History of Man: Reality part 3

If what we have seen so far is really true, then why did those civilizations advance to such impressive accomplishments so rapidly?

• Some say they used their brains to a greater degree than we do today.  We only use 10% of our potential "brain power" in our whole life.
• They have the advantage of shared knowledge between many generations, and facts are not so easily distorted.
• Today we rely on technology instead of using our brains.  We need written records as reminders.

Then what about the spiritual insight of early man?  Shouldn't we discuss that as well?

Job 19:  ²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

²⁶ “Even after my skin is destroyed,

Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

This is widely recognized as a Messianic passage.  Job understood God's plan.

Jude  ¹⁴ It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Even Enoch prophesyed concerning the Messiah.

I mentioned very early on that Josephus records that Seth and Enoch were credited with being the first to tell the prophetic story of the Messiah from the stars.

Psalms 8:  ³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

 

 Psalms 19:  ¹The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

² Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge.

³ There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their utterances to the end of the world.

Genesis 1:  ¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

Psalms 147:  ⁴ He counts the number of the stars;
He gives names to all of them.

Job 38:  ³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,

Or loose the cords of Orion?

³² “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her satellites?

³³ “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,

Or fix their rule over the earth?

 

It seems clear to me that God created the stars...and that they were used for signs.  They were arranged in constellations by God, and the stars were named by Him.  They speak to us...not just of the fact of their creation by God...but of the message of Messiah. 
It appears that the ancient Hebrew records contain this story...the heavenly story of Messiah...called the Mazzeroth.  The 12 main constellations are like this:

• Virgo…a deliverer supernaturally conceived of a virgin, born as a man, yet the Son of God
• Libra…to balance the scales of divine justice, an adequate price must redeem man from his curse as a sinner
• Scorpio…redemption’s price requires the death of the deliverer, who must also destroy the serpent-tempter
• Sagittarius…the two-natured Deliverer conquers the Dragon and receives praise
• Capricornus…the living fish results from the death if the sacrificial goat and resurrection life is shared with all true believers
• Aquarius…the Water of life poured out on the redeemed who await the sure return of the Redeemer
• Pisces…delayed salvation sets free those in bondage who await their coming King
• Aries…the lamb was slain to deliver the freed woman to marry her Deliverer, overcoming the great dragon
• Taurus…the judge comes to rule as Prince of Glory as fiery wrath pours out on His enemies and His people are protected in the day of wrath
• Gemini…the coming Prince of Glory crushes the enemy underfoot
• Cancer…the gathered flock is secure in the safe harbor and the rest of their Coming Redeemer
• Leo…the triumphant Redeemer destroys the Serpent upon which the wrath of God is poured out and then is devoured by the raven

When you begin with the constellation Virgo, the Virgin, and end the stellar circle with Leo the lion, the panorama really comes into focus.  The bright star in Virgo's left hand is Spica.  Its ancient Hebrew meaning is the branch, but unlike 19 other Hebrew words for branch, this word alone is reserved in scripture for the Messiah.  Jeremiah 23:5-6 calls the Branch the King.  Zechariah reveals him as the Servant in 3:8 and as Man in 6:12, while Isaiah identifies the Branch only with the Lord in 4:2.  Likewise the gospels reveal the Messiah as King (in Matthew) as Servant (in Mark), as Man (in Luke), and as God (in John). 

Associated with Virgo are her three decans: Coma, Centaurus, and Bootes.  These famous constellations depict the desired son, the despised sin-offering, and the coming shepherd.  Following these are ten meaningful groups of constellations before we come to the last one named Leo the Lion.  The tail of the lion touches the head of Virgo.  And what is that kingly Lion doing?  He is victoriously pouncing on the head of the serpent Hydra, whose body stretches across a third of the heavens!  As Revelation 5:5 depicts Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah coming in glory to defeat "that old serpent, the Devil," so we see the precision of the Creator's intent that these stars would be for "signs".  The Hebrew word for Leo refers to a lion hunting down its prey.  In the powerful front legs of Leo is the first-magnitude star Regulus meaning treading underfoot.  The next brightest star is Denebola in the tail and means the Judge who comes.

The previous two paragraphs are from the book Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation by Dennis Petersen. 

If you would like to explore the Mazzeroth further, here are a couple of books I would recommend.
The Gospel in the Stars by Joseph Seiss
The Heavens Declare by William Banks

Just one last topic.  What about the "races" of man?

