Bruce Jones – Is Genesis 1-11 Historical and Accurate?
Written by Teddy on May 31, 2016
Part Three – “A Universal Flood or a Local Flood-Part One”
Progressive Creationism rejects the biblical record of a universal flood in favor of a local flood thereby then rejecting the Word of God as their final authority (though in their minds it means reinterpreting the text). It seems amazing to me that anyone can claim God spent four chapters of highly definitive statements and details to describe a local flood. So let’s take the time to check out the details to see who is right.
- THE INTENT OF THE FLOOD (Genesis 6:1-13) As I proceed to exegete this text it will be to expose the approach they take which reads into this text the flood was local not universal. I want to show that their approach misrepresents God’s inspired inerrant scripture in favor of errant Science, which is the core of the battle between young earth advocates like me and “old earther’s’ and those who hold to progressive creationism.. My analysis today starts by analyzing the (1) Corruption of the world. (2) Condemnation of the world and then the (3) Commendation of Noah
(1)The corruption of the world-In reviewing the history of the world after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 2-3) mankind got off to a bad start when Cain killed Abel. Chapters 5 is an historical review of the genealogical development of man up until Noah as God specifically then focuses on the line of Seth (who replaced Abel) underscoring the fact that each one died (the result of Adam’s sin) and at this point Noah is five hundred years old. Please note that the genealogy starts with Adam and the day (not eons of time) that God created man (nor evolved him from a lower species) in the likeness of God Himself. And in the day (not eons of time) He created them He called them by name. Now rejecting the idea of any superimposed gaps in this narrative we count up a total of 1656 years from the time of Adam until the time of Noah. By this time ‘men began to multiply “on the face of the earth “(not just in that region).
As time marched on they became more and more wicked with no government to restrain them and they weren’t about to let God restrain them. Admittedly when chapter six opens then we face a narrative that seems strange to us as we read “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal -their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” Nephilim were on earth in those days—also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them, men of renown”.
Now there are three views of what this text means: (a) Some say the sons of God were the sons of Seth who chose to marry wicked women but there is no proof that the term should apply to the line of Seth and the result of these unions were all later described as “giants” suggesting a superhuman element. (b) Some who find it hard to accept this literal view and opt for demon possession to explain it. But that doesn’t explain the progeny of these unions all being giants who were ‘mighty men of renown”. (c) Others are correct is noting the term sons of God is used in Scripture to describe angels as clearly shown in Job 1-2. To support that view they turn to Jude 6-7 whichAngels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh,” Now we know that God’s angels always appear male and in Genesis 18 they sat down with Abraham and “ate food” Then in Genesis 19 they appeared as men to rescue Lot. Note the term “gross immorality” so it’s not so fat fetched to say that a signs of that time prior to judgment was the actual cohabitation of demons, who by the way are on mission to engage men in sexual sin and violence. The earth then “was filled with violence” And how far did this condition exist? The text says on “the face of the earth” which without tampering with the text seems clear enough that the face of the earth extends from the South Pole to the North Pole and from East of the timeline in England to the West (or visa versa) all around the world. So here’s our first indication we are talking about a universal condition.
So after God’s description of the state of man, we next read His diagnosis. The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it.?” Well of course we know that God knows as Hebrews 4:13 says “There is no creature hidden from His sight but all things and open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.”
As always, God, as it were, gets to the heart of the matter to not only describe their actions that “their wickedness had become great on the earth” but also diagnose them. Their attitudes were that “every inclination (the imagination or invention of evil) of their heart was evil “ALL the time.” What would this look like?” Jesus in Matthew 15:19 says “For out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, formication’s, thefts, false witness slanders” Now let’s again ask to whom this diagnosis belongs. Is it just some men who lived in the region? NO! The text is clear that it’s the whole “human race” located on “the earth” which is why God regretted that he had made “human beings” on “the earth.” This is a world-wide condition requiring a world wide condemnation.
(2) The condemnation of the World Now if this is not enough to make plain a universal application then verses 11-13 makes it even plainer when it says Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. My first observation is that God uses a Hebrew word which can be translated as depravity, destruction, devastation, pollution, spoiled, wasted or wreaking destruction as illustrated by rotten fruit. And for emphasis God uses it five times. He does not stutter! Second this is clearly a universal condition. God says it applies To ALL people on the earth, not just some local renegade group. Because of that God is going to unleash His judgment and destroy both ALL the people and ALL the earth. If we stopped there we couldn’t get there, because we wouldn’t be here. There was an exception of only Noah and family, no one else!
(3) The Commendation of Noah- Verses 8-10 says ‘BUT Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.“ Noah was “a righteous man, blameless in his time” who ”walked with God”, as the example of Enoch before him who also walked with God. The text will make clear his wife, three sons, and their wives, are excluded from this universal flood. There are no other survivors. And the rest of the text will make that fact irrefutable thus being in direct contradiction to those who want to elevate their scientific presuppositions above scripture to propose a local flood to protect their view. And I do not understand how in good conscience they can affirm an inerrant account in Genesis 6-9 while at the same time clearly believe the text is in error needing correction. I first encountered this view of a local flood while training for the ministry but since them there has been a rising commitment to that position which then and now I cannot support from Scripture as I’ll show why as we continue this series.
