Credit: Creation Museum, Voyage room exhibits. Copyright 2007 AIG. Used with permission.

Was the Flood Global? Testimony from Scripture and Science

JEFF MILLER, Ph.D.

ALLEGED DISCREPANCIESCREATION VS. EVOLUTIONINSPIRATION OF THE BIBLEFACTUAL ACCURACYFACTUAL ACCURACYFLOODFOSSIL RECORD

Some ask how the Flood of Genesis 6-9 could be a global Flood. There simply is not enough water on the Earth to cover “all the high mountains under the whole heaven…covering them fifteen cubits deep” (Genesis 7:19-20, ESV). After considering such apparent quandaries, many resort to interpreting the Flood of Genesis 6-9 as being, not worldwide, but local in its extent. Is the story of the Flood myth? Was the Flood a local, rather than a global, Flood?

The Testimony of Scripture

Credit: Creation Museum, Voyage room exhibits. Copyright 2007 AIG. Used with permission.

First, Scripture simply leaves no room for a local Flood interpretation. Here are eight reasons why:

1. If the Flood was local, why waste several decades building an Ark (5:32; 7:6)? Why not just leave the area?

2. Why bring onto the Ark animals from all over the region if the Flood was local—representatives of “every living thing of all flesh” (6:19)? Since God actually sent the animals to Noah anyway (6:20), why not just send them out of the area instead?

3. How would the Ark be able to stay afloat for several months while the water receded if the Flood was local (8:3)? While the Ark could certainly stay afloat on a large lake for a long span of time, large lakes do not dry up or recede in only one year without catastrophic breaches which do not conform well to the uniformitarian assumption that many local Flood advocates hold. The description in the text seems to imply that the Ark was floating in a receding mass of water so large that it took months for it to drain away. As the Flood waters were receding, Noah sent out birds to determine if the Earth was sufficiently safe and dry to exit the Ark. The dove “found no resting place for the sole of her foot” (8:9), and yet doves will often travel farther than five miles in search of food.1

4. How could the biblical terminology—describing the water as covering “all the high mountains that are under the whole heaven” (7:19, ESV)—be reconciled with a local flood? How could water rise high enough locally to cover mountains if the Flood was not greater in its extent?

5. How could the biblically-stated purpose of destroying man (and beast) from the face of the whole Earth (6:13; 7:4) be accomplished with a local flood? Conservative estimates indicate there could have been 215,000,000 people on the planet by the time of the Flood—given the long life spans of the pre-Flood era, the robustness of the young human genome, and God’s command for humans to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth (Genesis 1:28). Given that large buildings had likely not yet been engineered, such a large population would surely have been spread out a great distance, and yet all humans were killed. Further, Genesis 9:19 indicates that after the Flood, “the whole Earth was populated” through the three sons of Noah who were on the Ark with him—Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

6. God made a promise to man and the creatures of the Earth never to again destroy the Earth with a Flood in the way He had done (9:8-16). If the Flood was local, then God lied, breaking His covenant with man, since local floods occur all the time. A global Flood, however, has never again occurred.

7. Peter used the universal destruction of the Earth in the Flood to describe what judgment day will be like (2 Peter 3:6-7). If the Flood was not universal, then logically, judgment also will not be universal.

8. The Flood was so devastating to the Earth that seedtime, harvest, winter, summer, and even day and night were severely affected for many months (8:22). How could Earth processes have been thus affected if the Flood was merely local?

The Bible is clear: the Noahic Flood was global in its extent.

The Testimony of Science

Science is also clear on the universality of the Flood. A scientific theory is validated through testing its predictions. If a global, rather than a localized, Flood occurred, what would we predict we would find upon examination of the physical evidence? Here are nine scientific evidences that verify global Deluge predictions:

Scientific Evidence #1: Sedimentary Layers across Continents and Even Between Continents

Sedimentary rock is understood typically to be the result of sediment deposited by water. As would be predicted if a global Flood occurred, the bulk of the surface of the Earth is comprised of sedimentary rock. Some 80-90% of the Earth’s surface is covered with sediment or sedimentary rock, as opposed to igneous or metamorphic rocks.2 While in the geologic column the upper layers, known as the Cenozoic strata (often considered post-Flood by Creation geologists), are characterized by geographically localized beds of sedimentary rock, many of the Flood layers (Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata) traverse extensive regions. Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata can often be traced across continents and, in some cases, between continents.

