Jim wrote
>This, then, is my question: Could not the miraculous wind God used to dry
>the Earth make the Earth, many thousands of years later, look exactly
>like it does today? Might it indeed answer every single one of [Glenn's]
>objections if this is the case?
I wrote:
<<Yes, it could. However, miracles in Scripture are usually intended in
part
to teach God's sovereignty. In view of this it would seem strange that God
would perform a great miracle (the flood) and then destroy the evidence of
it.>>
Jim replied
>I think the sovereignty point here was the destruction of humanity, not
>destroying evidence.
That's not what I said. The flood was a significant act of God -- however
and wherever it occurred. I don't see how erasing or obscuring the
evidence of that great act would in any way point to God's sovereignty,
since the evidence of the original act would then be missing. That of
course doesn't mean that God wouldn't have, or couldn't have, or didn't do
it. But Job 12:7-9 encourages us to study nature to learn about God. In
view of that, I'm still puzzled that there would remain no evidence of the
original flood or of God's acts in remediating the effects of the flood.
>My query says that God's miraculous "clean up" is what
>it was, a miracle, and didn't destroy evidence.
Well, it did _something_ with the evidence: obscured it, changed it,
"remediated" it -- all of which are practices our courts frown on. :-)
Indeed, God was not
>interested in the after effects, especially where it concerns those who
>"demand" certain answers.
>
And of course you are correct. I don't believe that God jumps through
hoops at the whim of humans. But I would like to believe that the evidence
he has left of his acts in nature can be studied straightforwardly --
without assumptions that have to do strange things with the evidence to
make the postulated scenario plausible.
>
>If God is truly sovereign, why aren't we allow him his miracles? Isn't this
>highly presumptuous?
>
I agree. My problem -- and Glenn's I believe -- is that some people try to
have it both ways. When a postulated scenario runs afoul at some point
with physical evidence, it's better to say, "I don't know" and continue
analyzing evidence and developing theory to explain it than to say, "well,
of course the Creator could easily have...". Of course he could. But
let's learn as much as we can from the evidence before we throw up our
hands and say "God did it". Of course God did it. He did -- and does --
everything. But he told us to study what he did to learn about him. I
believe we should do that.
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Bill Hamilton
Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems
GM R&D Center
Warren, MI