Was there a flood? Biblical teaching about the Flood
Did the Great Flood really happen? This question has haunted the minds of all mankind for many centuries. Is it really true that the entire population was destroyed by the will of God from the face of the Earth in an instant in such a barbaric way? But what about the love and mercy that all world religions attribute to the Creator?
Scientists around the world are still trying to find reliable facts and a scientific explanation for the global flood. The theme of the Flood appears in literary works, and in the paintings of famous artists the biblical apocalypse reflects the full power of the natural elements. In the famous painting by Aivazovsky, the deadly cataclysm is depicted so vividly and realistically that it seems that the great painter personally witnessed it. Everyone knows the famous fresco by Michelangelo depicting representatives of the human race a step before their death.
Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood"
"The Flood" by Michelangelo Buonarroti
The theme of the Flood was brought to life on screen by American film director Darren Aronofsky in the film Noah. He presented to the audience his vision of a famous biblical story. The film caused a lot of controversy and conflicting reviews, but did not leave anyone indifferent. The director was accused of discrepancies between the script and the generally accepted outline of the development of events in the biblical account, of protractedness and heaviness of perception. However, the author initially did not claim originality. The fact remains: the film was watched by almost 4 million viewers, and the box office grossed more than 1 billion rubles.
What does the Bible say?
Every person knows at least by hearsay about the history of the Great Flood. Let's spend short excursion into history.
God could no longer tolerate the unbelief, debauchery and lawlessness that people had committed on earth, and decided to punish sinners. The Great Flood was intended to end the existence of people by death in the depths of the sea. Only Noah and his loved ones at that time deserved the mercy of the Creator by leading a pious life.
According to God's instructions, Noah had to build an ark that could withstand a long voyage. The vessel had to meet certain dimensions and it had to be equipped with the necessary equipment. The construction period for the ark was also agreed upon - 120 years. It is worth noting that life expectancy at that time was calculated in centuries, and at the time of completion of the work, Noah’s age was 600 years.
Further, Noah was ordered to enter the ark along with his entire family. In addition, in the holds of the ship they placed a pair of unclean animals from each species (those that were not eaten for religious or other prejudices, and were not used for sacrifices), and seven pairs of clean animals existing on earth. The doors of the ark closed, and the hour of reckoning for sins came for all mankind.
It was as if the heavens opened up, and water poured onto the earth in an endless powerful stream, leaving no chance of survival. The disaster raged for 40 days. Even mountain ranges were hidden under the water column. Only the passengers of the ark remained alive on the surface of the endless ocean. After 150 days, the water subsided and the ship landed at Mount Ararat. After 40 days, Noah released a raven in search of dry land, but numerous attempts were unsuccessful. Only the dove managed to find the ground, after which people and animals found ground under their feet.
Noah performed the ritual of sacrifice, and God made a promise that the flood would not happen again, and the human race would continue to exist. Thus began a new round in the history of mankind. According to God's plan, it was with the righteous person in the person of Noah and his descendants that the foundation of a new healthy society was laid.
For the common man, this story is full of contradictions and raises a lot of questions: from the purely practical “how could such a colossus be built with the help of one family” to the moral and ethical “was this mass murder really so deserved.”
There are many questions... Let's try to find the answers.
Mention of the Flood in world mythology
In an attempt to find the truth, let's turn to myths from other sources. After all, if we take it as an axiom that the death of people was massive, then not only Christians, but also other nationalities suffered.
Most of us perceive myths as fairy tales, but then who is the author? And the event itself is quite realistic: in the modern world, we are increasingly seeing deadly tornadoes, floods and earthquakes in all corners of the world. Human casualties from natural disasters number in the hundreds, and sometimes they occur in places where they should not exist at all.
Sumerian mythology
Archaeologists working on the excavations of ancient Nippur discovered a manuscript that says that in the presence of all the gods, on the initiative of Lord Enlil (one of the three dominant gods), a decision was made to arrange a great flood. The role of Noah was played by a character named Ziusudra. The storm raged for a whole week, and after that Ziusudra left the ark, made a sacrifice to the gods and gained immortality.
“Based on the same list (approx. Nippur royal list), we can conclude that the global flood occurred 12 thousand years BC. e."
(Wikipedia)
There are other versions of the occurrence of the great flood, but they all have one significant difference with the biblical interpretation. Sumerian sources consider the cause of the disaster to be the whim of the gods. A kind of whim to emphasize your power and might. In the Bible, the emphasis is on the cause-and-effect relationship of living in sin and unwillingness to change it.
“The Bible's account of the Flood contains hidden power that can influence the consciousness of all mankind. There is no doubt that when recording the story of the Flood, this was precisely the goal: to teach people moral behavior. No other description of the Flood that we find in sources outside the Bible is in this regard completely similar to the story given in it.”
- A. Jeremias (Wikipedia)
Despite the various prerequisites for a global flood, there are mentions of it in the ancient Sumerian manuscripts.
Greek mythology
According to ancient Greek historians, there were three floods. One of them, the Deucalion Flood, partially echoes the biblical story. The same saving ark for the righteous Deucalion (also the son of Prometheus) and the pier at Mount Parnassus.
However, according to the plot, some people managed to escape the flood at the top of Parnassus and continue their existence.
Hindu mythology
Here we are faced with perhaps the most fabulous interpretation of the flood. According to legend, the ancestor Vaivasvata caught a fish into which the god Vishnu incarnated. The fish promised Vaivaswat salvation from the upcoming flood in exchange for a promise to help her grow. Then everything follows the biblical scenario: at the direction of a fish that has grown to enormous sizes, the righteous man builds a ship, stocks up with plant seeds and sets off on a journey led by the savior fish. A stop at the mountain and a sacrifice to the gods is the end of the story.
In ancient manuscripts and other peoples there are references to a great flood that revolutionized human consciousness. Isn't it true that such coincidences cannot be accidental?
The Flood from the point of view of scientists
Such is human nature that we certainly need strong evidence that something actually exists. And in the case of a global flood that hit the earth thousands of years ago, there can be no talk of any direct witnesses.
It remains to turn to the opinion of skeptics and take into account numerous studies of the nature of such a large-scale flood. Needless to say, there are very different opinions and hypotheses on this issue: from the most ridiculous fantasies to scientifically based theories.
