Читать книгу The Genesis Cataclysm - W. Joseph Stallings - Страница 8

A number of years ago, when I first began the research that eventually became The Genesis Column origins correlation model, I had no intention of carrying out any deep exploration of the Flood of Noah. Though the event had always fascinated me and, over the years, I had read a number of books about it, including, of course, the broadly popular work by Balsiger and Sellier, In Search of Noah’s Ark (1976),1 it was never more than just a peripheral subject of interest. Certainly, I recognized that the Flood was an important divine action within the purview of biblical history and knew that the event would have to be addressed; yet, it wasn’t until I began seeing the details of the origins correlation model fall into place that I finally concluded that, in the greater scheme of things, the Noahic Flood was vitally significant in its own right and had major ramifications for our understanding of the terrestrial order. Thus, a related, but separate course of research began for me.

As I read and studied further, I became aware that the current views on the Flood and the various placements of the event in time were not to me satisfactory. While being a steadfast and indefatigable advocate of Old-Earth Creationism (OEC),2 I found myself at odds with many fellow OECs who typically held to a regional (usually Mesopotamian) Flood view. Of course, my understanding also found itself automatically in contrast with the advocates of Young-Earth Creationism (YEC) because of the narrow constraints of their time-line (including that of an extremely recent Flood placement). Furthermore, in light of the various advocations of OEC and Theistic Evolutionism that are based on (or otherwise associated with) the recent resurgence of the Framework Hypothesis of the biblical creation narrative3—and with that, often a symbolic or hybridic Flood view—there were just many elemental features inherent to these formulations that, to me, did not seem weighty and persuasive. In my understanding, none of these interpretations seemed to adequately fit either a wholesome reading of the Noahic text nor God’s bigger picture. With all this, I found myself being compelled to engage in a new and much different sort of exploration of the matter.

I must acknowledge that, being an investigator, my research of the subject has traversed across many variant perspectives and angles. In fact, in this text, I engage applicable scholars from some very diverse views and disciplines. The quest is accomplished simply with one goal in mind: the earnest seeking of truth.

A lot of different people—even many with greatly antithetical positions—can have much to say that adds richness to the subject at hand. Sometimes scholars can make important discoveries and wisdom-filled assertions that find their placement into our postulation in ways that would never have even remotely occurred to them; or perhaps, even in ways that they never would have intended nor desired. As I have sifted through the many works and the abundance of raw data, I have tried, with God’s guidance, to consciously remain open to these kinds of possibilities. When it comes down to it, it is always about frame of reference and about the way that things—however true those things may be on their own merit alone—are seen and understood in relation to other meritorious truths. Sometimes we miss the fullness of truth because we are not looking with both eyes open. And sometimes even undisputed facts can be incorrectly placed within the structures of a paradigm—even when the wider paradigm itself is quite plausible. There is a forest. And there are trees. Both. We do our level best when we don’t miss—or misappropriate—either one.

As I previously set forth in my first book, The Genesis Column (Wipf & Stock, 2018), it is my unwavering conviction that there exists a great divine meta-narrative of and within all created existence.4 God is both working in and revealing himself through history. God not only created everything that is, but is decisively going somewhere with all that he has created. He is working resolutely and purposefully in and through all of the space, time, matter, and energy of which his created order consists. Yet, that creation—originally perfect—is currently fallen. Our rebellious Adamic touch has tainted and marred the Edenic Paradise and everything that is part of that order has been afflicted. Therefore, the work of God goes on through a process whereby the restoration of fallen Original Creation will surely come to pass in the ultimate culmination of final New Creation. Until that point in God’s mysterious kairological time, “the creation [still] waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” when “the creation itself will [then] be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:19, 21). For now, however, we must be content to live in this still-broken age amidst the tensioned surety of the not (quite) yet.

As such, this process of renewal has been and remains continually painful for the totality of fallen creation. All of creation—whether organic or inorganic—truly groans, cries, struggles, and grieves in its own way as it waits for the new glory to finally appear (Rom 8:22–24). Despite the ongoing renewing work of God (see John 5:17)—indeed, in accordance with that work—the fall has its inundative consequences. Persevering through these consequences requires our trust in the Christ of our salvation and our ongoing patient endurance.

While the very notion of divine judgment is never a comfortable matter among compassionate people—and quite frankly unwelcome in many circles—it is strongly presented as a reality in the Bible. Therefore, all thoughtful seekers and followers of Christ must deal with it straight up. It cannot be avoided without negating a significant part of the scriptural revelation. According to Scripture, God has punctuated chronological history with three great purging judgments: the Fall Judgment (Gen 3), the Flood Judgment (Gen 6–8), and the Final Judgment (Rev 1–22). Within the scarlet thread that runs throughout the holy text, all three are inseparably intertwined. In the light of God’s complete omniscience and perfect holiness, all three have been deemed to be necessary.

While this book focuses specifically on the reality of the Noahic Flood, it will be apparent that all three judgments are in play throughout the narrative. If it wasn’t for the Adamic Fall, there would be no Flood nor Eschaton. Yet, the Fall leads to the Flood, which points to the Eschaton.

Note also that this book can be read as a stand-alone entity. It is, however, highly suggested that one first read The Genesis Column prior to reading The Genesis Cataclysm. The former sets the stage for the latter; and the latter is an extension from and a derivative appendage of the former. Moreover, there are a number of concepts discussed in The Genesis Column (including, of course, the Inundative Corruption Hypothesis, and then perhaps most importantly, the model’s overall meta-narrative presentation) of which being familiar with would be quite helpful in understanding The Genesis Cataclysm. The Flood fits into the total picture of God’s redemptive program and serves to magnify the extreme seriousness in chronos by which the Almighty, in his holiness, takes our creaturely sin and rebellion. In fact, in all honesty, within the total purview of the Genesis Column Model, one cannot seriously hold to a view of anything less than a global Noahic Flood.

In reading this book, may our thinking be seriously provoked and may we enjoy—yet mostly, benefit—from the provocation.

W. Joseph Stallings

Wilson, North Carolina

Eastertide 2020

1. Balsiger and Sellier, Jr., In Search of Noah’s Ark. As a young teenager, I remember reading this book and then watching the television documentary of the same name with a bunch of my friends. We were all enthralled by the mystique and captivated by the notion that perhaps someone had actually found the Ark.

2. More specifically, Old-Earth Progressive Creationism. See The Genesis Column, 1–6. We believe that both the scriptural and natural revelations proclaim in unison that “These are the generations [Hebrew toledot] of the heavens and the earth when they were created” (Gen 2:4a)—viz., these are the successive and lengthy periods of creation and ongoing existence.

3. For instance, think Meredith Kline and Bruce Waltke.

4. For instance, see The Genesis Column, 2. In reference to Genesis 1–2, I write: “I have come to believe that those two chapters tie the whole biblical revelation together. I have also come to believe that those two chapters provide a special intersection with the truth of natural revelation and present a composite picture of the whole of created reality.”