Introduction
One of the biggest excuses given by slavers, who mostly happened to be good Christians, was that their slaves were the sons of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah who was accursed and condemned to be hewers of wood and fetchers of water. Noah is an important figure in the bible as he is supposed to be the father of all mankind since only he and his children survived a massive flood that God the creator caused upon the land (Morris, 1989) . According to the story, Noah built a huge ship-like building called an ark where he housed his family and a male and a female of every animal species in the world. It is from this little batch that the whole world was re-established (Montgomery, 2012) . This simple story has been at the epicenter of the great debate between the purveyors of the theory of evolution and those of the theory of creation.
The Great flood and the theory of Creation
Whereas they would be reluctant to admit it, the story of the great flood has become a major embarrassment to the purveyors of the theory of creation. The fact that it is clearly elucidated in the middle of the books of Genesis means that if the creationists abandon it, they will have to abandon the entire book of Genesis and by extension the theory of creation (Morris, 1989). They therefore grit their teeth and attempted to prove it scientifically until 1910 when science and technology had advanced to the level that the folktale became scientifically indefensible and was forthwith taken from a perspective of faith (Montgomery, 2012).
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The Great flood and the theory of Evolution
The theory of evolution is generally advanced by scientist: by its very nature, science is premised evidence and the purveyors of evolution have always based their arguments on sound scientific evidence and abandoned any idea that cannot be scientifically proven, a good example being Lamarck’s theory of evolution. One of the most solid scientific proofs of evolution is fossil evidence: however, the only way that fossils can form and be preserved scientifically is through a sudden and overwhelming flood. However, accepting that the great flood existed would be admitting that the Book of Genesis is historical, a fact that would disprove everything that the purveyors of this theory have worked so hard to establish (Montgomery, 2012).
Independent opinion
Robert Ballard, the celebrated underwater archeologist who is credited with the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic believes he has found evidence to suggest that there was indeed a mammoth flood around the black sea that dates around the time experts believe Noah’s flood took place. His motivation however is premised on a theory by some scientists from the University of Colombia that suggests that the flood was occasioned by the melting of the ice that overwhelmed the Mediterranean Sea thus creating a mighty flood which overrun the area Noah was credited to have lived. Ballard does not however align his findings with any of the two competing theories (Millman, Taylor & Effron, 2012).
Conclusion
Both the evolutionist and their counterparts; the creationists are at a loss on how to handle the issue of Noah ark, the creationist are estopped from claiming that the story is false as they would by extension be killing their theory. At the same time the evolutionists who are always keen to deny any theory advanced by the creationists are at a loss of how to handle Noah’s story as they need a flood to explain the creation of fossils but this flood cannot be Noah’s flood as that would also end up killing their theory. This is one of the few mutual paradoxes that the two sides share.
References
Millman, E., Taylor, B., & Effron, L. (2012). New evidence suggests biblical great flood happened, says Robert Ballard. Abc News.
Montgomery, D. R. (2012). The evolution of creationism. GSA today , 4-9. doi: 10.1130/GSATG158A.1
Morris, J. D. (1989). Did Noah’s flood cover the whole earth? Acts & Facts , 18 (3), 1
