalmers proposed the Gap Theory in 1814. George H. Pember wrote Earth’s Earliest Ages (1876; repr., Grand
Rapids: Kregel, 1975) in 1876 and argued for the Gap Theory. Arthur Custance argued for the Gap Theory in his book Without
Form and Void (Brockville, ON: Doorway Papers, 1970) . The New Scofield Reference Bible gives this note on
Genesis 1:3: “Neither here nor in vv.14-18 is an original creative act implied. A different word is used. The sense is
made to appear, made visible. The sun and moon were created ‘in the beginning.’ The light came from the sun, of
course, but the vapor diffused the light. Later the sun appeared in an unclouded sky.” The best critique of the Gap
Theory was written by Weston Fields, Unformed and Unfilled (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976).
10
not his ultimate purpose for it to remain in that condition, he proceeded to form and fill it on the
six days of the creation week.
Third, Gap theorists argue that “darkness” (‫ )חֹ שֶׁ ְך‬is not good and indicates the presence of
evil in the world. While it is true that darkness is used as a symbol of judgment and evil in the
Bible, it does not follow that darkness is inherently evil. Darkness was created by God who is
light for creation’s good (Psa 104:19-24). While it is true that God called the light good but said
nothing about the darkness, this does not mean that darkness was not good (cf. Gen 1:4). God
did not specifically say that the expanse that he created was good, but that doesn’t mean that it
was not good (cf. Gen 1:6-8). Evening was part of the days that God declared good. God saw all
that he had made (including darkness) and said that it was very good (Gen 1:31).
Fourth, Gap theorists believe that the two primary words for “create” (‫ בָ ָרא‬used in Gen 1:1
and ‫ ׂשעה‬used in Gen 1:25) refer to two different kinds of creation. They say that bara refers to
primary creative activity, while asah means that God re-created out of previously existing materials. The Hebrew words are not so distinct. For example, Moses used bara of the creation of
man out of previously existing material (Gen 1:27), and he used asah of the whole creation as
the primary activity of God (Exod 20:11). Furthermore, he used bara of the creation of some
animals (Gen 1:21) and asah of the creation of other animals (Gen 1:25). The real difference
between these two words is that Moses used bara only of divine activity, and he used asah of
both divine and human activities.
Fifth, Gap theorists believe that God commanded Adam to replenish the earth (Gen 1:28,
KJV). This command they believe shows that the earth must have been previously inhabited.
This is a wrong translation of the Hebrew word ‫ּומלְ אּו‬.
ִ Genesis 1:28 is a command to fill the
earth, not to refill the earth. Also, how could there be a race of pre-Adamic people? What would
be their relationship to Adam? How could they have died if sin was not in the world? Adam was
the first man that God created. The Bible does not indicate that there was a race of pre-Adamic
people.
The strongest argument against the Gap Theory is the fact that death and the curse came into
the world as a result of Adam’s sin, not because of Lucifer’s fall (cf. Rom 5:12; 8:20-22). Adam
was not walking on a graveyard of fossils when God created him from the dust of the ground.
Animals did not die until after the fall of man (cf. Gen 3).
The Precreation Chaos Theory
The Precreation Chaos Theory views Genesis 1:1 as a summary statement inclusive of what
God did on the six days of creation recorded in Genesis 1:3-2:1.40 This view states that Lucifer
fell before Genesis 1:1. The condition of the earth as “formless and void” results from Lucifer’s
fall and describes an earth judged by God. The order of events in the beginning according to
this view is (1) God created the universe; (2) God created the angels (Job 38:4-7); (3) Lucifer
fell because of pride (Is.14; Ezek.28); (4) God judged the world with a flood and darkness; (5)
The first day of “re-creation” began with God creating light and separating it from the darkness.
Allen Ross writes concerning Genesis 1:1-2,
These verses have traditionally been understood as referring to the actual beginning of matter, a Creation out
of nothing and therefore part of day one. But the vocabulary and grammar of this section require a closer look.
See Bruce Waltke, “The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3, Part III: The Initial Chaos Theory and the
Precreation Chaos Theory,” BSac 132 (July-September 1975): 216-28.
40
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The motifs and the structure of the Creation account are introduced in the first two verses. That the universe is
God’s creative work is perfectly expressed by the statement God created the heavens and the earth. The word
bara (created) may express creation out of nothing, but it certainly cannot be limited to that (cf. 2:7). Rather, it
stresses that what was formed was new and perfect. The word is used throughout the Bible only with God as
its subject. But 1:2 describes a chaos: there was waste and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.
The clauses in verse 2 are apparently circumstantial to verse 3, telling the world’s condition when God began
to renovate it. It was a chaos of wasteness, emptiness, and darkness. Such conditions would not result from
God’s creative work (bara); rather, in the Bible they are symptomatic of sin and are coordinate with judgment.
Moreover, God’s Creation by decree begins in verse 3, and the elements found in verse 2 are corrected in Creation, beginning with light to dispel the darkness. The expression formless and empty (tohu wabohu) seems also to provide an outline for chapter 1, which describes God’s bringing shape and then fullness to the formless
and empty earth. Some have seen a middle stage of Creation here, that is, an unfinished work of Creation (v.2)
that was later developed (vv.3-25), into the present form. But this cannot be sustained by the syntax or the vocabulary.41
One major problem with the Precreation Chaos Theory is that God declared in Genesis 1:31
that “everything that He had made was very good.” How could a world that had been judged by
God with a flood and darkness because of Lucifer’s fall be declared “very good”? Moses did not
record the fall of Lucifer in Genesis 1-2.
The Framework Hypothesis
The Framework Hypothesis asserts that the creation week of Genesis 1:1-2:3 is a literary
device intended to present the creation week in a topical, non-sequential manner rather than a
literal, sequential one. Kline believes that Genesis 1 is arranged topically rather than chronologically.42 In the first three days God forms the universe, and in the second three days God fills his
universe. Kline sees the creation kingdoms (light, sky/water and land/vegetation) in the first
three days and the creature kings (luminaries, birds/fish, and land animals/man) in the days four
through six. Since the first and fourth day of creation appear to have many similarities, proponents of this view conclude that they are descriptions of one event. Second, Kline argues that
ordinary providence governed the creation account. Third, he believes that the seventh day is
unending, and therefore the six days of creation in Genesis 1 are not 24-hour days.