At the risk of repeating the obvious, there is only ONE race: the human race.

Man has divided himself into races, thinking that some have features in heredity that others lack.  But that is incorrect.  The differences are in degree...
more or less melanin
more or less fat under the skin
more or less transparent skin
wider or narrower nose structure
larger or smaller sinuses
more or less curly hair
etc

In the Bible, man is divided into what we could call people groups, language groups, or tribes.


Only one class left.  Evidences.  I plan to challenge you more than you have ever been challenged.  So get ready!

History of Man: Reality part 2

Job is an interesting book.  But we often look at it and see only what is on the surface...the attack on him by Satan, his friends telling him he must be a mighty sinner to suffer in such a way, Job lamenting what has happened to him, then God coming back in challenge to what has been said.

But there's much to be sifted out of what is said.

First let's look at Job himself.

• In the first chapter, it is said that Job has seven sons and three daughters.  They are grown and have their own households.  So, how old might Job be?  If he was 25-30 when his first child was born and they came two years apart, then he would have been 43-48 when the youngest was born.  Add 25 to that for allowing the children to grow up, establish their own homes and begin the tradition of holding feasts together.  Job was therefore at least 68-73 at the time of these events. 
• In verse 42:16 it says that Job lived 140 years after all was restored to him, and that he saw 4 generations after himself.
• So Job lived over 200 years.  The time when this lifespan was common was the time of Peleg and Reu. 

Next, we see that Job is a man of Uz.  Uz is located somewhere "in the east" (1:3).  It is usually located somewhere between Edom and Midian, which would be somewhere in the NW portion of the Saudi peninsula.  Regardless of its location, however, it seems that the writing of the book is after the dispersion from the tower of Babel.  Whether the events took place before that dispersion, or not, cannot be determined.  Many commentators place him as a contemporary of Abraham or about that time.

Some think that Job is to be identified with Jobab, the youngest son of Joktan, and a leader at the dispersion.  Others would say that he was a descendant of Uz, the son of Aram, the son of Shem. 

Based on the biblical timeline we have established to this point, I believe that the dispersion happened during Job's lifetime and that he did live at least part of his life as a contemporary of Abraham.  He would be placed in the early chapters of Genesis if this is so.

Let's see what we can find in this ancient book...

Job 8:  ⁸ “Please inquire of past generations,

And consider the things searched out by their fathers.

⁹ “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are as a shadow.

¹⁰ “Will they not teach you and tell you,

And bring forth words from their minds?

 

Here, Job's friend Bildad is speaking.  He suggests that Job should talk to people of past generations and find out what their fathers had discovered.  If Job was living at the time of the dispersal from Babel, the only past generations he could inquire of were those of the post-flood time.  At this time, all the generations from Noah on were still alive.  If those past generations were to teach what they knew from their fathers...just who were they?  Were they not the pre-flood generations?  Bildad then comments on the fact that in their own day, man's life is just a shadow of what it was.  People are living a much shorter time.

Think about this.  If you lived before the flood, what could you learn, and what could you accomplish if

• you lived for 900 years, and
• you lived contemporaneously with many generations, and
• you all spoke the same language

With all that was available to man before the flood...

• wouldn't his ingenuity have been at least as great as today?
• wouldn't great development have been inevitable then?

From Genesis 4:17 we know that Cain built a city.  Genesis 10:8-12 tells us of Nimrod's building of Babylon and other "great cities".   Does Job give us any clues as to ancient technology?

Job 6:   ¹² “Is my strength the strength of stones,
Or is my flesh bronze?

Job 19:  ²³ “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ “That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!

Job 20:  ²⁴ “He may flee from the iron weapon,
But the bronze bow will pierce him.

Job 28:  ¹“Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.
² “Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock....
⁶ “Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold....

¹² “But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?...
¹⁵ “Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
¹⁶ “It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
¹⁷ “Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
¹⁸ “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
¹⁹ “The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

These passages from the book of Job give us a hint as to the technology of Job's day.  He is familiar with both bronze and iron used as tools.  Smelting (the process of removing metals from the ore that contained them) was a common practice.  Books were already in use.  Both gold and silver were being refined and used for precious items, as were many different types of precious stones.  On a traditional timeline, the use of iron for tools was not accomplished until the time of David.  Does Job need to be re-dated?  Or do we accept the fact that iron was used earlier than we thought?