How many Icari had to crash before a person learned that he would never rise into the sky? However, it happened! So it is with the flood. The question of where on earth such an amount of water could come from today has a scientific explanation, because it is possible.
There are many hypotheses. This is the fall of a giant meteorite, and a large-scale volcanic eruption, resulting in a tsunami of unprecedented force. Versions have been put forward about a super-powerful methane explosion in the depths of one of the oceans. Be that as it may, the Flood is a historical fact that is beyond doubt. There is too much evidence based on archaeological research. Scientists can only agree on the physical nature of this cataclysm.
Torrential rains that last for months have happened more than once in history. However, nothing terrible happened, humanity did not die, and the world’s oceans did not overflow their shores. This means that the truth must be sought elsewhere. Modern scientific groups, which include climatologists, meteorologists and geophysicists, are working together to find an answer to this question. And very successfully!
We will not bore our readers with scientific formulations that are complicated for an ignorant person. Speaking in simple language, one of the popular theories of the origin of the Flood looks like this: due to critical heating of the earth’s interior under the influence of an external factor, the earth’s crust split. This crack was not local; in a matter of hours, with the help of internal pressure, the split crossed the entire globe. The contents of the underground were instantly released, most which were The groundwater.
Scientists even managed to calculate the power of the emission, which is more than 10,000 (!) times higher than the worst large-scale volcanic eruption that befell humanity. Twenty kilometers - this is exactly the height the column of water and stones rose to. The subsequent irreversible processes provoked heavy rainfall. Scientists focus specifically on groundwater, because... There are many facts confirming the existence of underground water reservoirs, several times larger in volume than the world's oceans.
At the same time, researchers of natural anomalies admit that it is not always possible to find a scientific explanation for the mechanism of occurrence of the disaster. The Earth is a living organism with enormous energy, and only God knows in what direction this force can be directed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to offer the reader the point of view of some clergy on the Flood.
Noah builds the ark. Not secretly, not under the cover of night, but in broad daylight, on a hill and as much as 120 years! People had enough time to repent and change their lives - God gave them this chance. But even when the endless line of animals and birds headed towards the ark, they perceived everything as a fascinating performance, not realizing that even the animals at that time were more pious than people. Intelligent beings did not make a single attempt to save their lives and souls.
Not much has changed since then... We still only need spectacles - performances when the soul does not need to work, and thoughts are shrouded in cotton candy. If each of us is asked a question about the degree of our own morality, will we be able to sincerely answer at least to ourselves that we are capable of becoming the saviors of a new humanity in the role of Noah?
During the wonderful school years of the 70s and 80s of the last century, teachers cultivated the ability to develop their point of view with a simple question: “And if everyone jumps into the well, will you jump too?” The most popular answer was: “Of course! Why should I stay alone?” The whole class laughed happily. We were ready to fall into the abyss just to be together there. Then someone added the phrase: “But you will never have to do homework again!”, and a massive leap into the abyss became completely justified.
Sin is a temptation that is contagious. Once you give in to it, it is almost impossible to stop. It's like an infection, like a weapon mass destruction. It has become fashionable to be immoral. Nature knows no other antidote to the feeling of impunity than to show humanity its power - is this not the reason for the increasing frequency of natural disasters of destructive force? Perhaps this is a prelude to a new Flood?
Of course, we will not comb all of humanity with the same brush. There are a lot of good, decent and honest people among us. But nature (or God?) so far only locally gives us an understanding of what it is capable of...
Keyword "Bye".
When ancient people were mired in violation of laws, unbelief and general unspiritual lawlessness, God, with the help of a flood, gave the world a kind of “reboot” of the failed system. Leaving only the righteous family of forefather Noah alive. However, as subsequent history showed, this by no means solved the problem of evil and human sinfulness.
At the beginning of the biblical story of the Flood there are interesting lines: “When people began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, then the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and took them as wives, whichever one chose...”, “...at that time For a time there were giants on earth, especially from the time when the sons of God began to come in to the daughters of men, and they began to bear children to them...” But who are these mysterious sons of God, because of whom humanity has become so hopelessly corrupted?
Theologians have three versions on this matter:
1. The sons of God are fallen angels who started love affairs with earthly girls. They gave birth to children with demonic characters and superpowers. This opinion was held by Philo and Clement of Alexandria, Justin the Philosopher, Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian. In favor of this version, they usually cite as an example the apocryphal book of Enoch, which tells about the cohabitation of people and demons, from which giants were born. Due to bad heredity, the decline of morals and social inequality progressed. People dabbled in magic and witchcraft, trying to become “like the gods.”
2. Many saints, for example John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian and Augustine the Blessed, categorically disagreed with the previous version. They believed that the “sons of God” were those descendants of Adam’s pious son Seth who became related to the wicked offspring of the fratricide Cain.
3. And finally, the third interpretation assumes that the sons of God are princes, rulers and nobles. The ruling elite became mired in sins and depravity, began to worship demons rather than God, and corrupted the rest of the people. With all the ensuing consequences. Well, we will not consider modern exotic versions like “visits of aliens”.
God told Noah about the coming flood in advance. The five-hundred-year-old head of the family (ancient people lived an order of magnitude longer than modern people) together with his sons and workers spent more than 100 years building and equipping a huge ship capable of surviving the coming cataclysm. When everything was ready, God told him to go into the ark with his family, and take with him a pair from each species of animal in the world. The ground was flooded for 40 days, the water covered even the most high mountains. The journey of Noah's Ark lasted as long as whole year, before the waters began to recede and the surviving family with the world's largest zoo could finally land on the slopes of Mount Ararat.
Noah's descendants settled along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, filling the ancient Mesopotamia. From them came all modern humanity, which over time settled throughout the world and was divided into races and language groups. However, that's another story.
Miracles in the Ark
Not only scientists, but also simply people with logical thinking, after reading the story of the Flood, ask skeptical questions. For example:
1. Where did such an incredible amount of water come from to raise the level of the world's oceans by at least 5 thousand meters (the height of Mount Ararat), and even by almost 9 thousand (the height of Chomolungma), if you believe the biblical lines, according to which water covered the highest mountains ? Even if water continuously poured from the sky and from underground, the entire earth’s hydrosphere would not be enough to cover the Earth with such a multi-kilometer layer.