For example, geologists have identified six “megasequences” of sedimentary rock layers at the Grand Canyon that can be followed across North America.3 The chalk beds of the cretaceous period (e.g., the “White Cliffs of Dover”) extend from Ireland through England, across the English channel into Europe, and on down to the middle East, Egypt, and even Kazakhstan.4 Even more notable is the fact that the same chalk beds—found sandwiched between the same strata—are found in the Midwestern USA and in Western Australia.5 Similarly, the Pennsylvanian coal beds of America extend into Britain, Europe, and even further—to the Caspian Sea of Russia.6 Additionally, the distinctly different Permian coal beds of the southern hemisphere extend between Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa, and South America.7 Such widespread deposition of sediment speaks loudly in support of a global, aqueous event that deposited vast amounts of sediment in a process like none that we witness today.

Scientific Evidence #2: Marine Fossils on Continents and Mountains

If a Flood once covered the Earth, wherein the ocean floor was  broken up and fountains of material were released on the Earth (Genesis 7:11; Proverbs 3:20) followed by all of the Earth’s mountains being covered with water (Genesis 7:19-20; ESV, NIV, RSV, NASB), one would predict marine fossils to be discovered over the entire Earth—on all continents and atop mountains.8 It is no secret that marine fossils are found well above sea level worldwide and at the summits of mountains. Even the tallest mountain range in the world—the mighty Himalayas—hosts marine fossils.9

Continental rock (including that which comprises mountains) and the basaltic rock that comprises the ocean floor are fundamentally different. The rock that raised to form mountains, therefore, was never at the base of the ocean. How, therefore, are the marine fossils found across continents and mountains to be explained? Did the continents “dip” down below sea level several times in the past to allow marine creatures to travel onto continents and be buried in several distinct layers? Since continental rock is less dense, it “floats” in the mantle like a cork—unable to dip in such a way.10 Instead, the ocean had to have risen high enough at some point to flood the continents, bringing with it the marine creatures that are found fossilized across continents—even in what are now mountains.

Scientific Evidence #3: Lack of Erosion (or Rapid Erosion) Between Rock Layers

Uniformitarian geology predicts the gradual deposition and erosion of sediment across the planet over long periods of time—present processes are the key to understanding the past. Uniformitarianism, therefore, would predict the joining surfaces between strata to be rough and uneven, with dips  and plunges. After all, normal terrain has hills, valleys, riverbeds, and other geographic features that detract from smooth, level topography. If the Flood occurred, however, many of the strata found in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic layers were laid down while saturated with water and with little time between their sequential deposition. The joining surfaces of many strata, therefore, would be smooth and flat, with little evidence of erosion. The enormous, beautiful rock outcrops of the Grand Canyon allow visitors to see for themselves the distinctive sedimentary rock layers that characterize the Paleozoic era—what Creation geologists argue is the beginning of the Flood. One characteristic feature of those layers is that the joining surfaces of the layers are generally very smooth, with little evidence of the erosion or deposition processes that should characterize the rock layers if they were formed over long periods of time.9 The evidence indicates that the worldwide sedimentary layers of the geologic column were deposited rapidly in a worldwide aqueous event.

Scientific Evidence #4: Catastrophic Burial

Most living creatures do not fossilize upon dying. In order to fossilize, they must be buried rapidly and sequestered from oxygen which causes the rapid decomposition of soft-bodied animals. Fossilization, therefore, is a rarity, especially for land-dwelling creatures.10 The conditions must be just right. While individual dead carcasses might be envisioned as being covered and preserved from time to time by a localized mudslide or rapid sediment deposition process, non-catastrophic conditions that could kill and preserve the exquisite remains of a larger animal (e.g., a sauropod or large theropod dinosaur) are much more difficult to envision. And yet fossils of dinosaurs that were killed by an aqueous burial event are typical throughout the fossil record—just as the Flood model would predict. For instance, the classic dinosaur death pose—known as the opisthotonic posture—often characterizes dinosaur fossils when the articulated remains of a skeleton are discovered.11 The dinosaur’s head is “thrown back over the body, sometimes almost touching the spine,”12 as if drowning and gasping for air.

