Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Noah did not take 120 years to build the Ark







Taken from: http://planetpreterist.com/content/beyond-creation-science-how-preterism-refutes-global-flood-and-impacts-genesis-debate-%E2%80%93-par-4

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Why would God have Noah spend 120 years building a huge boat when, in a year, he and his family could simply have hiked out of the region with some supplies and camped out until the flood was over? This view makes nonsense of the story.

One bad habit Creation Science nurtures is turning speculation about the flood of Noah into assumed biblical fact. Repeated over and over enough times, people accept the speculative theories about the flood as the very words of God. Nowhere does the text tell us how long it took to build the ark. Genesis 6:3 mentions a period of 120 years, but says nothing to indicate Noah spent this amount of time to construct the ark. The flood occurred when Noah was 600 years old.[3] According to the biblical text, Noah’s sons weren’t born until he was 500,[4] but when God told him to build an ark, it was for the purpose of saving his household, including his sons’ wives.[5] This would seem to imply that Noah’s sons were grown adults and married when they began to build, but it is impossible to know how long it took to build the ark from the text. The time has come to separate what our traditions tell us about the flood from what the Bible actually teaches.
The substance of this question seems to hold some merit on the surface. It is very popular in Creation Science literature. Why would God need to tell Noah to build an ark when Noah could have walked out of the region affected by the flood? Rather than presenting a problem for the regional flood view, this question exposes how Creation Science’s plain literal priority in reading the account entirely misses the biblical emphasis of the account . God planned the events to picture salvation by grace through faith. There is a spiritual need for the ark, because the ark is a picture of Christ in the midst of God’s judgment. What Creation Scientists often miss in their zeal to defend a plain literal reading is the story of Noah’s ark is not about the geological history of planet earth. It is about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In God’s plan it was important, as a picture of Christ, that Noah enter the ark as an “incarnation” of the gospel, resting in Jesus Christ for salvation. Noah was figuratively “in Christ” while he was “in the ark.” God has a plan whenever he gives his servant a mission, whether it is Noah, Abraham, Ezekiel, or Hosea. Any speculation that wanders from the redemptive purposes of God has lost touch with the biblical emphasis. Once we understand the redemptive purpose God has revealed, the answer to this question is clear. To tell Noah to hike over there where he would be safe from God’s judgment is to teach that man must get up and save himself by his own two feet. We ought to focus on the example of faithful obedience Noah sets rather than speculate on how God would have acted if the flood had been a localized event.
Question 2 also hinges on the escapism and retreatism so prominent in many forms of futurism. Noah did not need to escape from the evil culture of his day by some sort of proto-rapture scheme – beating a quick retreat. By faith, he was protected in the midst of a wicked civilization which reaped God’s judgment. Noah ultimately inherited the land through covenant faithfulness. The flood took the wicked away. Dispensational futurists will not appreciate this point, because they tend to be retreatists. Preterists committed to the first century victory of Christ over His enemies will recognize the escapism inherent in this objection to a regional flood which says that if the flood was not global God would have just had them walk out of the affected area.
There may be a physical need for the ark as well, even within a regional flood view. The flood was a long-term event spanning many months. Boats were used in biblical times, not only for travel, but also for transportation of bulky cargos. Is it possible to carry everything on a camping trip that will last many months? Could Noah and his family carry with them all that they and the animals would need for many months? On the ark, however, is plenty of cargo room for the things needed for Noah’s family and the animals for the duration of the flood. Question 2 is a very weak objection to a regional flood once the theological design and historical context of the flood are understood.

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Beyond Creation Science: How Preterism Refutes a Global Flood and Impacts the Genesis Debate – Part 1




By MiddleKnowledge - Posted on 29 December 2005
 
by Timothy P. Martin

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of responses to Beyond Creation Science since its release in 2001. I received feedback from preterists around the United States and even a few from outside the United States. What continues to amaze me is how few negative responses there have been compared to the many favorable reviews. Many who read that little book had never thought of the preterist implications regarding Creation Science ideology. A few said they saw these same implications years ago. The overwhelming majority who responded found my original presentation, why preterism and Creation Science are incompatible, convincing. For that I praise God. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of responses to Beyond Creation Science since its release in 2001. I received feedback from preterists around the United States and even a few from outside the United States. What continues to amaze me is how few negative responses there have been compared to the many favorable reviews. Many who read that little book had never thought of the preterist implications regarding Creation Science ideology. A few said they saw these same implications years ago. The overwhelming majority who responded found my original presentation, why preterism and Creation Science are incompatible, convincing. For that I praise God. The issue of young-earth creationism for many conservative Christians remains an emotional issue. I was expecting a stiff headwind of opposition from preterists who generally come from the same conservative Christian background which is the bastion of Creation Science ideology. So far, this expected opposition has not materialized. The few negative responses I have received from preterists have been uniformly lacking in their interaction with the main elements of my thesis. Some relied on the “scientific evidence” of a young earth as proof my thesis is in error. Others dismissed the presentation as common liberal skepticism and unbelief – no refutation necessary. To date, no preterist dedicated to young-earth creationism has attempted to deal with the substantive issues or main thrust of my thesis in print. Maybe there are fewer preterists dedicated to the Creation Science paradigm than I thought.
Those who read the first edition of Beyond Creation Science will remember it as a narrow project limited to a critical examination of the global flood doctrine. As a result of this limitation, there was one recurring theme in much of the feedback I received. Over and over again, I was asked that same question so many preterists struggle with in various ways: what now? Where does a refutation of a global flood and Creation Science ideology leave us in the wider Bible-Science and Creation-Evolution debate? Part two of this new edition is dedicated to exploring that question.
I have avoided strong conclusions because the modern biblical origins debate is a 500 – pound gorilla. Those who approach it without respect in some closed-minded, overconfident manner will likely be thumped back into reality sooner or later. Yet, I do believe the theological advance of biblical-redemptive understanding we call preterism has much to offer the discussion about biblical cosmogony.
There are a few people I would like to thank for their help in this project. I thank my wife who puts up with my erratic study and writing habits. I thank my children who give me the excuse I need to escape with them on long wilderness treks. I thank Steve Wagner, a fellow elder in congregational ministry, in whose walk-in closet this project began. I also thank Bo Stuart, another fellow elder in congregational ministry, who is not too sure about my thesis. His input has kept me honest. I also thank all the members of Covenant Community Church, Whitehall, Montana, who have signed their lives into the bonds of Christian covenant living. I also thank Jeff Vaughn for his insightful suggestions and his family for their help in proofreading. I also thank Marcus Booker whose conversations with me are more stimulating than he realizes. I pray God will use this project to further His eternal kingdom in whatever way He sees fit. To God be the glory!
 