2. And where did all this water go? Just imagine at least a five-kilometer shell of water around the entire globe! You can, of course, come up with an explanation that inside the Earth is empty (like the head of a fanatic), and traces of weathering and sedimentary rocks earth's crust declare them “traces of the Great Flood,” but scientists certainly will not agree with such conclusions.
3. Hypothetically, let’s say that water miraculously materialized in such incredible quantities, and a year later it disappeared somewhere. But, in this case, how did Noah manage to gather “a pair of every creature” for salvation? After all, there are several million (!) species of living creatures in the world that would have to be saved in the ark if the Flood were universal.
4. Suppose that such an incredible fabulous miracle happened that all the animals to be saved either themselves or by God’s order organized themselves and came and flew to Noah from all over the world. But how did he manage to fit all of them in his ark? How and with what did Noah manage to feed and water such a countless horde, and even for a whole year? How did he manage to clean up their excrement? Just imagine this million-strong menagerie, for the care of which an army of thousands of employees and whole mountains of food - from plant to animal food - would not be enough! Moreover, all animals would have to survive for a whole year in captivity, without light and almost without fresh air. But, in addition to the zoo, Noah would also have to collect hundreds of thousands of tons of seeds and seedlings of all kinds of plants that could not survive in a flooded state...
And these are not all the questions that those who literally take the story of the ark and the salvation of all the animals of the Earth in it would have to rack their brains over. However, they are unlikely to convince the “true believers” - after all, everything that cannot be rationally explained can simply be declared a miracle of God and without straining your brains in unsuccessful attempts at logical reasoning.
This mystery is great
So was the Flood global? And is it possible to believe in all these fabulous details of the salvation of Noah’s family and animals?
Many Christians confidently answer these questions: yes! After all, the Savior Himself and His apostles in the New Testament mentioned the World Flood as real events. And the Apostle Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy stated: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching.” The Holy Fathers teach that the Bible is a book from God, and everything that is described in it is the truth. Since the Holy Scripture describes events exactly this way and not otherwise, it means that this is how it really happened. To think otherwise means to doubt the correctness of Scripture and the truth of our native faith. In addition, many priests believe that the Flood has a dogmatic meaning: associated with it is the doctrine of the unity and continuity of the human race from Adam through Noah to our time.
All these arguments are of decisive importance for orthodox Christians. For it is easier for the Christian consciousness to assume that the whole world is making mistakes than to think blasphemously that the God-man and His apostles, as well as the hosts of holy fathers, could have made a mistake.
“Is the science of geology denying the Flood? This means that geology is wrong! And in general you shouldn’t trust this godless science, which undermines the roots of true faith!” - sometimes you hear from priests and laity. Who in the rest of their lives give the impression of adequate people, but when it comes to criticizing religious foundations - they logical thinking turns off. And they reject everything that contradicts the meaning and letter of the biblical narrative with the same conviction with which small children counter the confessions of adults that Santa Claus is a fairy tale and does not really exist.
"Scientific creationists" go even further. Pulling out individual fragments that suit their faith from the context of scientific data, they mold them into their own theories and express unambiguous conclusions, which the entire scientific community then makes fun of. But this doesn't bother them. After all, any critical questions that cast doubt on the events described can always be answered in the spirit: “it was a miracle of God” or “this is a great mystery.”
Were there many “Noahs”?
The biblical story of the Flood is by no means the only legend of its kind about a worldwide cataclysm. Anthropologists and ethnographers were able to discover traces of legends with a “flood” plot in Palestine, Babylonia, Syria, Armenia, Kazakhstan, India, Burma, Vietnam, China, Australia and on many islands of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in many other regions of the earth. Scientists count about 250 versions of this story found in the mythology of the peoples of the world. In Eurasia, especially in the Middle East and Europe, this legend is one of the fundamental principles of ideas about the world order. At the same time, it is not found in the mythological systems of the peoples of Central and Southern Africa.
When studying ancient legends, it seems that Noah's family was by no means the only ones who managed to escape the flood. For example, in the Sumerian legend in Noah there was a pious king Ziusudra, a priest of the god Enki. The mentally ill Sumerian gods conspired among themselves and decided to drown the people, but Ziusudra found out about this and took action. The voyage of his ark lasted 7 days, after which he found dry land, sacrificed oxen and sheep, and convinced the gods not to fool around like that again. In an Akkadian legend similar in plot, the forefather’s name was Atrahasis. Atrahasis-Ziusudra not only restored the human race, but also received the gift of immortality from the gods and was taken to a transcendental fairyland.
In the Babylonian version, the main character was called Utnapishtim ("Long-liver"), and he was the ruler of the city of Shuruppak on the banks of the Euphrates River. After the gods conspired to destroy humanity, one of them, Ninigiku, secretly warned his favorite Utnapishtim about the impending dirty trick and helped him escape. The Babylonian “Noah”, in addition to his relatives, took with him into the ship craftsmen to preserve knowledge and technology, livestock, as well as animals and birds. The seven-day flood was so terrible that the gods themselves began to curse themselves for being so excited. In search of land, Utnapishtim also released birds to scout, although not in the same order as the biblical Noah did. The dove and swallow returned to him with nothing, but the third scout, the raven, did not return, remaining on the found land. Where the surviving team soon descended from the mountain. Utnapishtim sacrificed not animals, but plants to the gods - he burned a mixture of myrtle, reed and cedar. The forefather and his wife received the gift of immortality, and the human race was continued by their children and other survivors.
It is likely that the ancient Jews adopted their legend of Noah from the Sumerians and Babylonians, reinterpreting it in their own way, reducing the number of gods to one and adding new details. And also by inventing a spiritual reason and edifying moral and ethical meaning of the flood, which was absent in the primary sources.
The dating of the event varies markedly. When calculating the date based on the Sumerian King List, it appears that the Flood could have occurred no later than 33,981 BC. new era. However, comparing tales of the cataclysm with geological discoveries, scientists come to the conclusion that in reality the Earth was flooded approximately 3000 BC. Well, according to biblical chronology, the Flood happened in 1656-1657 BC.
