NOAH’S FLOOD
EVIDENCE FOR A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE
The Bible clearly declares there was a worldwide flood in which all living creatures on land were destroyed. God preserved His Word as written by Moses and others, and the evidence strongly supports the Biblical account. It, of course, required supernatural involvement and the geological and fossilized evidence strongly supports a one-time, catastrophic and global event rather than many small regional floods spread out over “millions of years.”
To answer “How could a loving God destroy all men, women and children?” here is the reason. Just like when the Hebrews occupied Canaan when the Canaanites were totally idolatrous, the people prior to the Flood were apparently the same and both of their conditions were similar to having cancer. When treating cancer, one does not hope the treatment achieves 90 or 95% removal but only 100% or it comes back.
Two Competing Views of Earth’s geologic History
Creationists / Catastrophists
These believe the Bible is true and that geology and fossils support a global Flood. Some believe God used evolution and maybe billions of years but this raises a serious question:
If God created mankind to worship Him, why would He use a system that delays worship for millions or billions of years? The evidence does not support this idea.
"Deep-Time" / Gradualist Theories
These propose that thousands of feet of sediment formed slowly over millions of years through many regional floods. The “geologic column” is said to reveal evolution, but this explanation does not match the evidence.
God’s Warning and Instructions to Noah
Genesis 6:13
And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth (the existing features on the Earth).”
The Ark was built like a large barge which was very stable in rough waters. With a “royal cubit” of 20 inches, it was a little over 500 feet long with a capacity of 450 eighteen-wheelers or 570 railroad boxcars. God may have used juveniles instead of fully grown animals and may have induced them into a sleep-state, though there was plenty of room for their food, waste, etc. and roof cisterns likely caught rainwater.
The Flood Began after the different "kinds" loaded
Genesis 6:19–21
Genesis 7:11–12
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
The Waters Covered the Earth and prevailed 150 days
Genesis 7:17–24
Now the flood was on the Earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the Earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the Earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the Earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. … So, He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the Earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the Earth one hundred and fifty days.
Physical Reshaping of the Earth
God released “the fountains of the great deep” – superheated geysers and hydrothermal vents from within and under the Earth’s crust – which heated and decomposed much of it to create the sediment we see deposited at thousands of feet thick all over the Earth. This water eventually covered the Earth and drowned all the humans and land animals while also creating massive evaporation, and the rainfall continued for months.
God shifted the tectonic plates – up to 70 miles thick and similar to the skin on an apple – which reconfigured the land masses on the surface. This action pushed the mountain ranges high into place as oceanic fossils are found even at the top of Mt. Everest. The lighter “continental plates” moved above the heavier “oceanic plates” and created enormous friction, heat and tsunamis which gradually reached further and further inland as the waters rose.
Uprooted and redeposited tree trunks discovered in Antarctica closely match the same situation in Yellowstone Park which further verifies a global event.
mega-sequences strongly support noah's flood
Secular scientists and Flood proponents both agree that large-scale, sedimentary sequences or packages occurred to provide what we see today in what is called “the geologic column.” They, however, disagree on the timing, geographic coverage and means by which they were conveyed. Four of these mega-sequences appear in the Grand Canyon but all six appear across North America and the other continents. So, the forty separate layers of stone/sediment in the Grand Canyon were only deposited in 4 major sequences.
A years-long project by ICR (Institute of Creation Research) and others verified these sequences with stratigraphic columns around the world. These findings can be interpreted as such:
Most sequences show a trend of larger particle sediment at the lower levels and subsequent smaller and smaller particle deposition for higher levels. Note: finer particles stay suspended in water for longer periods of time and then precipitate slowly. This indicates each major package of sediment layers happened all at once though they each contained different types of rock, fossils, etc. Cross-bedding evidence reveals different individual strata came from different directions which indicates catastrophic and continent-sized flow with each major sequence and not slow and local flooding.
