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CHAPTER 4: THE MYSTERY OF THE CANOPY THEORY
ISAAC N. VAIL, IN HIS BOOK, "WATERS ABOVE THE FIRMAMENT," HAS A
VERY INTERESTING THEORY THAT IF TRUE, MAKES IT MUCH EASIER TO UNDERSTAND
MANY OBSCURE VERSES IN THE BIBLE. HIS THEORY IS THAT THE EARTH,
BEFORE THE FLOOD, WAS SURROUNDED BY A WATER CANOPY.
Genesis 1:1-2 NIV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. THIS WATER THAT GOD IS TALKING ABOUT HERE IS NOT THE WATER IN THE OCEANS, OR WATER COVERING THE EARTH AS IS COMMONLY ASSUMED. PETER MAKES THIS CLEAR IN THE NEXT TWO VERSES. 2 Peter 3:5-6 NIV But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ACCORDING TO PETER, THE EARTH WAS FORMED OUT OF WATER AND BY WATER, WATER THAT GOD CREATED WHEN HE CREATED THE HEAVENS. . HE ALSO STATES THAT THE WORLD WAS DESTROYED BY THESE WATERS. AT THIS TIME THERE WAS APPARENTLY NO STRONG GRAVITATIONAL PULL TO HOLD THE WATER TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE. IT WAS DRIFTING AIMLESSLY IN OUTER SPACE, JUST HANGING THERE WITHOUT FORM AND VOID, AS GENESIS 1:2 STATED. Genesis 1:6-8 NIV And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. GOD THEN SEPARATED THIS GATHERING OF WATER INTO TWO PARTS, WITH AN EXPANSE BETWEEN THEM, THIS EXPANSE WAS CALLED THE SKY. SO NOW WE HAVE TWO BODIES OF WATER, SEPARATED BY AN EMPTY AREA, KNOWN AS THE SKY. Genesis 1:9-10 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. GOD THEN GATHERED THE WATER BELOW THE EXPANSE CALLED THE SKY, INTO ONE PLACE. FROM THE WATER, AS PETER STATES, THE DRY GROUND WAS FORMED. SO AT THAT TIME WE HAD A CONDITION WHERE THERE WAS WATER AND DRY LAND ON THE EARTH AND WATER ABOVE EARTH. EXACTLY HOW GOD CHANGED WATER INTO LAND IS UNKNOWN, BUT ONE OF THE FACTORS USED TO DO THIS MUST HAVE BEEN INTENSE HEAT. THIS IS EVIDENCED BY THE FACT THAT THE EARTH’S CORE IS STILL MOLTEN, TO THIS DAY. JUST BEFORE GOD CREATED THE DRY LAND ON THE SECOND DAY, HE CREATED LIGHT. Genesis 1:3-5 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. INTENSE HEAT FROM THE LIGHT WHICH HE HAD JUST CREATED PRIOR TO THE CREATION OF THE LAND MAY HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE AGENTS HE USED TO FORM LAND FROM WATER. THIS INTENSE HEAT COMING FROM THE MOLTEN EARTH AFTER CREATING THE LAND WOULD HAVE DRIVEN MUCH OF THE WATER FAR OFF INTO SPACE, RESULTING IN A WATER CANOPY SURROUNDING THE EARTH. AS THE EARTH COOLED SOME OF THE WATER THAT WAS NOT YET DRIVEN INTO A FIXED ORBIT WOULD HAVE FELL BACK TO EARTH ON TOP OF THE HOT WORLD, RESULTING IN FURTHER COOLING AND IN THE FORMATION OF SOME RIVERS, A FEW SMALL LAKES, AND A MISTY GREENHOUSE TYPE OF ENVIRONMENT. Genesis 1:11-12 NIV Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 2:5-6 NIV and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- AT THIS TIME THERE WAS NO RAIN. WATER CAME UP FROM WITHIN THE EARTH TO FORM RIVERS WHICH WATERED THE EARTH. THE CRADLES OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION CAME INTO EXISTENCE NEAR WATER SOURCES, THE RIVERS, BECAUSE AS YET, THERE WAS NO RAIN. Genesis 2:8-15 NIV Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. IT WAS NEAR THESE RIVERS THAT THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION BEGAN AND EXISTED, AFTER THE CREATION OF MAN. (THE GIHON IS THE NILE, THE PISHON IS AN ANCIENT RIVER THAT FLOWED THROUGH SAUDI ARABIA.)