In the Greek version, there were as many as three floods: Ogigov, Deucalion and Dardan. The most similar to the Great Flood is the Deucalion Flood, with which Zeus punished people for making human sacrifices to the gods. In the ark, built according to the instructions of the titan Prometheus, his son Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were saved, and they landed on Mount Parnassus on the ninth day after the flooding. At the same time, not only they were saved, but also the inhabitants of the city of Parnassus, founded by the clairvoyant son of Poseidon. They were warned about the cataclysm and were able to hide from the flood on the top of the mountain. And they didn't stop their barbaric practice of sacrifice - so Zeus clearly screwed up.
Well, the hero of Hindu mythology Vaivasvat, a representative of the local ruling elite, was saved from the flood by the divine fish Matsya Avatara, who accidentally caught him while swimming, on whose advice he built a ship. Moreover, he was saved alone, along with the seeds of plants and animals, and then, in the process of making a sacrifice to the gods, he was given a new wife, with the help of whom the human race was restored.
Local disasters
In fact, science does not reject the Flood at all. According to scientists, cataclysms of this kind actually occurred, and happened more than once. But the entire earth's land was not flooded at the same time, and even more so, water never covered the continents with a layer of many kilometers. Ancient people lived compactly, in limited territories. And for them, even a local flood could seem worldwide.
According to the Bible, it was not so much rain that flooded the earth as “the springs of the great deep.” What were these mysterious sources? The answer is quite obvious. Judging by the coastlines of ancient sunken cities and other geological factors, during the last ice age the level of the world's oceans was more than a hundred meters lower than today. When it got warmer and glaciers began to actively melt, disasters began to occur all over the world. The oceans overflowing their banks flooded vast territories, including those inhabited by people. Freshwater lakes turned into seas, rivers turned back and flooded vast valleys. And as a result of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, groundwater was released to the surface.
In a philosophical sense, the legendary Flood can truly be called universal, since flooding occurred at different times almost throughout the globe. And as a result of these cataclysms, entire nations and civilizations perished. Only the luckiest were able to swim or escape to higher places and escape. The biblical Noah clearly had many real prototypes. And since the whole world for the ancient peoples was limited to the rather narrow framework of the space on the earth’s surface that they explored, each group of surviving people sincerely seemed to think that only they survived, and the inhabitants of the rest of the world died. Stories about the events experienced were passed on from mouth to mouth, embellished, supplemented with new details, and over time transformed into all those myths and legends that have survived to this day.
The causes of cataclysms were traditionally explained by the anger or whims of the gods, or “God’s punishment for sins.” Introducing fear of the Lord's punishment into the people's consciousness has traditionally helped spiritual leaders to somehow restrain the baser instincts and impulses of people and keep the crowd in obedience.
But can a Christian trust scientific explanations and not support belief in a literal interpretation of the Flood?
Of course it can! After all, Christianity is by no means a dark, blinkered religion, unable to go beyond primitive views and ossified dogmas. It fully allows for the existence of opposing opinions and trust in scientific research and discoveries. If this were not so, Christians would still believe that the earth is flat, or that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Or other ancient nonsense, which no educated, self-respecting Christian believes in these days.
Imagine a planet the size of Mars, with a source of hydrogen inside. At some point, the crust splits along the mid-ocean ridges and internal pressure brings the subcrustal waters of the Flood to the surface. Calculations show full compliance with modern laws of physics and are consistent with the Biblical text. And they confirm God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood.
"One should not multiply existing things unnecessarily" (Occam's razor)
Let's take a look at the events of the Flood from the point of view of the Theory of the “Initially Hydrid Earth” by V.N. Larin.
In antediluvian times, our planet was half the diameter with a source of hydrogen inside. At some point, the crust split along the mid-ocean ridges and internal pressure brought the subcrustal waters of the Flood to the surface, covering the Earth with at least a five-kilometer layer! The calculations show full compliance with the laws of physics, are consistent with the Biblical text and confirm God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood!
Our consciousness is structured in such a way that when reading the first lines of the Bible, the brain tries to imagine the events of the past and find a logical explanation of the words of the Holy Scriptures before accepting them on faith.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” (Gen.1:1-2)
It follows from the Bible that there was water on Earth initially, which is not surprising; now space probes have discovered water on the Moon, Mars, the satellites of Saturn and Jupiter, on comets and asteroids, and this water differs only in its isotopic composition.
“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water. And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And so it became.
And God said: Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it became.” (Gen.1:6-9)
It was difficult for scientists of antiquity to imagine the structure of our planet and, even more so, to assume that large masses of water (even in a bound state) could be located under the Earth’s crust.
Finally, modern science has come to understand Biblical events!
Let's imagine the structure of our planet in the form of an egg: in the center there is a solid hydride core (hydrogen dissolved in the metal), at the border there is degassing of H2 with the release of heat; a layer of liquid metal is formed, generating the Earth’s magnetic field; protein - magma: blast furnace with hydrogen purge; shell - the earth's crust, at the base of which hydrogen meets oxygen, selecting it from oxides and oxides, forming deep underground oceans of water.
The existence of subcrustal oceans has been confirmed by recent studies of rift zones, deep minerals ejected by volcanoes and seismic exploration.
Diamond with Ringwoodite inclusion Spectral analysis, which was carried out by scientists led by geochemist Graham Pearson from the Canadian University of Alberta in Edmonton, showed that the mineral ringwoodite, containing about one and a half percent water, was “sealed” in the diamond crystal found in Brazil. And it was formed surrounded by water. Ringwoodite is the main component of the so-called transition zone Earth - subsoil located at depths of several hundred kilometers. According to preliminary calculations by experts, this same one and a half percent “pouring out” into about ten Pacific oceans.
The famous American scientist Weisshen, having analyzed 80 thousand shear waves on hundreds of thousands of seismograms, suggested that water under the earth’s crust is present everywhere, and that its amount is 5 times greater than the entire external water reserve of the planet. Subterranean oceans that may be located in the subsurface are indicated in red. They were identified due to anomalies in the passage of seismic waves.
Seismologists from the University of Oregon, led by Anna Kelbert, having studied and analyzed measurement data accumulated by various groups of geophysicists over the past 30 years, compiled a three-dimensional map of the distribution of electrical conductivity in the upper layers of the Earth's mantle. The map confirms the presence of large quantities of water in it. But water is not free, but in a bound state, part of crystal lattices various minerals.