Each subsequent large sequence brought more and more marine life and then the later sequences started to combine terrestrial (land) animals in the fossil record. This makes perfect sense as the land animals would have been escaping the rising waters, ongoing tsunamis, etc. until they could not escape any longer. Some strata have evidence of basalt which came from volcanic activity as tectonic plates were moving rapidly.
The higher the flood waters rose, the farther inland the catastrophic inundation and sediment deposit encroached.
Likely mid-Flood and afterwards, God was moving the tectonic plates around and pushing the mountain ranges into place. Some areas were rising and some were sinking. This is when oceanic fossils were being pushed to high elevations along with layers of sediment. We do not know how high the mountains were before the Flood, but they were nowhere near current elevations.
At the height of the Flood, sediment deposits across North America covered 5.8 million square miles. A perfect square would have been 2400 x 2400 miles.
Also, due to data from 1500 separate stratigraphic columns, the Flood waters at their peak deposited sediment to over 22 million square miles of land surface around the Globe. With different sequences covering different geographic areas, the total area covered is much larger but cannot be determined as many of these overlap.
Unconformities or clear lines separating mega-sequences exist between each one indicating there was a short time span between major Flood action. This is further verified with a lack of erosion or much bioturbation (animal or worm activity).
The Three Types of Rock Found Worldwide
Igneous
Metamorphic
Metamorphic rock is rock that was transformed by heat and/or pressure. They consist of gneiss, quartzite, marble, schist and slate. Some sedimentary rocks are further changed by heat and pressure into these forms.
Sedimentary
Sediment is formed from the physical erosion of other rock into smaller particles or when water separates other chemicals from it. Some sediment forms from the evaporation of saltwater from saturated minerals. Types of sediment are limestone, sandstone, coal, shale, dolomite and clastic – which consists of sand, pebbles or boulders.
The Grand Canyon Example
The continuous rising and then receding water during the Flood was tumultuous. Using the Grand Canyon as an example of the theorized “geologic column,” we see many anomalies with “gradualism.” In fact, “deep-time” supporters claim the 40 individual layers of sediment took hundreds of millions of years to accumulate. However, with only 4 mega-sequences, that would be one every 50 million years but there is almost no disturbance between any layers.
At the very bottom is an area where pre-Flood layers are sheared off to a very flat surface. Large volumes of water moving at high velocities create cavitation – shearing caused by turbulent flow and high surface friction – which likely caused this phenomenon. This unconformity does not fit well with gradualism. A similar situation is happening with Niagara Falls where solid rock is eroding at five feet per year.
but what about the coconino?
While all strata indicate they were deposited with water, the Coconino Sandstone debate rages on. This stratum covers tens of thousands of square miles and extends well beyond the Colorado Plateau in all directions. It averages about 500 feet thick here. The naturalists claim it consists of windblown sand which would challenge a global flood, but these factors refute that:
The sand consists of 85-90% quartz with a high hardness value. This is critical as the trapped muscovite mica is very soft and should have been obliterated if it was blown long distances. Water born deposition would be much less abrasive. Also, angular K-feldspar is mixed in which should have been rounded off as it is also much less stable than quartz.
The cross-bedding shows ripples in the surface with relatively flat angles of closer to 20 degrees while windblown ripples generally stay at 30 or higher. These resemble ripples under water.
Trackways or remnants of tracks of animals are telling. They generally indicate uphill movement – while escaping rising water – and the toes are much more pronounced than the heels which indicates they were made while running in water. Also, how would these tracks even remain unless they were covered with something?
While the overall deposit indicates a north to south direction, the smaller particles are increasing in volume in the north and larger grain sizes increasing in the south. Windblown sands would be reversed.
THOUSANDS OF MILES OF THE SAME STRATA
The White Cliffs of Dover clearly reveal warming oceans, high levels of CO₂ and “blooming” of billions of tons of micro-organisms which formed most of this thick layer of chalk – a very pure form of calcium carbonate or limestone. Ammonites up to three feet, large fish and even dinosaurs were trapped in this formation which could not have happened through a slow process. Though the cliffs are exposed for only about ten miles along the English coast, this same stratum extends north to Ireland, across Europe and over to Turkey, Israel and Kazakhstan. Similar chalk beds appear from Texas to Nebraska, from Colorado to Alabama and another major chalk formation exists in Australia.
