And the Dry Land Appeared

It is important that you realize there is little or no scriptural evidence with which to prove much of the scientific theory put forth in the following essay. With that in mind, there are portions of this work which must be considered little more than fiction -- however, I would remind you that when it comes to science, many of the so called “scientific proofs” put forward as facts in the past, have since been replaced by more recent “scientific proofs.” These more recent “scientific proofs” therefore reduce the previous “scientific proofs” to little more than works of fiction.

If you are willing to accept the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer put forward in the previous paragraph, then perhaps we can barge ahead and have ourselves a little fun. Just don’t take too seriously the parts which (at this time) are obviously not provable; unless of course you have an overly-active imagination -- as I most certainly do!

The Original Creation

Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…”

An in-depth study of the original inspired texts shows that the first sentence of Genesis 1:1 has been poorly translated. A more correct translation would have been…“And the earth became a wasteland and darkness was on the face of the deep...” Since God is not the author of confusion, and would not have created the world as we find it in Genesis 1:1, we must wonder how and why the Earth came to be in the state of chaos and confusion suggested by the words: “The earth was without form and void...”

Genesis 1:2 “And the Spirit of God [hovered] over the face of the waters.”

Genesis 1:6 “Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’”

Genesis 1:9 “Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so.”

From the pages of the Bible the ardent and determined searcher can discover the story of the original creation; it was a creation so perfect and so beautiful that the angels of God shouted for joy at the wonder of it. Unfortunately, that perfection was destroyed by the rebellion of Lucifer, one of three great Archangels created by God.

The Rebellion of Lucifer

Isaiah 14:12-15 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! You are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations: for you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, then I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol [the grave], to the lowest depths of the Pit.”

Following the original creation, the Archangel Lucifer was given charge over the Earth and one-third of all of God’s angels were placed under his direct command. For reasons which may be discussed later, Lucifer rebelled against God. Lucifer led his angels in an attempt to place himself and his throne beside the very throne of God; and a great war was fought in the heavens, a war in which Lucifer and his angels were defeated and were cast back down to the Earth.

Revelation 12:7-9 “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

One-third of the angels which God created, under the leadership of one of the most powerful beings imaginable, made war against the angels of Almighty God. We cannot know how long it took for Lucifer’s rebellion to fail, but the resulting devastation is still clearly evident throughout the cosmos for all of us to see.

The Earth which had been created so perfect and so beautiful was destroyed; it was torn apart into innumerable heavenly bodies which were then scattered throughout the cosmos. That which we have come to know as our Earth is but a tiny speck of that original creation; as such, it is almost lost in the vastness of the universe!

The Re-Creation

It can be shown from an in-depth study of the scriptures that almost six thousand years ago God carried out a re-creation of the Earth. It was during this week-long re-creation that God created man:

Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

What we want to consider in this present study is this: “If there was a re-creation of the earth approximately 6,000 years ago, what was the state of the Earth and the cosmos immediately prior to that re-creation?”

The Time Between

In the depthless reaches of outer space, with little or no energy radiating from any nearby star that which remained of the Earth would have been little more than a frozen mass of rocks, metals, and gases. A state of zero degrees Kelvin (i.e. minus 273.16 degrees Celsius) would have been reached where no life could exist and where the gases of Earth’s atmosphere would have reverted to their liquid state. The surface of the Earth would have been completely covered by this frigid, fluid mass “...and darkness was on the face of the deep!”

Few of us ever consider the incredible thinness of the veil our atmosphere represents in relation to the size of the Earth. I have heard it described as being far less in comparison than the lacquer, or varnish, on a miniature globe of the world sitting on a student’s work desk. However, the importance of that veil to the survival of everything that exists upon the Earth cannot be over-stated.

The atmosphere of our Earth consists of a mixture of various gases. Each of these gases has an individual “boiling point”: conversely, each of these gases has a “point of liquefaction.” It is important to realize that none of these gases can reach a frozen state even at absolute zero -- they exist only as gaseous or liquid! The following chart shows the boiling point and the point of liquefaction for each of the gases in our atmosphere.

Note: I must apologize for the following chart; it is supposed to be separated into 4 individual columns but the format used by the blogsite would not allow me to do this. It may be that the fault is mine, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it work -- as an old man, I can only plead computer illiteracy as my excuse.

Gas Symbol Boiling Point F Boiling Point C

Carbon Dioxide CO2 -109.3 F -78.5 C

Xenon Xe -160.8 F -107.1 C

Krypton Kr -243.2 F -152.9 C

Oxygen O2 -297.3 F -182.9 C

Argon A -302.3 F -185.7 C

Nitrogen N2 -320.4 F -195.8 C

Neon Ne -411.3 F -246.3 C

Hydrogen H2 -422.9 F -252.7 C

Helium He -452.2 F -269.0 C

Note: Any element found at a temperature higher than its individual boiling point would be found in its gaseous state. Any element found at a temperature lower than its boiling point would be found in its liquid state.

