Part 4—The Third of the 7 C’s: Catastrophe

The Deep Time Dilemma

Within the church, the most contentious issue the story of evolution has falsely introduced into the Bible’s true history—and one that evolution’s entire narrative is predicated on—is the concept of deep time.

Without long ages, the entire idea of evolution vanishes, as there simply wouldn’t be enough time for any part of it to have happened. Many Christians believe the age of the earth issue doesn’t matter whatsoever, but they are woefully mistaken. Here’s why.

Where Do Millions of Years Fit into Biblical History?

Evolutionists claim that the rock layers (containing fossils) found worldwide are the result of millions of years of slow deposition and that the rock layers represent the physical evidence of their story of life on earth (evolution) having occurred (i.e., the geologic column essentially captures a snapshot of earth’s history).

In contrast, the plain reading of Genesis 6–9 indicates that there was a global flood, and so biblical creationists point to it as the cause of the majority of the rocks and fossils. That event, of course, is what most refer to as Noah’s flood, which is the topic of the third of our 7 C’s of History: Catastrophe!

However, many Christians who have accepted the evolutionary idea of deep time contend the Genesis account is simply describing a large local flood having occurred (typically placed near Mesopotamia). In this way, they can adhere to the popular secular explanations of long ages and declare the Genesis flood did not contribute to the fossil record in any significant manner.

However, the biggest theological challenge created by attempting to insert millions of years into the Bible’s timeline comes when trying to figure out where they might fit, because the only possible answer is somewhere in the six days of creation. There is no way to insert deep time within the chronogenealogies extending from Adam in the Old Testament all the way to Jesus in the New Testament.

Exodus 20:11 makes the idea of some kind of gap theory (a previously popular notion among Christians attempting to reconcile long ages by inserting millions of years into a “gap” of time in Genesis 1) untenable, as it says,

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. . . .

So, Christians who attempt to reconcile long ages with Genesis almost always attempt to do so by saying the days in Genesis aren’t literal, consecutive days and that the rock layers were laid down during the supposed long ages they are claimed to represent.

Death in the Rock Layers

However, that would mean the rock layers (including the record of death—fossils) were laid down before Adam fell and the creation was cursed. This would mean the “very good” world God created must have been full of death, suffering, disease, and misery before sin entered into the world when the fall occurred (gap theorists have the same problem).

In that scenario, what effect did Adam’s rebellion have then if the effects of sin were already in place prior to the event (the fall) itself?

Romans 5:12 is clear.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Effects on Christian Beliefs

That “one man” mentioned was Adam, and Jesus became the “last Adam” to pay the penalty for sin (death). The Apostle Paul reiterates this in 1 Corinthians 15:21–22.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Notice the linking of the gospel Paul preached to the reality of the resurrection from a physical death and to where that state of death came from in the first place: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Again, this echoes Romans 5:12—death came by one man, Adam, but Christ’s sacrifice brings life.

Ultimately, this is not a trivial issue, as this type of theological maneuvering (inserting long ages into biblical history) negatively impacts three nonnegotiable Christian doctrines.

1. God is good.

All believers hold to this unshakeable truth (even many unregenerate people’s understanding of God usually reflects this idea).

This is a direct attack on the character of God because it would mean Jesus is directly responsible for evil and suffering.

But if the record of death (fossils in rock layers) all occurred before Adam sinned, this means Jesus (revealed as the Creator in the book of Colossians) used billions of years of death to create this world and finished by calling his creation “very good.”

But death and disease are not very good. This is a direct attack on the character of God because it would mean Jesus is directly responsible for evil and suffering.

2. The gospel is true.

The gospel is that Christ paid the penalty for sin for those who put their faith and trust in him. All have sinned, are guilty of disobeying God’s law, and are deserving of eternal punishment in hell. However, if the results of sin (like death, disease, and suffering) were already present (recorded in the rock layers) prior to Adam’s fall, then the gospel makes no sense.

