Pyramids and other ancient structures built before the flood...

Let’s run some numbers here. To keep this simple the Earth is assumed to be a sphere and some values are rounded. This will affect accuracy of the final values, but the conclusion is still valid.

The mean equatorial radius of the Earth is 3963 miles. The volume of a sphere is 1.333 pi r ^3 resulting in the volume of the Earth as 260,711,662,759 cubic miles.

According to Genesis 7:20 the flood covered the mountain peaks to a depth of 15 cubits (27.25 feet @ the Biblical cubit of 21.8 inches).

Mount Everest is the highest peak at 29,035 feet. It is still growing, so presumably 6,000 years ago or so it was a little bit less. I was unable to find any estimates of its elevation then, so I’ll use the current elevation. Using the flood depth above, the depth of the water was 29,035 + 27 feet or 29,062 feet or 5.5 miles. To reach that depth of water in 40 days it would have to rain continuously at a rate around 360 inches per hour, but that is another topic.

The volume of water in the Great Flood can be calculated then as the difference between the volume of the Earth given above and the volume of the Earth plus the water, calculated from the radius of the Earth plus the depth of the water.

3963 + 5.504 = 3968.5 miles = r

1.333 * pi * r^3 = 261,733,196,523 cubic miles of Earth and water. Less the Earth volume given above leaves 1,021,533,765 cubic miles of water.

When the waters receded (Gen. 8:1-3) it went somewhere (the ocean basins were already full before the flood. This water is addition to the volume of the oceans). We know from geology there is not sufficient groundwater in the crust to account for the missing volume. Neither are there sufficient mineral hydrates. If it all percolated to the center of the Earth and formed a giant ‘ocean’ (the mass and gravity of Earth says it didn’t, but lets assume it did). This ‘ball of water’ at the planet’s core would have a radius of roughly 625 miles or 1/6 the radius of the Earth.

The same God that created the Universe also gave man the intellect to figure out how the universe works. God gave us the ability to measure the Earth and figure out its composition without actually drilling and measuring through direct observation. Scientific discovery and analysis is a part of God’s creation too. Science tells us there is no water of that volume inside the Earth. This gives us a contradiction – the Bible says there was a flood. God, through science, tells us there never was a global flood. How do we reconcile these two? God is intentionally tricking us and testing our faith by leading us to false scientific conclusion? That is inconsistent with Christian theology and Biblical teachings. Or is much of the Bible metaphor and allegory – using stories to illustrate greater principles and values? That is my belief. By focusing on the meaning of the story and what it is teaching and not worrying about the literal accuracy of the details I come to a new and better understanding of what the Bible is telling me. I think I am a better person for it.

It appears some of you don’t like Graham Hancock, but I saw a program by him about ancient Indian ruins of the S.E. coast.
The underwater cities some belive must have been built before the last great thaw of the icecaps, about 10,000 years ago.
It, not just Hancock who thinks this , the S.E.S. and N.I.O. of India were involved aswell.
This is an interesting link with plenty of info and includes links to Hancock's site with an expanation about the Horizon program.
www.india-atlantis.org...

Originally posted by spyke
It appears some of you don’t like Graham Hancock, but I saw a program by him about ancient Indian ruins of the S.E. coast.
The underwater cities some belive must have been built before the last great thaw of the icecaps, about 10,000 years ago.
It, not just Hancock who thinks this , the S.E.S. and N.I.O. of India were involved aswell.
This is an interesting link with plenty of info and includes links to Hancock's site with an expanation about the Horizon program.
www.india-atlantis.org...

I went to the SES site. If you want to look at the evidence, they tell you to get Hancock's book or visit his site.

It needs to be said here that the fact that ruins are found underwater is by no means indicitive that they predate the end of the last ice age. There is a geologic process (I think it's called subsumtion) involving the ground sinking. This happens all the time all over the world, just like the opposite happens all the time all over the world. I'm not about to use this argument to say there was absolutely no civilization during the last ice age, but I will say that absolutely no evidence of such a civilization has ever been found. Not even a hint of such a thing has ever been found. And that includes the Indian underwater ruins linked to by the above poster.

I have been to Hancock's site before and I agree with him that there were a few moments in the Horizon program where apparently whoever edited the video was trying to make him look even more moronic than he actually is. The interviewer asked him a question and the spot was edited to make it look like he had no answer. The question involved the dating of a dig in S. America that Hancock had claimed was 10,000 years old. C14 (and other means) dated the site at only a few thousand years (2 or 3k y.o.) Hancock's response on the program was to stare stupidly at the interviewer. His actual response, which in my opinion is only slightly more adroit than the one shown on the program, was "Well, you can't date the stones." Unfortunately, this kind of "science" would lead researchers 2,000 years in the future to stipulate that the remains of my brick home date to 6,000 BC.

Harte

Originally posted by dave_54
Let’s run some numbers here. To keep this simple the Earth is assumed to be a sphere and some values are rounded. This will affect accuracy of the final values, but the conclusion is still valid.......

That was a great reply. Thank you for it. There is only one thing that i disagree with. Despite there being no proof of a flood on the earth don't you think that if God created the earth and the universe, couldn't he do something that doesn't match up with our human understanding? Why wouldn't he be able to have the earth be flooded and then restore it to the way it was before the water caused the earth's physical attributes to change (be it the earths crust, size or whatever).

Originally posted by dave_54
Or is much of the Bible metaphor and allegory – using stories to illustrate greater principles and values? That is my belief. By focusing on the meaning of the story and what it is teaching and not worrying about the literal accuracy of the details I come to a new and better understanding of what the Bible is telling me.

i agree with this. But like i said before, God created the entire universe. We both agree that God created all things. So, the same argument, since He did create all things why wouldn't he be able to do things for humans like part the Red Sea, Cause The Plagues in Egypt... any other things you can think of like that). While some stories were only stories meant to teach us, there are some that really happen, even though they seem impossible.

** Sorry i really didn't mean for this post to turn into a post about proving the Bible true or false. **

my problem with his numbers is this

We know that Mt Everest is growing even today. Why assume that its always been this tall?

When God created the earth it was very good. There were no deserts or hostile mountain ranges as such. Revelation (?) says that the earth will shake so violently that every mountain will fall...islands will sink.

So...getting back to the flood and pyramids.

I believe the pyramids were made by the people who were gathered to build Babel. The reason all parts of the world have Pyramids and all cultures have the flood story is because they all were there after the flood at babel...the gateway to God...

Reading the book of Job will give you eyewitness accounts to the birth of mountain ranges...the end of the Ice age..the sea boiling like ointment..fire from the sky..very violent time after babel...during they days of Peleg (which means earthquake). This is the time of chaos which is cited by some Egyptian myths as the beginning of their gods.

I believe there are some structures we have found from before the flood... Im not ready to believe the pyramids are among them.

Originaly posted by jake1997
The reason all parts of the world have Pyramids and all cultures have the flood story is because they all were there after the flood at babel...the gateway to God...

Wow, that never occured to me. When they spread out to the extremities of the earth they all probably still had that on their mind, to build to the heavens. i think this is a strong argument. i'm going to do some reading about that time and find out what happen then.

[edit on 7/23/05 by flipjargendy]

I've been to Egypt, and to my knowledge it seems parts of the Nile flowed by the Pyramids during the Ancient times. That may explain the erosion fo the Sphinx-you can find that in many paintings of the Pyramids.

If that's not reliable information you also can relate the the rock erosion of the Sphinx. Wind and rain has been known to cause much of its erosion, and the rock used to build it/carve it is limestone. Most of us learnt how sensitive limestone aka Calcium Carbonate can erode-so that can explain a lot...