The Star of Noah

By Cameron Grysen

In this book Dr. Grysen a retired Homicide Detective investigates the evidence that there was an astronomical event associated with and perhaps even the cause that triggered the worldwide flood described in the book of Genesis. Dr. Grysen reviews what the Bible has to say about the subject along with ancient historical writings and what scientists have to offer over the ages. Dr. Grysen lays out the case in a logical way the way he would present a case to a jury. I am sure you will be impressed with the evidence presented.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cameron Grysen
• Release date: Jun 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781370549160

Cameron Grysen

Presently retired after 32 years with the Houston Police Department, Dr. Grysen brings his investigative experience as a former homicide detective, his schooling includes a Doctor of Biblical Studies degree and a PhD training in Christian Apologetics, and his desire to share to validate the truthfulness of the Bible and find any additional evidence that God may have left for us to discover. It is his desire to strengthen the faith of Christians in God and the Bible, giving them evidence for and confidence in the absolute truth of the Christian faith. To God be the Glory

Book preview

The Star of Noah

Copyright 2020 Cameron Grysen

Published by Cameron Grysen at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To Judy, my wife of over 45 years, without whose support this major undertaking could not have been completed.

Acknowledgment

All the prayer warriors who prayed for me during this project, thank you for your prayers and encouragement during this time.

Table of Contents:

Prologue

Chapter One: The Biblical Record

Chapter Two: Ancient Legends, Early Scientists

Chapter Three: The Conditions Before the Flood

Chapter Four: Impact Expectations

Chapter Five: Past Impacts

Chapter Six: Plate Tectonics

Chapter Seven: Tottering Earth

Chapter Eight: Making the Case

Chapter Nine: Conclusion

About the Author

Prologue

The idea of a global deluge has become increasingly unpopular in recent years. Even many who call themselves Christians believe the Biblical flood was a mythological event, or a local or regional flood, rather than a global deluge. The Bible clearly describes a global cataclysmic flood that covered the whole Earth at the time of Noah, around 4400 years ago. The flood during Noah’s day the Bible describes killed all air-breathing, land-based creatures that were not on the Ark of Noah while the Earth was going through utter destruction, but the primary question we will look at in this book is what was happening in the Solar System at this time and how it might have affected or been a cause of the Flood. I will also look at the evidence of meteor / electrical impacts that may have happened on Earth during this event. My investigation looked into the possibility that other planets and our moon were going through similar events, and perhaps having catastrophic changes of their own at this time. We are able to observe evidence of impacts on the Moon and planets but the question is when did these changes occur, and could they have happened during the Flood Event? On Earth we believe the flood likely involved catastrophic tectonic plate upheavals, resulting in global volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earth-quakes, which I believe changed the topography of the Earth; these are some of the things many creation scientists also believe happened during the Flood. The Bible tells us damage from the Great Flood was not limited to the surface of the Earth, but according to 2 Peter 3:5-6, the heavens of old were changed to the present heavens by the Flood. We will look at this passage again in Chapter Two.

This book will give not give detailed evidence that validates a worldwide catastrophic flood but will cover some of the basic evidence in Chapter One. If you desire more details for the evidence of the Flood of Noah, others have made a case for the Flood, including the classic book, The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications, written by Dr. Henry M. Morris, a hydraulic engineer, and Dr. John C. Whitcomb, a theologian. This book became the catalyst for the modern creation science movement. A more recent book, Earth's Catastrophic Past: Geology, Creation & the Flood by Andrew Snelling, Ph.D., also makes a convincing case for a catastrophic worldwide flood.

In this book I will focus on the evidence pointing to an astronomical event that may have been a precursor or the immediate cause of the Flood of Noah. I will review past evidence along with newly-discovered evidence for this astronomical event. Additionally, associating the Flood with a heavenly event is not new; many have held this model in the past, as I point out in the second chapter. Many creationists today as well as secular scientists believe there is significant evidence for impacts on the Earth occurring around the time of the Flood. Dr. John D. Morris asked this same question: There was a global flood, but the question is what caused it to happen. The fountains of the deep were broken up but was there an event in the solar system that led to this event? That is the question I will try to answer in this book. Andrew Snelling, Ph.D., a geologist, research scientist, and theist, also has commented: The discovery and investigation of extraterrestrial impact craters on the earth potentially opens up a whole new panorama of feasible mechanisms and processes that would satisfactorily explain how the catastrophic geological developments and the time-frame portrayed by the biblical account of Noah’s Flood could have given us the geological features that we see on the earth today.

