The Genesis Cataclysm
Proposing a Noahic Global Flood within
an Old-Earth Scriptural Paradigm
W. JOSEPH STALLINGS
forewords by
John Marshall Crowe
and Edward N. Martin
The Genesis Cataclysm
Proposing a Noahic Global Flood within an Old-Earth Scriptural Paradigm
Copyright © 2020 W. Joseph Stallings. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of The Holy Bible. Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Resource Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
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paperback isbn: 978-1-7252-7035-0
hardcover isbn: 978-1-7252-7036-7
ebook isbn: 978-1-7252-7037-4
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/02/20
Dedications
To Theadus, my wife,
the greatest of gifts from God and the love of my life
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord. . . . She is far more precious than jewels.”
(Prov 18:22, 31:10b)
To Cassie, our daughter,
whom we love from the greatest depths of our soul,
and who serves Christ with honor
To Muffin, Charlie, Gracie, Brigat, and Rocky,
our beloved canine children,
who, as true means of divine grace, have blessed our lives far beyond human words
And, ultimately to God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—may you receive all the glory!
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Proverbs 25:2
The Bible, which has proved to be accurate wherever it can be checked out and has stood the test in little matters and in great happenings, has also told about a flood—a world-wide flood and a man along with his family who were saved from that flood because of their Ark.
Dave Balsiger & Charles E. Sellier, Jr. (1976)
Foreword
by John Marshall Crowe
My first two years of undergraduate work were at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. One day in an Old Testament Survey course, the professor and I had a disagreement. He told us that the biblical story of the Flood was not true. I immediately put up my hand. When he called on me, I commented, “Sir, Jesus Christ and the Apostle Peter speak of the Flood in the New Testament as a historical event. I would not want to call the Son of God and his Apostle Peter liars.” Instead of responding directly to my comment, the professor made a sarcastic remark about his profound affinity for students “who know the Bible so well”—and then went on with class.
I wish that The Genesis Cataclysm had been written back then. If so, I could have presented a more complete argument. Within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy, Joe Stallings presents a systematic and thorough review of the issue. He rightly starts out with the claims of scripture, even going into the original languages, and tying it all into the final judgment upon the earth. I rejoice to see such a strong biblical stance from the start. Joe teaches that the scriptures hold the supreme place in the matter.
However, similarly to what he did in this book’s antecedent, The Genesis Column, he also teaches that the evidence gained from looking at nature, in concurrence with the revelation of Scripture, shows the plausibility of a global Flood. Moreover, he clearly presents that this is confirmed by the ancient Flood traditions across many cultures.
Joe Stallings concludes, in agreement with his previous book, that we live on an old earth. Thus, he sees Noah’s Flood as taking place before the Ice Age and, in fact, providing the conditions for its occurrence. One key point in this work is his ongoing emphasis that the Flood took place much further back in time than many others believe!
I highly encourage you to carefully read this book. I also recommend that you do so with an apologetic mind and an evangelical spirit! If so, the message will encourage your trust in the Scriptures and build stronger still your faithful witness for God.
John Marshall Crowe, DMin
Retired Clergy
North Carolina Annual Conference
The United Methodist Church
Greenville, North Carolina
Foreword
by Edward N. Martin
It is with anticipation and great pleasure that I once again offer these preparatory remarks to one of Joe Stallings’ books—this time, The Genesis Cataclysm. In this instance, one may note that in his previous work, The Genesis Column (Wipf & Stock, 2018), there is a small section of two or so pages entitled “The Timing of the Noahic Flood” found within its content (116–18). Joe has taken that small section, and expanded it into this current sizeable manuscript before the reader. I believe this means that, at the current rate, there are approximately fifty-five or so more books that he may (or may not) develop based on the various sections remaining in the 2018 book and this current offering. You may be hearing from me again soon!
In many ways, Joe’s couple of books here in the Genesis Series cover basic human concerns, e.g., of the possible consistency and consonance of two or more ideas or concepts, paradigms, or theories; the nature, limits, strictures, and conditions of human knowledge and justified belief; and the proper alignment of oneself and one’s being, in all its dimensions, with the great and bountiful gifts the Creator has bestowed so lovingly upon us. What are these gifts? Like the ancient Magi coming to adore the Christ Child (at least, according to tradition), as well as the parts of ancient Gaul, there are three.
First and foremost, there is the gift that we are: God has created us. Christian theologians have always held that God did not have to create at all; there was no inner necessity in the divine being that compelled God to create as he did. He would have been completely fulfilled and complete in his own blessed trinitological nature, filled and filling in paternal, filial, and pneumatic loving relationships.
Second, but even more, the fact that, in spite of our hateful rebellion against the Lord, still he loves us, and indeed, pours out his love to us through the bountiful life, ministry, teaching, death, resurrection and current co-ruling and co-reigning of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s love to us is not satisfied with our mere being-in-the-world; he pays us, as C. S. Lewis tells us, the “intolerable compliment” of loving us, pursuing us, causing us (if we will but agree to it and say “Yes, Father”) to become more than we could ever imagine ourselves to be.
Third, along with these great, supererogatory gifts, we also have this gift: that of being made in God’s image, of having the capacities of possibly loving him, along with the capacities of thinking—even pondering—wondering,