This is why some professing Christians are now stating that our understanding of the gospel needs to “evolve” to accommodate the millions-of-years narrative. For example, Ian Barbour, professor emeritus at Carleton College, stated,

You simply can’t any longer say as traditional Christians that death was God’s punishment for sin. Death was around long before human beings. Death is a necessary aspect of an evolutionary world. . . . One generation has to die for new generations to come into being. In a way, it is more satisfying . . . than to see it as a sort of arbitrary punishment that God imposed on our primeval paradise.1

However, Romans 6:23 clearly states, “The wages of sin is death.” God’s warning should Adam disobey his commands and rebel against him was “You shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). And although this assuredly meant a spiritual death for Adam and his offspring, it also included physical death as well: “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

In reference to God’s warning to Adam against eating the forbidden fruit, the Hebrew text of Genesis 2:17 (“in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”) can be literally translated “dying you shall die.” Adam and Eve died spiritually when the fall occurred (Genesis 3), and their bodies began to break down, which lead to their eventual physical deaths.

First Corinthians 15:26 says death is an enemy: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” However, if death existed before sin, it can’t be an enemy, and death wouldn’t be the payment for sin. And if death isn’t the payment for sin, then Jesus’ death does not pay our sin debt. Again, this affects the gospel directly.

Perhaps Christians shouldn’t try to sweep inconsistencies like millions of years under the “theological rug” so quickly, lest they confuse Jesus’ message and misrepresent him.

3. Scripture can be trusted as plainly written.

Despite the fact that many modern Christian academics are telling believers that they don’t necessarily have to take Genesis 1–11 as plainly written (with no valid reasoning to justify this position), almost all Christian scholars throughout history have held the opposite view for reasons that become obvious upon examination.

Despite droves of modern theologians attempting to overturn what the vast majority of the church fathers, reformers, and the average lay Christians have understood Genesis 1–11 to clearly mean for hundreds of years, what the original, inspired, Hebrew text plainly says is quite clear.

Here is a quote from James Barr, Oriel Professor of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture from Oxford University, England. Note that Barr is a non-Christian, and consistent with his neo-orthodox views, he does not believe Genesis.

However, he obviously understood what the Hebrew so clearly teaches and what the text (not the study notes) of 99% of every English version plainly says.

Probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience; (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story; (c) Noah’s flood was understood to be world-wide and extinguish all human and animal life except for those in the ark.2

And of course, that is what the plain reading clearly says. Christians should realize that concepts like the gap theory, day-age theory, theistic evolution, etc. were not derived from the biblical text itself (and in fact were not seen in Bible commentaries before the 1800s).

It was only the perceived need to harmonize the Bible with the alleged age of the earth derived from secular scientific presuppositions that led Christians to think differently. Millions of years is not a biblical concept.

The fact is, if Genesis cannot be taken as plainly written, why would anyone believe we can take the gospel message as plainly written?

Catastrophe! The Third of the 7 C’s

Ultimately, naturalists deny the one key biblical event that unlocks the entire mystery surrounding the idea of millions of years relating to the rocks and fossils. And this was prophesied about almost 2,000 years ago in 2 Peter 3:3–6.

Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days. . . . For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

The great deluge mentioned in verse 6 is, of course, Noah’s flood. However, for those Christians who have accepted deep time and wish to describe Noah’s flood as a local event, remember, this part of the prophecy in 2 Peter 3, which is in effect saying, “In the last days scoffers will come and deny a flood.”

However, no Bible skeptic would deny a local flood having occurred on earth. That is typically the very way they attempt to explain the abundance of flood legends in the histories of people groups found worldwide.

What scoffers deny is a global flood. So, if the Genesis flood was not global in scope, then 2 Peter 3:3–6 would be false. But of course, it is not—it is referring to the historical account of the worldwide catastrophe described in Genesis 6–9.

Death After Sin

When one considers what the physical effects would be of such a catastrophe—with the fountains of the great deep smashing open, tectonic activity resulting in volcanic activity, 40 days of intense rain, all of the bio-mass being ripped up and deposited in massive upheavals all over the world—you can easily see that Noah’s flood explains the billions of dead things buried in water-born sedimentary layers we find worldwide.

And this occurred some 1,650 years after the fall, which means there is no conflict of having death supposedly occur prior to sin by taking place during the six days of creation. The record of death found within the rock occurred after Adam sinned—not before.

This also does away with the notion of evolution having supposedly occurred, because if the majority of the rock layers were formed quickly during a year-long event some 4,400 years ago, the required deep-time narrative for evolution to have occurred vanishes along with it.

