Hello, I believe in an old earth, but not in a global flood, I will now explain why, briefly. (Old Earth, Local Flood)
Creation, I believe took six eons of time, as the English word "days" comes from the Hebrew word "yom" which means "eon of time" or "days". The English translators of the Bible used the word "days" instead of "eon of time" to possibly "fit in" with their religious belief system, to maybe, put a stumbling block before the people. Deliberate, maybe, maybe not, its not up to me to judge, the Almighty Yahweh creator of heaven an earth will do that.
The earth has a numerous number of "witness marks" on it to show how old it is, these cannot be ignored or explained away. One example is the Dinosaur, they where created early during the sixth eon of time when all the living creatures were created, each according to its kind. But as we know they (the Dinosaur) also died out, maybe around the middle of the sixth eon of time. A lot of the creatures that we see today may have been created later on during the sixth eon of time.
When we read Gen 1: 26 we can see that there are four plural words used to describe the making and image of the first people. "Us" "Our" "Our" and "them". This I believe was the creation of the wonderful indigenous people of all the lands of the earth, These people all look different to each other, thus the multiple images. They were blessed by the almighty to "Bear fruit and increase .... etc. These people have lived the same way for tens or hundreds of thousands of years, they eat virtually anything and looked after the earth, only taking what they needed to survive, a hunting gathering people. These people did not die in the flood, (except the Nods, refer to Cain below) as the flood was only in the Mesopatamia region, between the ring of mountains, in Iran, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Midian and Arabia.
Gen 7: 20 "The waters became mighty 15 cubits upward, and the mountains were covered". 15 cubits is about 8 to 10 metres high, maybe the flood went two or three times higher than that. That would have covered all the mountains in that region, as that region is almost dead flat. When the flood was high enough and at the appointed time the flood then breached its lowest spot, the sandy hills that were across where the Straits of Hormaz are today, This breach then flowed into the Persian Gulf.
The Ark landed at the most northern point of the flood, The mountains of Ararat. Gen 8: 4. Exactly were they have found it today. The creatures that were on the Ark, were the creatures of that Mesopotamia area. The Ark did not have 4,000,000 different species of creatures on board multiplied by 2 or 7 from the whole world. Also "all the earth" does not always mean "the whole earth" as in "the whole globe". "all the earth" sometimes means "all the earth of that region" it depends on the context and your understanding of what you are reading, there are many ways of looking at anything, sometimes it pays to look outside the square. When Noah looked outside the Arks window and looked towards the horizon and only saw water as far as his eyes could see, then as far as he was concerned, "all the earth" was covered and everything on "all the earth" died. Noah didn't have the luxury of looking at a television to receive a weather report. As far as he was concerned there was "No Dry Land Anywhere".
We also know these days, that for every "Low Rain Depression, Cyclone or Hurricane System" there is a "High, Dry System" many kilometres away, one feeds off the other. One will not survive without the other. When we understand how the Almighty makes our weather work, you can see that a worldwide deluge is impossible, because as you can see every Low needs a High to feed it. Whereas the local flood of Noah's time did happen, as the Low Rain Depression could and would stay there for forty days and nights, I believe the Almighty Yahweh commanded the Highs to keep feeding this Massive Long Lasting Low. This is similar to the Monsoons over North East India and Bangladesh, this presently is the wettest place on earth.
Adam was given a blessing "breath of life" Gen 2: 7. He also ate of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" Gen 2:17, 3:6. The decendants of Adam, (except Noah and His Family) all perished in the flood because of their evil ways. Gen 7: 22 All in whose nostrils was the "breath of the spirit of life" all that was on dry land, died. "Breath of Life" and sin being the common denominators between Adam and those that perished.
Cain took a wife in the land of Nod, and with "knowledge" from the tree (Refer back to Adam his Father) he built a city Gen 4: 16, 17 (These "Nods" were indigenous folk "hunter gatherers" and didn't need or know how to build a city until shown by Cain). There must have been many people there in the land of Nod to require a city!
Cain and his brother Sheth took wife's from these people.
It's interesting to note that the indigenous folk of all the lands of the earth, did not change their way of life until the descendants of Adam, who ate of the tree of knowledge, came to live with them. The tribes of Israel have now became nations, and have taken some of the lands of the first people, the indigenous folk, who have also been referred to as gentiles. The descendants of Ham and Yapeth have also been referred to as gentiles. Israel was supposed to be a shining light of truth to the world, to show everyone the righteous rulings of the Creator Yahweh, which would save the earth from the destruction of babel Rev 18, but they have failed dismally, instead they have become a lover of babel, and will pay the price.
But all is not bad news, here is the good news The Messiah Yahshua called himself "The Everlasting Seed of Life" "The Living Waters of Life" "The Green Tree" "The Light of Life" among many other wonderful things. When we have all these things combined we have a land of milk and honey that brings life. Everything that grows on earth comes from seed. This seed needs water and light to grow to maturity. The Messiah Yahshua said that everything must die to be reborn again, Jonah, Yahshua and the earths seeds all have at least one thing in common. three days and three nights to renewed life. The Messiah came to show us this. One day everybody on the face of the earth will understood this teaching, and as the scripture says, " They will see Him returning from the clouds, to the earth". The people won't see any idols or images of the Messiah, for they will finally understand that He is "The Living Waters" that come from the cloud, to water the earths soil, they will also understand, that He is "The Everlasting Seed of Life" that sprouts forth and feeds the earth, turning it into a land of milk and honey, They will also know that He is "The Green Tree" that puts oxygen and water into the atmosphere, so that we may breath and live. They will also understand that "He is the Light" that shines to give warmth and life to all things.
As you can see when we read and study the Word, and avoid religious dog and pony shows, everything just fits, the Truth of the Word is finally coming out, The Messiah Yahshua said in Rev 18: 4 "Come out of her my people ...."
Also we haven't found any Kangaroos, Gorillas, Anacondas or Polar Bears etc... in the Middle East. Millions of our earths creatures have special needs, such as Koala Bears, they will only eat green eucalyptus leaves, one type only. All of these millions of species of creatures that lived outside the flood zone, they weren't on the Ark, as the flood did not affect them.
Such creatures as Sheep, Cattle, Camels and many other creatures indigenous to the Mesopotamia area were on the Ark and feed by Noah and His Family.
I understand that many might not agree with what I write, but I just point out the facts the way I see it. Others will see things I don't.
Yours in Love and Peace to my EvC Forum Brothers and Sisters.
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