Video Transcript: The Genesis Flood and Current Controversies

Video Transcript: The Genesis Flood and Current Controversies

When you read the Genesis story of the flood, you're not just reading a story, you are reading something that provokes a lot of questions and a lot of challenges, and which people are going to fight against just about every step of the way, for a variety of reasons. When you read Genesis six through nine, you find that there are a lot of claims that are very controversial today. 

One is that floodwaters covered the whole earth. How can that be, that the entire earth would be covered with water? A second controversial claim is that all of today's land animals were descended from those that were originally on the ark. How could the Ark hold the ancestors of all the animals that are on land today? A third controversial claim is that God punished the world in His wrath. Isn't God too nice for that? Punishing the whole world? A fourth controversial claim - even the very best people are evil from their youth. People were evil before the flood and then even after the flood. When only Noah and his family were left, the Bible says that people are evil from their youth.  Who wants to hear that? A fifth thing that occurs is an atoning sacrifice that God is pleased by and accepts. And who wants to believe that sacrifices are necessary? A sixth controversial claim is that God preserves the earth and it seasons. Aren't we the ones who have to save the planet? A seventh controversial claim - growing population is a blessing from God and not a terrible, awful curse. Another controversial claim - people may eat and use animals. Hey, don't animals have rights too. And final claim that I want to see that is contested today - murder deserves the death penalty. 

You look at that list of nine. That's a pretty controversial list. And you get all of that in just a few chapters of Genesis, Genesis six through nine. So, let's move through that list just a little bit. And we'll begin to understand how God's word is so different from the way people tend to think when left to ourselves. 

First of all, the claim that the flood was worldwide that water covered the entire earth. All the fountains of the great deep burst forth water from under the ground, and then the windows of the heavens were opened, and water fell from the sky. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth, that all the high mountains under the whole heaven, were covered. Now, some Bible scholars say, well, there's no way that all the mountains on the whole earth were covered with water. The great flood had to be local, not a worldwide flood. Maybe it covered the area that certain people happen to be living in at the time, but it didn't cover the whole world. Well, why would you spend so long building a monstrous Ark if all you had to do was move away as a way to escape the local flood? 

And another question, would a local flood cover mountains. Here's an artist's rendering of what a local flood would look like. They're kind of joking, of course, the notion that you have a local flood that you need an ark for and yet this local flood covers all the mountains. Could there be a worldwide flood? Well, flood stories involving a boat and so on, are found among natives of ancient Babylon and the Gilgamesh Epic among natives of Alaska. They find it among native peoples in Mexico and Brazil, and Cuba, and India and Greenland and Africa and Hawaii and Greece, all before Christians, or Jewish people had an opportunity to spread the story there. The story seems to be pretty much worldwide in one form or another. 

Fossils show that all parts of earth even high on Mount Everest, were once underwater. By the way, if the earth were smooth, the entire earth would be covered with water 8000 feet deep. We always assume that all the mountains are as high now as they used to be. They weren't. And we just don't know what the topography and the geography was like back then. We do know there's an awful lot of water in the world, and that if mountains were of different heights, there's plenty of water to go around. And another thing we know, and this is the most important of all, however, we can't explain something or however we might struggle to explain it. We know this water obeys the Lord. If the Lord said to water cover the earth, it would cover the earth.

At the Red Sea, the Lord drove the sea back and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. God can make water flow uphill. God can put water in walls, God can do whatever He wants with water. So, if the Bible says God covered the whole earth with water, He covered the whole earth with water. Another example of water obeying the Lord - when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap and all Israel was passing over on dry ground.  God could make heaps of water cover mountains if He so chose. On the Sea of Galilee, Jesus told a storm to be quiet. And His disciples asked. Who is this then, that He commands even winds and water and they obey Him? Water obeys Jesus Christ, and water obeys the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

At any rate, the flood was worldwide, and God gave a promise that it would never happen again. God says I will remember My covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again, become a flood to destroy all flesh. Again, it's obviously not a local flood. There have been many, many local floods, since that original Great Flood, but God says I'm never sending another one like that one that covers the whole earth. Psalm 104, praises God and says, You covered the earth with the deep as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains, at Your rebuke, they fled… the mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that You appointed for them. You set a boundary, that they may not pass so that they might not again, cover the earth. So, God gives some sort of word that changes the geography of the earth. He gives some sort of order to water that makes it flow downhill and stay in its place. And He arranges that never again, will the whole earth be covered with such a flood. 

