The Genesis Cataclysm. W. Joseph Stallings

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СКАЧАТЬ it, it is always about frame of reference and about the way that things—however true those things may be on their own merit alone—are seen and understood in relation to other meritorious truths. Sometimes we miss the fullness of truth because we are not looking with both eyes open. And sometimes even undisputed facts can be incorrectly placed within the structures of a paradigm—even when the wider paradigm itself is quite plausible. There is a forest. And there are trees. Both. We do our level best when we don’t miss—or misappropriate—either one.

As I previously set forth in my first book, The Genesis Column (Wipf & Stock, 2018), it is my unwavering conviction that there exists a great divine meta-narrative of and within all created existence.4 God is both working in and revealing himself through history. God not only created everything that is, but is decisively going somewhere with all that he has created. He is working resolutely and purposefully in and through all of the space, time, matter, and energy of which his created order consists. Yet, that creation—originally perfect—is currently fallen. Our rebellious Adamic touch has tainted and marred the Edenic Paradise and everything that is part of that order has been afflicted. Therefore, the work of God goes on through a process whereby the restoration of fallen Original Creation will surely come to pass in the ultimate culmination of final New Creation. Until that point in God’s mysterious kairological time, “the creation [still] waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” when “the creation itself will [then] be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:19, 21). For now, however, we must be content to live in this still-broken age amidst the tensioned surety of the not (quite) yet.

      As such, this process of renewal has been and remains continually painful for the totality of fallen creation. All of creation—whether organic or inorganic—truly groans, cries, struggles, and grieves in its own way as it waits for the new glory to finally appear (Rom 8:22–24). Despite the ongoing renewing work of God (see John 5:17)—indeed, in accordance with that work—the fall has its inundative consequences. Persevering through these consequences requires our trust in the Christ of our salvation and our ongoing patient endurance.

      While the very notion of divine judgment is never a comfortable matter among compassionate people—and quite frankly unwelcome in many circles—it is strongly presented as a reality in the Bible. Therefore, all thoughtful seekers and followers of Christ must deal with it straight up. It cannot be avoided without negating a significant part of the scriptural revelation. According to Scripture, God has punctuated chronological history with three great purging judgments: the Fall Judgment (Gen 3), the Flood Judgment (Gen 6–8), and the Final Judgment (Rev 1–22). Within the scarlet thread that runs throughout the holy text, all three are inseparably intertwined. In the light of God’s complete omniscience and perfect holiness, all three have been deemed to be necessary.

      While this book focuses specifically on the reality of the Noahic Flood, it will be apparent that all three judgments are in play throughout the narrative. If it wasn’t for the Adamic Fall, there would be no Flood nor Eschaton. Yet, the Fall leads to the Flood, which points to the Eschaton.

      Note also that this book can be read as a stand-alone entity. It is, however, highly suggested that one first read The Genesis Column prior to reading The Genesis Cataclysm. The former sets the stage for the latter; and the latter is an extension from and a derivative appendage of the former. Moreover, there are a number of concepts discussed in The Genesis Column (including, of course, the Inundative Corruption Hypothesis, and then perhaps most importantly, the model’s overall meta-narrative presentation) of which being familiar with would be quite helpful in understanding The Genesis Cataclysm. The Flood fits into the total picture of God’s redemptive program and serves to magnify the extreme seriousness in chronos by which the Almighty, in his holiness, takes our creaturely sin and rebellion. In fact, in all honesty, within the total purview of the Genesis Column Model, one cannot seriously hold to a view of anything less than a global Noahic Flood.

      In reading this book, may our thinking be seriously provoked and may we enjoy—yet mostly, benefit—from the provocation.

      W. Joseph Stallings

      Wilson, North Carolina

      Eastertide 2020

      1. Balsiger and Sellier, Jr., In Search of Noah’s Ark. As a young teenager, I remember reading this book and then watching the television documentary of the same name with a bunch of my friends. We were all enthralled by the mystique and captivated by the notion that perhaps someone had actually found the Ark.

      2. More specifically, Old-Earth Progressive Creationism. See The Genesis Column, 1–6. We believe that both the scriptural and natural revelations proclaim in unison that “These are the generations [Hebrew toledot] of the heavens and the earth when they were created” (Gen 2:4a)—viz., these are the successive and lengthy periods of creation and ongoing existence.

      3. For instance, think Meredith Kline and Bruce Waltke.

      4. For instance, see The Genesis Column, 2. In reference to Genesis 1–2, I write: “I have come to believe that those two chapters tie the whole biblical revelation together. I have also come to believe that those two chapters provide a special intersection with the truth of natural revelation and present a composite picture of the whole of created reality.”

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      The Issue Proper

Christian scholars have an obligation to lead the way toward a renewed reverence for God’s truth wherever it can be found. . . . Christians should be preeminently motivated to investigate the intricacies of God’s created order, confident that a better grasp of both God’s Word and God’s works will be forthcoming.1

Within the story of human antiquity, there are probably few things more enigmatic—and more controversial—than the matter of the Noahic Flood. As geomorphologist David R. Montgomery forthrightly states: “Noah’s story is central to one of the longest-running debates between science and religion as people sought, and still seek, to reconcile scriptural interpretation with observations of the natural world.”2 In this regard, he is absolutely right on the mark. There is frequent debate among scholars, even among those who are evangelical Christians, about such things as the Flood’s historicity, extensiveness, and significance. In their classic 1961 book, The Genesis Flood, Whitcomb and Morris make this statement:

The question of the historicity and the character of the Genesis Flood is no mere academic issue of interest to a small handful of scientists and theologians. If a worldwide flood actually destroyed the entire antediluvian human population, as well as all land animals, except those preserved in a special Ark constructed by Noah (as a plain reading of the Biblical record would lead one to believe), then its historical and scientific implications are tremendous. The great Deluge and the events associated with it necessarily become profoundly important to the proper understanding of anthropology, of geology, and of all other sciences which deal with historical and prehistorical events and phenomena.3

      Just what one believes about the Noahic Flood has tremendous implications across a vast array of scientific and historical arenas. Furthermore, from an integrationist perspective, we believe that these scientific and historical implications are all tied together by the Flood’s importance within the realm of orthodox-evangelical Christian theology. As such, Whitcomb and Morris add this:

But of even greater importance are the implications of the mighty Flood of Genesis for Christian theology. For that universal catastrophe speaks plainly and eloquently concerning the sovereignty СКАЧАТЬ