Restored Israel

admin July 23rd, 2010

Plate Tectonics

The first section provided for many questions. This second section will hopefully supply many more answers. Reinterpreting geologic evidence on a scriptural framework is not meant to help people gain a testimony. It is however, hopeful that understanding how much really has been revealed by science, which supports the scriptures, will help strengthen testimonies. Science has done so much wonderful work. The correlation of the scientific evidence actually becomes quite obvious once the scriptures are taken as an unbending intellectual foundation.

As we saw earlier, a strict Uniformitarian view of the earth is not a sure foundation to build on. Uniformitarianism is closely tied to another major theory in geology: Plate Tectonics. Wicander and Monroe explain the theory of Plate Tectonics as follows:

Plate tectonic theory is based on a simple model of Earth. The rigid lithosphere, consisting of both oceanic and continental crust, as well as the underlying upper mantle, consists of numerous variable-sized pieces called plates… The plates vary in thickness; those composed of upper mantle and continental crust are as much as 250 km thick, whereas those of upper mantle and oceanic crust are up to 100 km thick.
The lithosphere overlies the hotter and weaker semiplastic asthenosphere… As plates move over the asthenosphere, they separate, mostly at oceanic ridges; in other areas such as at oceanic trenches, they collide and are subducted back into the mantle.
Most geologists accept plate tectonic theory, in part, because the evidence for it is overwhelming and because it is a unifying theory that accounts for a variety of apparently unrelated geologic features and events. Consequently, geologists now view many geologic processes, such as mountain building, seismicity, and volcanism, from the perspective of plate tectonics. (140)

As explained, almost every geologist because of the huge amounts of evidence that support accepts this theory. There is no reason from the scriptures to challenge this theory. The challenge comes in an area that is still under debate by geologists: the driving mechanism of Plate Tectonics.

The most wildly accepted theory explaining the forces driving the plates deals with convection currents under the plates. These currents, much like those found in a boiling pot of water, cause movement on the surface-where the plates are (because scientists realize these forces are too small to account for what they can observe, they also have developed the Slab-pull and Ridge-push theories which work in addition to the convection currents. See Hamblin 488-492; Wicander 150-154). These forces, which are only powerful enough to move the plates a few inches a year, fit well with a Uniformitarian view of a 4.6 billion years old earth. They do not however work well as a driving mechanism if we believe in a 6,000 year old earth. The mountains that have been built and the subductions that have happened since animals began dieing are to great to be powered by such small forces.

There is evidence for another force, much more powerful, that could power the movements of plates at speeds required by scripture: a major pole/axial shift. First, there are many scriptures that support this view.

D&C 88:87–92
For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig-tree.

D&C 45:48–49
And then shall the Lord set his foot upon this mount, and it shall cleave in twain, and the earth shall tremble, and reel to and fro, and the heavens also shall shake.

D&C 84:118–119
For, with you saith the Lord Almighty, I will rend their kingdoms; I will not only shake the earth, but the starry heavens shall tremble.

Isa. 13:13–14
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And it [the earth] shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up…

D&C 121:12
And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them also and take them in their own craftiness

Isa. 38:7–8 (cf. 2 Kngs 20:10)
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

Joshua 10:12–13
Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

In addition to the ample scriptural evidence for a rapid pole shift, there is also a great amount of scientific evidence for these pole shifts.

Currently, the ice caps are centered over the North Pole (as shown here, here and here). But proglacial lakes, marking the ancient ice cap boundary show that the North Pole was in a very different place. This diagram shows the “Successive positions of the ice front… Contours indicate the position and age of the ice front” (Hamblin 383). Ice caps are the thickest, and receive the most snowfall, near the edges. This cross section shows how lakes form at the edges of glaciers because of the greater depression and erosion that occurs here (Hamblin 389). This diagram (on the left) shows the “Drainage of central North America before the ice age was northeastward, from the northern and central Rocky Mountains, into the St. Lawrence Bay, Hudson Bay, and the Arctic area.” And “Present drainage patterns show major modifications. Preglacial drainage was impounded against the glacial margins and developed new outlets to the ocean through the Missouri, Ohio, and Mackenzie rivers” (Hamblin 390), all indicating that glaciers were not centered over the current North Pole.