A second controversial claim is that the Ark held the ancestors of all life that's on land today. And this claim is controversial because we sometimes think of the ark in very different terms. We see the artistic portraits of the Ark as this wee little tub with some very large, cute animals kind of leaning over the sides. And how in the world is an outfit good like that going to hold all the ancestors of today's animal life. But we maybe should picture the flood or the Ark just a little bit more like this - as a huge, huge vessel that was built according to God's instructions. The ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. That means that at a volume of over 1.5 million cubic feet. In meters, that's about 137 by 23, by 14, about 43,000 cubic meters. That'd be the volume of 569 railroad cars each capable of holding 240 sheep. The ark was not a cute little boat, it could hold over 135,000 animals the size of a sheep. It didn't look like this, it was more like this. The Ark held the ancestors of all life. Now keep in mind, animals on the ark didn't have to all be full grown. You wouldn't have to take a full-grown elephant on board in order to take two elephants, would you? Would you have to take full grown giraffes on board, of course not. Fewer kinds also may have been on the ark and then later became more species. For instance, we have all kinds of different cats today. And yet, they could all come from one original cat ancestor. We have all kinds of different dogs and wolves and the like, they could all come from just one ancestor. So, you don't have to have quite as many species and subspecies on the ark, as we see around us today. At any rate, God commanded bring with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So, God gave Noah that command to bring these kinds of animals on, and they would be the animals from which God would repopulate the earth.  

A third controversial claim - God punished the world. By the way, this kind of claim is one that even many Christians, I'm afraid, don't take to heart very much. Even little children are sometimes taught saying, The Lord said to Noah to build Him and archy archy  hahaha and they have some kind of cute little funny song about the most terrible judgment in the history of the universe. It is teaching children a lie, to deal with the Ark story as some cute little cheery, funny little pop up and down clappy happy song.  It's sending the opposite message of the reality. But if even church people don't take seriously God's judgment on the world, certainly unbelievers don't like the notion at all. The world that then existed, was deluged with water and perished, says the apostle Peter. And he says something similar is going to happen again at the end of the ages. The heavens and the earth that now exist, are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. And Peter didn't just make this up. He got it from his Master Jesus. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man, says Jesus. They were unaware, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. The Flood was real, the judgment of the flood was real. And the judgment of Jesus’ second coming is real. And to take one seriously, we must take the other seriously. It may be controversial; people may not like to hear it. But God doesn't make His decisions based on public opinion polls. 

The fourth controversial claim is that even the best people are sinful. God said I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Keep in mind God says this after the flood when only righteous Noah and his family are left. and God says even these people, they're evil from their youth. Noah became drunk. Again, that's controversial. The Muslim people, for instance, say that Noah and other great heroes never sinned, they were always perfect. And so, the claim that a man like Noah would get drunk and do shameful things and curse his grandchild and so on; that's just not on their radar. But the fact is, even the best people are sinful. David says I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick or desperately wicked. And it's taught from the very beginning of the Bible, and all the way through the Bible. So, as you start reading in the book of Genesis, you might as well get used to the claim that even the best people are sinful. There is none righteous, no, not one. 

And because there's none righteous an atoning sacrifice is necessary. Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered them on the altar and God accepted that offering. When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in His heart, I will never again strike down every living creature. God's promise was based on an atoning sacrifice. And later on, as you read further in the Bible you read about a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the New Testament says Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering, and sacrifice to God. If you're allergic to atoning sacrifices, if you're allergic to the idea of God, being pleased by a sacrifice, then Jesus’ salvation will make no sense to you. But already in these early chapters of Genesis, we are having revealed to us the need for an atoning sacrifice. 

