Oil is formed as plants and algae decay and sink deeper and deeper under layers of sediment where the heat and pressure eventually allow the materials to break down and form oil and other hydrocarbon materials. The enormous amount of these substances in Alaska is interesting because it suggests that at one time Alaska was covered with deep dense jungle, a picture quite different from the typical ‘wish you were here’ post card one might imagine coming from Alaska these days. Most people tend to think of Alaska in terms of glaciers, igloos, and arctic ice and snow.

 

   The next logical question, since this is a website about the Bible and Christianity, is what in the world Alaska’s oil has to do with the Bible? Well, I’m glad you asked! The Bible gives some very interesting information which could explain not only Why there is oil in Alaska but also other perplexing questions such as, Why people lived such incredibly long lives as recorded in the book of Genesis.

 

   The Bible begins with the Book of Genesis or ‘Beginnings’ and the very first page of the Bible we find the story of creation. In chapter 1 verses 7 and 8, we find this, “God made a firmament (expanse) to separate the waters above the expanse from the waters below, and it was so. He called the expanse heavens. There was evening; there was morning, the second day.

 

   The picture is of the earth with waters covering it below. Verse 5 had already described the fact that there was dry land sticking up out of the waters covering the earth. The next thing is that there was also a layer of water ABOVE the earth, with the heavens in between.

 

   The Hebrew language uses three words that English translates to heaven. One word means ‘sky’ the second means ‘space’ and the third means the place where God dwells. The Hebrew word used here ‘shaw-meh-yim’ means what we would call sky or the atmosphere. So the picture is the earth with water over the surface below, a layer of sky or atmosphere between and a layer of water above that. There is no indication as to how thick the layer of water might have been. It just says, ‘waters above from waters below’.

 

   If we picture this in our minds we can see the earth sitting out in space sitting as it were, inside a bubble formed by an outer layer of water. IF this is an accurate picture and this really is what the Bible is describing, it would certainly explain a lot. The first thing that we would be able to discern from this picture is that the sun’s light would never directly strike the earth’s surface. That would make the atmosphere below the water one uniform temperature around the entire earth.

 

   The whole surface of the earth would be heated evenly as the water around the earth absorbs the light and diffuses it down to the earth below. The light would get through and a nice even heat would result but missing would be any harmful solar radiation. The lush forests and jungle producing massive amounts of oxygen would fill up the inside of the ‘water bubble’ and the atmospheric pressure would be greatly increased. It would be as if the whole earth were a giant hyperbaric chamber. Athletes, diabetics and other individuals wanting to dramatically increase the amount of oxygen in their bodies use hyperbaric chambers where there are often long waiting lists to get in.

 

   Again, IF this is how the earth was in those days, things would have been much different than what we see today without this layer of water surrounding our little planet. The area we know as Alaska would have had the same climate as the Amazon rainforest. Antarctica (where there are massive coal deposits) would have also been covered in trees and vegetation. There would have been no nasty UV rays able to reach the earth’s surface and cause genetic breakdown and mutation. The DNA of earth’s various life forms would have been infinitely purer and uncorrupted resulting in ‘perfect’ offspring free from birth defects or disease.

 

   Animals such as reptiles who even now never stop growing would have grown to immense sizes. Humans such as Methuselah were recorded to have lived as long as 969 years. This seems outrageous beyond belief now, but IF the conditions were as has been described it is a greater wonder that people ever died at all!

 

   This also explains another Bible mystery regarding Cain’s wife. The Bible tells us that Cain had a wife but it never tells us where she came from. The answer is simply that he married a sister, a cousin, or someone else in his direct family line. There was no other choice. The Bible does NOT forbid intermarriage until later on until after the Great Flood and there was no longer a layer of water around the earth. Intermarrying in families is dangerous because imperfect genes with DNA errors have a much higher likelihood of causing serious birth defects when both parents likely carry the same genetic errors. This was not an issue when the gene pool was pure. The command of God was changed as conditions on earth changed.

 

   When the Great Flood occurred, the Bible tells of the water coming from two sources. The first is water coming down from above- this is likely when the layer of water disappeared. The Bible also tells us that ‘the fountains of the deep’ were broken up. It is possible that the earth’s crust sat atop another layer of water. As the crust cracked, the water shot up through the cracks, sliding the huge pieces of land out away from the water gushing out. The pieces would slide out until the water below them had been pressed out and the pieces would suddenly screech to a halt. The edges of the great pieces would buckle upward perpendicular to the direction of momentum. This explains how we have continents that all look like giant puzzle pieces with huge mountain ranges running across the edges of the continents where they had slid away from the cracks in the earth’s crust.

   As the layer of water disappeared from above, the situation of a uniform atmospheric temperature no longer existed. The poles would have frozen nearly instantaneously creating the Alaskan environment that we all know and love today! All of the beautiful jungle was gone and sent on its way toward supporting the Alaskan economy and providing permanent fund dividend checks for us all.

 

   I have no was to prove that this is exactly what was meant by God creating a layer of water above a layer of water below with a space or atmosphere between. Some people say that the layer of water merely referred to ‘clouds’ made up of water vapor. This is possible- I wasn’t there but when I look at the things I can see, it seems a lot more likely that the water above was in fact a layer of water and that Genesis 1:7 tells me in one little verse; Why there is oil in Alaska, Where Cain got his wife, Why people lived so long in the book of Genesis but not now, How the continents were formed, Why there were dinosaurs, Why there are so many diseases and birth defects, and why intermarriage is forbidden by God now.

 

   I just don’t have the faith to be an atheist! The Bible just makes way too much sense to not simply believe it.

 

 

 

 

   The following are links to really good websites that answer questions regarding the Bible and Science. Some would want us to believe that true science and the Bible are at odds. The truth of the matter is that there are thousands of very dedicated scientist who are also very devout Christians who see scientific discoveries actually working to add even greater support to their faith. The Bible is not a science book but no statement of the Bible has ever been found to be in conflict with observable scientific facts. Check it out for yourselves!

 

 

 

 

http://www.icr.org/