Evidence shows that in the past though, the glaciers were centered over Greenland (as shown here and here). It even appears from the evidence that the ice age was nothing more than a different axis of rotation, which has since shifted. Moreover, the evidence shows that when the pole was over Greenland, the continents were still much closer together.

Studies done off the coast of Greenland show very rapid (“Geologically dated”) climate shifts that would also support a rapid pole sift, as do palemagnetic studies (see here and here).

Climate Data gathered and dated in various ways show that “geologically speaking,” the climate has rapidly changed several times-once again providing evidence for a rapid pole shift (see here, here and here).

Several scientists have seen that the evidence for a rapid pole shift is overwhelming. For example, Richard A. Kerr wrote an article titled Did the Dinosaurs Live On a Topsy-Turvy Earth? that was published in Science magazine in January 2000. In the same issue of Science, William W. Sager and Anthony A. P. Koppers published an article titled Late Cretaceous Polar Wander of the Pacific Plate: Evidence of a Rapid True Polar Wander Event where they presented further evidence for the theory of a pole shift. Ivan T. Sanderson wrote about mammoths that were found suddenly frozen in Siberia. He even addresses the question of whether this could have been caused by a rapid pole shift, but he discounts it saying the force would cause the earth to be torn to pieces–a driving mechanism of plate movement-but offers no plausible alternative explanation (Readers Digest, April 1960, 123).

Einstein, a scientist almost universally respected for his knowledge and understanding, wrote a forward to Charles H. Hapgood’s book Earth’s Shifting Crust in supports a rapid pole shift as a driving mechanism of plate movement.

Another of Hapgood’s books, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, is a collection of ancient maps. One map shows Australia and Antarctica, and they are still connected. Australia wasn’t discovered until 1606 and Antarctica till 1820 (Antarctica’s coastline was not explored until the 1840′s). According to Hapgood, the map, called The Oronteus Finaeus World Map, was made in 1532, yet contemporary science tells us that Australia and Antarctica separated millions of years ago. So who made this map, and when does it date to?

As described above, current popular theories for Plate Tectonics center on convection cells. These theories though, fail to explain things in a three-dimensional view. In two-dimensional the pot of boiling water analogy makes since, yet from a top view a pot of boiling water looks much more like ripples in water than a single division line. Scientists, recognizing this problem, often show the continents radiating out in a circular pattern, yet this does not explain what we currently see. There are no mountain chains that radiate out circular patterns like ripples–instead a young mountains reach pole to pole while older mountains (minus the Himalayas) reach what appears to be pole to pole before a pole change.

Geologists use hotspot volcanoes to track plate movement. Yet for some unexplained reason, the Pacific plate changed its course by 60 degrees. Richard A. Kerr points out that to science this is currently “The great mystery” (Kerr 108). While this may be a mystery if we believe that convection currents are moving plates, this is perfectly acceptable when we understand the rapid pole shifts and their effects.

Geologic Correlations

In our quest for more scientific correlations with the scriptures, we should consider what events spoken of in scripture should show up in the scientific record. Eight events in scripture seem to lend themselves to scientific investigation more so than others. This include:

1. Fall of Adam
2. Noah’s Flood
3. Earth’s Division in the Days of Peleg
4. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
5. Moses’ Plagues in Egypt
6. Joshua Holding the Sun Still
7. Isaiah Making the Sun Retrogress Eleven Degrees
8. The Signs at Christ’s Birth and Death
9. The Signs Which Will Proceed Christ’s Second Coming

Of these eight, four are especially critical, because they would show up specifically the geologic record. These for are commonly known as “The Big Four.”

1. Fall of Adam
2. Noah’s Flood
3. Earth’s Division in the Days of Peleg
4. The Signs at Christ’s Birth and Death

Each of these correlates perfectly with a geologic event, minus one thing: the dating scale (which problem we already addressed).

The Fall of Adam did several things unique in the history of the earth. It brought death and reproduction to the earth (see ARE “SCIENTIFIC” AND SCRIPTURAL HISTORY COMPATIBLE? for scriptural support). Wicander and Monroe explain the Cambrian explosion saying, “At the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, animals with skeletons appeared rather abruptly in the fossil record. In fact, their appearance is described as an explosive development of new types of animals.” They continue saying that “the mechanism [which] triggered this event is still unknown” and they conclude that “Whatever the ultimate cause of the Cambrian explosion was, the appearance of the skeletonized fauna and the rapid diversification of the fauna during the Early Cambrian was a major even in Earth’s history (300-301). Every major detail of this event seems to correspond with what we would expect to find in the fossil record in relation to the Fall of Adam. It seems beyond dispute that the Fall of Adam and the Cambrian explosion are the same event.