The fact that there is water under the World Ocean, and in huge quantities, is clearly evidenced by the numerous hydrothermal springs gushing along the mid-ocean ridges. They are called “black smokers” or natural heating plants.
Black smokers The picture, frankly, is terrifying. “Primordial water,” heated to 400 degrees Celsius and oversaturated with minerals (mainly ferrous and manganese compounds), at the point where the underwater geyser emerges, forms cone-shaped nodules and growths, similar to factory pipes the height of a skyscraper. A hot black mist billows out of them like smoke. (At high blood pressure boiling does not occur at great depths). Rising to a height of up to 150 meters, it mixes with the cold bottom layers of the ocean and, heating them, cools itself.
Hydrogen, emerging from the bowels of the Earth through mid-ocean ridges, partially combines with oxygen (because of this, the level of the world's oceans is steadily rising). The remaining part, entering the atmosphere, at an altitude of 30 km combines with O3, forming beautiful pearlescent clouds and “holes” in the ozone layer.
If you look at satellite images, it is easy to see that ozone holes most often form over mid-ocean ridges, in polar zones and over hydrocarbon deposits. What are the works of our compatriot Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences V.L. Syvorotkin devoted to?
What did the Earth look like in antediluvian times?
Our planet was slightly larger than modern Mars. This is confirmed by the coincidence with 94% accuracy of continental plates in the mosaic pattern (Otto Hilgenberg globes).
There were no modern oceans, since any part of the ocean floor is at least five times younger than the continental plates.
The process of expansion of the Earth is clearly illustrated in the video. link.
By subtracting the area of modern oceans from the total surface area of the Earth, it is not difficult to imagine the area of the antediluvian planet and calculate its radius (according to my calculations, Rdp ~ 3500 km, 55% of the modern one).
Our small planet was surrounded by a dense atmosphere with a continuous cloud layer, which was well preserved in the most beautiful Amber drops.
The antediluvian atmospheric pressure was 2.5 times higher than the modern one, so lizards with a wingspan of 10-12 meters easily soared in it.
Such a global greenhouse contributed to the rapid growth of all flora, which led to an increase in oxygen in the atmosphere (up to 40%). And the increased content of carbon dioxide (about 1%) not only created a greenhouse effect, but also contributed to plant gigantism, since the plant receives the bulk of its fiber (carbon) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis!
Greenhouse conditions smoothed out the planet's climate: there were no glaciers at the poles and no heat at the equator. There were tropics everywhere average temperature about 30-35 degrees. Most likely, there was no precipitation in the form of rain, much less snow, “For the Lord God did not send rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the earth, but steam rose from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth.”(Gen. 2:5)
There were no winds either, since there were no zones of pressure differences. And if this is so, then there should be no growth rings in antediluvian wood! Just like now equatorial trees don’t have them!
“The deposition of various annual wood rings is typical for zones with well-defined seasons. In the humid tropics, where winter and summer are almost the same in terms of precipitation and temperatures, there are no noticeable annual rings.” (Wikipedia)
The absence of growth rings on the wood of Noah's Ark kept in Etchmiadzin in Armenia.
It is no wonder that such “Paradise” greenhouse conditions, and even with almost complete protection from the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun, led to the development of gigantism of flora and fauna, and more than 10 times (judging by the Bible) the life expectancy of all organisms! A significant role in this was played by the absence of the need to consume large quantities of salt, which we, all herbivores, are now forced to do to maintain intracellular osmotic pressure (due to a drop in atmospheric pressure by more than 2.5 times).
Length of the year in antediluvian times
Based on the law of conservation of angular momentum of our planet, knowing the radius of the antediluvian Earth, taking into account the slight change in mass, it turns out that the length of the day was approximately 7.2 hours. At this speed of rotation, the shape of the planet was most likely an ellipsoid, flattened at the poles. Then it is logical to assume that the gravity in the tropical zone was much lower than at the poles, which is where giant dinosaurs lived!
Flood Events
But at one moment Prosperity on Earth ended! The cataclysm was most likely caused by a cosmic event. Most likely, it was a shock front of cosmic particles (about 1 mm in diameter) formed after a supernova explosion at a distance of no more than 100 light years from Earth.
But, one way or another:
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened; and the rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.” (Gen.7:11-12)
The attentive reader will immediately notice that there were two sources of the waters of the Flood! And in addition to 40 days of rain, water from the depths of the Earth gushed to the surface. The Earth's crust cracked along the mid-ocean ridges, like a broken egg shell. Many volcanoes awoke, spewing magma and steam. “The sources of the great abyss opened up” - subcortical waters and gases rushed to the surface.
“And the flood continued on the earth forty days [and forty nights], and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth; But the waters increased and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that all the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered; The water rose above them fifteen cubits, and [all the high] mountains were covered.” (Gen.7:17-20)
Let's try to imagine the volume of water required for these events: knowing the radius of the antediluvian planet is 3500 km, the surface area is ~ 154 million square meters. km, assuming the height of Ararat is about 5 km (now 5165 m, but it is still an active volcano, it could well have grown by 200 m), we obtain the volume of flood waters of the order of 770 million cubic meters. km, only 56% of the current volume of the World Ocean!
Volcano Ararat As we remember, there were two sources of the waters of the Flood, and even after the cessation of 40 days of rain, the ocean level continued to rise, and we already understand why:
“The waters arose on the earth for a hundred and fifty days.” (Gen.7:24)
Consequences of the Global Flood
When the water began to subside:
“And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle, [and all the birds, and all the creeping things] that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still.
And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased.” (Gen.8:1-2)
Thanks to the sharp expansion of the rift zones of the mid-ocean ridges, modern oceans began to form, where the waters of the Flood gradually began to go (in a volume of about 770 million cubic km. 56% of the modern volume of the World Ocean), leaving layers of sand, clay and marine skeletons on the plateaus. inhabitants.
It is clear that the process of growth of the Earth's diameter proceeded unevenly along a logarithmic curve (y=logax, where a>1). First a sharp expansion Pacific Ocean, then the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean were formed, and the Atlantic is the youngest growth zone. A more accurate record of this expansion will be constructed by studying and comparing the ocean floor zones on either side of the mid-ocean ridges. Based on these data, it will be possible to clarify the age of the Earth and changes in the length of the day and the length of the year.