( See Genesis 25:18) THE TIGRIS AND THE EUPHRATES ARE STILL CALLED BY THESE NAMES TODAY. AT THIS TIME THERE WAS STILL A WATER CANOPY SURROUNDING THE EARTH, AND ORBITING WITH IT. THIS CANOPY, ACCORDING TO VAIL'S THEORY, DID NOT COMPLETELY SURROUND THE EARTH, BUT HAD OPENINGS AT BOTH POLES. THE EARTH, IN A FIGURATIVE SENSE, WAS LIKE A CHILD IN IT'S MOTHERS WOMB, SURROUNDED BY WATER. THIS THEORY IF TRUE, WOULD EXPLAIN MANY OF THE PREVIOUSLY UNEXPLAINABLE MYSTERIES OF THE PAST. IN AFRICA THERE ARE TRIBES WHO WORSHIP STARS WHOSE EXISTENCE WAS UNKNOWN UNTIL RECENTLY WITH THE INVENTION OF NEW AND MORE POWERFUL TELESCOPES. THESE AFRICAN TRIBES CLAIM THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THESE STARS WAS PASSED DOWN TO THEM BY THERE ANCESTORS WHO LIVED BEFORE THE FLOOD, AND WERE ABLE TO VIEW THEM WITH THE NAKED EYE. A WATER CANOPY SURROUNDING THE EARTH COULD HAVE ACTED LIKE A GIANT MAGNIFYING GLASS ALLOWING MEN TO VIEW FAR OFF INTO THE HEAVENS AT NIGHT. A WATER CANOPY WOULD ALSO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE STRANGE GIANT CARVINGS OF SPIDERS AND BIRDS THAT ARE IN SOUTH AMERICA. UNTIL THE INVENTION OF THE AIRPLANE WE DID NOT KNOW THAT THEY EXISTED, AND NOW SCIENTISTS WONDER HOW THESE ANCIENT PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO VIEW THEIR WORK AS THEY BUILT THESE THINGS. A WATER CANOPY SURROUNDING THE EARTH WITH THE SUN SHINING THROUGH AT THE POLES WOULD AT TIMES COULD HAVE ACTED LIKE A GIANT MIRROR IN THE SKY, ALLOWING THESE PEOPLE TO CARVE THE FIGURES IN THE EARTH, AND VIEW THEIR WORK BY LOOKING ABOVE. THIS WOULD ALSO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF HOW THE FLOOD OCCURRED. THE SCIENTISTS OF TODAY REJECT THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD, BECAUSE IT IS A SCIENTIFIC IMPOSSIBILITY FOR ENOUGH WATER TO EVAPORATE AND REMAIN IN THE SKY UNTIL THERE IS ENOUGH IN THE ATMOSPHERE TO FLOOD THE ENTIRE EARTH ALL AT ONE TIME. THE EXISTENCE OF A WATER CANOPY BEFORE THE FLOOD WOULD EXPLAIN THIS PUZZLE, HOW GOD COULD SEND HUGE AMOUNTS OF WATER ON THE EARTH, ALL AT ONE TIME, FOR FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS, ENOUGH TO COVER THE WHOLE EARTH UNTIL IT DRAINED OFF INTO THE LOWER AREAS, WHICH ARE NOW OCEANS. Genesis 6:11-12 NIV Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. Jasher 2:6 And the Lord caused the waters of the river Gihon to overwhelm them, and he destroyed the third part of the earth: not withstanding this the sons of men did not turn from their evil ways, and their hands were yet extended to do evil in the sight of the Lord. GOD GAVE THE PRE-FLOOD PEOPLE A WARNING BY SENDING A CATASTROPHE UPON THEM AND DESTROYING A THIRD OF THEM. THIS IS THE SAME THING THAT HE WILL DO DURING THE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, DESTROY A THIRD PART OF MANKIND AS A WARNING TO THEM TO REPENT. Genesis 6:13-14 & 17 NIV So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. Genesis 7:4-12 NIV Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. THE FLOODGATES OF THE HEAVENS COULD EASILY REFER TO THE BREAKING UP OF THE WATER CANOPY AND IT BEING PULLED DOWN TO EARTH