How can we not believe the Creation and Flood story??? Give the graph below and my outline here some thought:
Notice that Methuselah and Lamech probably knew Adam himself, since they were family. They probably got the creation story first hand from Adam, since Adam was alive while Methuselah and Lamech was alive. Also, note that since Adam probably passed that information on to these two, and Noah was the grandson of Methuselah and soon of Lamech, these two probably passed the creation story down to Noah as well. That means the creation story was passed on directly to Noah's grandfather and father. So Noah learned of creation personally from people who actually knew Adam. Also, Noah probably passed this info down to his sons, Shem in this diagram. Even still, Shem probably heard it directly from Methuselah and Lamech also, since Shem was born and alive during the time of Methuselah and Lamach (again, who knew Adam personally). Shem was alive during the time when Abraham was alive. Notice that their timelines DO cross. It is a good possibility that Shem and Adam probably knew each other, and that Abraham probably heard the creation story from Shem. We know for sure that God spoke to Abraham anyway, from the Old Testament, so this was no surprise to Abraham. Abraham knew that God created all of this, and that Adam was the first man. That is probably why Abraham had a lot of faith in God, since he was spoken to by God, but also his other evidence was that Shem (who Abraham probably knew) knew two people that knew Adam personally. That would also mean that Abraham personally knew someone who survived the Flood (Shem). Notice also that Isaac (Abraham's son) also probably knew Shem personally, since their time alive also overlaps by at least 70 or so years.
If you think about this, Isaac knew Shem, who survived the Flood, and probably got the Creation story AND the Flood story directly from someone who survived the Flood and knew two people personally that KNEW Adam. That makes at least two people who got this information almost first hand.
With that said, look at when Moses was born. Not only Isaac, who got the Creation story and the Flood story from Shem, but Jacob and Joseph as well, who probably got the Creation story and Flood story from Isaac. That is very little time between Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph's death to Moses' birth and life. Don't you think that Moses would have mentioned what he knew was passed on to him? Well, we know that God did guide him in what to write down in the Torah. But he also knew these creation and flood facts because he was very close to the original people who heard and lived these truths. Just something to think about.
More thoughts on this theory:
I guess another problem I have with death happening before Adam (meaning a 1st flood, which gap theorists believe), is that according to Romans 5:12, death came through Adam:
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—"
Also, I guess I have a hard time believing that there was anything else (outside a God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, angels, and fallen angels) because of some things that Genesis 1 says. For instance:
Day three is when dry land first appeared, because it had no name until God allowed there to be dry land. That would mean that anything that was alive before Adam would have to live in water. Genesis 1:10 "God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good." He called it "dry land" like it had never been in existence before.
Also, there was no vegetation until day three. So that would mean no food for anything, unless the beings ate each other, which we know could not have happened because death did not enter the world until Adam sinned, according to the Scriptures.
We also know that all living things need oxygen (created by God), which could not have been in existence because there was no vegetation, which creates oxygen.
There was also no sun or moon, which is necessary for life. Plants can not live without sunlight, which in turn, again, would produce oxygen when they are alive. On day three of creation, it wouldn't matter, since there were no living things on the earth. If there had been something living before, it would matter and oxygen would be important. Even fish need oxygen to live, or they wouldn't need gills to get the oxygen out of the water. If there was an existence of life (God created on earth) and there were no plants, they would not be able to breath in oxygen, which would mean they could not live. We know all living things need oxygen to live, and that oxygen enters into the bloodstream, which is where life is (God said life was in the blood). Oxygen could not have existed until day three, since vegetation was not in existence until day three of creation.
Notice also, that in Genesis, no living being is mentioned until day five (fish and birds), which would give God time (two days) to allow for oxygen to fill the earth (keep in mind, everything was created perfect, with no defect until sin entered the world. So plants probably could produce oxygen much faster than they can now (meaning entropy has taken place and plants are not as perfect now as they once were)).
With these things said, Genesis says that these things happened on "THE first day", "THE second day", "THE third day", ect. If there were days beforehand (which couldn't have possibly happened unless everything lived in darkness, which we know could not happen because life has to have sunlight to live, since at a minimum plants could not live without sunlight, therefore could not produce oxygen for living beings to breath in and enter into a being's blood, which requires oxygen to live, since "life is in the blood").
Also, God declares a "very good" creation at the end of Genesis 1. How could things have been "very good" if sin and destruction and death already existed INSIDE of what we have today? (Which we know could not have happened because of Romans 5:12 says death came through Adam's sin, not anything else.)
