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Re: 12 Questions... please answer.
Rich Travsky (rtravsky@UWYO.EDU)
3 Aug 95 20:51:47 MDT
N.R.Harrison@ukc.ac.uk (nrh) writes:
>r3dlb1@dax.cc.uakron.edu (David L Burkhead ) writes:
>>D.Morgan@bradford.ac.uk (Dewi Morgan) writes:
>
>[deletia - good answers to silly questions]
>
>>>4) Is there any evidence to support the Great Flood. In particular, a
>>>severe change of climate from a globally temperate climate (the whole
>>>world surrounded by water) to one of polar icecaps and equatorial deserts,
>>>about 5kya, coupled with a simultaneous flooding. Evidence that would go
>>>against this: Ice on icecaps of greater than 3000 bc, animals that would have
>>>died in climates even slightly different from those they have now.
>>
>> No. Not a shread of such evicence. However, note that the
>>ancient Mesopotamians, particularly Sumer and Akkad (Akkadian, BTW, is
>>a Semitic language--linguistically related to Hebrew--thus suggesting
>>considerable cross contact), had "flood myths." Since that region was
>>subject to periodic catastrophic floods this is no surprise. In fact,
>>the story of Utnapishtim is almost identical with the Hebrew story of
>>Noah (since adopted by Christianity), and predates the existance of
>>any identifiable Hebrew peoples by two thousand years at least.
>>
>
>Have to disagree with this one, I'm afraid. There is a plethora of evidence
>for the Great Flood (or more specifically, a flood) at around 10kbp. This
>was the end of the last ice age, and geological evidence (based on isotopes
>of oxygen in deep-sea cores) shows a massive surge in the *area* of the oceans
>which would suggest a rise in sea-level of around 500 ft. Couple this with
>the universality of 'flood myths' from areas as distant as the Middle East,
>China, North America, Hawaii and Scandinavia, the mass mammal extinctions
>and various other pieces of evidence, and you have incontravertable proof
>of a massive flood; sadly, too long ago for creationists!
What's the time frame for this 500 ft. rise? A couple of days? Or
over a period of years? If the change is gradual, the human perception
would hardly view this as a flood. But this means we have to invent
or invoke something of a catastrophic nature, and that's a whole
nother can of kooky worms.
+----------+ Rich Travsky RTRAVSKY @ UWYO . EDU
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