We've heard lots recently from scientists, politicians and even rock stars, about climate change, global warming and the impact of man's actions on our world.

But what was the world like before all of this?

At a youth group this morning we looked at what the world used to be like.

We discovered that when God created the world there was only one piece of land and one large sea. That happened on day three when 'God said "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." '

It's weird to imagine the world that way, but that's what has been found by geologists and you may remember learning about in geography. The continents used to be one and split apart. Much of that probably happened during the flood recorded in the Bible. In much the same way as the tsunami 2 years ago, plates of the earth would have split apart causing 'all the springs of the great deep' to ' burst forth'.

We also found that the earth used to have an expanse of water above the sky. This was put there on day two when 'God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." '

This water came down during the flood as 'the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.'

With the increases in temperature the earth is experiencing, and the importance of the ozone layer, it's easy to see how this water would have given protection against the sun's rays and helped to maintain the balance in the perfect world God planned.

Again, it's weird to imagine the world being that way, but it's easy to see how the world was a better place as a result of that perfect plan.

Now, with man's influence, we have a world that is far from perfect.

Further Reading
You can read about creation in the Bible, the book of Genesis, chapter 1.

Day 2 when the expanse of water was placed above the sky is chapter 1, verses 6 to 8.

Day 3 when there was just one piece of land and one group of water is in chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.

You can read about the flood in chapters 6 to 9 in the book of Genesis.

We are told it hadn't rained, and streams came up from the earth to water the surface in chapter 2, verses 4 to 6.

You can also read more about the science of plates of earth and how they split apart (known as Tectonics) one these sites (among others):
1. An Introduction to Plate Tectonics
2. Wikipedia's entry on Tectonics
3. The BBC's GCSE Geography Pages on Tectonics