|
|
FFF.HTM (uploaded by permission of Bill Hamilton
by John Burgeson)
Subject:
ORIGINS: Review of "Foundation, Fall and Flood" by Glenn Morton; 18-Aug-95,
by hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com (Bill Hamilton)
Foundation,
Fall and Flood: A harmonization of Genesis and Science Glenn R. Morton. 1995.
DMD Publishing Co., 16075 Longvista Dr., Dallas, TX 75248 ISBN 0-9648227-0-9.
159 pages + index. $15.00 + $2.00 postage
Glenn
Morton’s web site is currently at
http://www.home.entouch.net/dmd
Most
conservative Christians have puzzled over the question of how to reconcile
Genesis with science. For those with backgrounds in science and applied
science, this is a significant question, since its answer affects how we carry
the Gospel to our colleagues, as well as our colleagues' perception of our
integrity. Whether or not we accept the young-earth view, we Christians view
the Bible as God's written word -- an inspired document.
For
young-earth creationists, the points of friction between science and Scripture
include the age of the earth, evolution and the Flood of Noah's day. By
interpreting the creation week as six literal days followed by a literal day of
rest, and by interpreting the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 as describing
gapless lists of successive generations, young-earth creationists conclude that
the age of the earth must be no more than 7000-10000 years. A straightforward
reading of the flood account in Genesis 7-9 leads to the conclusion that the
flood was global and lasted approximately a year. Evolution is ruled out by,
among other things, interpreting the creation account as relating direct acts
of God, by the Scriptural statement "and God saw that it was very
good" -- ruling out millions of years of death implied by evolution, and
by the shortness of the available time. 7000-10,000 years is not enough time
for evolution. Young Earth creationists view the fossil record as the sediments
deposited by the flood.
Glenn
Morton is a geologist and a Christian. Although he was once a young-earth
creationist, the compelling evidence of the earth's age he encountered in his
work led him to an agonizing reappraisal of his faith and his understanding of
how the Bible should be interpreted. Happily, Morton exited from this
reappraisal a Christian. He no longer subscribes to the young-earth view,
however, and this book explains why. In addition, it provides an alternative
harmonization of Genesis and science which honors Scripture while treating the
physical evidence honestly.
In
spite of his acceptance of an old earth and evolution, Morton remains convinced
that the Bible must be interpreted literally, except where compelling evidence
dictates another interpretation. The book is a tightly reasoned, meticulously
documented interpretation of Scripture and physical evidence which aims to show
that acceptance of an old earth and evolution do not require the Christian to
abandon a straightforward, honest reading of Scripture. In the process of
developing his scenario, Morton derives insights which demand serious
attention.
How
then, does Mr. Morton make his case? First he shows that the creation days can
be understood to be twenty-four hour days in which God announced what He was
about to begin creating. The actual realization of the creation took longer,
but God set in motion all the required processes in 6 literal 24 hour days.
Morton is not a deist, however. He sees continued involvement by God in
oversight of His creation.
In
Morton's harmonization the origin of man occurred about 5.5 million years ago
by a direct intervention of God. While the 5.5 million year figure violates the
time scale creationists infer from the genealogies, Morton shows that the
phrase "so-and-so lived x years and became the father of y" can as
easily mean that at age x so-and-so became the ancestor of y, and that this is
a legitimate interpretation of the Hebrew.
While
such an ancient origin of man might seem to cause a problem with genealogies,
it solves a problem with the flood of Noah. As a geologist, Morton learned
early in his education that there is no evidence for a worldwide flood
occurring about 2350 B. C. True, there are few places on the surface of the
earth that show no evidence of ever having been flooded, but the flooding of
various locations occurred at different times, and there is no time when every
location was flooded. Morton's solution for the flood is the filling of the
Mediterranean about 5.5 million years ago. There is ample geological evidence
that prior to 5.5 million years ago, the Mediterranean was a deep valley. The
total inflow from rivers and rainfall did not exceed the water loss by
evaporation, and a land bridge at Gibraltar kept the Atlantic Ocean out. This
land bridge collapsed, causing a cataclysmic flooding of the Mediterranean.
Some
implications of this scenario may seem unsettling. For example, so-called
modern man did not appear on the scene until some 100,000 years ago, implying
that Adam and his descendants, including Noah, were most likely one of the
earlier hominids, such as Homo habilis. However, this does not imply that Noah
was some sort of subhuman. The physical differences between these hominids and
later men do not necessarily imply that they were genetically different. Dogs
are all the same species. But a fossilized Chihuahua and a fossilized Malamute
might be mistaken for different species if these two fossils were found and
dogs were not extant today. Furthermore, fossil differences cannot tell us
whether modern man and earlier hominids differed spiritually.
Reading
Foundation, Fall and Flood can be tough slogging at times, because of the huge
volume of detail presented. But the detail is well organized to support the
central theme of the book, and the reader who persists will be rewarded with
fresh insights into how Scripture and scientific knowledge can be integrated.
If Morton's scenario is correct, the question of whether the earlier hominids
were human is answered, at least in part. The question of why the Bible tells
us so much about the flood is answered. A flood in 2350 B. C. would surely be
documented in the literature of many nations. Records of a flood 5.5 million
years ago might be lost had God not told Moses about it. Morton's scenario is a
welcome alternative to the disconnected, contradictory arguments of young-earth
creationists and the over reliance on allegory some theistic evolutionists are
prone to.
Reviewed
by
Bill
Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986
1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)
Press
Backspace to return to previous page
Burgy