On Wed, 15 Nov 1995 09:53:04 -0500 you wrote:
>Glenn wrote
GM>Stephen wrote of mycalculation of the time to fill the
Mediterranean:
SJ>Even "8 months" is enough to prove Glenn's theory wrong! First,
>the Bible says the fountains flowed for only took "a hundred and fifty
>days" (Gn 7:24) and secondly, a flood that took "8 months" to fill up
>would be too slow. The deepest part of the the Mediterranean is 4,900
>metres (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1984, 11:854). To fill that in "8
>months" would be an average rate of 0.85 metres per hour. That seems
>far too slow to catch all humans and animals unawares.<<
GM>...If the water were rising at 2.7 meters per hour, how far do you
>think you could run in the next hour? Go down to the sea shore, wade out to
>a depth of 2.7 feet and start running. Especially if you were on a the very
>flat abyssal portion. You might just have to run a hundred miles to gain
>five feet of elevation. You are most likely to run for the local topographic
>high, which you can see and hope to wait it out. But if the water inexoribly
>keeps rising, covering your position, then you have to swim. It would be
>quite sufficient to drown a lot of people especially if they had the
>misconception that local hills would save them.
BH>It seems to me another factor makes Stephen's objection moot:
>Stephen has calculated the rate of rise assuming that the depth of
>the Mediterranean is a uniform 4900 meters. No objections, Stephen,
>I just checked your calculations here, and that's what you did :-).
>The deepest part of the Mediterranean does not likely cover more than
>a small percentage of the area covered by the Mediterranean. Suppose
>for example that it covers 10 percent of the area. Then the rate of
>rise at the bottom would be 8.5 meters per hour. And those trying to
>escape would have not only to climb continuously at more than 8.5
>m/hour for several thousand meters vertically, they would also have
>to climb against the force of the downflowing torrent causing the
>filling.
Yes. Maths was not my strong point! :-) I doubt if even 1% of the
Mediterranean is 4900 metres deep. I still think that 8 months to
fill the Mediterranean: a) does not fit the Biblical account's
duratio of "a hundred and fifty days" (Gn 7:24); and b) is too slow to
trap all human and animal life (including birds).
BH>The discussion about springs seems like nitpicking to me. Noah
>described what he saw in terms which could be rendered in the
>language he spoke. He undoubtedly saw huge torrents of water flowing
>down the mountainsides[1] -- perhaps attaining a depth of 15 cubits
>(Gen 7:20). Not knowing that the Atlantic Ocean was supplying water
>from only a few hundred miles away, perhaps he concluded that the
>very fountains of the deep under the earth had opened up. It
>certainly may have appeared that the water was gushing out of the
>mountains[1] themselves.
That does not fit the Biblical language used. It speaks of in one day
"all the springs of the great deep burst forth" (Gn 7:11). The KJV
renders it "all the fountains of the great deep broken up". The Heb.
word for "burst forth" (NIV) and "broken up" (KJV) is:
"1234. baqa', baw-kah'; a prim. root; to cleave; gen. to rend, ú
break, rip or open:--make a breach, break forth (into, out, in pieces,
through, up), be ready to burst, cleave (asunder), cut out, divide,
hatch, rend (asunder), rip up, tear, win." (Strongs-QuickVerse)
It speaks of *subterrranean* breaking up, not of a surface flowing
down.
BH>[1] I am assuming that the sides of the valley Noah lived in were
>considered mountainsides by Noah.
There is no Biblical evidence that Noah even lived in a valley.
God bless.
Stephen
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