BY GRAVITY. BEFORE THE FLOOD THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SOME OTHER GRAVITATIONAL FORCE IN EFFECT THAT HELD THE CANOPY IN PLACE. MANY SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THE EARTH OCCASIONALLY COLLIDES WITH ASTEROIDS, THAT COULD RESULT IN KNOCKING IT OFF OF ITS AXIS. THIS COULD HAVE BEEN THE TRIGGER THAT SHOOK THE CANOPY LOOSE FROM ITS ORBIT, CAUSING IT TO BE PULLED DOWN TO THE EARTH. THE APOSTLE PETER, WHO WAS TAUGHT BY CHRIST AND INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, SAYS THAT IT WAS BY THE VERY WATERS OUT OF WHICH THE EARTH WAS FORMED, THAT THE FLOOD WAS CAUSED. HE ALSO SAYS THAT THE NEXT DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH WILL COME, NOT BY WATER, BUT BY FIRE. 2 Peter 3:5-8 NIV But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. THE FOUNTAINS OF THE GREAT DEEP BEING BROKEN UP COULD EASILY REFER TO THE CONTINENTS BREAKING UP AND MOVING APART, CREATING THE LOW AREAS FOR THIS TORRENT OF WATER TO DRAIN INTO. THE EARTH BEING THROWN OFF OF ITS AXIS COULD EASILY HAVE CAUSED THE LAND MASS OF THE EARTH TO BE RIPPED APART FORMING THE CONTINENTS THAT ARE IN EXISTENCE TODAY, AND THE VALLEYS FOR THE OCEANS BETWEEN THEM. Jasher 6:11 And on that day, the Lord caused the whole earth to shake, and the sun was darkened, and the foundations of the world raged, and the whole earth was moved violently, and the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared, and all the fountains in the earth were broken up, such as was not known to the inhabitants before; and God did this mighty act, in order to terrify the sons of men, that there might be no more evil upon the earth. Jasher 6:12-14 And still the sons of men would not return from their evil ways, and they increased the anger of the Lord at that time, and did not even direct their hearts to all this. And at the end of seven days, in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, the waters of the flood were upon the earth. And all the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. WE WILL NOW LOOK AT THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD. Genesis 7:4-24 NIV Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished--birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. WITH THIS HUGE AMOUNT OF WATER COMING DOWN ON THE EARTH DURING A FORTY DAY PERIOD, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE HAVE A LARGE AMOUNT OF RAINFALL IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, AND THE STORM SEWERS BACK UP AND FLOODING BEGINS. IT WOULD TAKE SOME TIME FOR THIS WATER TO DRAIN OFF INTO THE LOWEST AREAS OF THE EARTH. ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, IT TOOK 150 DAYS. IN THE PSALMS IT IS EXPLAINED THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Psalms 104:6 & 8-9 NIV You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. 