Jeremiah gives us another hint of man's technology.

Jeremiah 17:  ¹The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus;
With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart...

But weren't diamond-tipped tools a modern invention?

So, is technology a modern thing?  If man was created a little lower than God, why do we have a warped view of ancient man.  Why couldn't early man have been inventive?  Technical?  Creative?  Productive?  Ingenious?

Genesis 11:  ⁶ The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

Even God recognizes that we can do anything we can set our minds to.

History of Man: Reality part 1

This lesson will be heavily laden with scripture.  We want to see what God tells us about man.

First we see...

Genesis 1  ²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Psalms 8: ⁴ What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

⁶ You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

⁷ All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

 

God created man in His own image.  He was given the dominion and stewardship of everything on the earth.  In fact he was created just a little bit lower than God.  If your translation says that man was created lower than the angels, then it is mis-translated.  The Hebrew word is Elohim.  That is the plural word for God.  It means all of God...the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  It has absolutely nothing to do with angels.

But the traditionally accepted, naturalistic, evolutionary worldview tells us that man began as an ignorant brutish animal and that he progressed through "caveman" to "technologically modern" over millions of years.  The earliest cultures were thought to be "primitive" or "crude".  Objects that early man produced are expected to be "primitive" and "simple".  Religion was created by man, and it developed and evolved along with man.

And the result is that anything (anything at all) that doesn't fit this picture--anything that is ANCIENT AND ADVANCED is automatically labeled a "mystery". 

I'm reminded of the saying:
"Inadequate theories leave unsolved mysteries."

And those "mysteries" are dealt with in one of these three ways:

• Ignore them
• Reject the evidence outright
• Explain them as "alien invasions"

Why do people want to classify ancient cultures as "mysterious"? 

• Because we reject the alternative...that early man could have been advanced.  After all then we would have to change our whole picture of man.
• Because we carry a lot of baggage of distorted teaching about the past.  We're baffled by the evidence...and there's a lot!

There is a name for that evidence.  Any artifacts that are more technologically advanced than the age they appear to be are called OOPArts...Out-of-place artifacts.  Even the name tells us that there is a particular expectation for what should be found where.

Ecclesiastes 1   ⁹ That which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there anything of which one might say,

“See this, it is new”?

Already it has existed for ages

Which were before us.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of earlier things;

And also of the later things which will occur,

There will be for them no remembrance 

Among those who will come later still.

Genesis 11:  ⁶ The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

So God tells us that man really can accomplish anything he sets his mind to...and in reality it is not anything at all that is new.  It all existed before.  What?  Does that fit with your picture of man?

In May 1975, the Reader's Digest published an article titled, "When Did Civilization Begin?"  In it the author says, "The new findings have made a shambles of the tradtional theory of prehistory."  If you read "evolutionary" for "traditional" you would have that about right. 

Philo of Alexandria adds, "By reason of the constant and repeated destructions by water and fire, the later generations did not receive from the former the memory of the order and sequence of events"

Plato quotes Solon as saying, "There have been and there will be again many destructions of mankind," and when civilization is destroyed, "you have to begin all over again as children." 

The Minoan civilization on the island of Crete was advanced in their government, the arts, language, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, sea travel, and architecture...in fact they are described as "remarkably sophisticated".  But they were wiped out by an immense volcanic eruption.

So, if scripture is right about man we should see evidences of ancient technology in the archaeological record.  But that's for next lesson!

Ancient cultures follow a well-defined pattern...

• They appear as an advanced technology and culture
• Their rulers become steeped in tyranny and violence
• Despite their accomplishments, their wickedness causes their downfall.

Remember this: Man's records of his own history go back only 4500-5300 years at the very most, based on a secular timeline.  On a biblical timeline we could only say 4200 years maximum.  This is the case regardless of which culture you might talk about.  Any different dates are based on other dating systems, and you remember how accurate those are!

History of Man: Resolving the Timelines part 5

The importance of Egypt

For the history of civilizations, the timeline of Egypt is crucial.  The Egyptians were prolific in their correspondence with other civilizations.  They also traded widely with other civilizations. 

On top of that, six different historians have recorded the history of the Egyptian kings.  They don't agree with each other, and so the dates have seemed to be uncertain over the years.  Historians have based their histories of Egypt primarily on the kinglist of Manetho (c200 BC).  At first, when Manetho's works were first translated, the beginning of Egyptian civilization was dated about 5000 BC.  It has since been reduced to about 3100 BC.  Historians today recognize that further reductions may be necessary, particularly in the time of the third intermediate period.