Robert McCabe presents an excellent critique of the Framework Hypothesis.43 McCabe
gives a summary of the major problems with the Framework Hypothesis:
There are at least two problems with interpreting the creation account as a semi-poetic account. First, while
Genesis 1:1-2:3 reflects a somewhat stylistic use of Hebrew narrative because of its repeated phrases, the 55
uses of waw consecutive (a Hebrew verb form that is predominantly used in Hebrew sequential narrative literature) strongly argues that the creation account is a sequential, chronological narrative and not a semi-poetic
account. Second, the supposed parallels between the two triads are strained. For instance, the framework argues that the luminaries of Day 4 are intentional replication of the light created on Day 1. However, this overlooks the important point that the luminaries of Day 4 are placed in the expanse created on Day 2. Thus, the
luminaries of Day 4 presuppose the creation of the physical phenomenon of light on Day 1 and the expanse on
Allen Ross, “Genesis” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, ed. John Walvoord and Roy
Zuck (Wheaton,IL: Victor, 1985), 28.
41
Meredith Kline, “The Framework Interpretation” in The Genesis Debate: Three Views on The Days of
Creation, ed. David Hagopian (Mission Viejo, CA: Crux P, 2001).
42
Robert McCabe, “A Critique of the Framework Interpretation of the Creation Account (Part 1),” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, Vol. 10 (2005): 19-67; Part 2, Vol. 11 (2006): 63-133.
43
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Day 2. Consequently there is nothing significant in Genesis 1:1-2:3 to undermine the traditional view that
maintains that this is a historical, sequential account affirming that God created the heavens, the earth and all
things therein over the course of six, literal, sequential days.44
The seventh day is not unending. Moses made the point that the seventh day is the Sabbath,
a day of rest. God worked six days during the creation week and rested on the seventh day. The
Israelites were to follow God’s example and work six days and rest on the seventh day (Exod
20:8-11).
A YOUNG EARTH
The Origin of Planet Earth
In order to interpret the Grand Canyon correctly it is essential that we study the book of
Genesis. Genesis 1 teaches that God created the universe and everything in it in six literal 24hour days.45 God did not use the process of evolution to bring the earth into existence.46 Genesis
1 records a true historical view of the origin of planet earth. Genesis 1:1 tells us “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created the earth on day one. The earth was
covered with water on day one and enshrouded with darkness (Gen 1:2). The earth was “formless and void.” The words formless and void have nothing to do with the fall of Lucifer. 47 Darkness was on the face of the deep.48 The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters like a mother bird would hover over its nest. God is sovereign and in control over his
creation. The earth was uninhabitable in the beginning.
Genesis 1, Creation Rocks and the Grand Canyon
44
Robert McCabe, email message to author, August 2008.
There are two main arguments for “day” (‫ )יֹום‬in Genesis 1 to refer to a 24-hour period of time: First, the Hebrew word ‫ יֹום‬when it is used with a numerical adjective (one, two, etc.) always refers to a 24-hour day. Second,
God finished his creation in six days of a week, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that
is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” God established seven days of 24 hours each to equal a week. He designed that man should work six days and rest one. For a
detailed study of the Hebrew word for “day” in the context of Genesis 1 see Jim Stambaugh, “The Days of Creation:
A Semantic Approach” JMAT 7.2 (Fall 2003): 42-68 and Jim Stambaugh, “The Days of Creation: A Semantic Approach Part II” JMAT 8.1 (Spring 2004): 37-54.
45
Hebrews 11:3 says “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the
things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Genesis 1 emphasizes that creation was the result
of God’s powerful spoken word.
46
Lucifer did not fall until after the creation week. The evidence of this is that God declared his creation “very
good” (Gen 1:31). Could God declare that his creation was very good if sin was in existence and his created world
had already been judged with a flood as a result of Lucifer’s fall? Lucifer had to have fallen shortly after the creation
of Adam and Eve and before Genesis 3:1.
47
The deep (‫)תהֹום‬
ְ is a reference to the ocean waters. On the first day God created planet earth and it was covered with water. God made the dry land appear on day three of creation week (Gen 1:9-10).
48
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God created planet earth on day one of creation week (Gen 1:1). The rocks on planet earth
on day one of creation had the appearance of age, but they were only one day old. On the first
two days of creation the planet earth was covered with water. On the third day of the creation
week God commanded that the waters be gathered together into one place so that the dry land
might appear (Gen 1:9-10). Notice that God did not create the dry land. He commanded that the
dry land appear out of the water. The upward movement of the land mass would have involved
geologic activity. God called the dry land Earth 49 and the waters he called Seas.
Do the rocks in the Grand Canyon prove that the earth is millions of years old and that evolution is true? Biblical scholars and creation scientists have another explanation for how the
Grand Canyon was formed. Bible scholars do not believe that God created the Grand Canyon
during the creation week. But the oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon can be dated to the creation
week. The oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon are the schist and granite in the inner gorge. These
metamorphic rocks are the oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon since they are at the lowest level.
These rocks are beneath the Tapeats Sandstone and the Great Unconformity. These rocks were
probably made as a result of the geologic activity of day three of creation. On that day God
made the dry land appear and the oceans were formed. The rising of the land surface produced
the great temperatures in the earth’s crust that led to the formation of the metamorphic rocks.
