if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire (Jude 1:7)
This is an interesting video of the putative archaeological findings of Sodom, Gomorrah and other valley cities, truly serving as an example and a monument to the terrible wrath that awaits the ungodly and those who continue in wickedness and unrighteousness.
[Video removed, see below]
Truly, God is mighty and to be feared. See it and tremble at the physical and historical evidence of the judgment of God.
[HT: Turretinfan]
Update: It has come to my attention that Ron Wyatt is a fraud, and the evidence presented in the video is highly suspect, as Creation Ministries International have documented here. [See the meta for more information]. Nevertheless, the abundance of [almost] pure sulfur in this area is interesting. Anyway, the video is therefore withdrawn as the evidence is suspect.
10 comments:
Thanks. Good stuff, very interesting video indeed.
You're welcome. =)
Ron Wyatt is pretty much recognized as a fraud and quack amount the main stream creationist organizations.
Joel:
Hmmm, I see. But in this particular instance, the evidence seems rather convincing? Certainly, the exact location of the places may not be as airtight as he makes them out to be, but what about the rest?
I have got another creationist geologist's opinion on this and he agrees with me on this being water deposits. I would say that it is a left over from the Noahic flood. The well defined layers throughout the rocks is evidence for massive water action caused by flooding, not burning sulphur on man made pavement.
This is what he says.
---------------------------
"I would say these are definitely water deposited. His "geometric" shapes look exactly like natural formations found in many places around the world. You can even see the holes between the layers where the water drained out of as themud was drying.
In the three dozen or so top to bottom inspections that I have made of large coal fired boilers I have seen plenty of calcium sulfate ash deposits. None of them were even slightly layered. On the other hand I've made beautiful layers of pure materials using water."
Joel:
Hmmm, plausible. But how about the sulfur deposits? Unless he faked it?
Hey Daniel:
First of all, sulphur can be found in its elemental form in nature. (As opposed to what the video claims)
As written on Creation Ministries International's website. (www.creationontheweb.com)
http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/203/
Sodom and Gomorrah?
Creation Ministries International did not attempt to involve itself in checking any of the other claims, but someone who had been with Wyatt to his ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ site[10] sent us samples he had from there of the alleged ash from a couple of the ‘buildings,’ and a sulfur ball.[11] The photos show the structures at ‘Sodom and Gomorrah,’ together with the labels put on them by Wyatt. Simple visual inspection of such photos (and watching videos put out by these ‘amazing discoverers’) strongly suggests that these ‘building ruins’ are soft sedimentary structures with some lamination, carved into an array of shapes by rain and wind.
To put it mildly, the claim that such structures would form from incinerated buildings, then survive in the open for thousands of years, defies understanding of basic scientific principles (not to mention common sense).
Nevertheless, we sent the samples for chemical analysis to a reputable Australian laboratory.[12] Their report was interpreted by a Ph.D. geochemist.[13] The existence of the sulfur ball is not surprising—the entire area is rich in natural sulfur. The results from the ‘ash’ (see chart below, right) were not consistent with what would be expected from incinerated ancient buildings, or rock ash of any sort. Instead, they clearly indicated an [evaporite] deposit of gypsum-type minerals. This crumbly, easily eroded material fully explains the visual impressions, and is consistent with the known features of this area. The chemistry also shows an abundance of carbonates, which would be broken down by heat.[14]
The remnants of Sodom and Gomorrah? The ‘discoverers’ featured in our article have persuaded a number of people unfamiliar with basic geology that the larger picture at left is the city of Gomorrah, above middle is a ‘ziggurat,’ and the right image a ‘sphinx.’ However, the truth is less spectacular. In this Dead Sea area (near Masada), there are many soft, evaporite deposits like this, which can easily be shaped by the action of wind and rain. Not only has on-site geological analysis shown this to be the case—lab testing of alleged ‘ash’ samples (see below) definitively confirms that these are not ‘burnt buildings’ (see main text).
Mineral
Sample 1 Sample 2
Gypsum 5 99
Sulfur — —
Aragonite 60 —
Calcite 3 —
Dolomite 1 —
Quartz 3 0.5
Plagioclase 1 —
K-feldspar 1 —
Unidentified clay 25 —
Halite 1 —
TOTAL 100 100
Footnotes:
10. The person who provided the samples was at that time favorably disposed to the claims.
11. These occur naturally at various localities. Return to text.
12. Amdel Laboratories Ltd., South Australia. Return to text.
13. Dr Clyde Webster, of the Adventist Geoscience Research Institute in the US. Return to text.
14. This is the principle on which many dry powder fire extinguishers work. The heated carbonate releases CO2, smothering the fire. Return to text.
:P
And yes. A lot of Ron Wyatt's stuff is faked. He has claimed to have over 100 amazing discoveries such as Noah’s and his wife’s grave together with the fence from their farm, and "actual tablets of the Law (bound with golden links, no less) in his garage"(according to Creation ministries)
None of these have been produced after his death. He's a seven day adventist... by the way
Joel:
I see. Thanks for the info. It would however be interesting to know why the area is rich in pure sulfur desposits though.
For all we know, the dead sea could have been the very location of Sodom as Lot is supposed to be looking down into a fertile valley when he chooses his place. But that is just speculation.
As to why there was such a high contend of sulphur, included nodules often contain highly concentrated substances, even radioactive material, and are not uncommon around the world. I know that's not an explanation of them being elemental sulfur near the Dead Sea, but I would be surprised if this was truly unique. The sulphur could be due to bacteria extracting sulphur from soil and depositing (mining) it there. Just my guess. There is no comparison made with sulphur around the region... at least not in the video.
Besides, those sediments are clearly water deposited. I'm almost 100% certain of that. And since the sulphur is found in those sediments, they are not laid down in fire in their location, but in a flood. Does not fit what we would expect to see in Sodom
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