THE WORLDWIDE FLOOD

FEW parts of the Bible have been so misunderstood, ridiculed or distorted as the account of the great flood in Genesis chapters 6-8. Although some people treat this story as a myth, many — including a lot of Christians — claim that the flood was only a local event, covering a relatively small area of the Middle East. As one popular book insisted, 'The flood was local to the Mesopotamian valley.'1 But is the idea of a local flood logical or realistic, given the information the Genesis account provides? Below we give some reasons why the local flood theory is untenable and nonsensical.

THE ARK WAS TOO LARGE!

Most children's Bible-story books picture the ark as a kind of house-boat, so many people grow up with a distorted picture in their minds, which predisposes them to doubt the historicity of the Genesis story on the grounds that the ark would have been too small for its purpose.

Picture Showing the Ark as in a Childrens Story Book

How many Bible-story books picture the ark.

However, if the flood were only a local event, it is clear that the ark was far too large! God's instructions to Noah were clear: the ark was to be a three-storey vessel, 140 meters (450 feet) long, 23 meters (75 feet) wide and 13.5 meters (45 feet) high. (Genesis 6:15-16) By any standards, this was a massive vessel. It was large enough to hold 432 double-decker buses, or about 35,000 sheep. Furthermore, Noah and his family took over 100 years to build it. Had the flood been a local event, they could have traveled to the farthest corners of the earth in a fraction of that time, just as God rescued Lot from Sodom (Genesis 19). So why would God set them such a needless task?

Picture Showing the Realistic Size of the Ark

The ark was too large for local flood.

If the flood had been local it would also have been totally unnecessary to take all the various kinds of animals on board, and certainly not birds. One local flood advocate wrote, 'The animals that came, prompted by divine instinct, were the animals of that region.'2 Since many creatures have an instinctive sense of impending danger, and often migrate vast distances, they could easily have been 'prompted by divine instinct' to escape to higher ground. But Genesis states that the animals 'came to Noah' to be cared for to prevent them being drowned (Genesis 7:9 & 15). Furthermore, the ark was designed to withstand something much worse than a localised disaster. Nautical experts have said that it 6:1 length-width ratio was ideal for stability, and that the ark could have tipped almost on its side and righted itself again. Surely such a design would be unnecessary for a local flood?

YOU CAN'T STACK WATER!

The fact that 'water always finds its own level' is familiar to every student. A local flood deep enough to float a vessel as large as Noah's ark would be impossible in the Middle East region. There is no natural basin or ring of mountains that could possibly contain such a mass of water.

Picture Showing the Middle East Area

A local flood deep enough to float a vessel as large as Noah's ark would be impossible in the Middle East region.

There have certainly been local floods in the Black Sea area, but none of these can possibly be equated with the flood of Noah. Genesis also states that 'all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of twenty feet.' (Genesis 7:19-20). Even if this only referred to the mountains visible to Noah, the local flood theory is still untenable. Incidentally, we need not suppose that the pre-flood mountains were as high as mountains today.3

WORLDWIDE FLOOD TRADITIONS

In almost every culture around the world there are stories of a great flood. These stories pre-date Christian missionary activity, and are part of the local folklore. The further from the Middle East one travels, the more these stories differ from the Genesis account, but they all retain some elements of the original, strongly suggesting that they represent the memory of a significant event retained as people spread throughout the world after the flood.

GOD'S PROMISE

At the end of the flood, God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise never to destroy the earth again with a flood (Genesis 9:12-15). If the Genesis flood was local, then God has not kept His promise, since throughout history there have been numerous, devastating local floods, resulting in great loss of life.4

THE TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The local flood theory is totally at odds with the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles, who not only taught that Noah's flood was world-wide in its extent, but likened it to the final, universal judgment. Jesus said the time of His return would be like 'the days of Noah' when the 'flood came and took them all away.' ( Matthew 24:37 & 39). The apostle Peter wrote, 'By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed' (2 Peter 3:6), and goes on to say that the final judgment will be just as destructive.

GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Until the mid-19th century, virtually all geologists were 'catastrophists', and most believed that the Genesis flood had laid down most of the earth's sedimentary rocks (which cover 701f its surface). Why did they take this view? Evolutionist Dr. Ernst Mayr wrote, 'The reason why catastrophism was adopted by virtually all the truly productive leading geologists in the first half of the 19th century is that the facts seemed to support it'5 The earth's geological and fossil record are what we would expect from such a flood and its aftermath.

The clear teaching of Scripture, and our own logic, tell us that the flood had to be worldwide in its extent.


REFERENCES:

  1. Dr. Bernard Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture, Eerdmans, 1954 & 1981, p. 169.
  2. Dr. John Whitcomb suggests the pre-flood mountains were no higher than 6-7,000 feet. The World that Perished, Baker, 1988, pp. 41-42)
  3. Reference 2, pp. 69-70.
  4. 'The Nature of the Darwinian Revolution', Science, June 2nd. 1972, p. 985.
  5. See Catastrophism, CRT Factsheet No. 39.

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