Scientist discover water in the earth mantle...evidence of the deluge?

"'It's actually the confirmation that there is a very, very large amount of water that's trapped in a really distinct layer in the deep Earth,' said Graham Pearson, lead study author and geochemist at the University of Alberta in Canada. the findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature."

"'It translates into a very, very large mass of water, approaching the sort of mass of water that's present in all the world's oceans,' Pearson told Live Science's Our Amazing Planet."

You can read the Fox News article

 HERE.

Hmm. An ocean's worth of water is hidden in the mantle of the earth. The theory, it seems, is that it got there because of tectonic subduction in the bottom of the oceans. This means, I think, that the surface of the earth once had a whole lot more water on it than it does now.

Funny, seems like I read about something like that in the Bible...

Genesis 6:17-20 

"The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep."

Genesis 7:1-5 

"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated,  and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains ofArarat.  And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. "

Chart displaying the overlap in lifespan of Patriarchs from Adam to Abram

No great insightful blog entry here. I was just searching the web for a comparative chart I could use to show the relative ages and overlap in life span of the generations between Adam and Abram. Since I couldn't find one I liked, I made my own.

Perhaps you can use this as well.   - Tony

Go for Wood...

 Musings about Noah and the Ark...

First off, please pardon the play on words. Several translations of the Bible transliterate a Hebrew word in Genesis chapter six as "gopher wood".  This is the wood from which Noah was to build the famous ark that would preserve terrestrial life on earth. Although many speculate that it is a variety of cypress, no one knows for sure. Anyway, please stay with me...

God told Noah to build an ark that measured approximately 450 feet long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet high. He was to make it of "gopher wood" and then cover it with pitch inside and out. 

Here are some calculations you may never have stopped to consider.

-The surface area of the walls required 94,500 board feet of lumber at 2 inch thickness.

-The surface area of the roof, bottom and decks required at least 270,000 board feet of lumber at 2" thickness. 

-If my math is correct, by the time bracing and interior walls are calculated, the total amount of lumber to construct such an ark could well have exceeded 729,000 board feet.

That is a lot of lumber.

Here is the thing...

We always look at the fantastic beginning of the story of Noah, and we look at the climatic ending where Noah and company ride out the flood, find land and disembark from the ark. What we often forget is the 120 years that passed between the beginning of the story and the actual flood. That's right 120 years.

During that time the real work was done.

Someone had to "go for wood"!

Someone had to carry pitch.

Somebody had body odor.

Someone ruined his clothes.

Somebody had blisters and sore hands.

Somebody was laughed at.

and then, once they were finished...

The ark was ugly! Noah's masterpiece looked like a large tar paper box! It was not sleek. It did not have masts or a mainsail. There isn't even mention of a rudder or tiller. It was a big ugly barge.

Now, have you ever noticed, my Christian friend, how often God gives us a task and we dive into it with enthusiasm and anticipation...and then we somehow get lost when we "go for wood"? 

Distractions abound in our world, but we can't afford to wander off. Faithfulness is essential, day in and day out. Noah, at least, got it right. How do we know? Well, centuries later, God saw fit to brag on him a little in Hebrews 11:7...

"By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."ESV

Hebrews chapter eleven is God's brag book. In one sense, the addendum to Hebrews chapter eleven is still be written in the heavens. I certainly hope that someday my name is also found there in that list of God's faithful servants.