Young Earth Creation Model Confirmed

Original Article

I have read lots of literature and articles as well as web-sites about the “fountains of the great deep” (Genesis 7:11) and how these may have played a role in the Great Flood (Noah’s Flood). I have just come across an article that may be the first scientific confirmation of these models and scripture.

Mind you, many other Scriptures have been proven true by science over the years:

Isaiah 40:22, the roundness of the earth

Ecclesiastes 1:7, hydrology

Job 38:16, deep sea springs/vents

Etc., etc.

But this one will be latched onto by the many young-earth creationists (of which I count myself one) and studied to the extreme… I cannot wait for some of the commentary by ICR (Institute for Creation Research) and AIG (Answers in Genesis).

Now I can add:

Genesis 7:11, fountains of the Great Deep

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that has at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet's deep mantle.

The finding, made by Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington University in St. Louis, and his former graduate student Jesse Lawrence, now at the University of California, San Diego, will be detailed in a forthcoming monograph to be published by the American Geophysical Union.

The Fountains of the Great Deep

The "fountains of the great deep" are mentioned before the "windows of heaven," indicating either relative importance or the order of events.

What are the "fountains of the great deep?" This phrase is used only in Genesis 7:11. "Fountains of the deep" is used in Genesis 8:2, where it clearly refers to the same thing, and Proverbs 8:28, where the precise meaning is not clear. "The great deep" is used three other times: Isaiah 51:10, where it clearly refers to the ocean; Amos 7:4, where God's fire of judgement is said to dry up the great deep, probably the oceans; and Psalm 36:6 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of God's justice/judgement. "The deep" is used more often, and usually refers to the oceans (e.g., Genesis 1:2; Job 38:30, 41:32; Psalm 42:7, 104:6; Isaiah 51:10, 63:13; Ezekiel 26:19; Jonah 2:3), but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Ezekiel 31:4, 15). The Hebrew word (mayan) translated "fountains" means "fountain, spring, well."[1]

So, the "fountains of the great deep" are probably oceanic or possibly subterranean sources of water. In the context of the flood account, it could mean both.

If the fountains of the great deep were the major source of the waters, then they must have been a huge source of water. Some have suggested that when God made the dry land appear from under the waters on the third day of creation, some of the water that covered the earth became trapped underneath and within the dry land.[2]

Genesis 7:11 says that on the day the flood began, there was a "breaking up" of the fountains, which implies a release of the water, possibly through large fissures in the ground or in the sea floor. The waters that had been held back burst forth with catastrophic consequences.

There are many volcanic rocks interspersed between the fossil layers in the rock record -- layers that were obviously deposited during Noah's flood. So it is quite plausible that these fountains of the great deep involved a series of volcanic eruptions with prodigious amounts of water bursting up through the ground. It is interesting that up to 70 percent or more of what comes out of volcanoes today is water, often in the form of steam.

In their catastrophic plate tectonics model for the flood, Austin et al. have proposed that at the onset of the flood, the ocean floor rapidly lifted up to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) due to an increase in temperature as horizontal movement of the tectonic plates accelerated.[3] This would spill the seawater onto the land and cause massive flooding -- perhaps what is aptly described as the breaking up of the "fountains of the great deep."

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1. Strong's Concordance

2. Evidence is mounting that there is still a huge amount of water stored deep in the earth in crystal lattices of minerals, which is possible because of the immense pressure. See L. Bergeron, "Deep waters," New Scientist, 1997, 155(2097):22-26:"You have oceans and oceans of water stored in the transition zone. It's sopping wet."

3. S.A. Austin, J.R. Baumgardner, D.R. Humphreys, A.A. Snelling, L. Vardiman, and K.P. Wise, "Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: A Global Flood Model of Earth History," Proc. Third ICC, 1994, pp. 609-621.
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