Hundreds of years later we come to the next big geologic event mentioned in scripture: Noah’s Flood. This flood covered the entire earth and killed the majority of life on it. It should therefore be easy to spot in the geologic record. The Permian mass extinction fits perfectly with what we’d expect to find (again minus the time scale). This event has several characteristics that support this theory. Apparently, the extinction was very sudden. Evidence shows that over 90% of all phyla died within a few vertical feet of geologic sediment (including insects–this was the only mass extinction to effect insects). The marine animals and food chains that have to stay in shallow water (like corals that require sunlight) were nearly all wiped out. There was a huge influx of organic carbon-12 into the oceans evidencing massive plant destruction on land. Throughout the period leading up to the extinction, sea level slowly fell only to rush back onto the continents in the fastest marine transgression ever. There was major climatic changes all across the globe. Sediments show a fungi spike, suggesting massive amounts of dead vegetation being dumped into coastal areas. The largest continental flood basalts ever spewed from crustal fissures in Siberia. The bottom sediments on continental shelves become suddenly anoxic, again suggesting massive raise in sea level (Sherman 64-69).

The next of the Big Four came a relatively short time later: The Earth’s Division in the Days of Peleg. The separation of Pangea is known to have happened after the Permian extinction. By mapping plates, dating rocks, and tracking hot spot islands scientists can trace the path of the continents fairly accurately. They also know that it happened in phases.

The final event of the Big Four should be characterized by massive mountain building events (orogenies), especially in the Americas. It would likely be the most recent mountain building event. Again, we find a perfect correlation, this time with the Cenozoic Orogenies. These mountain building events caused massive changes to the Alpine-Himalayan mountain chain. It involved uplift in the Wasatch Mountains, the Tetons, and the Andes. There was also large volcanic activity (Wicander 415-419).

When presented with these correlations, many people naturally question about dinosaurs. If these events during which dinosaurs were alive happened while men were alive, how do they fit in? A quick examination of the scriptures (and other historical sources) will show a vast amount of cultural memory of these animals, although the name dinosaur had not yet been invented (see Job 40:15–23; Job 41:1–33; Psalms 74:13–14; Jeremiah. 51:34; 2 Samuel 21:16–22; and others including the story of Jonah, and the numerous references to dragons). Dinosaurs have been highly popularized and romanticized in our culture. As part of this popularization, many false conceptions have been taught about these animals. Because of these false conceptions many people see the dinosaurs as belonging to a totally different world. They imagine that they were so different that they must have been part of a former creation or entirely different scheme of things. The dinosaurs and their world are portrayed as being so different that it seems impossible that they may have existed in the age of man. In order to get past some of these misconceptions one must learn that: dinosaurs were not nearly as big as Hollywood makes them out to be. (i.e. T-rex could not step on a Ford Explorer, he was actually only about as big as a Truck other than his tail. Giraffes are taller than any T-rex. Even Diplodocus, the longest terrestrial dinosaur to exist, was only about the size of an elephant if you take away his long skinny neck and tail). Although things on average were much larger during dinosaur days, the largest animal ever to exist is still alive today (the great blue whale). Many plant and animal families that lived during dinosaur days are still alive today such as the alligator/crocodile, the sea turtle, the opossum, and virtually EVERY single marine family known today. Animals during the Mesozoic era were generally 1/3-2x as large then as they are now (i.e. alligators grew to be about 40ft in length. Many reasons have been set forth as to possible reasons why like this article). The dinosaurs that have been popularized by the media are exceptionally large for their kinds. Dinosaurs only ruled the earth for a very short time-from the Flood to Abraham or about 344 years. They multiplied so rapidly because they had little competition and prolific reproduction rates. In reality there were not very many species of dinosaurs.