After the Flood, the climate of the Earth changed dramatically: seasons became noticeable, climatic zones, areas of pressure differences, wind, precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail. Gradually, with a fall atmospheric pressure, the continuous cloud layer was replaced by Cumulus clouds, it became clear blue sky and a rainbow - as a symbol of God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood!
“And the Lord smelled a sweet aroma, and the Lord said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done: henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease.” (Gen.8:21-22)
“I set My rainbow in the cloud, so that it may be a sign of the [eternal] covenant between Me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that [My] rainbow will appear in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters will no longer be a flood to destroy all flesh.
And [My] rainbow will be in the cloud, and I will see it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant between God [and the earth] and between every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Gen.9:13-16)
Consequently, among the global threats to humanity there may be tsunamis and floods very great strength, no one excludes a meteorite threat or a supervolcano eruption, but due to the fact that the process of degassing hydrogen from the bowels of the earth is ongoing (Mother Earth is slowly letting off steam), a great global flood will no longer happen! There is no physical possibility to cover the modern planet with a 5 kilometer layer of water!
An analysis of possible planetary disasters is comprehensively presented by Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences V.P. Polevanov. in the report "What threatens humanity?"
Many scientists and atheists have repeatedly questioned the words of the Holy Scriptures, but it turns out that the events described there could well have happened and do not contradict any laws of physics! Humanity acquired this knowledge 30 centuries ago, and science is only coming to understand these processes today!
How much “water has flown under the bridge” since the antediluvian times?
According to “scientific” ideas, about 200-250 million years, these are the most ancient datings of rocks of the ocean floor. What if the dating is correct? Orthodox calendar? And outside the window is 7526 years since the creation of the world and 5870 since the beginning of the Flood? Truly knowledge multiplies the boundaries of the unknown!
Reader question:
Hello. I wanted to know if it is known in what year the global flood took place? Were there any cities that were not flooded, or were all the cities flooded?
Philip
Archpriest Pyotr Guryanov answers:
In what year did the Great Flood occur? The Bible contains chronological information that allows us to count back time with great accuracy back to the beginning of human history. Genesis 5:1-29 records the genealogy from the creation of the first man Adam to the birth of Noah. The flood began “in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah” (Genesis 7:11). To determine when the Flood occurred, it is necessary to start from some historical milestone. That is, the countdown must be carried out from a date recognized by secular history and corresponding to a specific event described in the Bible. From this starting point, it is possible to calculate when the Flood occurred, according to the Gregorian calendar generally accepted today.
We can take 539 BC as one of the historical milestones. e., when Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon. The reign of Cyrus is evidenced by such secular sources as Babylonian tablets, as well as the documents of Diodorus Siculus, Julius Africanus, Eusebius of Caesarea and Ptolemy. By decree of Cyrus, the remainder of the Jews left Babylon and returned to their homeland in 537 BC. e. Thus ended the 70-year desolation of the Kingdom of Judah, which began, according to biblical chronology, in 607 BC. e. Taking into account the reigns of the judges and the kings of Israel, it can be established that the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt occurred in 1513 BC. e. The Bible-based chronology then takes us back 430 years to 1943 BC. e., when the covenant was made with Abraham. Further consideration must be given to the birth times and lifespans of Terah, Nahor, Seruch, Raghab, Peleg, Eber, and Shelah, as well as Arphaxad, who was born “two years after the flood” (Genesis 11:10-32). Thus, the beginning of the Flood occurs in 2370 BC. e.
However, as soon as serious scientific study of the problem of the exact dating of the flood described in the Bible began, the date of 2370 BC was one of the first to be rejected. No evidence, neither archaeological nor geological, confirmed the fact that at least in the Middle East region there was a large-scale flood during this period. However, data was discovered that made it possible to formulate several theories about when the events actually occurred that gave real grounds for the emergence of the narrative of the Flood.
The most acceptable hypothesis for academic science is the hypothesis according to which the tales of the Flood among the peoples of the Middle East, later reflected in the Old Testament, are memories of a cataclysm dating back to approximately 5500 BC. It was during that period that, due to a huge earthquake, the Black Sea ceased to be a closed sea (which, for example, the Caspian Sea is today). The water level rose by 140 meters, the Mediterranean Sea was connected to the Black Sea through the straits, and the coastline doubled in size, flooding areas that at that time were among the most densely populated areas. The memory of this natural disaster, which destroyed a huge number of people at that time, according to this theory, was then transformed into legends about the Flood.
5. All land animals also died during the Flood. The population of the entire earth (all breathing creatures) inhabiting the dry land (except those in the ark) was destroyed by the waters of the Great Flood (Genesis 7:21, 9:16). If the flood had been local, there would have been no need to save the animals, there would have been no need for the ark.
6. It was a great cataclysm, not just a small flood. The word “flood” that is used in the Bible to describe the Great Flood is different from the word commonly used to describe small local floods. [Hebrew = “Mabbool” and Greek language= “Kataklusmos” (cataclysm!)]. Thus, the Bible emphasizes the uniqueness of the flood that occurred during the time of Noah.
Did the Great Flood really happen?
In Sumerian and Babylonian legends, in the myths of South American and North American Indians, in the legends of the inhabitants of the ancient civilizations of India and China, almost the same words are used to tell about the greatest catastrophe that befell our planet at the dawn of mankind - the Great Flood. And all these legends and myths mention a man who saved life on Earth by building a ship and gathering people and animals on it.
In the Bible, where 4 chapters are dedicated to the Flood, this man’s name is Noah, and his rescue ship is Noah’s Ark. What kind of global catastrophe is this that has shaken the consciousness of humanity in time immemorial? Did the Great Flood really happen or is it just an idle fantasy? If so, what were the reasons and extent? Researchers around the world still do not have clear answers to these difficult questions.
IN different times put forward many hypotheses regarding the cause of the most global of the catastrophes that once occurred on the planet - the Flood - from well-founded scientific theorizations to simply outright fantasies. For example, scientists assumed that the flood was caused by the fall of a giant meteorite into the waters of the World Ocean and the huge wave that arose after that swept across the entire globe. They also said that the great flood occurred due to the “meeting” of our planet with a comet and this collision disrupted the water balance of the Earth.