Biblical geologist Andrew Snelling writes,
This statement in Genesis 1:9 is simple yet geologically profound. Although the verse indicates that the water
moved, it does not indicate exactly how the land came to be above sea level. One possibility is that God used
catastrophic earth movements to almost instantaneously raise and lower blocks of the earth’s Day One crust to
form dry land and sea basins. If that were so, as the crustal blocks were raised, the surface water than had been
covering them would have drained rapidly off the land. Rapidly moving water catastrophically erodes, so massive erosion must have occurred. Thus laden with sediments, these waters would have drained into the ocean
basins, where the sediments would have been deposited rapidly. Because neither plant nor animal life had yet
been created, the resultant sedimentary rocks would be devoid of animal or plant fossils.50
Biblical geologist John Whitmore agrees with Snelling as he writes,
The oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon consist of the Precambrian schist and granite. These rocks probably were
made during the creation week (probably on day 3) and then perhaps later modified, during the creation week
and/or the Flood. Mostly unfossiliferous Precambrian sedimentary rocks overlie the igneous and metamorphic
basement. Many of these sedimentary rocks probably date between the creation week and the Flood. Early in
the Flood, these rocks were tilted upwards and then catastrophically eroded by ensuing Flood waters; forming a
tremendous erosional surface called the Great Unconformity. A thick boulder layer and the fossil record begin
the Cambrian Tapeats sandstone, which rests on this surface. A similar sequence of rock occurs in many other
places world wide. The Paleozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon are thin, widespread marine deposits, some of
which are continental in extent.51
49
Before the Genesis flood, the earth had one land mass and only one ocean. The one land mass is called
Pangaea by geologists. All of the continents would have been joined together. Plate tectonics is the study of the
lithosphere, the outer portion of the earth consisting of the crust and part of the upper mantle. The lithosphere is
divided into a dozen large plates which move and interact with one another to create earthquakes, mountain ranges,
volcanic activity, ocean trenches and many other features. Continents and ocean basins are moved and changed in
shape as a result of these plate movements (cf. geology.com). The Pangaea was probably divided into continents as a
result of the geologic activity associated with the Genesis flood.
50
Andrew Snelling, “Thirty Miles of Dirt in a Day,” Answers, Oct.-Dec., 2008, 29.
John Whitmore, “Creationist Flood Geology in the Grand Canyon,” (Proceedings of the First Conference on
Creation Geology, Cedarville University, <http://cedarville.edu/geologyconference> [accessed 24 July 2008]).
51
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So in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon we find metamorphic rocks (the schist and granite) that date back to the time of creation week. We also discover sedimentary rocks without
fossils that predate the time of the flood. These sedimentary rock layers are called the Grand
Canyon Supergroup and include the Chuar group, Nankoweap, and the Unkar group. Biblical
geologist Snelling gives this explanation of these sedimentary rocks without fossils:
Underneath these layers—near the bottom of the canyon—are many other layers that do not contain plant or animal fossils. Violent processes, including volcanoes and rapidly moving mud and sand, must have created these
layers. Many tilted sedimentary and volcanic rock layers (about 13,000 feet [4 km] thick) sit on top of other
folded and metamorphosed layers of both sedimentary and volcanic rocks (estimated to have been originally
about 40,000 feet [12 km] thick). After these metamorphic rocks formed, hot granites from deeper in the earth
must have intruded into them. Because of the folded and metamorphosed layers, and most of the tilted sedimentary layers above them, contain no plant or animal fossils, it is likely these were nearly all deposited catastrophically during the erosion and deposition of day three of creation week.52
The sedimentary rocks below the Great Unconformity and the metamorphic schist and granite rocks below these sedimentary rocks were formed then as a result of the uplifting of the land
by our powerful Creator God on day three of creation.
THE FALL OF MAN, DEATH, AND FOSSILS
Genesis 3 records the sin of Adam and Eve. God warned Adam that if he ate of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, he would die (Gen 2:17). Satan tempted Eve and told her that
she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit (Gen 3:4). Eve disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit and then gave some to Adam, and he also sinned against God (Gen 3:6). As a result of
their sin God pronounced a curse on the ground and predicted that it would produce thorns and
thistles (Gen 3:18). God also predicted that Adam would die (Gen 3:19). The sin of Adam
brought death into the world (Rom 5:12). Creation groans under the curse (Rom 8:19-22).
Famine, disease, natural disasters, mutations, and extinction are the results of sin’s being in the
world. Trilobite and nautiloid fossils have been found in the Grand Canyon. These creatures
lived from the time of their creation (day five of creation week) until the universal flood. Some
may have survived the flood but became extinct later. Since death and extinction did not occur
until after the sin of Adam, there would have been no sedimentary rocks with fossils in them
prior to Genesis 3. All fossils would have to be post-fall. Most of the fossils were probably
formed as a result of the universal flood (Gen 7-8).
THE UNIVERSAL FLOOD AND THE GRAND CANYON
Literary Structure of Genesis 6:11-8:22
52
Andrew Snelling, “Thirty Miles of Dirt in a Day,” Answers, Oct.-Dec., 2008, 29.
15
Genesis 6:11-8:22 is a stylistic masterpiece. Moses uses a chiasm in writing this section.
The periods of time in this section also form a symmetrical pattern: 7, 7, 40, 150, 150, 40, 7, 7.
The turning point of the narrative is found in Genesis 8:1: God remembered Noah. From that
high point in the narrative, the flood waters start to recede and the earth begins to dry out from
the universal flood. It was God’s intervention that was decisive in saving Noah and the literary
structure of Genesis 6:11-8:22 highlights this fact.
A God resolves to destroy the corrupt race (6:11-13)
B Noah builds an ark according to God’s instructions (6:14-22)
C The Lord commands Noah and family to enter the ark (7:1-9)
D The flood begins (7:10-16)
E The flood prevails 150 days and the waters cover the mountains (7:17-24)
F God remembers Noah (8:1a)
E The flood recedes 150 days and the mountains are visible (8:1b-5)
D The earth dries (8:6-14)
C God commands Noah and family to leave the ark (8:15-19)
B Noah builds an altar (8:20)
A The Lord resolves not to destroy humankind (8:21-22)
The Genesis Flood
The Genesis Flood was not a local flood in the Mesopotamia region. It was the greatest
flood of all time. It was a global flood that covered the whole earth and destroyed over a billion
people and wiped out all civilization to that date. Only eight people survived this universal catastrophe: Noah, Noah’s wife, and their three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives.53
The Construction of an Ark
God commanded Noah to build an ark to save himself and his family and two of every kind
of animal (Gen 6:14-21). God told Noah, “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in
the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.” God gave Noah detailed instructions that he
was to follow in building the ark, specifying that Noah make it of gopherwood. The Hebrew
word for “ark” means a box. The same term is used of the box in which the baby Moses was
placed in the Nile river (Exod 2:3). When we think of an ark we usually picture a boat or a ship
with bow and a stern. But a ship is designed to move through the water. The ark looked more
like a rectangular box than a ship of today. It was a barge-like boat that was designed merely to
float on top of the water. Modern ocean going tankers and aircraft carriers have a similar scale
of dimensions.
