abelcainsbrother wrote:Perhaps I shouldn't hav
e used the word problem but from what I read above he seems to have a very similar way of explaining a world wide flood and so I was just wondering how he deals with the glacier ice that is over 100,000 years old and the ice would have had to have survived and remained intact until the flood waters receded. I actually am interested in the way he explains a world wide flood.
I haven't read Masse directly, although I'm interested to. The book I'm reading is
Noah's Flood: Literal or Figurative by Ronald L Conte Jr. I don't agree with a lot of what was written, in fact was going to put the book down. But then, as he evaluates different ideas (e.g., Black Sea flood, Persian Gulf flood, etc) it starts getting quite interesting.
Based on chevrons found in Australia and Madagascar, Masse posits a comet hit in the Indian ocean. You merely follow the chevron directions back to where they meet, and they meet at the Burckle crater in the Indian ocean. This explains various features found in myths from Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Australia. Myths of mega-tsunamis from Brazil, western coast of North America, the Arctic Ocean and in other locations outside the Indian Ocean basin though aren't explained. The presence also of hot or fiery water falling from the sky in several North and South American myths cannot have been caused by atmospheric re-entry ejecta from the Burckle Crater event, and in North America the flood storm comes from the north.
Masse concludes the comet in question likely broke apart (which isn't uncommon), so at least 2-3 fragments struck in different locations. In order to explain these other myths, none of which date earlier than around 2,500 BC or so, the other pieces would need to have been located in other oceans, one in the Atlantic and another in the Pacific. The date for the hit Masse calculates quite specifically to May 10, 2807 BC.
Note, that Masse isn't so much interested in Scripture, though allusions are made since he is also interested in explaining myths. His interest is in explaining the physical events reported in myths. Many in science write them off as entirely fiction, yet his research into myths shows myths are often aligned to natural events that leave a dramatic impact upon a society. What happens, are storytellers and the like, not being able to explain what has happened by natural means resort to stories of deities and the like to explain such significant events. But fire balls and the like being thrown from the sky, or volcanoes erupting due to spirits or deities being angry, the natural events within such -- well we know better today.
Masse's ideas have been tested with evidence, make predictions, and as such aren't a hypothesis. Rather he puts forward what appears to me is a solid scientific theory that is supported by data. And, the theory has been published in journals and is becoming accepted as quite plausible within the scientific community.