The following hypothesis was also put forward: a super-powerful volcanic process on a planetary scale occurred, the consequence of which was a titanic tsunami that flooded the entire land. The hypothesis of American geologist G. Riskin is quite interesting. According to him, the cause of the Great Flood could be a “methane catastrophe” - a colossal explosion of large quantities of methane that was released from the waters of the World Ocean about 250 million years ago. It should be noted that the author of the theory himself admits that it is “rather hypothetical,” but considers it “too significant to neglect.”
The “methane cataclysm” hypothesis advocated by Riskin is as follows. Initially, at a certain historical stage, for some geological, climatic or other reasons, methane began to be released from bottom sediments, the source of which could be organic deposits or frozen hydrates. Under the pressure of the water column, the gas dissolved, and its concentration increased over time. Then, a fairly minor external intervention was enough for the bottom water masses, saturated with methane, to move to the surface.
Such a push, according to Riskin, could be the fall of a small meteorite, an earthquake, or even - quite interestingly - the movement of a large animal (for example, a whale). The water, moving to the surface, no longer experienced strong pressure and literally “boiled,” releasing the methane it contained into the atmosphere. Further, the process became irreversible: more and more new water masses moved to the surface, which, hissing and foaming, like soda in open bottle, released increasingly large volumes of flammable gas into the atmosphere. That's all, all you have to do is wait until your concentration is up critical value and until some “spark” appears to set it all on fire.
Theoretically, according to the scientist, the waters of the World Ocean could contain enough methane to ensure an explosion that would be 10 thousand (!) times more powerful than the detonation effect of the world's nuclear weapons stockpile. This amounts to more than 100 million megatons (!) of TNT equivalent. If the described phenomenon actually took place, a cataclysm of such a scale, with a power even one or two orders of magnitude lower, would be quite “pulling” on.
This hypothesis actually, at first glance, seems quite unrealistic. And yet, like any other, she has her supporters. Some experts believe that “although she is eccentric, she is not so crazy that she cannot be taken seriously.”
Be that as it may, the Great Flood is not fiction. Many scientists are trying to scientifically prove this argument. I. Yanovsky, head of the Center for Instrumental Observations of environment and geophysical forecasts, in the book “The Mystery of the Flood” he wrote: “The historical fact of the Flood is beyond doubt. There is a lot of similar information about him in a variety of sources - archaeological research, legends of the peoples of the world, theological literature. All this taken together makes it possible to reproduce general outlines that happened, the most formidable natural phenomenon.
The inconsistency of the descriptions is only in the details. And if earlier they talked about the remoteness of the event at 12,500 years, then not so long ago researchers from America announced that the Great Flood occurred only 7,500 years ago.” But still, this is not the most important thing, the author believes. It is first of all important for researchers to understand “the physical mechanism by which huge masses of water arose, moved and persisted for some time.”
It was the misunderstanding of the mechanism that caused scientists to completely mistrust the very fact of the Flood. Moreover, according to I. Yanovsky, the biblical rain, which “rained like buckets for 40 days and nights,” does not explain anything - after all, in recent history, at the beginning of the well-known Godunov hard times (1600), there was continuous rain for for 10 weeks (from May 23 to August 16, a total of 70 days), and then nothing in the Moscow State was flooded - only the entire crop was lost on the vine (N. Karamzin. “History of the Russian State”).
A description of the Flood as a natural phenomenon is given in his fundamental work “Traces of the Gods” by G. Hancock. He believes that the large-scale Flood was accompanied by violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. As the author wrote, the characteristics of the dynamics of water masses of this formidable natural phenomenon are very different - “from the relatively slow rise of water as a result of the melting of snow and ice covers of the “preceding ice age” (which is why animals and people managed to go to the mountains, accumulated in caves, etc. .) to instantaneous, with a tsunami wave height of 500–700 meters!
The latter even tossed aside the megalithic buildings of the “Atlanteans,” the weight of the monoliths in which reached hundreds of tons.” This and much other information, as follows from the work of G. Hancock, underwent a thorough examination in the American geographical society; The experts included many famous scientists, including A. Einstein. The conclusion is clear: this information is not a myth, but a scientific reality.
But if the majority of scientists answer the main question - whether there was a Flood at all - positively, then there is absolutely no information about the scale of this catastrophe. different opinions. Some of the researchers believe that they are greatly exaggerated and that the flood was not a universal flood at all, as it is said in the Bible. Anti-biblical critics explain their arguments as follows. IN Old Testament, they claim, the legend of Noah and his ark came from ancient Sumerian and Babylonian legends.
In particular, the story of this catastrophe was preserved on clay Chaldean tablets of the 21st century BC. e. Then, 4,000 years ago, the population of ancient Sumer and Babylonia lived in Mesopotamia between two rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates. The climate at that time was more humid and the rains lasted longer. Perhaps, after some very prolonged rain (Sumerian legend says that this same rain fell for 7 days and 7 nights), the water in the Tigris and Euphrates rose and flooded the entire Mesopotamia. And the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia believed that their homeland was the whole world. That is why, scientists conclude, stories about the Great Flood appeared in legends.
But opponents of this version claim that features similar to the biblical account were found not only in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian narratives, but also in the legends of many other peoples. For example, the same elements of describing a global flood are found in the folklore of North American tribes and among the inhabitants of Central and South America, in Africa and the Middle East, in Asia and Australia, as well as in the folklore of the ethnic groups of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. After this became clear, few doubted that the everyday life writer Moses could hardly have undertaken such long-distance folklore expeditions. Therefore, the Bible should not be relegated to the role of a collection of myths and legends borrowed from neighboring peoples.
Supporters of the so-called biblical version of the Flood believe that it is much more likely that the memory of all mankind preserves a story about the same event. In fact, almost all the peoples of our planet that have a tradition of epic folklore or sacred texts revered by their people keep the memory of a gigantic worldwide flood.