Genesis tells us about the eight people who went into and out of the ark. Genesis 7:7 says, “So Noah, with
his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.” Genesis 8:18 says, “So
Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.” Genesis 9:18 says, “Now the sons of Noah
who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Peter states that God “did not spare the ancient world, but
saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” (2
Pet 2:5).
53
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The ark was covered inside and outside with pitch. This black tar would make the ark watertight and seal it against any leaks. We do not know where Noah lived prior to the flood, but
there is nothing to indicate that he lived near an ocean. Yet here he was building the largest boat
that man had ever seen up to that time. The length of the ark was three hundred cubits, its width
fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits. A cubit is about 18 inches. The ark was a boat that was
450-feet long, 75-feet wide, and 45-feet high. The ark had a roof on the top and probably a series of small windows 18 inches from the top that would let in air and light. The ark also had
three decks with rooms in the ark. These decks and rooms would have provided more than
enough capacity to support all of the animals on the ark. The volume of space on the ark was
1.4 million cubic feet, equal to the capacity of 522 standard railroad cars. There was more than
enough room for two of every kind of animal.
The Lord said, “Behold, I myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die” (Gen
6:17). The flood was not just a natural disaster. The Lord himself would bring this judgment on
the earth. The Lord predicted that all living things (animals and humans) would die as a result
of the deluge.
God told Noah that he would establish his covenant with Noah and would deliver him and
two of every kind of animal that would go with him on the ark (Gen 6:18-21) This is the first
mention of the word “covenant.” There were three types of covenants made in the ancient Near
East. The parity covenant was made between equals. Some examples include the covenant made
between Abraham and Abimelech (Gen 21:22-32), Isaac and Abimelech (Gen 26:26-33), and
Jacob and Laban (Gen 31:44-54). The suzerain-vassal covenant was one that a superior (suzerain or king) made with an inferior (servant or vassal). The Mosaic covenant is an example of
this kind (Exod 20:1-17). The grant covenant was also made between a superior and inferior,
but it was an unconditional covenant in that the superior gave a gift to the inferior. The Noahic
covenant is closer to the grant type of covenant in that God gave a gift to man: a promise that he
would never again destroy the world with a flood. The Noahic covenant is like the other grant
covenants in the OT: the Abrahamic (Gen 15) and Davidic covenants (2 Sam 7).
Noah obeyed God and built the ark (Gen 6:22). Building the ark was an act of faith on Noah’s part. He had never seen it rain before. 54 Noah worked long and hard on the construction
project. It took Noah and his three sons and possibly others 120 years to build the ark. Noah
built the ark even though he was ridiculed by the wicked people of his generation. As he built
the ark, Noah preached a message of judgment to come. He was a preacher of righteousness (2
Pet 2:5). No one believed his message except his immediate family, but that did not deter Noah
from finishing the work that God called him to do.
The Lord told Noah to enter the ark along with his family and to take seven each of every
clean animal and bird (Gen 7:1-4). Some of these animals would later be used for sacrifice. Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark as God commanded (Gen 7:5-9). How did Noah
gather all of the animals to come to the ark? Noah did not have to go out and round them up.
God brought the animals to Noah and the ark (Gen 7:8-9). This must have been an amazing
sight to see. Two by two the animals came to and entered the ark.55
54
Before the flood, the ground was watered by a mist that came up from underground subterranean rivers (Gen
2:5-6).
55
Were dinosaurs on the ark? Genesis 6:14-15 indicates that the beasts of the earth came into the ark two by
two. Baby dinosaurs could have come onto the ark instead of their large parents. What happened to the dinosaurs?
Most of the dinosaurs died as a result of the global flood. Dinosaurs died after the flood because of the climate
17
The Chronology of the Universal Flood
Moses recorded the chronology of the universal flood in the book of Genesis. The devastation of the flood which covered the earth and its impact on the topography and geology of the
planet can be seen in this detailed log of what happened to Noah, the ark, and the flood waters.
2/10 Noah and his family and all the animals entered the ark on the tenth day of the second
month (Gen 7:6-9; 7:13-16). God shut the door. For seven days Noah and his family waited for
the flood to come.
2/17 (Day 1) Torrential rain began to fall for the first time on the seventeenth day of the
second month (Gen 7:10-12). How could it rain 40 days and 40 nights? Where did all the water
come from? Moses wrote that all the fountains of the great deep were opened. Volcanic explosions and earthquakes broke up the great fountains of the great deep so that the underground
water gushed to the surface. The windows of the heavens were opened. Joseph Dillow believes
that the early earth was surrounded by a water vapor canopy. He believes that the condensation
of the water vapor canopy led to a continual downpour for 40 days and 40 nights. 56
3/26 (Day 40) The flood57 was on the earth for forty days and lifted the ark off the surface
of the ground (Gen 7:17-20). Moses wrote, “Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The
waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and
greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the
waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were
covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and the mountains were covered” (Gen
7:17-20). The flood waters lifted the huge ark so it could float on the surface of the waters.
All of the pre-flood mountains were covered with water. The flood waters prevailed fifteen
cubits upward and the mountains were covered (Gen 7:20). The highest mountains were at least
22.5 feet under the surface of the water so that the ark floated freely above the peaks of the
mountains. The depth of the water again is an argument for a universal flood. The high mountains that we see today, such as Mt. Everest, did not exist before the flood. They came into ex-
changes that resulted in the world after the flood (Genesis 8:22 mentions cold and winter) and because man hunted
them down. The book of Job refers to dinosaurs. Behemoth may have been a brontosaurus. Behemoth is described as
having a tail like a cedar and bones like beams of bronze. He is described as the first of the ways of God who lies
under the lotus trees in a covert of reeds and marsh (Job 40:15-24). Leviathan may have been a marine dinosaur who
was difficult to catch or kill (Job 41:1-34).
Joseph Dillow, The Waters Above: Earth’s Pre-Flood Vapor
Canopy (Chicago: Moody, 1981).
56
The Hebrew word for flood is mabbul ( ‫ )מַּ בּול‬and refers to destructive flood waters. Genesis 7:23 says that
God destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird
of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.”
