As Christadelphians, we always tend to feel that, although we may not be terribly learned in many things, at least we know a fair bit about the Bible. After all, so we should, for its words to us are a matter of life and death; and surely if we are in covenant relationship with God, we should be familiar with his words. It does, then, come as quite a surprise to find that there are men in the world who with regard to some parts of the Bible understand it and support it with more accuracy and activity than ourselves. Furthermore, to discover that these men are scientists, supporting the literal accuracy of the Bible, when we have come to expect scoffing and ridicule from them, is indeed a surprise and even an exhortation.
The writers of “The Genesis Flood’, are professors of theology and engineering respectively, and their foreword is by a professor of Geology, and it would appear that in general they share the delusions of Christendom with regard to religious doctrine; yet, upon their chosen subject of Creation and the Flood, their adherence to the literal accuracy of the Bible would not only do credit to Christadelphians, but is superior to any produced by us. Their defence of the Bible record is by no means a mere dogmatic faith contrary to reason either, for their book deals scientifically with each point of the subject, yet in a simple, readable way rare among such men. Finally, for those minded to “prove all things”, they have included at the foot of each page references to the authorities which they quote to prove their facts.
Their work is primarily involved in the Biblical account of the Flood, in proving its world-wide extent, and to discover by analysis of the record, and from science, just what happened when this gigantic catastrophe overtook the world. If this section only of their work was published it would be invaluable, but in order to be scientifically honest they deal as well in the major portion of their work with every argument of any note that has ever been advanced against the Universal Flood. Anthropology, geography and geology are dealt with in turn. All kinds of questions, such as; where did the water come from? how did all the animals fit in the ark? and many more are dealt with in a manner impossible to refute, and very hard even to argue against. Even Sir Leonard Woolley and his excavations at Ur of the Chablees come in for examination with reference to his idea of a localised flood in the Euphratean Valley, and the professors pronounce Sir Leonard’s theories as scientifically lacking.
In the final and largest section, the differences between the Creation of the Bible and the modern theories of historical geology are dealt with. The authors here show that they are closely acquainted with the facts of geology, and that the differences between the Bible and geology do not lie in the observed facts, but in the interpretation which has been placed upon those facts by men who have preconceived ideas which bias their thinking contrary to God and his Word and toward evolution. Many, many facts of the natural world around us are considered: fossils, mineral deposits, radioactive dating methods, meteorites, and many more; and each is shown rather to support than to contradict the Bible account of Creation somewhere near six thousand years ago. The millions of years supposed to have been taken by evolution to produce life upon earth is shown to be but a figment of the imagination of geologists during the last one hundred years or so. Evolution is found to be totally unsupportable by any evidence scientifically provable, and is supported only because it is the lone excuse that an atheistic world can put forward to escape the obligation that the Bible places upon them.
The authors, however, are not merely destructive of the theories of the evolutionists, but, perceiving the need, include in this section of their book a true understanding of historical geology, showing how the rocks themselves contain the evidence of Creation and the Flood, and also the times of quietude between these catastrophic events.
The final chapter contains their conclusions and stresses the implications which arise from seeing the truth of the universality of the Flood, from the mass of evidence around us. Recognition of human responsibilities toward God in the face of this past catastrophic judgement is stressed, although the authors appear inadequate to explain just what these responsibilities are. An attack is also made upon a modern attitude of scientists and the general public alike. The authors call this “uniformitarianism” and it is summed up in the colloquialism, “seeing is believing”. This is an outlook which, although very inconsistently applied, is very prominent today and very adversely affects our own preaching of the Truth. People say that, because they have never experienced such a catastrophe as the universal Flood, it is impossible; because such things do not happen today they will not believe that they ever happened, and that conditions have always been as they are now.
The Apostle Peter prophesied that this attitude of mind would exist in the last days, as we read in his second epistle, chapter3, and verses 3 to 7, where he predicts that men would be “willingly” ignorant of the divine judgement contained in the Flood, and also of the fiery judgements of Armageddon, which would be impending upon those times. The authors of “The Genesis Flood”, however, have seen and correctly interpreted these verses, and they see in modern society, both secular and religious, that wherever evolution and its falsely scientific ways have gone, uniformitarianism has followed. The result of uniformitarianism has been disbelief in the Word of God, disbelief in the account of Creation, disbelief in the universal Flood, and finally as the Apostle says, “scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming”. This disbelief in the coming of Christ is, as the Apostle points out, the end product which comes of doubts being thrown upon one section of the Scriptures after another, as is done so freely in the world today, using science as the excuse.
In recommending this book to Christadelphians everywhere, and especially to Christadelphian young people of high school age, I do so with a definite sense of guilt: that here is a book which supports the early chapters of Genesis better than I did, and I think, better than most of us. It is only too well known amongst us that Christadelphians have held many and varied ideas on Creation and the Flood. Well, here is a book written by non-Christadelphians that gives us a fresh confidence and enthusiasm to proclaim the Bible for what it is, the inspired and infallible Word of God.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)