On Tue, 10 Oct 1995 22:55:46 -0400 Glenn wrote:
>Jim wrote:
JB>Glenn has proposed a 5.5 million year ago Flood, right?
JB>He has admitted no human beings were around (the infamous 3.5
>million year gap), right?<<
GM>Only in your dreams. :-) I have made absolutely no such admission.
>I believe, as most paleontologists believe, that small populations
>can go unnoticed for a long, long time, leaving no fossils in the
>column.
This answers my question in an earlier post. Glenn believes that H.
Habilis, which Jim Foley's Hominid FAQ says "existed between 2.5 and
1.5 million years ago, existed undetected for 3 million years as a
peripheral isolate population.
GM>I believe that after the flood, there were very few humans
>(defined as creatures made in the image of God). The small
>population combined with the place I believe they inhabited (tropical
>forests), means that there is little chance of fossilization.
The Bible indicates nothing about Noah and his descendants living in a
"tropical forest". Immediately after the Flood, God promises Noah
that "seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and
winter...shall not cease" (Gn 8:22). None of this is applicable to a
"tropical forest". Gn 9:20 depicts Noah planting a "vineyard" and
drinking "wine". He lives in a "tent" (Gn 9:21), which seems more
like a desert existence.
Noah dies in Gn 9:29 and only ten (10) verses later we read of one of
Noah's son's descendents Nimrod (Gn 10:9) who built Mesopotamian
cities including "Babel" and "Accad" (Gn 10:10) and one of his
descendants built "Nineveh" (Gn 10:1).
While every scholar (even YEC) admit there are some gaps in the
genealogies, and hence the actual time-frame covered may be tens of
thousands or even hundreds of thousands. But Glenn is claiming that
between Gn 9 and Gn 10 are 5 *million* years, and two changes of
species (from H. habilis to H. erectus to H. sapiens).
GM>Several animals have been found in the fossil record as much as 30
>million (tarsiers) before the next fossil Tarsier. Prior to the
>discovery of the 30 million year gap, there was absolutlely NO
>evidence that Tarsiers lived on earth. I have a documented case of a
>30 million year gap in the fossil record of Tarsiers. All I am
>asking is a 3.5 million year gap in the fossil record of mankind.
Two things: 1) how much looking has there been for Tarsiers compared
to hominids; and 2) humans leave other evidence of their existence,
apart from there own bones. Noah knew how to build an Ark, and there
is no reason, given the existence of writing, why he or his
descendants would lose their technological know-how.
[...]
>Jim wrote:
JB>The Bible tells us there was a thriving culture at the time of the
>Flood. And shortly thereafter, more thriving culture.
>But there weren't any people around 5.5 million years ago! No language, no
>tools (try making an Ark without tools!)....zip. <<
GM>Sometimes I don't think you read what I write. I have pointed out
>numerous times that if you and 7 of your closest friends were left
>stranded alone in the world after a catastrophe like the flood, how
>much of modern technology do you think you could re-create. Noah and
>family faced the same problem...
Read "The Swiss Family Robinson"! :-)
Noah and his family did not need to recreate modern technology. They
simply needed to continue their existing Stone-Age technology. They
were not "stranded alone" like castaways. They had ample time to
prepare for the Flood, and there is no reason why they could not have
taken tools to with them on the Ark. The fact that Noah built an altar
immediately on disembarking (Gn 8:20) supports that he did.
[...]
GM>I am under no illustions. You won't answer any of these questions
>which in my mind, means you aren't taking any of our discussions
>seriously. But I wish you would consider this seriously though.
>Noah and his family would be very unlikely to be able to rapidly
>restore the pre-flood world economic standard.
It is also interesting that Glenn ignores the role of God. Noah had a
unique personal relationship with God (Gn 6:9) and God was able to
reveal to Noah how exactly to build the Ark (Gn 6:14-16).
After all, Noah was the world's greatest financier: he floated stock
while the rest of the world was in liquidation! :-)
[...]
GM>I have no problem with that. Our civilization is separated from
>theirs by a huge dark age. Darker than the Medieval dark ages.
There is nothing in the Biblical account of "a huge dark age" that was
"darker than the Medieval dark ages". This is yet another unsupported
auxiliary hypothesis to prop up Glenn's theory. Rather the Biblical
picture is of a rapid return to normality, such that two chapters
later, in Gn 11:3ff Noah's descendants are using kiln-baked bricks and
were engaged in building "a city with a tower that reaches to the
heavens" and the LORD is depicted as saying "nothing they plan to do
will be impossible for them" (Gn 11:6).
God bless.
Stephen
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