Anomalies and Nonconformities With "Deep-Time" Theories
Folds such as these occurred when fresh and very uniform layers of sediment were bent or folded during their pliable or plastic condition due to simultaneous seismic activity and the movement of tectonic plates.
How would even one year between layers allow this to happen since the sediment is not cracked? Could small floods do this?
Polystrate Fossils
Polystrates are petrified trees that pass through many layers of sediment. How could these exist if long time spans passed between layers being deposited? Wind and rain would have destroyed them within a few years.
How would they be delivered into place with small floods? They were scraped from the land and floated for a while in the massive waters until they settled into the new sediment and were quickly buried with subsequent layers. Then they hardened or petrified along with the surrounding rock.
The exact same process occurred in Spirit Lake during the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980.
Artifacts Found in Layers of Sediment
Artifacts have been found in layers of sediment that gradualism claims were laid down up to billions of years ago. A hammer and chariot wheel have been discovered in “ancient rock” and coal. Sheared off tree stumps have been found deep in coal mines. These discoveries strongly refute “old Earth” claims.
Rapid Sedimentation Evidence
Rapid sedimentation is clearly revealed with fossils of captured animals in the middle of life’s activities. Examples include a fish giving birth and another one eating another fish. These scenes reveal that the animals were caught completely off-guard.
Such preservation could only occur during a sudden and violent flooding event. The mid-Flood tsunamis would have overwhelmed these animals instantly, burying them rapidly before decay could begin.
Soft Tissue fossils challenge "Deep-Time"
Fossils containing soft tissue should stifle “old Earth” theories. Under ideal conditions at 45 degrees Fahrenheit, the tough protein collagen might last a million years. But these surface fossils were subjected to higher temperatures and rapid deterioration. DNA and blood cells would be destroyed much sooner – likely within thousands of years at most. Naturalists have various theories about how this happened but the jury is still out.
Dr. Mary Schweitzer found collagen in the femur of a young female T. rex and shocked both ends of the creation debate as it supports a younger timeline for dinosaurs. She is a confessing Christian which has added some controversy.
faulty Dating Methods are exposed
Tree Rings
Tree rings are often assumed to represent one year per ring, but this is not always true. Growth can be affected by droughts, extremely high rainfall, fires and other environmental factors.
Varves
Varves are layers of silt on the bottoms of lakes and are theorized to form two layers per year. However, hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanic activity can greatly affect sediment layers, as demonstrated by the Mount Saint Helens eruption.
Radiometric Dating
Radiometric or radioisotope dating is based on assumed decay rates of radioactive atoms, such as uranium decaying into lead and potassium decaying into argon. The original elements are called parent elements and the decayed elements are called daughter elements. This method assumes no contamination, a constant decay rate and a known initial composition which are assumptions that cannot be verified. For example, helium retention in granite should not exist if billions of years had passed, yet it is still present. Tests performed on recent volcanic lava flow from Mount Saint Helens and Hawaii yielded results of millions of years which clearly reveals faulty testing methods.
Ice Cores
Ice cores are believed to reflect one layer per year of past activity. But, a downed airplane on a Greenland glacier in 1942 was recovered in 1998 under 250 feet of ice. This ice consisted of far more layers than were expected.
Where Are the Human Fossils?
Approximately 95% of all fossils are marine fossils. The oceans were full of all types of organisms, including microscopic life that makes up the massive layers of chalk and limestone found throughout the world. The remaining fossils are mostly land animals, many of which were caught in layers of sediment that eroded to reveal the remains. Human remains would have decayed or been eaten by land or marine animals while everyone was trying to avoid drowning. This explains why very few human fossils are found in sedimentary layers.
