The Biblical View of Pangea

The Biblical View of PangeaDoes the Bible support the view of a “Pangea” single-continent at some time in history?

An accepted theory in today’s scientific community is that, at one time in earth’s history, all of the continents formed one super continent. Alfred Wegener, a German geophysicist, theorized in 1912 that the earth’s continents could fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and that they are currently drifting apart at very slow rate. He concluded that there were significant similarities in the geological features of the continents on either side of the Atlantic Ocean; specifically in plant fossils. This theory is called continental drift, which was not accepted until the 1950s, after magnetic patterns were discovered in certain rocks that matched from continent to continent. As these patterns were being discovered, it was determined that the earth’s surface was covered with plates that were moving away from each other, producing another theory called “plate tectonics.” The movement of these plates is accurately recorded, since they produce deadly earthquakes and explosive volcanoes as the plates smash against each other and separate on the sea floor.

It is interesting to note that scripture seems to agree, as it says in Genesis 1 that on the third day of creation, “Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:9-10)

Does this actually mean one super continent? The late Dr. Henry Morris, who is considered the father of the modern day creation movement and is both a trained hydrologist and a Bible scholar, has a different view. He states, “Although in one ‘place’ the waters assembled in numerous distinct basins, all were connected by channels.” Morris believed that the dry ground appeared with a great deal of continental movement, forcing the water into large basins so that there would be land masses separated from the water. He theorized that this required a great deal of energy that could only be energized by God Himself, when He said “Let the dry ground appear.” Morris emphasized that the oceans and land masses that we observe today do not look now how they did on the third day of creation. Most creation scientists believe the worldwide flood caused tremendous tectonic forces that changed the shape of the continents and the sea basins into what we observe today.

As God directly speaks to Job in Job 38:4, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” There are many theories of how the earth was formed with continents and ocean basins, but no one witnessed the building the foundation of the earth except for God Himself.

As biblical creationists observe all of the geological data gathered in the last 100 years, they concur that the worldwide flood, as recorded in Genesis 6-9, gives an excellent model for us to follow. It creates a mechanism for the plates to move apart, and gives the necessary energy to make geological formations such as the massive mountains and deep ocean trenches we observe today. Evolutionary theorists believe in extremely slow changes taking place in the time frame of millions and millions of years. For example, they look at the present rate of continental drift and suggest that the continents comprised a single land mass about 250 million years ago. They ignore the Flood Model, which by nature is catastrophic, speeding up the time frame into thousands, and not millions, of years. Young earth creationists believe that, during the 370 days of the universal flood, the continents moved to their current positions, rock layers were built up which gave us today’s fossil record (formed primarily from marine creatures), and the remarkable mountain chains that exist today were created. The geology that we observe today points to a catastrophic event in history of the earth that corresponds to the biblical account of Noah’s flood.

In the evolutionary model, there is an obvious problem that is often ignored when it comes to how the super-continent could separate. This large continent has to be spilt and moved. Presently, there is no explanation as to how this could be accomplished. We need to remember that the plates are not flat plates, but have bulging roots which anchor them in place. Another recent observation is that not all of the continents are moving as fast as predicted, and that some are even moving in the wrong direction! Is it possible that the movements we observe presently are leftover movements from the worldwide flood?
The Bible gives us the foundation to understand God’s creation. When we take God and His Word out of the equation, we follow our own paths which lead to foolishness and destruction. Only when God’s Word is incorporated into all areas of our lives do we find the truth, even about complicated issues such as creation and how this world functions on a daily basis.
Tom DeRosa is the Executive Director and Founder of Creation Studies Institute, a national creation ministry whose mission is to reach the church community with the truths of Creation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is an author, teacher, and sought out speaker with a passion to equip other believers with the tools needed to refute the lies of evolution.

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