Even if localized, non-catastrophic conditions could reasonably explain the preservation of individual enormous creatures, the hundreds of fossil graveyards of the world with numerous preserved fossils at each site, demand catastrophic, aqueous conditions.13 The quick execution and burial of a group of animals is much harder to explain under uniformitarian circumstances, especially when that group of animals is comprised of dinosaurs. Upon close examination, the contemporary explanation of dinosaur graveyards does not hold up. Paleontologists speculate that many dinosaur graveyards are the result of dinosaurs dying during local flood season while crossing a river and being carried to a river bend and successively buried year after year. The physical evidence, however, does not substantiate this idea. In Newcastle, Wyoming, for instance, a dinosaur graveyard of over 5,000 disarticulated dinosaurs has been discovered organized into a graded bone bed. If dinosaur corpses were piling up on a river bend each year and being rapidly buried there, one would expect the bones to be found in a river current orientation with many of the skeletons articulated—the bones found joined together as skeletons or partial skeletons. Instead, the graveyard is comprised of randomly oriented, disarticulated bones. Furthermore, if the dinosaur bones were being deposited upon one another annually, one would predict bone beds at different levels representing successive events. The bones in the dinosaur graveyard, however, are organized in a single, graded bed, with larger bones at the bottom and smaller bones as you move upward—indicating a single, rapid, catastrophic event that was responsible for the destruction, transportation, and burial of the thousands of dinosaurs in the area, including Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, and various varieties of Tyrannosaurus.

Many other fossils testify to catastrophic, rather than uniformitarian, flood conditions as predicted by the Flood model. From fossils of Triassic (middle Flood) ichthyosaurs being catastrophically buried while giving birth,14 to Jurassic (late Flood) Aspidorhynchus fish buried with Rhamphorhychus (pterosaur) in its jaws,15 to Eocene (late or soon after Flood) aspiration fossils—fish killed and buried while eating other fish:16 fossils that verify the predictions of the global Flood model abound.

Scientific Evidence #5: “Unearthly” Seismites

A seismite is a special rock layer that forms when an earthquake vibrates a layer of sediment (like sand) that is covered with water—like the soggy sand that is under water along a shoreline. When an earthquake happens, it shakes the soggy sand, and the water within it tries to escape upward from the sand as it settles, like magma from a volcano. If the sand were to dry out after the earthquake and lithify (i.e., turn to stone) and then you cut the sandstone in two and looked at the inside layers, you would see the squiggly lines caused by the movement of the shaken water. These are called fluid avulsion structures, and they are usually only a few centimeters thick today. If the Flood happened, and “all of the fountains of the great deep were broken up” (Genesis 7:11) and “the mountains rose, the valleys sank down” (Psalm 104:8, ESV), in conjunction with water saturated continents, the existence of seismites in the rock layers associated with the Flood would be predicted.

Not only have many such seismites been discovered, but in Lance Creek, Wyoming, dozens of distinct seismite layers have been discovered that are several meters thick, rather than a few centimeters thick like seismites forming today.17 Such abnormal seismites would be termed “unearthly” by geologists, since no known earthly process (i.e., none witnessed today) can account for their formation. These layers have been traced over several miles and are potentially continent wide. This means that (1) the whole area was once covered with massive amounts of water (enough to make several meters of sand soggy); and (2) several major earthquakes happened—dozens of earthquakes so intense that there is no modern reference point to interpret their strength. When comparing modern seismites and their correlated earthquakes with the Lance Creek seismites, one infers that the Lance Creek seismites necessarily were caused by an unknown, abnormal phenomenon—possibly the earthquakes generated by the rapid formation of the Rocky Mountains during the Flood when, for example, the Pacific oceanic plate collided with and subducted beneath the North American plate along the west coast of the United States.

