The
First Does God Exist? Grand Canyon Float Trip
from the Does God
Exist? bulletin, November/December 1988
On July 28, 1988, we conducted our first Grand Canyon float trip.
The purpose of the trip was to provide a summer seminar learning
experience in a setting where people could actually see firsthand what
was being described. One hundred eight people made the trip with
no injuries, illnesses, or mishaps to mar our time together. With
good weather and an expert and professiona
l boat crew provided by Hatch
Expeditions, the trip was a phenomenal success.
Our primary objective in the trip was to provide participants with a
logical, scientific explanation of how the Grand Canyon was formed and
show that the best scientific evidence is compatible with the biblical
record. Our scientific expert on the geology of the canyon was
Alan Doty, who has made over 250 trips into the canyon and is a member
of the Church in Sedona, AZ. The night before our walk to the
bottom of the canyon, Alan took a group of us to a point on the east
end of the rim where we could see the overall shape of the structure of
the rocks which make up the canyon. The Grand Canyon is a
monocline or singly-folded structure, as shown to the left. The
primary erosion has taken place in the center of the monocline and the
fold has left rocks higher on the north side than corresponding rocks
on the south side.
The Colorado River itself is a meandering stream. It is believed
that it was located on a flat surface in the past and wandered in wide
swinging loops similar to the Mississippi today. When the folding
and cracking of rocks occurred, it weakened the rocks so that erosion
could occur at an accelerated rate. As the whole area was lifted,
the river cut deeper and deeper, producing the current gorge. As
we looked at the evidence for this explanation, we also discussed the
assumptions involved in it. All explanations of this kind are
based upon the assumption that the only agents operational on the river
were the ones we see operating today. This assumption, called
uniformitarianism, is the basis of all geologic explanations made about
the origin of the canyon.
On Thursday morning, July 28th, at 5:00 AM, we all met
at the head of the Bright Angel Trail for the nine-mile hike to the
bottom of the canyon. One of our purposes on the way down was to
consider the possibility of the Flood of Noah having caused the
canyon. Almost immediately, the difficulties of such an
explanation became obvious. The very top rock of the canyon
which, makes up the rim, is a limestone called the Kaibab
Limestone. Not only is this a rock produced by quiet still
waters, it is also full of crystalline concretions. These
crystals have grown to considerable size and could not have been
produced in the turbulence of a flood. The Kaibab formation is also
full of fossils of marine creatures. It was easy to recognize
corals, crinoids, clams, brachiopods, and other marine organisms.
A short time later, we
came to a formation known as the Coconino Sandstone. This
sandstone consists of layers of sand arranged in crossing layers.
The angle of repose shown in the drawing to the right is exactly the
same as the sand dunes we have along Lake Michigan, near our home here
in South Bend. In fact, if you were to dig a hole in an Indiana
sand dune, the structure would look exactly the same as what we saw in
the canyon. Lizard tracks also appear in some of the layers,
indicating that something walked on the dunes as they lay high and
dry. No possible flood explanation could deal with all the data
seen in this layer.
As we walked deeper and deeper into the canyon, we saw more limestone
layers and some shale layers filled with fossils. The fossils in
these layers were radically different than what we had seen in the
Kaibab Limestone at the top and different from each other. A
flood would not sort animals by species. It might sort things by
weight, but all sizes, shapes, and weights were seen in each
layer. Five miles into the hike, we arrived at rocks that were
not layered horizontally. These beautifully colored and
dramatically tilted and twisted rocks are witnesses to great heat and
pressure. The rocks wear the names of metamorphic or changed
rocks--schist, gneiss, and the like.
The first of our hikers arrived at the bottom some four hours after
leaving the rim. The last of our hikers, who had some leg
problems, arrived at 3:00. We had all ages of people in the group
from young teenagers to senior citizens, but all eventually tumbled
into the rafts to begin some four days of floating nearly 140
miles. Almost immediately, we were to plunge into huge
rapids. The 33-foot rafts would flex and bend as they plowed into
huge waves that would throw walls of water over everyone on the
raft. With the water from Lake Powell being 48° and the air
temperature being over 100°, we had wild fluctuations of shivering
to simmering. Quickly, we gained confidence in our boatmen as
they steered the rafts flawlessly through one rapid after
another. That night, after a steak dinner and a devotional, we
tumbled onto sleeping bags under clear skies and slept on the sand--too
tired to care about the occasional lizard that ran over our leg or the
heat radiating from the red rocks around us.