But the other kinglists are often ignored.  Both the Turin and Abydos kinglists provide helpful information, but because the lengths of reigns are in disagreement with Manetho, historians have discounted their writings.

This is where I want to share my personal story in exploring history.  You need to understand that I, like many of you, I imagine, disliked history in school.  In fact I hated it.  I saw no need for studying all those dates and events.  Now, you need to understand that when I read about the Peloponnesian wars, or the founding of Rome, or other events like that, I remember that I studied them, but you could not make me remember what I learned for the life of me. 

But when I was homeschooling my children, one of the tools I used to attempt to prevent the idea that history was irrelevant was the Book of the Centuries.  But I couldn't resolve the biblical record with the secular record so we just began ancient civilizations and used the accepted dates, realizing there was a problem with them.  No one had attempted to resolve them...yet.

It wasn't until my children were all out of the house that my study took me to the works of a gentleman in Ontario.  His name is Jim Reilly.  Please read his story here.  He had done one of his master's theses on the time of the 26th and 27th dynasties of Egypt.  But he began with scripture.  And he supported a change in the dynastic arrangement of these two dynasties.  For a "blurb" about this event please read the short page here. 

Edited to add:
Read the following scriptures for some of the prophecy concerning Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Egypt.

Jeremiah 43:8-13,  44:29-30,  46:25-26
   Jeremiah mostly addressed the Jews who had moved to Tahpenes in Egypt following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Ezekiel 30:4-8,  32:3-6,  30:10-11, 13,  29:10-12
   Ezekiel is addressing Egypt itself.

You'll see that with the changes proposed in these two dynasties, the rest of Egyptian history must also be moved to later dates along with the 26th dynasty.  Over the remaining 3 books in his series, he moves the history of Egypt to later dates all the way back to the Old Kingdom of Egypt.  While he did not set out to match the Egyptian timeline to a biblical one, he has successfully achieved that.

And the adjustment of Egyptian chronology has meant that the synchronisms (or correspondences) between Egypt and other civilizations have caused adjustments in those civilizations as well.  And those adjustments did not cause problems, they solved them. 

I continue to study this area...particularly the synchronisms with other cultures...in order to properly date those other cultures.

The "4.2 kiloyear event"

This is a strange time.  In the last 30 years, it has become evident that about 4200 years ago, a climate change began on earth that caused a collapse or near-collapse of almost every civilization in existence at that time.  It began with the end of a Holocene (recent geological time) wet phase...meaning a time of high moisture for a long time...at about 2350 BC on a secular timeline.  Beginning about 2200 BC and for the next 300 years, ending about 1900 BC, there were massive drought conditions.  The evidence shows massive dust and sand storms, the desertification of huge areas of land, and the resulting collapse of the civilizations in those areas.  At the end of this time, there seemed to be a major "chill" that further affected the survival of any civilization, because agriculture was severely affected.

This has become a major area of study for historians, archaeologists, climatologists, and the like, even leading to major world meetings concerning the topic.

Looking at what we have studied before, this event matches the description of the deglaciation period of the ice age perfectly.  But a secular scientist cannot accept that because his deglaciation lasted 6000 years and there was a 9000 year difference in the times on the timeline.

Now the dates being tossed about...2200-1900 BC...are based on the secular timeline.  They are tied to the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the end of the Akkadian Empire, the abandonment of the Harappan civilization, and others.  Those dates will be adjusted to match these events.

Civilizations inundated under the oceans

We'll look at these in more detail later, but in the areas where the earlier civilizations are located, there are also remains of their civilizations under water off the coasts.  None of those remains are any deeper than about 250 feet, in other words, they are on the continental shelf, but they look as if they are a continuation of the civilization on the land.  In every instance the inundation is dated at about 2000 BC. 

Notice the fact that this is the same time as the event we just discussed.  And we said that that event matches the deglaciation period of the ice age.  Well, so does a sea level rise.

Hmm.  Do you see a pattern here?  It appears that these events definitiely match a biblical timeline. 

But they don't match a secular timeline.  Secular historians admit that the sea level rose at the end of the ice age.  But that is 12,000 years ago.  To them this inundation CAN'T be the result of the end of the ice age because there is 8000 years between the two events.  It just isn't possible.  They have to find some other explanation for the massive rise in sea level in 2000 BC. 