Scientific Evidence #6: Long Distance Sediment Transportation

Sedimentary rock layers are the result of sediment being deposited by water, and in some cases, wind. Rivers, for example, will pick up dirt from their beds and banks, carry them along for a certain distance, gauged by the speed and depth of the river, and re-deposit the sediment, which may eventually become sedimentary rock if the conditions are right. The type of sedimentary rock will be based on the type of material that comprises the rock, and the type of material is based on the source of the sediment that the river is carrying. If a global, rather than merely local, flood occurred, one would predict that enormous amounts of sediment would have been transported great distances, as opposed to the smaller amounts of sediment  that are transported shorter distances today.

Once again, when we examine the physical evidence in the Flood rock layers, we see certain kinds of sedimentary rock whose material source is hundreds and, in some cases, even thousands of miles away. The Coconino Sandstone in the Grand Canyon, with an average thickness greater than the length of a football field and surface area greater than the state of California, can be traced beyond Utah to the north. The source of the Supai Group at the Grand Canyon is postulated to be extremely far from the Grand Canyon, and the source of the Navajo Sandstone of Utah appears to be the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States—over 1,800 miles away.18 While the physical evidence is difficult to reconcile using the conventional paradigm of uniformitarianism, it verifies yet another prediction of the global Flood model.

Scientific Evidence #7: Cambrian Explosion

According to Genesis chapter one and following, a few thousand years ago, God directly created all “kinds” of life within four days, not by evolution over four billion years.19 Approximately 1,650 years after that initial Creation, the Flood occurred. If the Flood was, in fact, global in its extent, then it destroyed all birds and land-living creatures that were not on the vessel prepared for the eight survivors of that catastrophic event. Based on that information, Creation geologists can make several scientific predictions. Since the Earth is young and God did not create life through gradual evolution, and since the Flood was apparently the first (and only) major, global catastrophic event on the Earth post-Creation and catastrophic events are generally the cause of fossilization, the following would be predicted: (1) Very few fossils likely would have been formed prior to the Flood; (2) Transitional fossils between major phylogenic groups would be non-existent in the fossil record; (3) Instead, living creatures would appear fully formed, distinct,  and functional the first time they appear in the fossil record; (4) When the global Flood began, we would predict a significant marker in the geologic column that represents the commencement of the worldwide Flood event; (5) We would further predict an explosion of fully formed fossils above that line, worldwide, representing the deaths of living creatures due to mud slides and other fossil-forming processes during the global Flood.

When one examines the fossil record, testing the validity of these global Flood predictions, we find that all five of the predictions are easily verified. One observes beginning at the base of the record, in the Pre-Cambrian layers (i.e., pre-Flood layers), very little is found by way of fossils—namely fully formed stromatolites (predictions 1 and 3). Above the Pre-Cambrian strata, a distinct line is observed that extends across the entire planet, called the “Great Unconformity” (prediction 4).20 That line marks the beginning of the Cambrian strata (i.e., the Flood) and an explosion of fully formed fossils—called the “Cambrian Explosion” by paleontologists (predictions 3 and 5). These fossils appear worldwide in sedimentary rock with absolutely no evolutionary history preserved in the fossil record (prediction 2), and to all intents and purposes, effectively reflect the beginning of the fossil record21—precisely what would be predicted if Creation and the global Flood occurred, and decisively contrary to the conventional evolutionary paradigm. One well-known evolutionary biologist even conceded concerning the fossils of the Cambrian: “It is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history. Needless to say, this appearance of sudden planting has delighted creationists.”22 Even Charles Darwin recognized the Cambrian Explosion as a problem for his theory.23 The Cambrian Explosion not only falsifies evolutionary predictions, but it verifies at least five global Flood predictions.

Scientific Evidence #8: Flood Legends

If the Flood occurred, but was merely local in its extent, one would not expect a record of the limited event to have been passed down in separate societies worldwide. One might expect distinct legends of localized floods to be passed down within separate societies, but they would not show significant similarities if they were describing different events. If the Flood occurred and was global in its extent, however, it would be inconceivable to suppose that stories about such a catastrophic event would not be passed down through the ages to virtually all societies. Since the incident at Babel occurred soon after the Flood (Genesis 11), where God directly created several distinctly different oral languages, but apparently not written languages, stories of the Flood were likely not written down for many years. Instead, they were passed along orally—a medium more prone to inaccuracies in transmission. The event, therefore, would certainly be remembered, but many of the details would not generally be expected to be accurate.24 When comparing separate accounts of the event from different societies, if the details matched precisely, one would suspect collusion at some point between the societies (i.e., that the Flood stories originated from one later source, rather than from the original witnesses). Sure enough, once again, we find decisive evidence from archaeology of hundreds of worldwide, distinct but curiously similar legends of a catastrophic Flood.25 The details do not perfectly match, as predicted, but amazingly match in the essentials, suggesting a true, single event thousands of years ago that affected the whole world rather than a small geographic area.

