Abstract
Revolutionary new thinking has turned the accepted story of cave formation upside down and confirms the Bible in the process. The word evokes different responses-fear, fascination, indifference,...wonder. These dark retreats are the stuff of legend and monster movies, a den of thieves or hideout of outlaws (not just Jesse James, but troublemakers in the Bible, see Job 30:5-6). Some think of caves as fun side trips on a vacation-and they are. But something else draws cave explorers and scientists: the mysterious origin of these "holes of the earth" (Job's memorable expression for caves). All our lives we've heard that caves formed slowly, over tens of thousands of years, as surface water seeps into the earth. But recent discoveries are turning old assumptions upside down. The real story may be much more dramatic, as rising acidic waters cut vast caverns in as little as hours. How different from the traditional story! The old story was based on the slow processes that scientists observe in caves today, and they projected these slow processes into the distant, unobserved past. It never crossed their minds to consider what might happen if God sent a one-time judgment on the earth, during Noah's day, which created conditions unlike anything we see today.