Jesus described the destruction of the flood on two occasions. He compared the universal flood to the judgment of
people when he will return a second time to earth to establish his kingdom. Jesus said, “And as it was in the days of
Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27, emphasis added). In his Olivet Discourse Jesus spoke about the flood, “For as in the days before the flood, they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until
the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt 24:38-39, emphasis
added).
57
18
istence after the flood when the great mountain ranges were formed and the ocean basins were
made so that flood waters would recede off the earth into the oceans.
What happened as a result of this universal flood? All land animals, birds, creatures, and
men and women were destroyed (Gen 7:21-23). Genesis 7:21-23 says “And all flesh died that
moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the
dry land died. So He destroyed all living things that were on the face of the ground; both man
and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah
and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.”
7/16 (Day 150) The flood waters prevailed on the earth for one hundred and fifty days (Gen
7:24).
7/17 (Day 151) After 150 days of flood waters dominating the earth, God remembered Noah
(Gen 8:1): “Then God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were
with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The
fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven
was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred
and fifty days the waters decreased.” To say that God remembered Noah does not imply that
God had forgotten him during the 150 days of the flood. The word implies that God would intervene because of a previous commitment to Noah. God kept his promise to preserve Noah and
his family. God delivered Noah from judgment and began to bring an end to the universal flood
by causing the flood waters to recede. God began to restore the earth (Gen 8:1b-5). God sent a
wind over the earth and the waters began to recede. God closed the fountains of the deep and
the rain was restrained (Gen 8:2). The waters receded to the point that the ark rested on Mt. Ararat in the seventh month and seventeenth day (Gen 8:3-4).58 Mt. Ararat lies on the border between Turkey and Armenia. From this region Noah’s descendants spread out over the earth.
10/1 (Day 225) Noah could see the tops of the mountains on the first day of the tenth month
(Gen 8:5).
11/11 (Day 265) Noah waited forty days after seeing the tops of the mountains before opening the window of the ark (Gen 8:6).
11/12 (Day 266) Noah sent out a raven and it kept flying back and forth until the water dried
up (Gen 8:7).
11/19 (Day 273) Noah sent out a dove, but it returned to Noah because water still covered
all the surface of the earth (Gen 8:8-9). Keil and Delitzsch note, “The raven in seeking food
settles upon every carcass it sees, whereas the dove will only settle on what is dry and clean.”59
The dove returned to the ark because it could find no place to land.
11/26 (Day 280) Noah waited seven more days and then sent out the dove and it returned
with a freshly plucked olive leaf. This revealed that the water had receded from the earth (Gen
8:10-11). The olive tree can put out leaves even while the tree is under water.
58
Mt. Ararat is the tallest mountain in Turkey. It is 16,854 feet high and is covered with snow. Stories are told
of people who have seen and visited the ark. Josephus mentioned that the ark existed on Ararat. In 1905 an Armenian named Georgie Hagopian and his uncle climbed to the ark that they claimed was sticking out of a glacier. In 1955
French explorer Bernard Navarra cut some wood from an object which he believed to be the ark. John Morris with
Creation Research Society has made ten attempts to locate the ark. He tells of his adventures on Ararat in his book
Noah’s Ark and the Ararat Adventure (Colorado Springs, CO: Master Books, 1994).
59
Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 1:49.
19
12/3 (Day 287) Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove, and it did not return
(Gen 8:12).
1/1 (Day 315) Noah removed the covering off the ark and saw that the surface of the ground
was dry (Gen 8:13). Noah and his family did not leave the ark at this time. God did not tell him
to leave the ark until 56 days later.
2/27 (Day 371) The earth was dry enough for Noah and his family to leave the ark (Gen
8:14). Noah and his family left the ark when God told him to leave (Gen 8:15-17). Noah obeyed
God and came out of the ark along with his family and the animals (Gen 8:18-19). From beginning to the end, the flood event lasted 371 days (Gen 7:11-8:14).
The Noahic Covenant
Noah built an altar and sacrificed some of the clean animals on the altar to the Lord as an act
of worship to the Lord when he came out of the ark. His burnt offerings were for worship. Noah
had taken seven of each of the clean animals on the ark. That is why he could sacrifice some
and not endanger making those animals extinct. The whole burnt offering represented the worshipper’s total surrender and dedication to the Lord (cf. Lev 1).
The Lord smelled the aroma of Noah’s sacrifice. This anthropomorphic expression shows
that God accepted Noah’s worship. The Lord promised to never again curse the ground in the
way that he had done after the fall and before the flood (Gen 3:17-18; 5:29; 8:21). He also
promised to never again destroy all living creatures with a universal flood (Gen 8:21; 9:11, 15).
The rainbow was given as a sign of the Noahic covenant (Gen 9:13). If the Genesis flood was
local, then the rainbow in the sky is meaningless. There have been many local floods in the history of the world.
The Lord stated in the Noahic covenant that there would be times of planting and reaping
(seedtime and harvest), changes in temperature (cold and heat), and seasons (winter and summer) (Gen 8:22). There was a dramatic climate change after the flood. The water vapor canopy
which had produced a mild, tropical climate around the world was now gone. As a result, winds
would blow and temperatures would change and seasons would come and go. Most creation
scientists believe that the Ice Age followed the flood.60
Peter’s View of Creation and the Universal Flood
The Apostle Peter stated that God did not spare the ancient world and brought a flood on the
world of the ungodly. Second Peter 2:4-5 says, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned,
but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgDr. Safarti writes, “There is strong evidence that, following the flood, for a time ice and snow covered much
of Canada and the northern United States, northwestern Eurasia, Greenland and Antarctica. Evolutionists believe
that there were many ice ages, but it’s more likely they were advance/retreat cycles within a single Ice Age. Evolutionists find the cause of the Ice Age a mystery. Obviously the climate would need to be colder. But global cooling
by itself is not enough, because then there would be less evaporation, so less snow. How is it possible to have both a
cold climate and lots of evaporation?...When all the fountains of the great deep broke up, much hot water and lava
would have poured directly into the oceans. This would have warmed the oceans, increasing evaporation. At the
same time, much volcanic ash in the air after the Flood would have blocked out much sunlight, cooling the land. So
the Flood would have produced the necessary combination of lots of evaporation from the warmed oceans and cool
continental climate from the volcanic ash sun block. This would have resulted in increased snowfall over the continents. With the snow falling faster than it melted, an ice sheet would have built up” (Jonathan Safarti, “Mammath
Riddle of the Ice Age” Answers in Genesis, 2000, 7-8).