Scientific Evidence #9: Rapid Deposition of Strata

As discussed earlier, uniformitarianism, the standard assumption used to interpret geologic observations today, would suggest that the sedimentary rock layers of the Earth were deposited gradually over millions of years. One would not expect sediment layers well below the surface to be soft after millions of years, but rather to have been lithified. If a global Flood occurred, then catastrophism, not uniformitarianism, is a better interpretive principle to be used in geology. If a global Flood occurred, then the sedimentary layers of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic layers (i.e., the Flood rock strata) were laid down rapidly—possibly in as little as one year’s time. Many of the strata below the surface at any point during the Flood, therefore, would still be soft—not yet lithified. Which prediction is borne out upon examination of the physical evidence? The global Flood model prediction is verified when we observe tightly folded rock strata, for example, in the Paleozoic Tapeats Sandstone and Muav Limestone of the Grand Canyon.26 Since rocks break, rather than bend, observing several meters of unbroken, tightly folded rock strata implies the layers were not yet rock when they were bent—precisely what would be expected if the global Flood occurred and laid down the worldwide sedimentary layers of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras.

Further evidence of the rapid deposition of strata is seen when we observe polystrate fossils. Polystrate fossils are individual fossils that span multiple (“poly”) strata (“strate”), such as fossilized trees and other organisms across the world.27 Surely only fanciful, blind “faith” would lead one to accept the postulate that a tree could remain dead, undecayed, and sticking out of the ground for hundreds of thousands or millions of years while sediment slowly accumulated around the tree, burying it. Polystrate fossils worldwide suggest rapid deposition of the sedimentary rock layers also worldwide.

Where Did the Water Go?

Both science and Scripture support a global Flood, but if the waters of the Flood really did once cover the Earth—even the mountains—where did the water go after the Flood? The water could not have disappeared from the Universe—it must be accounted for, unless God chose to suspend the First Law of Thermodynamics and directly remove the water from the Universe.

The account of the Flood event is certainly laced with God’s supernatural activity. He directly communicated with Noah, informing him how to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-16), sent the animals to Noah (Genesis 6:20), personally shut the door of the Ark (Genesis 7:16), and apparently initiated the Flood (Genesis 6:17; 7:4,23). The possibility of other supernatural activity on God’s part, therefore, cannot be ignored. However, before assuming “God miraculously did it” as an explanation for everything that we do not know—which could lead to false conclusions, scientific laziness, and a lack of valuable knowledge about the natural realm and God’s amazing glory as reflected therein28—let us consider if there is another plausible explanation as to where the water from the Flood went.

If the entire current Earth’s atmosphere released its water, it would only cover the globe to a depth of about one inch above sea level.29 If all of the present land ice of the Earth melted—including glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets—it would raise the sea level approximately 230 feet.30 If all of the water within the Earth’s crust was pumped onto the surface of the Earth, it would raise the sea level another 600 feet,31 which is much more significant, but when we consider that many of Earth’s mountains tower over the Earth above 25,000 feet in height, such numbers pale in significance.32 Where is the water from the Flood? Answer: apparently the same place it came from—primarily the oceans (Psalm 104:6-9).

While Scripture does not give many details about what occurred during the Flood, it does provide a few important clues.

