Believing In A Worldwide Flood
"Isn't That Just A Fairy Tale?"
I think we've done something very wrong in the church. We've taught Noah's Ark to kids as just a cute story. We show pictures of a floating bathtub with all kinds of animals in it and say that this was what Noah survived in for a year.
What we should've been doing all along is teaching it as a story of judgement - the way it was intended to be. How many Sunday school teachers stop to think - everyone in the world died in this one event except for a single family! God had to shut Noah in the Ark, I believe that's because Noah would've held the door open too long to let people in.
The result of teaching this awesome account of judgement as a cute church story is a generation of people who believe it's just a fairy tale. Now we have churchgoers, Christian leaders, and even seminary teachers that refer to the flood as an allegory. They don't even believe that it actually happened anymore!
In my opinion, if there was ever a time to believe in a global catastrophe, it's now! Not only because of the fossilized evidence we find for it, but also because of it application to culture today!
Answers In Genesis
- Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood? - Answers in Genesis
Ken Ham and Tim Lovett defend the scriptural account of God's judgment upon the antediluvian world.
Extra-biblical records
Every continent on earth has some type of worldwide flood story.
The oldest novel in the world - the Epic of Gilgamesh - tells a Babylonian account of a global flood
The Mayans have an account of a global flood followed by a confusion of languages.
The Chinese tell the story of Fuhi and his family who were the only ones to survive a flood that covered the mountains!
Other cultures that tell of a global flood include: Tanzania, the Chaldees, India, the Australian Aborigines, Greece, the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Ojibwe natives, and the Incas.
Every legend contains elements found in Genesis along with some variation. But what's interesting is that every detail of Genesis chapters 6-9 is found in one or more flood legends!
Polystrate Fossils
Sedimentary Rock
Think about this...everywhere you look on this planet, you see layers of rock that were formed in water. Even the tops of our highest mountains have sedimentary rock - with fossilized marine life in it!
There are those who try to claim that the rock layers were deposited over vast periods of time, but that just doesn't line up with what we see today! What we see today is erosion - wearing away these sedimentary rock layers with no replacement. It's as if one giant event laid down the rock all at once and nature has been eroding it away ever since...hmmm?
Then you have the issue of polystrate fossils. These are huge fossils, trees for example, that extend through many different layers. If the layers are millions of years old, how could a tree be growing up through several of them? Surely, once the roots were fossilized, the trunk would've rotted before it was buried!
This lines up with a single, world-wide, watery catastrophe at some point in the past. Now what could that be?
How It Happened
Genesis chapter seven gives us the order of progression.
First, Noah and hes family entered the ark and the door was shut.
Second, the fountains of the deep were broke open. A seismic event tore through the earth's crust under the ocean. This shift sent tidal waves around the world at the same time that the molten rock was vaporizing millions of gallons of sea water.
Third, the windows of heaven were opened. Vaporized water from the seismic rift entered the atmosphere and fell in torrents around the world for over a month!
Fourth, the waters prevailed. The last seven verses of chapter seven make it clear that the waters kept going up. Subterranean water released by seismic activity continued to raise the flood higher and higher. Ultimately, the flood stood 25 feet above the highest mountains!
Fifth, the waters receded. They gradually decreased until finally the ark bottomed out on one of the mountains of Ararat. After waiting for several weeks, Noah and his family left the ark 370 days after entering it. Can you imagine how alien this new world looked to them?
An Amazing Animation Of What The Flood Looked Like!
If You Believe The Bible...
...then you have no other option. The Bible clearly states that the world was flooded - not a region! Too many churches and preachers are compromising on this. They're claiming that the flood of Noah's day was a localized flood. But the Bible is emphatic that this was a worldwide disaster!
First of all, the highest hills were covered by 25 feet of water! Do you really think that the hills were covered and the water stayed in the same locality? The water rose for 150 days! Can you think of a region in the world where the water could rise for 150 days, cover the highest mountains and hills, and still stay in a single region? What would that look like to have a wall of water 25 feet above a mountain?
And what about the extent of time? Where exactly was Noah floating for a year? If was a localized flood, why didn't he just sail until he got away from it? Actually, think about this: Why would God tell Noah to spend time building an ark, filling it with animals and then staying on it for a year if it was a local flood? Why wouldn't He just tell Noah to move?
Noah's Ark To Scale
It's An Issue Of Faith
Do you claim to be a Christian? Then are you going to believe the Bible or not?
It's not about blind faith...there's all kinds of evidence for a global flood. But it still takes faith in God's Word! Are you going to stand up for what's true, even if people ridicule you for it? Grow a backbone, Christian!
Jesus testified to the truth of a global flood, and the universality of judgement. Peter declared that only eight souls were saved from that watery death.
There are literally mountains of evidence for the global flood described in Genesis 6-8. But with or without it, are you going to believe God's own Word or not?