Many forms of evidence show that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time, including mixed footprints in petrified stone and ancient artwork depicting dinosaurs. Otherwise, where did the artists get these ideas?
GOD ESTABLISHED NEW BOUNDARIES FOR THE WATERS
Genesis 8:1–5
The Flood waters stopped rising after five months but the tops of the mountains were not visible for four more months. During this time, Scripture indicates that God was actively reshaping the surface of the Earth as He formed the new mountains and valleys while also reworking the ocean basins as noted here:
Psalms 104:8–9
The Earth After the Flood
After God completed the destruction of all life on land and finished restructuring the Earth, He brought Noah, his family and the animals out of the Ark. The Earth was now in a completely new condition and marked by dramatic global changes:
- Original landmass was broken apart into the new continents with new oceans separating them.
- Mountain ranges were pushed into place with marine fossils now being found at the highest elevations
- The “windows of heaven” and the “greenhouse effect” were gone and the poles were now exposed to freezing temperatures. The North Pole region is basically a huge sheet of ice floating atop the oceanic waters. However, Antarctica is totally different with rock, soil and previous evidence of vast forests, rivers and mountainous areas hidden by the thick layers of ice and snow. Even evidence of huge plant-eating dinosaurs has been found there.
- Human life spans rapidly decreased as the atmosphere was now thinner and less protective
The Ice Age Begins
An Ice Age followed the Flood. The warm oceans created massive evaporation and the atmosphere was filled with volcanic ash and aerosols which blocked sunlight, causing the Earth to cool. Then, the atmosphere cleared and temperatures rose again, but ice remained at the poles and in new glaciers.
Animal Migration and Extinction
The animals that came off the Ark began to multiply and spread across the Earth. Different species developed from the original “kinds” as animals adapted to their new environments. Dinosaurs, however, did not adapt to the rapidly changing post-Flood world and became extinct.
Human Civilization After the Flood
After the Flood, Noah’s family spread out exactly as God commanded.
Ham’s descendants migrated south into northern Africa. His son, Mizraim, is credited with starting the Egyptian race with a Biblical reference and extra-Biblical sources also.
Shem’s descendants (the Semites) remained in the Middle East and became the ancestors of the Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Maltese and others
Japheth’s descendants moved north, northwest and northeast
Noah lived 350 years after the Flood but people in that region chose to worship false gods instead of his God. Stories of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel speak to this time and idol worship.
Many civilizations spoke of a great flood which supports the Biblical account. In fact, ancient Chinese language even reflects this history. The Chinese symbol for “boat” is made of the characters for vessel, eight and mouth (people) – literally meaning “eight people in a vessel.”
Historical Accounts of the flood and ark
Many civilizations reported this flood long before Moses wrote it down around 1450 BC. While they generally described the Flood in basic terms, Moses gave us many more details including why and how God did it. In fact, subsurface hydrothermal vents were not even discovered until very recently.
While many doubt the reliability of the story of a global flood that destroyed all living creatures on the land, many Biblical references confirm it as it was recorded in Genesis. Some of those are:
Isaiah 54:9 God reiterates to Isaiah that the waters “covered the Earth.”
Matthew 24:39 Jesus verifies that “the flood came and took them all away.”
Hebrews 11:7 Paul states that God “condemned the world” – not just part of it.
2 Peter 2:5 Peter said God ” … did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people.”
While there are many reports over the past centuries of finding the Ark, there is no recent verification of its location. This should not reduce our belief in the Flood as the other evidence is quite convincing. Since today’s access to Mount Ararat is restricted by Turkey’s Muslim government, the chance of locating it any time soon is unlikely.
Doctrine of the Flood
Hebrews 11:7
Noah obeyed God through faith, even when the warning involved events never before seen. His obedience demonstrated that salvation comes through faith.
Life can be turbulent like a flood but God always provided a lifeline. He did this through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as Noah and his family were saved by entering the one door of the Ark, Jesus saves us from drowning in our sin and troubles when we trust Him and enter God’s presence through Him. Jesus said:
John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.