Re: Is there a Plan B? (was "Fountains of the Deep")

Dick,

As one claiming to possess a 'high view' of Scripture - presumably accepting it to be the divinely-inspired text that it is - you appear to lean heavily on Babylonian mythology in concluding that "fountains of the great deep" (Gen.7:11) merely refers to a system of "irrigation canals". It is really most illuminating to witness the lengths to which some are prepared to go to defend the popular belief that the Mabbul was a large flood local to Mesopotamia. Surely you must see that the uncommitted reader would quickly gather that this event involved what one might call the 'double whammy' of waters simultaneously released from below and from above - the former including the subterranean waters that were an essential feature of the hydrologic cycle of the antediluvian world during which, of course, there was no rain (Gen.2:5, Gen 9:13). It takes little imagination to understand that these would have been massive structures and that their breaking up at the time of the Mabbul must have involved intense seismic activity and a consequent reshaping of the earth's physiography. Old watercourses would have disappeared along with the garden of eden; new ones would have formed to drain the postdiluvian earth.

No, Dick. As I believe I have demonstrated here and elsewhere, the Mabbul was a _global_ event of far-reaching significance. Evolutionists urgently need to come up with a Plan B to harmonise their views with that fact.

Vernon
http://homepage.virgin.net/tgvernon.jenkins/Wonders.htm
www.otherbiblecode.com
 
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Dick Fischer
  To: ASA
  Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 8:55 PM
  Subject: "Fountains of the Deep"

  Vernon writes:

>But how do you reconcile that belief with the
>words of 7:11, "...all the fountains of the great deep were broken up..."?
>What is your understanding of this verse?

  In the Septuagint, the word "fountain" appears rather than the KJV word, "mist" in Genesis 2:6. This word "fountain" refers to an irrigation system in all likelihood. The ground was not watered by dew at the time of Adam, but by irrigation canals. The Hebrew word for "deep" can mean the sea, it can refer to subterranean waters, or it can mean the depths of a river. In the flood account "fountains of the deep" again points to irrigation.

  In the Atrahasis epic, our hero waits out a long period of draught sitting in his boat loaded with animals before the rain falls and the flood waters come. The phrases "fountains of the deep" or "fountain of the deep" appear four times. In all instances, fountain(s) pertain to "fields," as in this example:

              Below the fountain of the deep was stopped,
               that the flood rose not at the source.
              The field diminished its fertility.
   
  From the consistency in usage, and knowing the history of Mesopotamia, we can see these were canals or levies used for irrigation. In the Gilgamesh account, Ninurta was the "lord of the wells and irrigation works." So we should know precisely what the phrase "fountains of the deep" means. The expression is defined by usage, and was employed by Semites long before Moses used it in the flood narrative. It was the overflowing rivers that caused the dams, dikes, and irrigation canals to burst open, flooding the land. We can now properly interpret "fountains of the deep" as a reference to irrigation, which clearly mandates a local flood.

  Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
  Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
  www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Mon Nov 1 16:01:55 2004