Scientifically speaking, “absolute zero” is reached at -459.4 F or -273.16 C; this state is referred to as “zero degrees Kelvin.” At zero degrees Kelvin, all atmospheric gases would exist only in their liquid state. If the temperature of the entire mass should rise from zero degrees Kelvin to -269.0 C or above, the Helium in the mass would be first to boil and would separate from the other liquids as it reverted to its gaseous state.

One by one, as the temperature of the entire mass increased, each of the elements would reach its boiling point and would separate from the others as it reverted from its liquid form to become an atmospheric gas. Can this in any way provide a clue to the mystery of the dividing of the waters from the waters?

Death of the Dinosaurs

Several billions of years passed from the time of Lucifer’s rebellion until God’s renewal of the Earth. What happened during those many eons can only be guessed at; but there are scientific hints which should be considered in the light of biblical understanding.

Science has proven that the many vast deposits of petroleum found scattered throughout the Earth are nothing less than the remains of ancient animal life -- specifically, dinosaurs from Earth’s pre-historic past. What science has so far been unable to explain is how those vast deposits of petroleum came to be.

In the world as we know it, when animals die they rot, they decay; their basic molecular components are returned to the earth -- they do not turn into petroleum! If science agrees on any one specific point with regard to this subject, it is that in the world as we know it today no further deposits of petroleum are being created.

There have been many theories put forward as to how the original deposits came to be; nevertheless, it is the general scientific consensus that the creative force of the substance known as petroleum remains a mystery. Consider this admission in the light of Scripture:

Romans 1:18-22 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

The intent of this passage is not to offend or insult anyone in the scientific community; it is to show our need to consider the truths of God with regard to anything and everything we do not fully understand. If there is even the slightest possibility that an omnipotent Creator Being may have been responsible for something that exists, then in the absence of any definitive scientific clarity we must consider the possibility of a biblical answer.

Rocks that Burn

Try to picture the Earth as it must have been in the time of the dinosaurs. It is known to have had a tropical or semi-tropical environment where huge creatures existed in vast herds; they fed on a thick growth of lush grasses, ferns, bushes and trees. Now picture the Earth as it experiences a sudden, overwhelming devastation; an event so cataclysmic that it completely and suddenly destroyed all life then in existence.

Huge rafts of vegetation would have been swept away either afloat on raging waters or quickly buried under many thousands of tons of earth as storms and earthquakes ravaged what was left of the Earth. Science has proven that the almost limitless deposits of coal found in vast quantities throughout the Earth are nothing more than pre-historic vegetation which in ages past had been quickly buried then subjected to incredible pressure for an unspecified period of time. What adds to the mystery is that in addition to great pressures, heat was required to turn that vegetation into coal!

There is one more interesting fact about coal which needs to be understood -- science has shown it requires a raft of vegetation 40 feet deep, quickly buried and subjected to immense pressure and heat, in order to produce a 1 foot thick seam of coal. In some of the world’s larger deposits, seams of coal have been found more than 6 or 7 feet thick!

When it was suggested that heat must be added to the pressure required to create coal my first thought was that a great conflagration must have accompanied the devastation of the Earth; however, this need not be so! Great pressures, of and by themselves, create an abundance of heat -- whether this would be enough to transform vegetation into the hard carbon of coal is questionable. Nevertheless, there is another possibility clearly evident in the structure of the Earth itself.

Even in this present day and age, the deeper we go into the Earth the higher the temperature rises. We can only begin to speculate as to the heat produced by the Earth’s core in the days of our pre-history. Add to this the absolute certainty that any great cataclysm would unleash eruptions and lava flows to an extent unheard of and beyond the imagination of any of us today.

That which would one day become the coal that has fuelled the homes and industry of our recent past, and which may yet become the fuel of tomorrow, would have been subjected to irresistible pressures from above and incredible heat from below -- but still, there may have been much, much more added to the equation!

If this speck of dust in the vastness of the cosmos which we call our Earth was to be cast off into nothingness, many light years from even the smallest star or other source of heat, the surface would quickly revert to the virtual death of absolute zero degrees Kelvin. Every gas in our atmosphere would be transformed into its liquid state and would flow as a great turgid sea to a depth of more than half a mile over the surface of the Earth -- the incredible weight of that sea could only be guessed at.

What would this do to the recipe for turning mosses and grasses into coal? For that matter, what would it do to the process required to transform the remains of animal life into petroleum? There would be great heat from below, trapped beneath incalculable weights and pressures from above; weights and pressures accompanied by temperatures lower than mankind has so far been able to measure. Time would not be a factor in the recipe; countless millennia would pass before the Earth would once again feel the warmth of any star -- or until the frigid Earth came within the orbit of our own life-giving Sun.

Genesis 1:2-4 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God [hovered] over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good...”

Note: Next week I hope to discuss the first of many miracles performed by Jesus. Why would he choose something as seemingly unnecessary and spiritually unedifying as the turning of water into wine as the first manifestation of his powers?