Below is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood,
by Dr. Walt Brown. Copyright © Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.
Click here to order the hardbound 8th edition (2008) and other materials.
1. Comets are also acted upon by a slight thrusting force as they pass near the Sun, heat up, and expel vapor and other materials that form their tails. Computer simulations can predict much of this effect, although small errors remain.
2. The Julian calendar, a reform of a calendar begun by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., was used throughout most of Europe until it was superseded by the Gregorian calendar, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Today, almost all countries rely primarily on the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar had the same twelve months and the same number of days per month as we have today, but did not handle leap years as accurately.
3. This formula, 
, is a consequence of The Central Limit Theorem of statistics. For its derivation, consult an advanced book on statistical inference.
4. All orbital information for comets is from Brian G. Marsden and Gareth V. Williams, Catalogue of Cometary Orbits 2008, 17th edition (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Minor Planet Center, 2008).
5. Donald K. Yeomans and Tao Kiang, “The Long-Term Motion of Comet Halley,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 197, 1981, pp. 633–646.
6. Kevin Yau et al., “The Past and Future Motion of Comet P/Swift-Tuttle,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 266, 1994, pp. 305–316.
7. Thanks to Dr. Terry Hurlbut for his work on Old Testament chronology from Creation to the death of Nebuchadnezzar II in 562 B.C. and for identifying the key assumptions the various camps have made. Dr. Hurlbut’s work can be read at
http://creationwiki.org/Biblical_chronology_dispute
8. Most personal Bibles have an Old Testament based on the Masoretic text, so an unexpected surprise from this comet study is the supremacy of the Septuagint over the Masoretic text—in the narrow sense of the patriarchal ages. The Septuagint is the oldest known translation we have today of the Old Testament; it is also the official text in the Greek Church.
u “New Testament authors show a clear preference for the Septuagint over Masoretic readings.” R. Grant Jones, “Notes on the Septuagint,” p. 11 at:
http://www.sheekh-3arb.org/islam/books/septu.pdf.
9. Had Jacob and the approximately 70 members of his family, their households, and their descendents been in Egypt only 215 years, it is highly unlikely that their numbers could have grown in 215 years to become the 600,000 men of military age—and a few million other men, women, and children—that participated in the exodus. [See Genesis 12:37.]
10. Those who thoroughly understand the hydroplate theory and wish to repeat the scientific or biblical calculations described above, should contact CSC. For the comet calculations, they should first obtain the reference given in Endnote 4, and have a proficiency in working with spreadsheets such as Excel 2007 or higher. For the biblical calculations, they should have English translations of the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus) and the Samaritan Pentateuch.