A sixth thing that's challenged, but yet true, is that God preserves earth and seasons. While the earth remains seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. God is going to make sure that the earth continues and that its seasons continue. I will remember my covenant that is between Me and you, and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 

Now, even with those promises, people panic, about climate change and the extinction of all life. Global warming is a great fear among some people today. And there's three questions asked. One is, is the globe really warming? Are our measurements accurate? And do we know that it's warming? Second, how much effect do humans have? Is any possible warming the result of human activity? Or is it just something that's going on that human have not caused? And a third and very important question, would warming be bad, or good? Would it result in a more productive earth? Those are not the easiest questions to answer despite what is sometimes called a scientific consensus on the matter. 

Those of us with a bit of memory, remember that global warming is not the first panic about saving the earth. We remember the global cooling crisis. The world's climatologists are agreed that we must prepare for the next Ice Age. A major cooling of the planet is widely considered inevitable. All the experts agree that the planet is cooling. And this is deadly and catastrophic. A new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery. We've got to save the planet from cooling. The Ice Age commeth. Science News said to expect a full blown 10,000-year Ice Age. Expect extensive northern hemisphere glaciation. Newsweek ran a story titled “The Cooling World”. There are ominous signs that the world's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically. And that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production with serious political implications. And you've got a graph showing it? How can anybody doubt that the ice is coming? And we're all going to be shivering soon? And no food is going to be growing? We must save the planet from cooling, or was that warming? Or what is it we've got to save the planet from? 

The scientific consensus might change every few years on what we've got to save the planet from. I don't know whether global warming is a reality or what needs to be. And I do know this, where there's a panic about anything about climate control on a massive global scale, government will get more control, scientists will get more grant money than just saying, you know, climate changes. Sometimes it goes up a little sometimes it goes down a little, nobody gives you grant money to say that. Reporters get a lot more attention and sales if the headline says the Ice Age commeth, or the globe is on fire, than if they just say, well, you know, things are kind of going along pretty much as they have. Secular environmentalists really get a bonus, they get a noble ideal, and a “Mission of Salvation” without religion. Everybody wants to save the world. It's just a question of what they want to save it from. I still remember the cartoon, which showed a kind of bearded person holding a sign which said, the end is near. And another person on the cartoon says, I can't stand you religious wackos. And the guy holding the sign says, I'm not a religious wacko, I'm an environmentalist. And then in the next panel, the guy has joined him holding another sign the end is near. Because we think that people who speak of God's coming judgment must be nuts. But every new scientifically induced panic has got to be for sure. 

Well, before saving the planet, try this: love your neighbor. And next time you look at a rainbow, thank God that He saves the planet. He's going to preserve the planet until the day when He decides history has come to its end. Now that doesn't mean that if there's strong evidence that pollution is doing damage, we shouldn't cut back on pollution. We want clean air, we want clean water, we can pay attention to those things. But let's not all go into a panic every time the powers that be say we should.

A seventh controversial claim from the early chapters of Genesis. It starts out already in Genesis one and two, but then it's carried on here again after the flood story. God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and you be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it. It was God's blessing that enabled that to occur. But many challenge that. Molly yard, who served as President of the National Organization for Women said the abortion question is not just about women's rights, but about life on the planet. Environmental catastrophe awaits the world if the population continues to grow at its present rate. So, kill a baby save the planet seems to be her motto. Well, next time you see a rainbow, thank God for blessing His earth, with billions of people and with countless animals and thank Him for people who don't think they're doing some noble thing by killing their own children. 

An eighth controversial claim - people may eat animals. God told Noah, the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. And so, you don't have to have a great guilt complex the next time you eat a steak. Again, there is an animal rights movement which says that animals are equal to people and that there should not be the eating of any animal products. You shouldn't even have pets because that's akin to slavery. And again, it takes a very anti human approach. We humans have grown like a cancer. We're the biggest blight on the face of the earth. The smallest form of life, even an ant or a clam, is equal to a human being. When it comes to feelings a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. (I'm glad I'm not her boy). They all feel pain. There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. 6 million Jews died in concentration camps, but 6 billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses. So, broiler chickens and Jews - same level. 