150 DAYS SEEMS LIKE A FAIR ESTIMATE OF HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE FOR THE WATER FROM THE CANOPY TO DRAIN OFF INTO THE NEWLY FORMED VALLEYS, TO BECOME THE OCEANS, IF IT WERE ALL DUMPED ON THE EARTH IN A FORTY DAY PERIOD. GREAT VALLEYS COULD HAVE BEEN FORMED IN A FEW MONTHS THAT WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE TAKEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO FORM FROM THE NORMAL EROSION OF A FLOWING RIVER. THE GRAND CANYON COULD HAVE BEEN FORMED IN A FEW MONTHS. Genesis 8:1-18 NIV But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. Then God said to Noah, "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you--the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground--so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it." Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. Genesis 9:9-11 NIV "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." THE PRESENCE OF A CANOPY ALSO EXPLAINS THE PROMISE OF GOD TO NOAH, THAT A FLOOD LIKE THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. ANY THING THAT CAN HAPPEN ONCE, CAN HAPPEN AGAIN, UNLESS THE CONDITIONS THAT CAUSED IT ARE CHANGED. IF THE CONDITION OF THE EARTH DURING THE TIME OF THE FLOOD WAS THE SAME AS IT IS TODAY, THEN ANOTHER FLOOD OF THIS MAGNITUDE SHOULD BE SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE. GOD DOES NOT NORMALLY VIOLATE HIS OWN SCIENTIFIC LAWS. MANY THINGS THAT SEEM LIKE MIRACLES TO US, ARE REALLY NOT MIRACLES AT ALL, IN THE SENSE THAT THEY ARE SOME KIND OF HOCUS POCUS MAGIC THAT GOD USES TO MAKE UNBELIEVABLE EVENTS HAPPEN. THEY ARE SIMPLY THE RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND PRINCIPLES THAT WE HAVE NOT YET DISCOVERED. THE EXISTENCE OF A CANOPY AND ITS SUBSEQUENT DESTRUCTION AND BEING DRAWN TO EARTH EXPLAINS WHY GOD COULD PROMISE TO NOAH THAT A FLOOD LIKE THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, BECAUSE THE CONDITIONS THAT ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN WERE CHANGED, AND NOW IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR IT TO HAPPEN WITHOUT OVERRIDING THE LAWS OF NATURE OR REFORMING THE WATER ON EARTH INTO A CANOPY AROUND THE EARTH. Genesis 9:12-16 NIV And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth." Isaiah 54:9 "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. BEFORE THE FLOOD, THERE WAS NO RAINBOW. WITH A WATER CANOPY SURROUNDING THE EARTH THE DIRECT SUNLIGHT REQUIRED TO FORM THE REFRACTIVE DISPERSION OF SUNLIGHT THROUGH DROPS OF WATER, WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. ALSO, WITH MOST OF THE WATER ON EARTH BEING IN ORBIT AROUND THE EARTH, THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MUCH WATER ON THE EARTH TO EVAPORATE AND CAUSE RAIN. FOLLOWING THE FLOOD, THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF MAN BEGAN TO DROP RAPIDLY, UNTIL IT REACHED SEVENTY TO EIGHTY YEARS, RATHER THAN SEVEN HUNDRED TO EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS. GENESIS GIVES US AN ACCOUNT OF THE SWIFT DROP IN THE LIFESPAN OF HUMANS AFTER THE FLOOD. VAIL BELIEVED THIS EFFECT TO BE CAUSED BY THE GRADUAL DEGENERATION OF THE PERFECT FOOD SUPPLY DUE TO THE NEW RAYS FROM THE SUN THAT PLANTS WERE NOW EXPOSED TO. WE HAVE ALREADY REVIEWED THE LIFE-SPAN REDUCTION OF THE PATRIARCHS IN THE CHAPTER ON AGING. IT WOULD BE INTERESTING IF SOME SCIENTIST WOULD INVESTIGATE WHAT THE EFFECTS WOULD BE ON PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE IF THE WATER IN THE OCEANS WERE SURROUNDING THE EARTH AND FILTERING THE SUNLIGHT. THEY MAY FIND A KEY TO WHAT CAUSES US TO AGE SO RAPIDLY TODAY. |