1. When the Flood began, the “fountains of the great deep (i.e., the oceans) were broken up”—all of them (Genesis 7:11; Proverbs 3:20). Such terminology suggests the breakup of the ocean floor and the release of water and magma from below the Earth’s surface onto the ocean floor. Using our knowledge of geology in the 21st century, such terminology suggests plate tectonics (i.e., the breakup and initiation of the movement of the plates that comprise the surface of the Earth) may have been activated at that point.
2. The breakup of the great deep is mentioned, followed by (i.e., perhaps causing) the opening of the “windows of heaven”—intense rain (Genesis 7:11) for 40 days and nights (7:12).
3. The waters “increased” (7:17)—“greatly increased” (vs. 18)—prevailing for 150 days (vs. 24)—roughly five months. After that point, “the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained,” a great wind passed over the Earth, and therefore, the waters began to recede continually (8:1-3) until the Ark came to rest several weeks later (vs. 4).
4. Psalm 104 (ESV) speaks of Creation and the Flood. Verses 6-9 refer to the Flood33 and tell us that the mountains rose and the valleys sank down during the event. While some higher elevation locations apparently existed prior to the Flood (7:19-20), the taller mountains formed during the Flood.
5. Psalm 104:9 (ESV) indicates that the geologic activity that ensued in the Flood created a geographic setting that now disallows a global flood to occur again.

Is there physical evidence to support and further explain these statements in Scripture? Undeniably.

When the fountains of the great deep were broken up—apparently commencing plate tectonics34—magma from the mantle would have touched the waters of the ocean, superheating it and blasting it into the atmosphere as superheated vapor, where it came back down as rain. Many of Earth’s divergence zones35 stretch for hundreds of miles at the base of the oceans. Geyser-like activity would have, therefore, created worldwide fountains that drenched the continents with immense amounts of water for possibly weeks (40 days?) until the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates slowed.

We are able to observe today the effects of Earth’s tectonic plates as they move relative to one another, converging and subducting, diverging, and transforming. Most geologic activity on the Earth occurs along the margins of tectonic plates as they move—earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building, for example. Subducting plates angle downward, slowly diving into Earth’s mantle and dragging with them the ocean floor. On the rear side of the plate, plate divergence occurs—plates being pulled away from one another—forming gaps between plates, and new material surfaces from the mantle to fill the gaps, replacing the material that has been pulled towards the subduction zone. While plates move on the order of centimeters per year today (forming mountains and volcanoes very slowly), when plate tectonics began (i.e., at the beginning of the Flood), simulations show the rate would have been on the order of meters per second, forming mountains rapidly.36

If tectonic plates have always moved at the same slow rate that they are moving today, the subducting plate material would have heated and reached thermal equilibrium with the mantle material long before reaching the core/mantle boundary in its descent. If the global Flood model is correct, however, and the plates were moving rapidly at the onset of the Flood only a few thousand years ago, immense slabs of colder material from the ocean floor would be predicted to be piled at the core/mantle boundary that has not yet warmed to mantle temperatures. Sure enough, yet another Flood prediction was verified when technology progressed to the point that the Earth’s internal structure could be studied. Colder slabs of material were discovered piled under subduction zones, deep in the mantle in the mid-1990s.37

The new material replacing the cold, dense ocean floor that is pulled towards subduction zones is much hotter, and thus, less dense. The effect is that the new material “floats” higher in the mantle. As the ocean floor was rapidly replaced with new mantle material during the early weeks of the Flood, therefore, more and more of the ocean water was continually being displaced onto the land until the entire ocean floor was replaced. Geologists and geophysicists estimate that, at its peak height, the ocean floor would have been over 3,000 feet higher than its initial level.38 Plate motion would have slowed at that point, allowing the new ocean floor to cool, become denser once again and, therefore, float lower in the mantle—creating the valleys that would allow the Flood waters to return to the oceans. The new height of the mountains and the topography of the ocean floor now prohibit the possibility of the reoccurrence of a global Flood—as Psalm 104:9 implies.

Our ever increasing scientific knowledge continues to provide more and more clues that support and explain the global Deluge of Noah. Whether the Flood water was removed supernaturally or naturally, there is no quandary created for the global Flood model.

Conclusion

The Bible speaks of a major Flood, roughly 1,650 years after Creation. While skeptics scoff at the possibility of a global Flood and many Bible-believers scratch their heads in incredulity at such a prospect, both inspired Scripture and science agree: the Flood occurred—and it was global. Once again, there is no reason to question the validity of Scripture. When one carefully examines the evidence prior to drawing conclusions (1 Thessalonians 5:21), the claims of Scripture are verified, without exception. One need only “be diligent” as an unashamed worker, being careful to correctly handle God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15).

