Scholars share evidence of biblical Flood, call event relevant to this generation

Liberty University students were offered scientific evidence of the biblical account of the Genesis Flood — and a clear presentation of the Gospel and warning of Christ’s imminent return — from three renowned creationist scholars during Friday’s Convocation in the Vines Center.

In the classroom, Dr. Mark Horstemeyer, dean of Liberty’s School of Engineering, has used High Performance Computing (HPC) to help students conduct scientific analysis of the worldwide flood, as well as to explain the physical properties of Noah’s Ark that allowed it to remain seaworthy for 150 days.

On Friday, he brought two of his most influential mentors to the Convocation stage: School of Engineering Research Professor Emeritus Dr. John Baumgardner and Adjunct Faculty of Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory Dr. Andy McIntosh, an Emeritus Professor in the same field at the University of Leeds in England.

Baumgardner, who worked for 20 years at Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico developing thermonuclear bombs, is perhaps best known for developing TERRA, a model for investigating planetary mantle convection and the first 3D spherical code of its kind. His true passion is applying science in Christian apologetics, primarily through studying and developing the concept of catastrophic plate tectonics in the context of the Flood. His findings are detailed on his website, globalflood.org.

“It is interesting that Jesus connects the flood with His second coming in a very clear way,” Dr. Baumgardner said. “I am persuaded that the flood is highly relevant to our generation and that it is absolutely essential that we have a correct understanding that the flood literally destroyed the world … including at least hundreds of millions of human beings … between 4,000-5,000 years ago.”

He said that account is radical in the context of what most of the world — in denial of the devastating consequences of sin — has been conditioned to believe today.

“The secular outlook is that the earth is billions of years old, that complex life has been around for some 500 million years, and that there have been no significant cataclysms within the last few million years,” Baumgardner said. “So the idea of the flood is nonsense as far as the world is concerned. But 2 Peter 3 says that in the last days, people would be willfully ignorant of the Flood.”

He brought a fossil that Horstemeyer collected during a trip to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa as a small piece of evidence of the enormous scale of destruction left behind by the Flood.

“If such an event happened, what sorts of evidence would that type of cataclysm leave behind?” Baumgardner asked. “How about billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth? Fossils are a reliable indicator of catastrophically rapid sedimentation and turbulent water flow because … for an animal to be fossilized, it must be buried quickly and completely.”

He said the Grand Canyon is a prime example of the effects of the Flood and an “exquisite window through which to view … a sequence of layers thousands of feet in total thickness that extend horizontally for hundreds to thousands of miles in both directions.”

“If one takes the Bible to be God-breathed and reliable, this sediment record logically must be the product of the flood judgment that God brought on a corrupt and wicked world in the days of Noah,” Baumgardner said.

He warned that God would judge the earth again, only by fire rather than flood, after His Second Coming.

“Good science, careful science, is confirming what has been recorded in God’s Word for some 3,500 years, namely that Noah’s flood really happened and that God’s patience in the face of rampant human evil eventually reaches its limit,” he said. “I am persuaded that a similar judgment by God of the entire world is very close at hand. Out of compassion for those around us, we need to be sounding the warning in a clear and evident way.”

Continuing the apologetic parallels from Creation to the Flood, McIntosh referred to faith and trust in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb as the only hope for salvation.

“The only place of safety (in Noah’s day) was in the ark,” he said. “If you didn’t get in the ark, I’m sorry, guys, you are lost. What is the place of safety today? The only place of safety is when you personally come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Savior, the One who bled and died on the cross and took the wrath of Almighty God personally against Christ in my place.”

McIntosh gave his life to Christ 54 years ago, and he shared the life verse he wants on his tombstone someday, Colossians 1:17: “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together,” referring to the preeminence of Christ.

He challenged those students who have yet to place their faith in Christ as their personal Lord and Savior to do so today.

“We do not know when Christ is going to come again, and you’ll be lost if you have not trusted Him,” he said, further compelling those who have trusted Him to live for Him. “Does Christ have the preeminence in your life? Everything needs to be yielded to the Lord.”

Horstemeyer exhorted the students to apply the wisdom and knowledge they gain at Liberty, especially through the diligent study of God’s Word, to lead others to a saving relationship with Christ.

“The Bible is the Word of God,” he said. “You can believe it. Science has shown it’s true over and over again. You need to study to show yourself approved, being ready to give an answer for the hope you have in Christ.”

Horstemeyer announced that on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Thomas Road Baptist Church, the same panel of creationists will give a more in-depth presentation followed by a Q&A session.