60
20
ment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” God did not spare the ancient
world when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly. The universal flood was a judgment from God because of the wickedness of man before the flood (cf. Gen 6). Only eight people were spared this judgment.
Peter points out that the world that existed perished being flooded with water. Second Peter
3:5-6 says, “For this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and
the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished,
being flooded with water.” Unbelievers are guilty of willfully forgetting what happened at creation. Peter refers to the third day of creation when he wrote that the earth was standing out of
water and in the water (cf. Gen 1:9-10). Peter believed in creation. He also believed in a worldwide flood.
Summary of Arguments for a Universal Flood
How do we know that the flood was universal and not local? First, Genesis says that all the
high mountains were covered (Gen 7:19). Second, every living thing (outside of the ark that
lived on land) was wiped out by the flood (Gen 7:23). Third, the fact that Noah had to build an
ark is an argument for a universal flood. Noah would not have needed to build an ark if the
flood were local. God could have just sent him to another place to avoid the local flood. Fourth,
the Noahic covenant with God’s promise to never send a universal flood is an argument for the
universal flood. If the flood were local, then the rainbow in the sky is meaningless. God made a
covenant with Noah that God would never again destroy the world with a universal flood. The
sign of that covenant is the rainbow. There have been many local floods since the flood of Noah’s day. But these local floods, devastating as they have been, are nothing in comparison to the
world wide deluge of Noah’s day. Fifth, the amount of water involved argues for a universal
flood (Gen 7:11, 20; 8:2). Sixth, the testimony of Peter argues for a universal flood (2 Pet 3:37).
THE UNIVERSAL FLOOD AND
THE GEOLOGY OF THE GRAND CANYON
Sedimentary Rock Layers
Biblical geologists believe that the Grand Canyon was formed as the direct result of the universal flood of Genesis. The rising flood waters laid down many layers of sediment during the
first 150 days of the flood. John Morris writes, “If Creation/Flood thinking is correct, then great
thicknesses of sediments were laid down early in the Flood, and those nearer the top were laid
down late in the Flood, only months later.”61 These sediments then hardened into the various
rock strata. The first sedimentary rock layer laid down by the universal flood in the Grand Canyon was probably the Tapeats Sandstone. The contact lines between the layers are flat and there
are no signs of physical or chemical erosion. This is an argument for these layers of sediment
being laid down quickly over a short period of time instead of over millions of years.
61
John Morris, The Young Earth (Colorado Springs: Master Books, 1994), 106.
21
Henry Morris, who received his Ph.D. in hydrology and hydraulics with a minor in geology,
has pointed out that a universal flood with its sediment saturated currents would of necessity
produce horizontal superimposed layers of materials selected by the moving waters according to
their specific gravity.62 Tasman Walker writes that biblical geologists “have determined that the
horizontal layers were deposited in the first part of the Flood while the waters were advancing.
We can use the same approach with the other parts of the Canyon, such as the metamorphosed
rocks at the bottom (Creation, pre-Flood or early Flood), the erosion surfaces at the top (Flood
recessive), the lava flows (post-Flood), and the carving of the Canyon itself (Flood recessive or
post-Flood). Biblical geology is the key to understanding the rocks.”63
Michael Oard writes, “Comparing Walker’s model to the geological column reveals several
surprises. First, sedimentary rocks labeled Precambrian (if from the Flood), Paleozoic, and
Mesozoic strata are early Flood. Second, Cenozoic strata can be early Flood, late Flood, or postFlood depending upon the location and the particular fossil used to define the Cenozoic. Third,
flood deposition is highly nonlinear with a large percentage of strata deposited early in the
Flood.”64
The Great Unconformity
An unconformity is a surface in the rock record in the stratigraphic column representing a
time when no rocks are preserved. It could represent a time when no rocks were formed or a
time when the rocks were formed and then eroded away. The contact line in the Grand Canyon
between the Grand Canyon Supergroup and the first sedimentary rock layer of the Tapeats
Sandstone is called the Great Unconformity. The Great Unconformity shows the flat erosion of
the underlying surface. According to evolutionist geologists the Great Unconformity spans a
time of 250 to 1200 million years in the Grand Canyon. Austin asks,
Is there evidence for catastrophic erosion on the Great Unconformity? Many creationists believe there is.
Large boulders of Shinumo Quartzite fill great channels of boulders which, in places, occur directly above the
Great Unconformity in the base of the Tapeats Sandstone. …These were interpreted by Chadwick as catastrophic underwater debris flows, which were able to move boulders ten feet in diameter more than a quarter
mile. Such processes require conditions which would be very erosive to bedrock.…The best theory seems to
be that significant erosion occurred on the Great Unconformity while it was under water, not while it was
elevated out of the sea.65
The hard surface must have been smoothed off by a huge flow of water. This is what we would
expect with a global flood.
Marine Fossils in the Sedimentary Rocks
62
John Whitcomb and Henry Morris, The Genesis Flood (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1961), 274.
63
Quoted in Tom Vail, Grand Canyon: A Different View, 37.
Michael Oard, “The Geological Column is a General Flood Order With Many Exceptions,” in The Geologic
Column: Perspectives Within Diluvial Geology, ed. John Reed and Michael Oard (Chino Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society, 2006), 99.
64
65
Steven Austin, Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe (Santee, CA: Institute for Creation Research,
1994), 47.
22
Many marine fossils have been found in the Grand Canyon. These marine fossils such as trilobites66 and nautiloids67 were buried quickly and catastrophically. There are no intermediate
life forms. If evolution were true, we would expect to find intermediate forms of life. But the
exact opposite is found in the fossil record. The fossils are found as complex, fully developed
creatures.
The Grand Canyon is in the middle of a desert. How did these marine fossils end up in the
Grand Canyon? Evolutionists believe that they lived in ancient seas that covered the region. So
evolutionists must admit that at one time the area was covered with water. Biblical geologists
would argue that they were buried quickly by the sediments from the universal flood.