Dr. John Baumgardner, a Ph.D. in geophysics and space physics from the University of California at Los Angeles has made this comment: There is evidence is that the catastrophic Flood affected not only the Earth but the Solar System as well. That is documented in the geological record; in the numerous impacts we see in the record, there are dozens if not hundreds of impacts in the areas where animals are buried. It is clear there was an accelerated number, a higher frequency of impacts during the Flood Year. Today we don’t have these type and number of impacts; we have some that are small, but in the [geological] record we see impacts that are over ten miles wide. During the Flood there could have been ten or more per day. The nearby neighbors of Earth have evidence of impacts on Mars, Venus and Mercury. Venus’ Magellan found that it had been entirely resurfaced with lava / basaltic rock. It also found about a thousand impacts. There are many extinct volcanoes on Venus and Mars. We will be looking at all these possibilities and evidences in this book. Evidence exists for the feasible mechanisms and processes that led up to the Flood, and this evidence explains the geological features on the Earth. In undertaking this study, I used my knowledge as a theologian but also applied my experience as a homicide detective. I believe the techniques used by a detective are a good fit for this investigation. A detective is called out to a scene and reconstructs what happened from available evidence. In order to use historical and forensic science to put together a past event, the detective observes carefully, collects evidence, and interviews witnesses in order to conclude what happened at the time of the crime. Investigators are trained to ask these questions: How did this happen? What caused this? Where did this come from? Why did this happen? From this process, the detective develops a hypothesis, or model, which attempts to explain what happened in the past, based on the evidence.

A reconstruction of an historical event using historical science can never reach a higher level of certainty than that of hypothesis or model. With all historical models, there are always doubts, so when an historical model is developed, it must answer and explain all the evidence and show how the evidence fits that model beyond a reasonable doubt. A detective must not ignore any relevant evidence and must be ready to defend his model when questioned and be willing to admit he or she is wrong if there is strong evidence against the model.

A detective, whether researching crime or history, must go into an investigation with an open mind. Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional detective, tells of the danger of allowing assumptions to affect the way we view facts. It’s a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. While everyone is entitled to his own opinion, everyone is not entitled to his own set of evidence or facts. I approached this investigation into what happened at the time of the Flood with an open mind and built a model which I believe answers the questions raised by available evidence. As I researched, I did not find what I was expecting to find. In fact, I was blown away, and you may have the same experience. So, hold on to your hats, keep your seat belts on and keep an open mind as you go through this book. Some will question why this type of event is not explicitly explained in the Scriptures. While Scripture makes no direct reference to this premise, this does not preclude that an event occurred which resulted in a worldwide flood. In His omnipotence, God surely is able to cause an event like the Flood without a precursor; but if God did, in fact, use a natural cause to bring about this miraculous event, it does not in any way diminish His glory or His involvement in the Flood. The timing, prediction, and intensity of the Great Flood, along with the saving of eight souls, make this event amazingly miraculous. God does use the power of nature to reveal His wrath to the world, but the withdrawal of His protecting hand can result in bad things happening. In the future, those who fail to trust in Christ will face judgment in the lake of fire, and it will not be the hand of God causing their torture, but it will be the absence of God which will cause their torment. Scriptures teach that the Flood was God’s judgment on sinful people. Although it is possible that the judgment event of the Flood was caused directly by God, I propose it was caused by the removal of God’s controlling hand, which resulted in general destruction on Earth and in the Solar System.

Chapter One: Evidence for the Flood and The Biblical Record

In this chapter I will start out by examining the evidence for a global flood, then look at what the Biblical record says about the Flood. Everyone looks at the same evidence, e.g., the fossils; we just come to different conclusions about the scenario that led up to the evidence being in the condition we observe it in today. We each come to a philosophical conclusion of what is believed to be true. Let’s start off with a definition of truth. Truth is that which affirms propositionally the nature of reality as it is and corresponds with the evidence. There are three tests for philosophical truth. The first is logical consistency, this is the test that asks if something is rational; the second is empirical adequacy, the test that asks if we can verify these facts empirically, i.e., with evidence, and the third is experiential relevance, the test that asks how this actually has relevance to my life. Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism those who believe in the Flood of Noah are known as catastrophists. The catastrophism model by definition says Earth’s geology has been affected in the past by a sudden, short-lived, violent catastrophic event worldwide in scope. This model is in contrast to uniformitarianism (sometimes known as geological gradualism), which holds that slow incremental changes operating at presently-observed rates, such as erosion and wind and rain, are the only factors necessary to explain all of Earth's geological features and, therefore, all changes were very gradual. This uniformitarian concept was promoted by Charles Lyell (1797-1875) in his books on geology, with the phrase the present is the key to the past. Lyell was not a geologist; he was a lawyer and he did not use evidence to validate his model but instead only attacked the catastrophist model with rhetoric. His only evidence, if one could call it that, was the idea that the laws of physics don’t change so why think anything in geology changes rapidly. This is what is known as a false analogy. This model by definition eliminates the possibility that there were any worldwide catastrophes in the past. [It also confuses uniformitarianism (of process rates) with uniformity (of natural laws). Uniformitarianism is the only geological model of interpretation being seriously considered by most modern Earth-scientists today; a past worldwide catastrophic event is categorically denied. Some are coming around to the catastrophist model, but they believe there were at least 17 such events in the past and millions of years in-between.

Common experiences give us information relevant to this investigation. For example, if