Verse 7 of 2 Peter 3 goes on to say,

But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

A Worldwide Judgment

We must remember that Noah’s flood was the first time God judged the entire world because of how sinful it had become. Indeed, mankind was so corrupt that Scripture says, “Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

2 Peter 3:7 reminds us God will judge the earth once again, this time by fire, on the day of judgment. And Matthew 24:37–39 tell us what the world will be like before he comes.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

But sinful man wishes to avoid the idea of being judged. And this is why 2 Peter makes clear that scoffers will deny the flood event and mock the idea of any such catastrophe as having happened, (and in regard to modern scoffers) declaring that the rock layers and fossils within them are the evidence against it and are proof of millions of years instead.

Unlocking the Age of the Earth Issue

Noah’s flood is like a key to understanding the whole age of the earth and evolution debate and why Christians can present a logical defense of a plain reading of the Genesis creation in light of facts like rocks and fossils.

Noah’s flood is like a key to understanding the whole age of the earth and evolution debate and why Christians can present a logical defense of a plain reading of the Genesis creation in light of facts like rocks and fossils.

Take, for example, the fact that trees (some over 10 meters tall) have been found standing erect in rock layers and coal beds around the world, penetrating through layers that evolutionists once declared must have accumulated over millions of years.

However, dead trees simply do not stand erect for thousands of years, let alone millions. Such fossils show great evidence of having been buried rapidly and catastrophically, which is great support for the catastrophic deluge recorded in Genesis 6–9.

Even evolutionary geologists such as Derek Ager (no friend to biblical creationists) has referenced the obvious absurdity of believing that a mature, erect tree could somehow be fossilized gradually over thousands of years.

If one estimates the total thickness of the British Coal Measures as about 1000 m, laid down in about 10 million years, then, assuming a constant rate of sedimentation, it would have taken 100,000 years to bury a tree 10 m high, which is ridiculous.3

Biblical creationists have been pointing this out for years and were mocked by evolutionists who claimed slow and gradual processes were responsible for the fossil record and their surrounding rock layers. But these former “truths” have now been overturned because of observable facts.

Fast Fossils Overturn Millions of Years

Even the notion that fossilization itself takes place over long periods has also been dashed by modern evolutionary researchers. An example comes from dinosaur expert Dr. Phil Currie in his coauthored book 101 Questions About Dinosaurs.

Fossilization is a process that can take anything from a few hours to millions of years. . . . The amount of time that it takes for a bone to become completely permineralized is highly variable. If the groundwater is heavily laden with minerals in solution, the process can happen rapidly.4

Notice although he still references (unobserved) “millions of years,” he admits fossilization can occur within (observed) hours. So why would we believe fossilization must take millions of years “sometimes”?

Soft Tissue Discoveries Dissolve Deep Time

Such rapid deposition and fossilization can be easily explained by the Genesis flood, and it also explains the discovery of a wide variety of un-fossilized soft tissues discovered within dinosaurs and other creatures that supposedly lived millions of years ago as well.

Indeed, the discovery and ongoing extraction of un-fossilized proteins, collagen, blood and blood vessels, and even DNA fragments from within creatures that supposedly died out eons ago5 is clear testimony to the truthfulness of the Bible’s history. There never were any millions of years of earth history—the Bible’s history can be trusted as plainly written.

The third of our 7 C’s of History—Catastrophe—has great explanatory power in many areas surrounding the creation/evolution debate.

Yes, the third of our 7 C’s of History—Catastrophe—has great explanatory power in many areas surrounding the creation/evolution debate. By swapping out the man-made idea of millions of years with the true biblical account of Noah’s flood, Christians have a cohesive way to explain both the spiritual truths and the physical effects of the events recorded in Scripture.

Such revelations regarding rocks and fossils can cause us to realize that perhaps the story of evolution as commonly applied to people also isn’t as rock-solid as it’s been presented.

However, the world has built up an abundance of objections against the truth of God’s Word over time. And many people ask questions such as “If you’re saying evolution isn’t true, where did all the ‘races’ of people come from if we’re all descended from just two people—Adam and Eve?”

Which is what we’ll delve into next time when we look into the fourth of the 7 C’s of History, which is Confusion.