Ice Age

Introduction:

Most secular geologists agree that the Ice Age took place about 2.5 million years ago, as Earth’s temperatures slowly declined and glacial ice caps began to accumulate at the poles. On the contrary, many Christians believe that the Bible is very clear; the Earth is only about 6000 years old. Unfortunately, there is no space within this Biblical timeline for giant glaciers to accumulate the way many geologists and climatologists say they did. Accumulating at the rate they appear to today, deep time seems inevitable.

Evidence:

            There is ample evidence that an ice age took place. Giant deposits of rocks, boulders, and other debris are left piled up where the glacier that had entrapped them melted away. Solid granite bears the scars of these massive chunks of rock and ice ground overtop of its surface. Whole communities of giant mammals left their fossils in caves and tar pits across the continents. Some have even been found entrapped within the hardened layers of permafrost in the Russian tundra. The evidence for an Ice Age is so abundant that no one with a degree in the natural sciences denies that it took place. However, the presumption of long eons of time, a belief necessary to remain in step with the prevalent Neo-Darwinian thinking of the day, does not always suit the evidence. For example, no theories with significant evidence have emerged to suggest what might cause 30% of the continents to freeze.

            Interestingly, there is a viable mechanism for the Ice Age, but it is not found in popular scientific literature. Rather, the Bible seems to have the answer. In Genesis chapter 7 describes a catastrophic flood that covered the entire globe with water. It describes water gushing from the core of the Earth, an indication that there was severe geologic activity. With so much water vapor and ash from these super-geysers and volcanoes trapped in the atmosphere, the sun’s rays would not be able to have the affect on the world’s climate that it once had. As Earth began to cool, the water began to condense and fall as snow. With a mechanism like the global flood, the cores of ice found in glaciers could have been at maximum extent within 500 years after the flood. It would seem that the evidence is better in favor of a younger Earth than commonly believed.

            The Bible does not specifically mention an Ice Age, but that is understandable since most Biblical events take place far below the reach of glacial influence. However, the book of Job was written about 500 years after the flood, when the Ice age was likely reaching its climax. Snow is remarkably rare in the Middle East today, but God speaks to Job about snow and ice in chapter 38, verses 29 and 30, as if that righteous man were very acquainted with such weather. It is not too unlikely that Job was familiar with snowy days in winter.

Conclusion:

The Bible claims to be the words of the Creator. Jesus himself, the namesake of the Christian faith, recited from ancient Biblical passages as if they were reliable facts. If the Ice Age really did take place millions of years ago, it would undermine the claims that Jesus and the Bible make about Scripture’s reliability. The Ice Age, however, is no reason to doubt the Bible. While those who hold to unbiblically long ages sweat over hypotheses to explain Ice Age mechanisms, those with a Bible-based timeline can rest easy that the words of God provide an obvious answer. Perhaps the book of Job, written about 500 years after the Flood, was referring to the Ice Age in chapter 38, verses 29 and 30.

Reference:

Oard, M. 2006. “Where does the ice age fit?”. In: Ham, K. ed. The New Answers Book, pp. 207-219. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, pp. 207-219.