SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The Truth and Implications of Cave Paintings
By Sally Plemons
Cave paintings are among the more intriguing evidences for the age of human civilization. Archaeologists have long used cave paintings as evidence that primitive man live and developed art at least 40,000 years ago. This timeline directly contradicts the Bible, which states God created the earth around 6000 years ago. Which is correct? Got Questions writer Sally Plemons discusses the science and the implications of cave paintings.
Cave paintings are not proof that humans have existed on earth longer than 6000 years; they are simply proof that humans lived in and/or used cave walls as canvases for their art work, but the dating process for these paintings, etchings, and drawings is riddled with error. Carbon dating (determining the rate of decay of carbon 14), which is the popular method for determining the date of a specific fossil, or other relic of antiquity, was compromised by the flood of Noah; however, since science disagrees with Scripture, scientists continue using carbon dating in their quest to prove an eons-old earth and to disprove the existence of God.
There were cave dwellers. Job speaks of those who lived in caves, but they were not the pre-societal, pre-civilization, grunting, club-carrying Neanderthals that evolutionists would have you believe; they were the dregs of society—the ignorant, socially inept—and yet they ridiculed Job for all of his problems, according to Job 30:1-10:
But now [they that are] younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was perished? For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat. They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a thief;) To dwell in the of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth. And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.Spitting on someone is a sign of utter contempt, and it is not a socially acceptable manner of behavior; therefore, these men who dwelt in caves, were the base element of society—unsophisticated, ill-mannered, and crude—a pattern that has permeated and continues to permeate all of human history.
Before the deluge, the environment and ecology of the earth were in perfect order; after the flood, however, the whole planet was catastrophically altered, and it took a long time for men to begin again—structuring a social order, building cities, and living in a civilized manner. Since caves provided readily available housing, surely many people set up housekeeping within their sturdy walls and limited-access entrances, but these men and women were not prehistoric people, they were just trying to eke out a living in the most expedient way possible. There were no prehistoric people; even the term is an offense to the truth of God's word. The Bible is HIS-STORY—history begins with Genesis 1:1 and will end yet in the future, but all is recorded within the pages of God's word, so there is no "pre-history".
The Bible introduces a man named Nimrod in Genesis 10:8. He is only two generations after the flood, the grandson of Ham, and he was known to be a "builder of cities" and of "kingdoms", so civilization began to flourish again within a relatively short time span.
Caves are mentioned throughout the Bible as natural dwelling places, shelter from the elements, and for protection from enemies. After being removed from Sodom, Lot and his daughters sought shelter in a cave, according to Genesis 19:30: "And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters." Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, in a cave, as documented in Genesis 23:19: "And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan." Abraham was later buried in the cave with his wife (Genesis 25:7). Burying in caves, or tombs made from rock, has been the tradition throughout the ages of man, and Jesus was even buried in a tomb made from rock, according to Mark 15:46: "Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb."
There are two totally and completely different schools of thought concerning cave paintings and the people who may have created them. The paleontologists and anthropologists of the secular world believe in the theory of evolution (Darwinism), and the basis of this theory teaches that the world is somewhere between 4.5 and 5 billion years old; however, the Bible—God's holy and inerrant word—teaches that the entire creation is somewhere around six thousand years of age.
God declares in Exodus 20:11: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." If God states exactly what was created on each of these six days in Genesis 1, then it is possible to count the ages from Adam to today, making it clear that the creation is only about six thousand years young. The argument exists because secular science does not believe in the Bible but in their own, educated, man-centered ideas about how and why the universe, which includes earth, came into being.
Part 2
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Published 12-11-13