Further study

I intend to continue this study.  Some areas that are in line for this are:

• The bronze age collapse
• Eruptions of super-volcanoes
• Dating climate events in scripture

Stay tuned.  Each time I teach this class, I share new information. 

History of Man: Resolving the Timelines part 4

We were looking at the timelines for man's history in part 2 and now it's time to continue with them.  Let's continue the secular story of man.

This timeline begins with the end of the flood and the beginning of the ice age.  To a secular scientist that means from about 2.5 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago.  This is the start of the Paleolithic ... the Old Stone Age.  Homo sapiens hasn't come about yet, but the closest ancestors of man are present and are using crude stone tools.  Homo sapiens, or archaic humans, appeared about 500,000 years ago and modern man, or Homo sapiens sapiens dates from about 200,000 years ago.  During this time the skills in making stone tools develop.

This timeline begins at the end of the ice age and takes us to modern day man.  At the end of the ice age, about 12,000 years ago, modern man is the only remaining Homo species left.  Man still uses stone tools but his skills are advancing.  He begins to develop agricultural skills and makes pottery.

About 4000 years ago he discovers how to work copper and after 1000 years, learns how to alloy that with tin to make bronze.  By this time he lives in villages and cities and is pretty much settled.  The first major civilizations appear about 3200-3000 BC.   It is only about 1000 BC when he discovers how to work iron.

Needless to say, this story of man and the biblical story of man don't agree.  We saw that cities were something that were an early development, with Cain being the first to build a city.  We also have a shorter time line in general.  This timeline requires a very slow development of man's skills and learning.  And that doesn't agree with scripture.

So how are we going to reconcile this picture with what we read in the Bible?  This period of time is more difficult... not because the evidence is scanty, but because it is more readily available.  The problem comes because events are not in the same order in the two timelines.  Let's see if I can give you a visual for what I mean.

Here's the two timelines.  (The secular one on top is not to scale, by the way.)  Both begin with the beginning of the ice age and end in 1000 BC.  This is roughly the time of David and is a time when the two timelines agree, at least to within a few years.

First, notice the ice age.  The secular timeline on top has the ice age beginning 2.5 million years ago and ending 12,000 years ago.  The ice age peak is marked...it's about 18,000 years ago, by the way.  The biblical timeline is similar but has different dating.  It began about 2519 BC and ended about 900 years later.  The peak was at about 1800 BC. 

At the peak of ice volume during the ice age the sea levels would be at their lowest.  At the end of the ice age, the sea level would have risen to its current levels.  Both events are marked on both timelines.

The biblical timeline is marked with the Tower of Babel and the subsequent beginnings of civilizations.   The secular timeline is also marked with the beginnings of civilizations.

Here is where you see the major difference.  Notice that civilizations begin nearly 9000 years after the end of the ice age in the secular timeline, while the biblical timeline has civilization beginning during the ice age. 

Even with no additional evidence being presented, these two timelines give a totally different picture of the history of man.  At this point we can ask the following questions (Do you remember the questions we asked when evaluating the accuracy of a model...way back when we were talking about the flood?  Those same questions can be asked here as well.)

• Does the biblical timeline explain the evidence better than the secular timeline?
• Does the biblical timeline require less assumptions to support its validity?
• Does the biblical timeline allow us to make predictions as to what we would find in future evidences?  Have there been any accurate predictions made in the past?

We will now begin to look at evidences.  First it will be evidences that the timeframe for the beginnings of civilizations needs to be changed.  Then we will begin to explore the evidence that man has left behind.  Prepare to have your paradigm for man's history challenged!

History of Man: Resolving the Timelines part 3

In the history of man according to secular scientists, man has developed from primitive man to more advanced man.  When he discovered that he could use stone and make tools to make his work easier, that was the beginning of the stone age.  He used stone for a long time, always refining his skills through experimentation.  Then sometime, somehow, he learned that it was possible to make better tools out of metal.  For a time he continued using stone but experimented with copper, later learning how to blend that copper with tin to make bronze.  Still later he learned about iron and the superiority of that metal for his tools.  We still use iron and its alloys today.

To me this all seems a bit fantastic...kind of like evolution is fantastic.  A fairy tale. 