Day two dawned clear, with muscles expressing rebellion to any kind of
further use. After a hearty breakfast, we boarded the rafts for
more rapids and had a noon meeting in which we discussed the canyon we
were seeing and its relationship to the biblical record. The
dating of rock layers in the canyon is based upon two
assumptions. The first assumption is called superposition, in
which it is assumed that the oldest rocks in the canyon are on the
bottom and the youngest rocks were deposited on the top. Looking
at ripple marks, mud cracks, and footprints in the canyon, all of which
can only occur on upward facing rocks, we were able to see that the
rocks had not been invened.
The second assumption used to date the rock layers is the assumption
that the formations we observe in the Grand Canyon were produced in the
same way such formations are produced today. This assumption is
called uniformitarianism and is the basis for most of geology and some
of the various theories of evolution. If the Redwall Limestone in
the canyon (which is a stained limestone 450 feet thick) was formed in
the same way limestone is produced today, it would take some 2250 years
to make each foot of limestone. The time to do this would be 450
times 2250 or just over a million years. Is there a fast way to
make limestone? Possibly, but if there is, it is unknown to
modern science. We saw marine salts seeping out of various shales
and were able to see their relationship to normal salt water, further
suggesting a marine environment, not fresh water flooding, producing
the layers.
More to the point is whether any dates of any kind pose a contradiction
to the biblical record. When you are a mile deep in the bowels of
the earth, your perspective of the power and beauty in God's creation
is greatly expanded. There are things that God has miraculously
created and there are things that have come into existence by natural
processes that God initiated. This is indicated by the choices of
the words bara and asah in the Hebrew language of
Genesis, as we have discussed in this journal many times in the
past. How did God bring the canyon into existence? Did He
zap it into existence or create it to appear it had been here over eons
of time? Did He set processes in motion that culminated in the
production of the canyon over long periods of time? The Bible
does not answer this question. Genesis 1:1 simply tells us God
created the heaven and the earth. The Hebrew word used for earth
in this verse literally means earth! It does not mean blob of
gook. If you could have visited the Grand Canyon at the end of
Genesis 1:1, I am convinced you would have seen a canyon similar to
today. Many readers of Genesis 1:1 assume it is a summary and
that the first verse is explained and expanded on in verses 3-31.
This is a serious error! Genesis 1:1 is a historical verse
describing historical events. As we looked at the beauty and the
complexity of the canyon, we had to be reminded of how beautifully the
earth shows His handiwork.
The days passed quickly with discussions of these concepts, numerous
questions, and contributions from everyone involved. The boatmen
had been warned not to discuss any logical scientific material with us,
because we were "another group of dishonest religious freaks." By
the end of the second day, that barrier had been broken down and open
discussions were possible. Two extensive biblical discussions
with these capable professionals resulted in promises to read the Bible
and think about its message.
On the third day, the nature of the region suddenly changed. Lava
flows began to appear along the river and evidence of an old lake
shoreline began to appear. We went through a huge rapid called
Lava Falls and saw a lava dam that had blocked the river in the past,
filling the canyon with water. This dam was eventually eroded
away, but for the rest of the trip, we saw lava flows, old volcano
necks, and many other volcanic features. Trips on foot up side
canyons revealed beautiful clear pools, waterfalls, and numerous
fossils. On the morning of the last day, we all gathered on a
sand bar for a worship service. As Truit Adair, of the Tatum
Church in Phoenix, led us in the communion service beside a rapid, he
spoke of how the first century Church probably met more often as we
were that day than as we do in most buildings today. Most of us
left that sand bar feeling very close to each other and to our God.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the trip still lay ahead. We
beached our boats at Diamond Creek and boarded a school bus driven by a
Hualapai Indian who drove with such abandon that we began rating the
bumps from one (for a noise) to ten (for a bump that lifted everyone
off their seats). We parted at Bright Angel Lodge--a group of
people who will probably never be exactly the same again. We are
beginning to plan now for our second DOES
GOD EXIST? float trip. Hope you can join us.
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NovDec03.