And all the legends that have reached us retain the common basic features of the presentation: all the original life on earth was destroyed by a grandiose, incomparable cataclysm; all present life came from one man who, having been supernaturally warned of an impending disaster, built a special ship and survived the Flood on it with his family. It is not surprising that in the oral traditions of various peoples this story is to varying degrees was subjected to distortion and acquired characteristic folklore elements. And yet, the written biblical testimony has preserved it in its utmost completeness.
In the Bible, the story of the Flood occupies a key place. It is no coincidence that four chapters are devoted to the description of the flood in the book of Genesis, which opens the Old Testament part of the holy book. And it is no coincidence that Jesus Christ himself spoke about the Flood not as a myth, but as a real event. What processes could actually take place during the catastrophic event known to us as the “Great Flood”? This is how the beginning of the catastrophe is described in Scripture: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day all the sources of the great deep burst open, the windows of heaven were opened; and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights” (Genesis 7:11,12).
This is how geophysicists would describe this same phenomenon. The continuous heating of the Earth's interior has brought the earth's crust into a state of stress close to critical. Even a minor external impact, which could be the fall of a large meteorite or ordinary tidal deformation, inevitably caused a split in the earth's crust. This fracture, propagating at the speed of sound in rock, took only 2 hours to circle the entire Earth.
Under the influence of pressure, erupted rocks rushed into the resulting faults - the sources of the great abyss - along with superheated underground water (even in our time, about 90% of products volcanic eruption constitutes water). According to calculations, the total energy of this eruption was 10 thousand times higher than the energy of the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. The height of the rock ejection was about 20 km, and the ash that rose into the upper layers of the atmosphere led to active condensation and destruction of the protective water-steam layer that fell to the ground with heavy rain.
Still, most of all the waters of the Flood, according to some researchers, were groundwater. Total water erupted from the depths is equal to approximately half of the water supply of modern seas and oceans. The Bible says that the springs of the great deep flooded the surface of the earth with water for 150 days (Genesis 7:24), while the rain fell for only 40 days and 40 nights, flooding the earth, according to calculations, with an intensity of 12.5 millimeters per day. hour.
The disappearance of the natural greenhouse cover led to an almost instantaneous cooling in the polar regions of the planet and the appearance of powerful glaciation there. Many representatives of tropical flora and fauna were frozen into the polar glaciers. Paleontologists quite often find perfectly preserved remains of ancient animals and plants in permafrost - mammoths, saber tooth tigers, palm trees with green leaves and ripe fruits, etc.
But as a result of the Flood, the complete destruction of life did not occur. According to the Bible, fleeing “from the waters of the flood,” Noah, his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, as well as the wives of all four, entered the ark. As you know, Noah also took animals on board the rescue ship - “a pair of each creature.” We can say that this expression, popular today, was inherited from the Flood. And in our language there is the word “antediluvian” (that is, literally: what happened before the Flood). We use it when we talk about something that is ridiculously outdated.
Nowadays, scientists around the world are concerned about the threat of a new global flood. For the first time in 12,000 years, Antarctica's glaciers began to rapidly melt. The largest of the ocean wanderers reaches an area of 5.5 000 km 2, which is twice the size of Luxembourg. Similar processes are occurring in the Arctic. Our blue planet may soon be left without an ice cap.
Until recently, scientists began to talk with concern about the fact that giant ice shelves are breaking up under the influence of global warming. As a result, part of one of the largest icebergs in Antarctica, VM-14, shrank by 3,235 km in 41 days. The head of the British Antarctic Survey laboratory, Doctor of Glaciology D. Vaughan, said then that he was “amazed at the speed of the process. It's simply impossible to believe that ice block weighing almost 500 billion tons disintegrated in just a month.”
Scientists express concern that over time the process may accelerate, and then the threat of a new global flood will become quite real for humanity. They turned out to be right. Just two months later, their colleagues from the National Glaciological Center in Suitland reported that the blocks were showing more and more cracks and many kilometers of icebergs were flying off from them like chips. For example, not relatively recently, an iceberg with an area 9 times larger than Singapore broke off from one of the glaciers.
“Global warming is not a very useful and pleasant process for humanity,” says MSU professor M. Sokolsky. – This can significantly change the climate of the planet, threatens various disasters and ultimately threatens the survival of the biosphere of our planet. Already now, due to the splitting of glaciers, navigation difficulties are emerging, tens of thousands of animals are dying, many of which are rare and endangered species.
Last year's drift brought an entire colony of emperor penguins on Cape Croisier to the brink of survival. To breed their offspring, these animals need a thick, durable ice cover. But instead, the poor fellows ended up on crumbling snow that couldn’t support their weight. More than half of them died. Naturally, anxiety arises - what next?
It’s a pity, but scientists cannot yet offer any measures to combat the destructive process, other than closer observation and accurate forecasting. True, from time to time exotic hypotheses appear on how to overcome the greenhouse effect. The American D. Krauf proposed the “production” of huge masses of artificial ice at the poles, and the Australian C. Capucci developed the theory of pumping cold into certain areas of the Earth, covering them with a freezing cap filled with freon.
The creation of such gigantic refrigeration chambers would cost humanity an unimaginable amount, but this is not the limit of imagination. Scientists from the University of Maryland recently announced their project to force the planet to deviate from its usual rotation, which should supposedly make it possible to change the climate on it for the better.
So far, no one is seriously considering all these projects. The “know-how” of the already mentioned Moscow geophysicist I. Yanovsky seems to be the cheapest. According to the scientist, the destructive processes that occur in the bowels of the Earth, including the incredibly rapid melting of glaciers, have a direct connection with our thoughts and feelings (by the way, the governor of the emperor in the province in which destructive earthquakes occurred was executed!).
According to Professor Yanovsky, our bad actions and thoughts give rise to a corresponding reaction from nature. He believes that it was the wrong behavior of mankind that once provoked the Great Flood. If people change their way of thinking, become kinder and more tolerant, then trouble can still be avoided.
Of course, the Great Flood that once befell the Earth is far from the only global catastrophe that once occurred. History, archaeology, geology and Scripture have brought to us a lot of evidence of various disasters, so to speak, on a “local scale” - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, storm and flash floods, mudflows and landslides. Naturally, all these disasters varying degrees left their mark on the appearance of our planet. However, the largest global cataclysm in the history of the Earth remains the Flood.
V. Sklyarenko
psychiatrist doctor