How did man "discover" all of this?  Metal fabrication is a complex process requiring the high temperatures of smelting furnaces, not the simple campfire.  And the different metals required in making alloys are rarely found together or even near to each other.  Those deposits are scattered in different locations.

Regardless of the fantasy of "discovery"... here is the scheme for the Ages of Man:

THE AGES OF MAN

Archaeologists divide the history of human occupation into three main ages…the stone age, the bronze age, and the iron age.  These are based on the types of tools used by the various peoples involved.  Please realize that these divisions are only a convenience that serves as a diagnosis of date.  Even then, the dates vary in different parts of the world.  Other factors figure in to the growth of human civilizations…including:

• Social organization
• Food sources
• Adaptation to climate
• Agriculture
• Cooking
• Settlement
• Religion

Any arrangement of human society in an archaeological chronology reflects the difficulty of manufacture of the tools and weapons used by that society.

Stone Age

• This is the period of time when stone was widely used to make implements with a sharp edge, a point, or a striking surface.
• The earliest stone tools were found in rock layers that are dated to just before the ice age begins. 
• During the stone age, man supposedly developed agriculture and began to settle in villages and later in cities.
• Also during the stone age, man supposedly developed the production of pottery.
• The stone age ends in any location when a culture develops the use of metals for tools
• Some societies are still stone age today
• Unfortunately, this designation allows for the implication that stone age people were some earlier stage of human development.

Bronze Age

• This is the period in man’s supposed technological advancement when he has learned to work with copper and to alloy copper with tin to make bronze to make weapons and tools.
• The date that different civilizations developed this technology varies with location, and some areas of the world appear to have skipped the use of bronze altogether and went straight from stone to iron.
• It appears that the Bronze age ended in a major collapse of civilizations world-wide.

Iron Age

• This is the period of time when iron was used to make tools and weapons.
• We are in this age today.

The idea for these ages are ultimately derived from the Ages of Man , the stages of human existence on the earth according to Greek mythology.  See this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man

What is interesting about the different ages is that there seems to be a remnant of the biblical story of man in this tale. 

 

History of Man: Resolving the Timelines part 2

We are going to take a look right now at a secular "history of everything" timeline and begin this reconciliation of timelines.

This first timeline shows us the beginnings of the universe at 13.7 billion years ago and the shaded portion is all of the events that take place up to the beginning of the earth at 4.5 billion years ago.  During this time all of the stars and galaxies come into existence.

The secular scientist bases his dating of this period on:

• the date the earth begins
• astronomy and astrophysics
• microwave background radiation
• temperature of the coolest white dwarf star
• red shift
• expansion of the universe

In a biblical understanding of beginnings, these events would have taken place on day 4 of creation week.

Genesis 1  ¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

This second timeline shows the time from the beginnings of the earth to the beginnings of life.

The secular scientist bases his timeline on:

• uniformitarian principles of geology
• radiometric dating of crystals found deep in the earth
• dating of meteorites
• dating of moon rocks

This is days 1-3 of creation week on a biblical timeline.

Genesis 1  ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸ God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good…. ¹³ There was evening and there was morning, a third day.


The remainder of the week of creation, from the remainder of day 3 through day 6 tells of the origin of every form of life on earth.

And the first few chapters of Genesis tell us of the first 1656 years of life on earth.  Man multiplied...man built cities...man developed technology...man became evil...and God determined to destroy the earth and all of its life as man knew it, preserving only a few individuals to begin again. 

And so we come to the next timeline of history...

This timeline starts with the beginnings of life and goes to the beginning of the ice age and the early so-called ancestors of man. 

The secular scientist bases this timeline on

• uniformitarian principles of geology
• radiometric dating
• fossil record

Unfortunately for them, dating rocks by the fossils and fossils by the rock layers is circular reasoning, and is totally invalid.

This is not slow processes and evolution we see in this timeline, but the record of the destruction of all of pre-flood life.  The fossils in this record begin with those that would be buried first in the flood...the sea-bottom dwellers...and ends with those who had the greatest ability to escape the rising flood waters (at least for a time).  These are flood deposits.  Any records of pre-flood civilizations would be found in these layers of rock, like we find the animals who lived in the pre-flood times, or would be found "undisturbed" in pre-cambrian layers.

To really get an understanding of the tremendous amount of destruction we are dealing with in the flood, go back to the posts on the flood and re-read them, particularly going to the link for the hydroplate theory of the flood.

To be continued in the next post.