Summary

The evidence presented is summed up in a table that makes it all very easy to see (click here for HTML, here for GIF, and here for PDF). When we return to the scriptures, it seems very apparent that God has “set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings” ( D&C 121:12). In other words, God has set His hand to periodically change the earth’s axis and solar orbit, which has blinded the faithless of our day to the scientific evidence for the scriptures, by upsetting Uniformitarianism and skewing scientific dating results (see D&C 88:42–44, 58, Abraham. 3:4 to see that the “times and seasons” refer to the planets axial tilt, rotation and orbit). God has disrupted the laws of uniformity upon which current radiometric dating methods are founded, through global catastrophes, which have periodically caused the earth to “reel to and fro as a drunken man,” (see D&C 88:87, 45:48, 84:118-119, Isaiah 2:19, 24:20, Hebrews 12:25–26). When we return to faith in the scriptures, the correlations become very apparent.

Perhaps even more intriguing is to see the correlations graphed. The exponential growth shown makes it quite apparent that half-lifes of the radioactive materials that are used are erroneous.

To endure in the last days everyone will need a testimony built on a sure foundation. We cannot believe the scriptures on Sundays and something else while at school. We must end the compartmentalization. If the earth is millions of years old, then evolution is true. Either the increasing complexity phenomena is a representation of reproduction rates or it is a representation of evolution. Either Adam’s Fall brought death to the world or the scriptures are erroneous. Either Noah’s Flood killed “all that was on dry land” or the scriptures are erroneous. Either “the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion will be turned back into their own place” and “become like they were before they were divided” or the scriptures are mistaken.

God prophesied to Moses that in the last days man would disbelieve his writings that speak of the Creation and Fall of Man (Genesis).

And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my words. For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest; and thou shalt write the things which I shall speak. And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men–among as many as shall believe. (These words were spoken unto Moses in the mount, the name of which shall not be known among the children of men. And now they are spoken unto you. Show them not unto any except them that believe. Even so. Amen.) (Moses 1:38–42 emphasis added)

Peter prophesied that in the last days man would disbelieve the scriptures and instead believe in a type of Uniformitarianism.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:1–10 emphasis added)

Moroni told the Gentiles that when they rend the veil of unbelief that blinds them, they would understand the Book of Revelation.

Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you–yea… And then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. Remember, when ye see these things, ye shall know that the time is at hand that they shall be made manifest in very deed. (Ether 4:13,15–16 emphasis added)

Few people understand the Book of Revelation, because they don’t understand the past history of the earth. They don’t believe that any catastrophic destruction in scripture is literal, and they don’t understand how the destructions at the Second Coming are part of the “great restoration of all things.”

God prophesied to Nephi that eventually the Gentiles would deny Him because they “hearken unto the precepts of men” instead of the scriptures.

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts. (2 Nephi 28:30–32 emphasis added)

Joseph Fielding Smith suggested that Paul prophesied of the Gentiles abandonment of Christ in favor of evolution and naturalism.

My dear friends, cannot you see how utterly foolish it all is? Why is it that thousands of intelligent looking human beings are willing to accept these stupid teachings? Frankly it is because Satan has deceived them and they love darkness rather than the light. Surely the day has come prophesied by Paul and written in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians:
“And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 1st Thes. 2:8–12. (Man, His Origin and Destiny, p.136 emphasis added)

God has also delivered to us many things that we cannot understand because we desired that He do so. Much like the Jews, it is because of eschatological “scientific evidences” which we do not understand that the Gentile nations have also rejected Christ and His scriptures as our cultural foundation.

Wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word… Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old. But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble. And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation. (Jacob 4:8–15 emphasis added)

As times wind down it will all boil down to believing the scriptures or believing naturalistic Darwinism and Uniformitarianism.

And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ. Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation-behold, when the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of God-then will ye say that there is no God? Then will ye longer deny the Christ… And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God… Behold I say unto you he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them… But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles…and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. Behold he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ (Mormon 9:1–3, 7–12 emphasis added)

And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people. And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. (D&C 88:88–92 emphasis added)

The voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated. And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith… And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets–The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh… That faith also might increase in the earth; That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers. (D&C 1:17–19 emphasis added)

Then shall the arm of the Lord fall upon the nations. And then shall the Lord set his foot upon this mount, and it shall cleave in twain, and the earth shall tremble, and reel to and fro, and the heavens also shall shake. And the Lord shall utter his voice, and all the ends of the earth shall hear it; and the nations of the earth shall mourn, and they that have laughed shall see their folly. And calamity shall cover the mocker, and the scorner shall be consumed; and they that have watched for iniquity shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. (D&C 45:47–50 emphasis added)

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