Walker points out that “animal trackways provide another important clue. Tracks are found
in the Supai Group and the Coconino Sandstone. Tracks mean the animals were alive, so the
strata must have been deposited before all air breathing creatures perished. That was before the
world was completely covered with water during the inundatory stage.” 68
All of the fossils discovered in the Grand Canyon are above the Great Unconformity. The
first fossils are found in the Tapeats Sandstone. Davis Young claims that fossils have been
found in the Precambrian rocks below the Great Unconformity. 69 Andrew Snelling writes of
these fossils,
With respect to Davis Young’s statement that fossils had been found in Precambrian rocks in the Grand
Canyon, he is referring to the sedimentary rocks in the upper part of the Chuar Group, which are above the
Unkar Group sedimentary rocks and the Cardenas Basalt, but below the Tapeats Sandstone. Some of these
claimed fossils are problematical. The only unequivocal fossils found in those rocks are the stromatolites, an
example of which we saw on our hike in Kwagunt Creek. These represent the fossilized remains of mounds
built by mats of blue green algae or cyanobacteria. These rocks and these fossils I and others believe are a result
of sedimentation during the pre-Flood era, that is, between the end of the Creation week and the beginning of
the Flood. Yes, these are fossils, of a sort, found below the Tapeats Sandstone. I didn’t go into details about this
on our trip because I was trying to keep things as simple as possible, and because these algal fossils are far different from the marine creatures such as trilobites that are buried and fossilized in the Tapeats Sandstone. Those
are clearly the result of burial during the Flood, and the base of the Tapeats Sandstone in places contains boulders that are testimony to the vigorous water currents that were destructive in eroding off the pre-Flood land
surface at the beginning of the Flood. Also, there is another thin layer in some parts of the Canyon just below
the Tapeats Sandstone that is full of boulders, that are again indicative of the beginning of the Flood. That’s
why we believe the Flood began at that level in the record, plus all of the marine creature fossilized in the units
above must relate to the Flood. That means the rock layers below are from the pre-Flood era and those deeper
down are from the Creation week. Of course, in all of this we can’t be absolutely dogmatic. All we are doing is
endeavoring to understand the geologic record as we observe it in the light of the Scriptures. But of course, our
knowledge of the geologic record is limited to only those portions of the rock strata that are exposed to view,
and even then there are lots of areas, such as in the Grand Canyon, that have not yet been fully explored. Never-
66
Trilobites are extinct arthropods that appear in early Cambrian rocks. When they appear in the fossil record
they are already highly diverse and geographically dispersed. There are some 17,000 known species of trilobites.
67
Nautiloid fossils are found in abundance in a six foot thick layer near the base of the 500-foot thick Redwall
limestone. The nautiloids averaged 18 inches in length but some reached as big as six feet. The nautiloids are related
to today’s squid. The nautiloids are extinct today.
68
Quoted in Tom Vail, Grand Canyon: A Different View, 37.
Young writes, “The facts, however, are that more and more fossils are being discovered in so-called Precambrian rocks as the rocks themselves are subjected to a more detailed investigation than ever before” (Davis Young,
Creation and the Flood: An Alternative to Flood Geology and Theistic Evolution [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977], 77).
69
23
theless, the bottom line is that whatever we find in the future our understanding of the geologic record can easily be adjusted to the absolute framework we find presented in the Scriptures, our first and foremost authority.70
The Folding of Sedimentary Layers
Folds or bends in the rock are found in some sedimentary layers in the Grand Canyon.
When there is movement along a fault today there is a crack in the rock. The folding of the sedimentary layers sometimes across multiple layers without cracking shows that the folding had to
happen when the layers were soft and after rapid deep burial. These folds show that the deposition and upheaval which led to the folding were one event. The universal flood of Genesis is the
probable explanation of these folding of sedimentary layers.
The Cutting of the Grand Canyon
Two possible explanations are given by biblical geologists regarding the formation of the
Grand Canyon. One view is that the canyon was cut by the receding of the flood waters. The
flood waters receded off the earth for 221 days starting on day 151 (Gen 8:1-4). John Whitcomb
writes,
Spectacular exposures of flat lying sedimentary rocks such as those in the Grand Canyon provide ample
evidence of Deluge deposition. In this area, there are thousands of square miles of horizontal strata, thousands
of feet thick.… By far the most reasonable way of accounting for them is in terms of relatively rapid deposition out of the sediment laden water of the Flood. Following the Flood, while the rocks were still comparatively soft and unconsolidated, the great canyons were rapidly scoured out as the waters rushed down
from the newly uplifted peneplains to the newly enlarged ocean basins.71
The Havasupai Indians live in the Grand Canyon and they believe that the canyon was
formed as a result of a great flood.72 Geologist Steven Austin writes,
If catastrophic drainage was involved in forming Grand Canyon, then it would be a relic feature formed from
erosive processes which had operated at rates and scales far greater than today. Grand Canyon would be a
static monument to the action of intense ancient processes, not a dynamically evolving landform in equilibrium with slow, modern, erosive processes. 73
The psalmist wrote about this event:
You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever. You covered it with the
deep as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled, at the voice of
70
Andrew Snelling, email message to author, July 22, 2008.
71
John Whitcomb, The World That Perished (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973), 74.
Cushing records this story from the Havasupai Indians living in the Grand Canyon: “As the waters of the
world dried and flowed away, the face of the earth cracked and was worn full of deep canyons. One of these canyons
was very narrow and filled with rattlesnakes. This was the canyon of the Havasupai” (F. H. Cushing, “The Nation of
the Willows” Atlantic Monthly 50 [1882]: 558). Just recently a dam burst and water from the dam damaged their
village and the Havasupai canyon.
72
73
Austin, Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, 92.
24
your thunder they hastened away. They went up over the mountains.74 They went down into the valleys, to the
place which you founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over that they may not
return to cover the earth.” (Psa 104:6-9; NKJV)
The psalmist refers back to Genesis 7:19-20 which says that the high hills and mountains
were covered with water. The psalmist also knows about Genesis 8:3 which speaks of the flood
waters receding continually from the earth.
