The link below from a scientific journal discusses evidence that perhaps 1/3rd of the planet Mars may have been covered by oceans in the very ancient past. If this is proven to be true (and it may be true), there are many Christians who will think that this discovery somehow nullifies the Bible and it could damage their faith. Those most susceptible to a loss of faith would be the adherents of the “young earth” viewpoint which tries to cram the entire history of the planet earth into the approximately 6,000 years since Creation Week. The truth is that the discovery of a prehistoric ocean on Mars does not contradict the Bible’s accounts regarding the prehistory of our planet and solar system. The crux of the problem is that the “young earth” adherents are wrong. Mankind may have coexisted with large reptiles that have since gone extinct, but the ancestors of mankind were not present when the dinosaur age occurred.
Before a single creative word of God takes place in the Creation Week account beginning in Genesis 1:3, Genesis 1:2 records that the earth was already in existence! That verse mentions the earth was preesent, but in a darkened state, covered with oceans, and in a destroyed condition. The Creation Week account describes God’s work to restore the earth to a condition where it could support the new forms of life that he was creating upon it. The capstone of his physical creation was mankind, created in the image of the Creator Himself (Genesis 1:26). Although Genesis 1:2 records very clearly the earth was in a desolate, darkened condition just before Creation Week, Job 38:4-11 includes God’s own discussion of how he originally created the earth and verse 7 states that the earth was originally so beautiful that heavenly beings “sang” and “shouted for joy” to see God bring it into being. Isaiah 45:18 adds that when God originally made the earth, “he created it not in vain [Hebrew word “tohu”], he formed it to be inhabited (emphasis added).” Genesis 1:2 states the earth was in a “tohu” condition (i.e. “without form”) just before Creation Week began, but Isaiah 45:18 records that when it was first created, the earth was not in a “tohu” condition. What happened to change the earth from its original beautiful and inhabited condition into a desolate “tohu” condition? The Bible gives us the answer.
The Bible indicates that the earth was formally inhabited by a vast number of angels, who were led by a very superior angelic being named Lucifer. Lucifer was created in a “perfect” condition (Ezekiel 38:15 allegorically refers to him as a “king of Tyre” who was in “Eden the garden of God”—verse 13). What God creates “perfect” will take a very, very long time to go bad, but that is what eventually happened with Lucifer. At some point, iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15), but it may have taken eons of human time for this degeneration to occur. Isaiah 14:12-15 describes the day when Lucifer decided to lead a rebellion against his Creator. Verse 14 states he ascended “above the clouds” when he left the earth and led an angelic invasion of God’s heavenly throne. Jude 1:6 and 13 describes the condition of Lucifer and his angels when they were cast back down to the earth (Luke 10:18), and the earth became a darkened, oceanic wasteland (exactly the condition we find it in Genesis 1:2 before Creation Week). That Lucifer launched his rebellion from an earth that had “clouds” reveals that the earth had a water vapor cycle and an atmosphere prior to his rebellion. In other words, it was the beautiful, inhabited earth that Job 38 and Isaiah 45:18 says it was. If the Luciferina earth had clouds, it surely had oceans to support water vapor condensation.
The Bible says nothing about the prehistoric condition of Mars prior to Lucifer’s rebellion, so nothing found on Mars by science will conflict any account in the Bible. However, scientific discoveries could give us previously-unknown insights into the condition of the solar system prior to Lucifer’s rebellion. If Mars was also a planet inhabited by angels with oceans and clouds in prehistoric times, it strongly indicates that Lucifer’s original, pre-Fall domain included perhaps not just earth, but the entire solar system. The discovery of prehistoric oceans on Mars most definitely does not conflict with any biblical account. Indeed, it would shed more light on what the Bible tells us about the prehistory of our earth and solar system. The link below cites one scientist as wondering “where all of the water on Mars went.” If Mars, like earth, also experienced a planetary catastrophe in the prehistoric heavenly war, that is when it lost its atmosphere due to the planetary effects of an angelic war in the spirit world. God chose to recreate life only on earth after the heavenly war in the distant prehistoric past in our solar system.
If you would like a thorough examination of the scientific record of the earth’s prehistoric condition combined with biblical narratives to reveal the truth about the earth’s entire history, the dinosaur era, planetary extinctions and the rise of the age of mammals and mankind, you are invited to read my free article, Is the Earth 6000 Years Old?, available at the articles link of this website. That article will give you a comprehensive (and exciting) insight into what happened in the earth’s prehistory long before mankind was created. You will also see the Bible is a very scientific book, and that there is no conflict between the discoveries of science and the narratives of the Bible. Indeed, scientific discoveries actually confirm the Bible’s accounts!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100613181245.htm