No right to use the animals. Supporters of animal rights say that drinking milk or wearing wool or owning pets is like slavery. Medical research using animals is always evil. Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it, says Ingrid Newkirk of PETA. We're humans are not superior, there is no clear distinctions between us and animals, claims Michael Fox and the Humane Society. The life of an ant, and the life of my child should be granted equal consideration. Boy, would I hate to be his kid. The great scholar of animal liberation is Peter Singer, an Australian, who was appointed to be an ethics professor of all things at Princeton, the university where Jonathan Edwards, the great leader of the Great Awakening was once President. How the mighty have fallen! Princeton now has this guy as its ethics professor, and he says, Christianity is our foe. If animal rights is to succeed, we must destroy the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. It can no longer be maintained by anyone but a religious fanatic, that man is the darling of the whole universe, or that other animals were created to provide us with food, or that we have divine authority over them, and divine permission to kill them. In other words, he is directly contradicting what God says in Genesis chapter nine, and he understands Christianity is the foe of making the ant equal to the boy. People may use indeed animals, everything that lives in moves will be food for you. That doesn't mean that you can just mistreat animals, they are God's creatures. And so, the Bible also says a righteous man cares for the needs of his animal. You never inflict needless pain on animals. You avoid destroying endangered species wherever possible. Take good care of pets and livestock. But let's recognize the fact Jesus ate lamb at Passover, and He ate fish. Jesus valued animals as the Creator of animals. But He also exclaimed, how much more valuable is a man than a sheep? Jesus said, you are worth more than many sparrows. There is no doubt that the Son of God values animals, and that He values people far, far more than animals, people who are created in His image. Well, we haven't had enough controversy yet. 

So, here's number nine. Murder deserves the death penalty. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image. Those are the words of God to Noah. God told Moses, anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. It's talking about premeditated murder, of course not about accidental death. The law had different provisions for that and cities of refuge where you wouldn't be executed or punished if a death were accidental. Now, what purpose is there in having a death penalty for convicted murderers? One is that it honors the victim’s value. God made man in His own image. To shed the blood of an image bearer of God is a dreadfully serious thing. And so, the payment reflects the victim’s value.It obviously makes sure that a killer will never murder again. It warns other potential killers of the punishment. And it does this, it treats the killer as a responsible person. It holds a person accountable for his or her actions. And so, for these reasons, the death penalty in some cases is applicable. Now, in every society that does have the death penalty, it has to be asking, is it being applied fairly? Are people of one ethnic group or racial group being executed far out of proportion to what justice would involve. Were people of one ethnic group with money get off the hook, people of another ethnic group get executed because they don't have the money or they're of a lower status in society. These things all have to be figured in as well. And there may be some circumstances where you say at least for now, the death penalty is being administered so unjustly that we've got to back off from it and find other means such as life imprisonment. So, I'm not saying that always the death penalty in every circumstance, because in a fallen world, sometimes even something that can be rightly used in certain circumstances is unjustly used when a society has become too distorted. But the overall principle is that, in principle murder does deserve the death penalty. 

So, when you read the Bible, you're not just reading a nice little story and even the stories that it may be portrayed in children's books as Noah and the cute animals and that nice little boat that they hopped on to is actually in the original biblical text just bristling with controversial claims that are opposed on every side. But the fact is, according to God's word, floodwaters did cover the whole earth. The Ark did hold ancestors of all today's animals. God did punish the world in His wrath. Even the best people are evil from their youth. Atoning sacrifice is necessary. God does preserve His earth, and its seasons. And we aren't the ones who ultimately are going to save the planet. He preserves His planet. Growing population is a blessing, not just a curse. People may use and eat animals. Murder does deserve the death penalty. When we hear God's word, we have to at times turn down the noise from the society that we live in, and the voices of those who have a very different opinion and simply hear for ourselves what the Word says and that starts right in the very first chapters of the very first book of the Bible.