Does it matter, though, whether or not the global Flood happened? Most certainly. Jesus called the attention of His audience back to the Flood in Matthew 24, warning:

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (vss. 37-39).

Sadly, mankind has forgotten the message that God’s Flood conveyed.The Flood was a physical depiction of how God feels about sin. The Flood is a reminder about God’s holiness, and the necessity of human repentance and obedience in order to be pleasing to Him. It is a reminder that judgment can always be just around the corner, when we least expect it. In 2 Peter 3:3-6, Peter reminded his audience of the Flood, and then warned:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness (vss. 10-11)?

The global Flood of Noah is a reminder of the global judgment that looms in the future and God’s demand that we live a holy and godly life.

But the Flood is also a reminder of God’s grace. God, through Moses, went out of His way to repeatedly highlight how Noah was different—he consistently obeyed God (Genesis 6:22; 7:5,9,16). The Flood is a reminder that those who obediently submit to God can be saved through water—and receive the benefits of God’s grace—if we will only believe Him. Peter, once again, used the Flood in 1 Peter 3:

[T]he Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (vss. 20-21).39

Endnotes

1 Ronnie George (no date), Mourning Doves in Texas, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, p. 11.

2 Kevin Charles Beck, et al. (2018), “Sedimentary Rock,” Encyclopaedia Britannica On-line, October 16, https://www.britannica.com/science/sedimentary-rock.

3 L.L. Sloss (1963), “Sequences of the Cratonic Interior of North America,” Geological Society of America Bulletin, no. 74, pp. 93-114.

4 D.V. Ager (1973), The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record (London: Macmillan), pp. 1-2.

5 Andrew Snelling (2008), “Transcontinental Rock Layers,” Answers Magazine, July-September, pp. 80-83, https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/pdf-versions/flood_evidence_3.pdf.

6 Ager, pp. 6-7.

7 Snelling, p. 82.

8  Note that most of the Earth’s mountains likely were raised late in the Flood, after the fossils therein had already been laid down.

9 J.P. Davidson, W.E. Reed, and P.M. Davis (1997), “The Rise and Fall of Mountain Ranges,” in Exploring Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall), pp. 242–247.

10 Andrew Snelling (2007), “High and Dry Sea Creatures,” Answers Magazine, October-December, pp. 81-83, https://answersingenesis.org/fossils/fossil-record/high-dry-sea-creatures/.

9 Steven Austin (1994), Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe (Santee, CA: ICR).

10 “Under What Conditions Do Fossils Form?” (no date), American Geosciences Institute, https://www.americangeosciences.org/education/k5geosource/content/fossils/under-what-conditions-do-fossils-form.

11 “Articulated” means that the dinosaur skeleton is found intact, rather than dismantled with its bones reduced to pieces or missing.

12 Brian Switek (2017), “The Secret of the Dinosaur Death Pose,” Scientific American, March 1, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/the-secret-of-the-dinosaur-death-pose/.

13 David Bottjer, Walter Etter, James Hagadorn, and Carol Tang, eds. (2002), Exceptional Fossil Preservation: A Unique View on the Evolution of Marine Life (New York: Columbia University Press).

14 Christine Dell’Amore (2014), “Oldest Sea Monster Babies Found; Fossil Shows Reptiles Had Live Birth,” National Geogrpahic On-line, February 12, https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140212-sea-monster-ichthyosaur-reptiles-paleontology-science-animals/.

15 Charles Choi (2012), “Caught in the Act: Ancient Armored Fish Downs Flying Reptile,” Live Science On-line, March 9, https://www.livescience.com/18958-armored-fish-attacks-pterosaur.html.

16 L. Grande (1984), “Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a Review of the Fish Fauna,” Ed. 2, The Geological Survey of Wyoming Bulletin, 63, http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Galleries/GreenRiverFish.htm.

17 Andrew Snelling (2017), “When Continents Collide,” Answers Magazine On-line, January 1, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/plate-tectonics/when-continents-collide/.

