Genesis and a 'Wet' Sahara | The Institute for Creation Research

Genesis and a 'Wet' Sahara

Using satellite photos in conjunction with geochemical analyses, a team of researchers has proven the existence of a now-buried lake and river system that once operated in the middle of the Sahara desert in North Africa. As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found a freshwater corridor that would have led from the Saharan lake to the Mediterranean Sea.1

The Middle East was not always so arid; it enjoyed a much wetter climate in the past. Evidence of this comes from geology, archaeology, and history, including “petroglyphs scratched onto rocky outcrops in North Africa, depicting herds of large mammals and alligators in grassy plains where it is now too hot and dry for these lush environments.”2 The finding of the freshwater corridor ostensibly offers a possible migration route for the first humans, who supposedly evolved from central Africa. However, the satellite images and geochemical findings of a once wetter Middle East are also consistent with the Genesis record.

Consider that “Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.”3 Also, Exodus 33:3 refers to a land “flowing with milk and honey,” a reference to the verdant and desirable Promised Land. If these Scriptures are accurate, then some areas that are largely arid today must have been more lush back then.

And if these Scriptures represent reliable historical accounts, as the Saharan evidence indicates, then logically the Bible must also be reliable in its other accounts—such as its depiction of human origins. The historical record is incomplete, and “the trouble is, we simply don’t know all truth and can’t accurately reconstruct the past from the fossils alone.”4 But when it comes to questions of origins, the Bible provides a reliable framework to reconstruct the past. God has given us an accurate account of not only our origin, but our purpose and destiny as well.

References

  1. Osborne, A. H. et al. 2008. A humid corridor across the Sahara for the migration of early modern humans out of Africa 120,000 years ago. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (43): 16444-16447.
  2. Vardiman, L. 2008. A Dark and Stormy World. Answers. 3 (4): 80.
  3. Genesis 13:10.
  4. Morris, J. 2008. Creation Evangelism. Acts & Facts. 37 (11): 3.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer.

Article posted on November 3, 2008.

The Latest
ACTS & FACTS
Pervasive Genome Functionality Destroys the Myth of Junk DNA
In 2001, the first rough draft of the human genome was published in a collaborative effort between private industry and the public sector.1,2...

NEWS
Happy Labor Day 2025
“For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9) Labor Day was...

ACTS & FACTS
The Age of Reptiles Myth
We hear about the Age of Reptiles, also called the Age of Dinosaurs, almost as early as we can understand the idea. Even kindergarteners might be taught...

ACTS & FACTS
The Tiktaalik Missing Link Myth
In 2004, the paleontological community—and the world—was presented with what many evolutionists considered to be a dyedin- the-wool missing...

ACTS & FACTS
Archaeopteryx, Myth of a Transitional Fossil
In 1860, one year after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, a wonderfully preserved fossil feather was discovered in...

ACTS & FACTS
Busting the Myth about Lucy
by Brian Thomas, Ph.D., and Chris Rupe, Ph.D.* Most folks consider our ape ancestry as established science, with Lucy as the main link. However,...

ACTS & FACTS
Evolutionary Vestigial Features: Worse Than Myth, a Scam
Due to teachers’ influence during the formative years of young people’s lives, they can be a powerful force in spreading evolution to new...

ACTS & FACTS
Blind Cavefish Unmask the Convergent Evolution Myth
Within the ever-expanding theory of evolution, there is a system of specialized language designed to identify each major interpretative concept. Some...

ACTS & FACTS
A Booming Generation
And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, and answered them after the advice of the young men.…And...

ACTS & FACTS
Darwin's Galápagos Finches: The Myth of Natural Selection
A group of birds known as Darwin’s finches (genus Geospiza) lives in the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles west of Ecuador....