Flood Geology
“You have prostate cancer; how soon can we schedule your surgery?” After the shock wore off, my first thought was to find the most credentialed, experienced prostate surgeon in the region. I learned of a urologist who not only had performed over 4000 such surgeries but was the head of all surgical departments in the largest hospital network in Pittsburgh, author of books on prostate cancer, and the director of numerous prostate-related research projects. I had faith in his credentials; I picked him to do my surgery. Credentials matter. I also believe that God heals people today; I could have chosen that path as well. Faith matters. God’s glory can be revealed whether I’m healed by a well-trained physician or by faith.
I’m a geologist with a graduate-level degree in that field. I am well-studied, well-researched, and experienced in my discipline. I have credentials to speak within my field. George McCready Price, a Seventh-Day Adventist, lived during the early twentieth century. He was high school-educated and both a self-described “geologist” and “Bible scholar”, but he had no credentials in either science or theology. That didn’t stop him from rejecting the research of thousands of geologists and promoting his own geological theory, often referred to as Flood Geology, based solely on a single catastrophic, world-wide flood event of Noah’s time.
Grand Canyon
Consider the Grand Canyon (pictured above). For many who have gazed upon this awe-inspiring panorama, the obvious question is: “how (and when) did this canyon get here”? Most geologists who have studied the Grand Canyon conclude that it is ‘old’; many think the creation narrative in Genesis points to a ‘young’ earth and Grand Canyon, perhaps 6000 years old.
So, what is this “flood geology”? In simplest terms, it is the belief, chiefly by Young Earth Creationists, that the entire geologic sedimentary column, all 40,000 feet-thick of it, is a direct result of the catastrophic global flood of Noah’s time. The Grand Canyon is their poster child for flood geology. Many ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘conservative evangelicals’ in America were quick to adopt Price’s theory; they believed this narrative would best support their own young-earth-creation model and would significantly limit the long periods of time needed for Darwin’s evolution theory to be viable. But to consider a flood geology perspective, facts based on mountains of research conducted by thousands of geologists and theologians had to be sacrificed. In their opinion, the Bible must always prevail over science. Does it have to be one against the other, or is it possible that both science and scripture can speak truth into the same issue? Let’s look at another viewpoint embraced by the Church during the Middle Ages.
Based on an interpretation of certain Bible verses, for 1500 years most Christians believed in a flat earth, the earth being the stationary center of the universe with Moon, Sun, and stars in orbit around it - until science proved otherwise. In the story of Noah’s flood, scriptural text does not imply that a single flood of global proportions (see Gen. 7:20) capable of crafting (via deposition and erosion) the entire sedimentary geologic column occurred. Most scientists (Christian or secular) would consider such a scenario “a bridge too long”, completely contrary to an ocean of research data. This does in no wise challenge biblical authority, rather, the author of Genesis reflected his understanding of the world around him inspired by the Holy Spirit and described in his own words. Moses wasn’t called to be a prophetic geologist.
Geologists agree catastrophism (volcanoes, earthquakes and floods), in contrast to ‘process’, is a major agent for forming geologic landscapes. The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens is a showcase for the power of catastrophism: 540 tons of ash over 2200 square miles; 230 square mile total devastation zone; 4 billion board feet of timber was destroyed; Spirit Lake was completely reshaped. Massive amounts of sediment were both deposited, and then eroded, in the same day. But this does not give license to elevate catastrophism, a legitimate method used by the Creator, to ascribe the entire geologic sedimentary column to a single Flood-event of Noah’s day, or to compare it to the dynamics that gradually formed and then sculpted the Grand Canyon; the data just doesn’t support this assertion.
God is the author of two “books”, Book of Nature and Book of God’s Word. Each contains truth, and each reveals God’s Glory; they are co-equal in God’s eyes.
