Mt. St. Helens Filming, Day 3

I have rafted down the Grand Canyon twice and been to the rim numerous times, but it still takes my breath away. This is our third day here and we finally made it up to the eastern end of the South Rim. Tom is manning one camera out on the point. We are with Dr. Steve Austin, an incredibly smart geologist who has spent years below the rim studying nautiloid fossils and other features in this amazing place. Beyond the beauty, however, the Grand Canyon gives us the unique opportunity to see a stark display of sedimentary layers…layers that are found all over the world. They sit on top of a bed of metamorphic rock and extend, in some places, upward for three miles. The odds are you are standing on massive layers of sediment right now. The conventional story that is told in our schools and universities and even the signs in the National Parks is that all of this was formed over millions and millions of years by slow, gradual processes. The problem is that the evidence doesn’t match that story. We saw at Mt. St. Helens how complex geological formations can appear in a matter of hours or days. Even conventional geologists are beginning to look more toward a “catastrophic” answer to what they see, not only in the Grand Canyon, but around the world. Dr. Austin is one of many scientists that are finding that the history recorded in Genesis is accurate and gives us a true basis for understanding the geological story that is recorded in the earth. In the next few days, we will look at a some of that evidence. [Previous] [Next]

Next to the enormity of the Grand Canyon, the most prominent feature is its strata…the many sedimentary layers that make up the canyon walls. The layers are quite unique, distinct and massive, both in their vertical depth and lateral or horizontal extent, some extending up into Canada, for example. They are also quite undisturbed, meaning the layers form neat lines without signs of erosion. There are places where the layers are “folded”, looking like the old ribbon candy that was once popular at Christmas time. Additionally, they contain fossilized creatures that appear to have been buried rapidly in material that was not static, but flowing…sometimes tumultuously. This is not what the conventional story would expect. If the sedimentary layers were laid down over millions of years in a calm placid ocean or river delta, these geological features would not have been predicted. The layers would have been quite boring, much of the same layer after layer with possibly some change that would have shown up gradually; they would have shown extensive erosion; they would have been brittle after so many years and an uplift would have cracked and crumbled them rather than folding them; they would have been much smaller in vertical and horizontal extent, rather than being hundreds of feet thick and extending for thousands of miles; and evidence of rapid burial of fossils would have been lacking. But, if the layers were laid down by a global flood of biblical proportions, these are exactly the things we would expect to find. There are still questions to be answered, for sure. Many already have been. It was once thought that limestone could only be laid down as a very slow process and therefore the massive Redwall Limestone layer had to have required millions of years to form. But now we know that limestone can form quite rapidly. The tiny layers, called laminae were once thought to be indicators of yearly cycles, like tree rings. But now we know that laminae can be laid down almost instantly, like we saw the many llaminae layers formed in the Little Grand Canyon at Mt. St. Helens in a matter of hours. We can actually create multiple laminae layers in the lab in minutes. Scientists insisted that the cross bedding in the Coconino Sandstone layer was made from wind blowing over sand dunes. We now know that they were under water dunes, complete with tracks of creatures trying to escape and being swept laterally with the current. However, there are other questions that need to be answered and, hopefully, there will be more young people who will sense the call and gifting of the Lord to enter into the sciences and be a part of examining the evidence without being shackled by a worldview that cannot include the historical records from the Bible nor include the notion of God. It is a tough road for creationists. Academia will not be rooting for you and may even be pushing against you. Getting papers published in this environment is very difficult if you don’t write in support of the sacred cow. But, if you are called and gifted to be there, then there is no better place to be. It is your divine calling. And, it can be done. Great scientists like Dr. Steve Austin have done so. You can as well. Go for it. [Previous] [Next]