A Necessary Introduction to Beyond Creation Science

There are few issues among conservative Christians surrounded by greater controversy than the proper understanding of Genesis. Today, many Christians with a high view of Scripture give their full attention to Genesis. This is not just a modern phenomenon. Augustine focused on Genesis when he developed many of the seed ideas we today call “Historic Christian Theology.” No one suggests he explained every detail properly, but he was right about one thing. The book of Genesis is at the heart of Christianity. Without a proper understanding of Genesis, the biblical revelation of salvation in Jesus Christ is in jeopardy. A proper understanding of the Bible begins in the book of Genesis. Mistakes made here will inevitably ripple across the rest of the Bible.
This is why the controversy over Genesis is important. On the surface it appears the historic battle lines are drawn. Very little has changed for at least a couple centuries. There is a long history in Church tradition supporting different interpretations of Genesis. Think of the debate over the “days” of Genesis.[1] Those who understand them to be literal, 24-hour days follow the lead of Ambrose and the Puritans. Those who deny a 24-hour interpretation follow Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Augustine and the Dutch Reformed. Add to these historic views the fight between Fundamentalism and Modernism in the 20th century and the contemporary stage is set. The various debates over Genesis roll on with flaming rhetoric: old earth vs. young earth, figurative vs. narrative, allegory vs. literal, local flood vs. global flood.
While many Christians spend tremendous effort furthering their own side, few examine the roots of the disagreements. Only rarely does anyone ask if the assumptions which support the continuing debates are, in fact, the right assumptions. Have we asked the right questions? Do we understand the fundamental character of the debate? Is the matter really as simple as those who reject the Bible versus those who believe the Bible? That is how many view the origins debate surrounding Genesis. This work attempts to reach the core of the debate at one particular point: the flood as recorded in Genesis.
The Creation Science movement blossomed in the 20th century as a response to the wide acceptance of naturalistic evolution as well as popular old earth creationist perspectives that many deemed as unholy compromise with Darwinism. Practically speaking, the entire Creation Science movement rests on the belief the flood was a global event. Creation Scientists claim this is the direct and unambiguous teaching of the Bible. All geological, anthropological, astronomical and biological data is explained through this axiom. Many conservative, Bible-believing Christians have made this a point of absolute orthodoxy. They see belief in a global flood specifically and the Creation Science paradigm generally as a pillar of the Christian Faith in the modern world. I must admit that this was my belief at one time as well. However, my view changed after embracing covenant thinking which led me to understand New Testament prophecy from a general preterist viewpoint.
I hope to introduce you to a new perspective on the Genesis flood debate, an approach which offers tremendous potential to move the wider Bible-Science debate beyond the entrenched lines of the stalemated conflict we witness today. The following pages are offered as an introduction, not as the last word. What follows is an investigation, not a dogmatic conclusion. Though I am convinced the case is sound, I am also painfully aware of just how many proposals related to Genesis have been born in the last two hundred years with high expectations only to be buried later in unmarked graves in the backwoods of history. Their numbers are great. That sobering historical reality should foster care, temperance, balance, objectivity, and most of all, humility, among all who have an interest in this controversy, regardless of their own position. I offer the following with all humility in light of the messy past. At the same time, I offer it with hopeful confidence that a paradigm shift we can scarcely imagine today awaits us in the future of the Genesis origins debate. The truth will win out in the end: in God’s providence, it always does.
This book is a critique of the main Creation Science presupposition from the perspective of covenant eschatology or what is known broadly as preterism. I hope to demonstrate a methodological, theological and historical correlation between the rise of Creation Science ideology and the prevalence of dispensational theology in America during the 20th century. I hope to convince those who have already abandoned dispensational futurist eschatology in favor of preterism (regardless of any particular brand) of the need to completely re-examine the Creation Science paradigm. As preterism grows to eclipse dispensational futurism in American Christianity, I believe this re-examination will lead naturally to the wholesale abandonment of Creation Science ideas.
This critique of the Creation Science movement is a call to consistency. My argument is simple. It is time for those committed to a general preterist understanding of Matthew 24, 2 Peter 3, and Revelation to think through the logical implications of their beliefs as they relate to the rest of the Bible.
 
Footnotes:
1. For an excellent overview of the current state of this debate and how it relates to the wider Bible-Science debate see David G. Hagopian, ed., The Genesis Debate: Three Views on the Days of Creation (Mission Viejo: Crux Press, 2001).

To be continued…

Copyright 2005 by Timothy P. Martin. All rights reserved. Reprinted by Permission

[This book will be available through the Planetpreterist bookstore.]

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