18 Austin, pp. 35-36; Andrew Snelling (2008), “Sand Transported Cross Country,” Answers Magazine On-line, October 1, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/sedimentation/sand-transported-cross-country/.

19 Eric Lyons (2014), “Creation and the Age of the Earth,” Reason & Revelation, 34[7]:86-94, https://apologeticspress.org/pub_rar/34_7/1407w1.pdf; Jeff Miller (2017), Science vs. Evolution (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), second edition; Jeff Miller (2019), “21 Reasons to Believe the Earth is Young,” Reason & Revelation, 39[1]:2-5,8-11.

20 Austin, pp. 66-67.

21 Stephen J. Gould (1994), “The Evolution of Life on Earth,” Scientific American, 271:86, October.

22 Richard Dawkins (1986), The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W.W. Norton), p. 229.

23 “Discovery Of Giant Roaming Deep Sea Protist Provides New Perspective On Animal Evolution” (2008), UT News, November 20, http://news.utexas.edu/2008/11/20/giant_protist; Daniel Osorio, Jonathan Bacon, and Paul Whitington (1997), “The Evolution of Arthropod Nervous Systems,” American Scientist, 85[3]:244.

24 And one would expect local religious beliefs and superstitions to be interwoven with the historical facts.

25 Eric Lyons and Kyle Butt (2003), “Legends of the Flood,” Apologetics Press, https://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=6&article=64; Duane Gish (1992), Dinosaurs by Design (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Publishing), p. 74; Robert  Schoch (2003), Voyages of the Pyramid Builders (New York: Jeremy Parcher/Putnam), p. 249; Graham Hancock (1995), Fingerprints of the Gods (New York: Three Rivers Press), p. 190.

26 Andrew Snelling, “Rock Layers Folded, Not Fractured,” Answers 4, No. 2 (April-June 2009):80-83; Morris, pp. 108-113.

27 Michael Oard and Hank Giesecke (2007), “Polystrate Fossils Require Rapid Deposition,” CRS Quarterly, 43[3]:232-240, March; John Morris (2011), The Young Earth (Green Forest, AR: Master Books), pp. 102-105; Andrew Snelling (1995), “The Whale Fossil in Diatomite, Lompoc, California,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, 9[2]:244-258.

28 Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20; Psalm 111:2.

29 “The Water Cycle: Water Storage in the Atmosphere” (2018), United States Geological Survey, https://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleatmosphere.html.

30 “Facts About Glaciers” (2018), National Snow & Ice Data Center, https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/quickfacts.html.

31 “Deborah Netburn” (2015), “There Are 6 Quintillion Gallons of Water Hiding in the Earth’s Crust,” Los Angeles Times, November 21, https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-modern-groundwater-20151116-story.html.

32 Indirect evidence of immense stores of water in the mantle has been recently discovered, although unconfirmed at present [Becky Oskin (2014), “Rare Diamond Confirms That Earth’s Mantle Holds an Ocean’s Worth of Water,” Scientific American On-line, March 12, https://apologetcspress.page.link/ScientificAmericanMarch2014; Andy Coghlan (2017), “There’s as Much Water in Earth’s Mantle as in All the Oceans,” New Scientist On-line, June 7, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2133963-theres-as-much-water-in-earths-mantle-as-in-all-the-oceans/.]

33 Otherwise, if they refer to Creation, then verse nine was violated during the Flood when the water covered the Earth again.

34 Or as Creation scientists call it, Catastrophic Plate Tectonics.

35 I.e., places where tectonic plates are moving apart with new material from the mantle replacing the ocean floor.

36 Steven Austin, John Baumgardner, D. Russell Humphreys, Andrew Snelling, Larry Vardiman, and Kurt Wise (1994), “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: A Global Flood Model of Earth History,” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, ed. R.E. Walsh (Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship), pp. 609-621.

37 S.P. Grand (1994), “Mantle Shear Structure Beneath the Americas and Surrounding Oceans,” Journal of Geophysical Research, 99:11591-11621; J.E. Vidale (1994), “A Snapshot of Whole Mantle Flow,” Nature, 370:16–17.

38 Austin, et al.

39 See Dave Miller (2018), Baptism & the Greek Made Simple (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), pp. 90-94.