Table
of Contents

The Weather Book
by Michael Oard

Lesson 10

Chapter 9 (pp. 64–69)

Textbook

The Weather Book, by Michael Oard.

Text

Climate in the Past (pp. 64–65)

Discussion Question

1. Why do scientists believe the Earth’s climate may have been different in the past?

Text

Noah’s Flood–Key to the Past (pp. 66–67)

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important that one understands the assumptions one has about the past?
2. What does the uniformitarian model assume about the past?
3. What does the Biblical view assume about the past?
4. Why is Noah’s Flood considered key when understanding past geological events?
5. What are some problems with trying to fit uniformitarian assumptions into the Biblical view?
6. Why is there, technically, no such thing as ‘prehistoric past’?

Text

The Ice Age (pp. 68–69)

Vocabulary Words

permafrost
bogs

Discussion Questions

1. Locate the vocabulary words in the glossary. Write the definition for each.
2. Describe how Noah’s Flood caused the Ice Age.
3. How long did the Ice Age last?
4. Why has the Ice Age ended?

Answer Key

Climate in the Past (pp. 64–65)

1. Warm-climate fossils have been found at high latitudes. Fossilized swamp cypress trees have been found in the Arctic Islands. Old river channels have been found in the Sahara Desert. Woolly mammoth bones have been found in Siberia.

Noah’s Flood – Key to the Past (pp. 66–67)

1. The beliefs one has about the past will affect how one interprets the evidence. We should be aware of our starting assumptions so that we understand how they are affecting our interpretations.
2. ‘The present is the key to the past’–i.e. the slow and gradual geological processes we sometimes observe today have been forming rocks, etc this way for millions of years.
3. The Bible view is that creation took place approximately 6000 years ago, and that God judged the entire Earth with a world-wide Flood during the time of Noah, approximately 4500 years ago.
4. The vast amounts of water and sediment produced during the Flood would have had catastrophic effects in reshaping the geology of the Earth. Many of the geological processes that occur slowly and gradually today would have taken place quickly during the Flood.
5. A straight-forward reading of the Bible shows that the Earth is around 6000 years old. It does not allow for the ‘millions of years’ demanded by the uniformitarian view. See A Low View of Scripture for additional insights.
6. The Bible provides the history of the universe from the very beginning. Therefore, there is no time that is before history, or ‘pre-history.’

The Ice Age, pages 68–69

1. See glossary.
2. The ocean waters were warm from volcanic and tectonic activity (Note: much of the Flood waters came from under the ground), thus causing vast amounts of evaporation. As the water vapor blew over the cooler continents, it condensed as snow, continuing to fall in the northern latitudes year round. The piling snow eventually compacted into ice.
3. About 700 years.
4. The volcanic and tectonic activity that began during the Flood soon slowed. The rapid evaporation slowed down as the warm oceans cooled. The associated warming of the air, and the increased sunlight reaching the ground as the atmospheric dust and gas decreased, caused the ice sheets to begin to melt.