A second view is that some dams from post flood lakes from the universal flood broke and
the rushing waters then cut through the rock layers laid down by the flood and formed the
Grand Canyon. Geologists have observed that the surface of the Colorado Plateau is a saucer
shaped basin that could have contained a giant post-flood lake which would form behind the
Kaibab Upwarp. Biblical geologist Steven Austin writes that “the lake would occupy an area of
more than 30,000 square miles and contain 3000 cubic miles of water. The volume of that lake
would be three times that of Lake Michigan.” 75
Austin believes that the weight of evidence favors the theory that Grand Canyon was opened
by a breaching event—probably failure of the natural dam formed by the Kaibab Upwarp.76
A third possible view would be a combination of these two views. The initial carving of the
Grand Canyon could have come as a result of the draining of the flood waters from east to west.
Geologist Andrew Snelling told us on our trip that the flood waters would have carried the rock
debris to an area near San Diego and dumped the dirt and rocks there. The flood waters would
then have been diverted south to the Gulf of California. Dams from the post-flood lakes could
have burst later and carved some more of the Grand Canyon.
Post-Flood Volcanic Activity and
the Uplifting of the Kaibab Plateau
After the Grand Canyon was cut, there is evidence of post-flood volcanic activity in the
Grand Canyon. In the middle of the Colorado River at mile 178 our group encountered Vulcan’s
Anvil, a monolith of rock rising 20 feet out of the middle of the Colorado River.77 Vulcan’s
Anvil is the cooled core of a lava vent. This chunk of shiny black basalt rock is a warning to
river runners about the approaching of a dangerous rapid on the Colorado River: Lava Falls.
Lava Falls is named for the nearby lava flows that led to the black basalt that covers many of
the rocks on the north side of the river. The lava came from Vulcan’s Throne, the cinder cone
volcano on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
A better translation for Psalm 104:8 is “the mountains rose and the valleys sank down.” This would explain
how the flood waters could recede off of the earth. The rising of the mountains would include the Rocky Mountains
in North America. The water receded off of the North American continent in an east-west direction and the Grand
Canyon would have been formed as a result of these receding flood waters.
74
75
Ibid., 93.
76
Steven Austin gives an example of several canyons that were formed as a result of the eruption of Mount St.
Helens in 1980. The valley of the North Fork of the Toutle River, northwest of Mount St. Helens, was blocked by a
dam of landslide debris and volcanic ash on May 18, 1980. The valley was unblocked by a mudflow on March 19,
1982. The breaching event produced several canyons some as high as 140 feet deep (Steven Austin, ed., Grand
Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, 94).
77
Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and blacksmiths. In myth Vulcan pounds metal in his volcano workshop,
showering fire and molten rock out of his skylight (the top of the volcano).
25
John Wesley Powell wrote in his journal on August 25, 1869:
Great quantities of lava are seen on either side; and then we come to an abrupt cataract. Just over the fall
a cinder cone, or extinct volcano, stands on the very brink of the canyon. What a conflict of water and fire
there must have been here. Just imagine a river of molten lava running down into a river of melted snow.
What a seething and boiling of the waters; what clouds of steam rolled into the heavens.78
Morris writes about the creation of plateaus and volcanic activity in the post-flood world
environment:
The post-Flood isostatic readjustments, especially the mountain uplifts, would surely have triggered the release
of additional floods of magma, and these are reflected in the tremendous recent lava plains and plateaus around
the world, as well as the great numbers of only recently extinct volcanoes, not to mention the considerable
number still alive. Thus a great portion of the earth’s recent and continuing geophysical activity-especially
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions—can be attributed to the cataclysmic upheavals initiated by the Flood and
its residual effects.79
The rising of the mountains (in North America that would include the Rockies) occurred
after the universal flood. The Kaibab plateau would have risen after the flood as well.
CONCLUSION
The Bible tells the story of planet earth. God created planet earth on day one (Gen.1:1). God
created the earth round (Isa 40:22) and he suspended the earth in space (Job 26:7). The early
earth rotated on its axis in a 24-hour day/night cycle. On the first two days of creation week the
earth was covered with water (Gen 1:2; 2 Pet 3:5). On the third day God made the dry land appear (Gen 1:9-10). At first there was one land mass and the ocean. The geologic activity associated with that powerful act of God led to the formation of the creation rocks (schist and granite)
at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was not formed by God during the week
of creation.
When the first man Adam sinned he brought death into the world (Gen 3; Rom 5:12). As a
result of Adam’s sin, the earth was cursed with thorns and thistles (Gen 3:17-18). All of the
fossils that are found in the Grand Canyon (trilobites, nautiloids, brachiopods) had to have been
formed after the fall of Adam. The fossils are found in the sedimentary rocks above the Great
Unconformity in the Grand Canyon. The Tapeats Sandstone was the first sedimentary rock layer
laid down by the universal flood in the Grand Canyon. The layers of sedimentary rock above
the Great Unconformity were laid down during the first 150 days of the universal flood. Two
possible explanations are given by creation scientists regarding the origin of the Grand Canyon.
The receding flood waters could have cut through the layers of sediment and formed the Grand
Canyon. A second explanation is that post-flood lakes were dammed up and then broke through
and quickly carved the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was not formed over millions of
years but in a relatively short time.
In the future millennium, the curse on planet earth will be lifted (Rom 8:20-23). The last enemy of death will be destroyed (1 Cor 15:26) and all things will be put under Christ’s authority
(1 Cor 15:27-28). After the millennium God will burn the earth with fire (2 Pet 3:10). God will
78
Powell Report quoted in Belknap, Grand Canyon River Guide, 53.
79
Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 260.
26
create a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells (Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet 3:13).
The new earth will not have any oceans or seas (Rev 21:1). Redeemed people will live in the
New Jerusalem which will be on the new earth (Rev 21-22). The Grand Canyon will not exist
forever since this world will be destroyed by fire in the future.
Today visitors can see the beauty of the Grand Canyon and be reminded that a holy God
judges sin in his world. The Grand Canyon is a huge chasm when seen from the air. The Bible
tells us that sin separates the sinner from God like a huge canyon. Jesus Christ is God who took
on human flesh (John 1:1, 14). Jesus made a way possible for God and man to be reconciled. He
died on the cross taking the punishment for our sin. Only through faith alone in Christ alone and
his work on the cross can a person be forgiven of his sins and obtain eternal life (Eph 2:8-9;
Rom 5:8).
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