Again it is a beautiful morning – sunshine and scattered clouds. We have been without a good, heavy rain now for quite a few weeks. So much so that I started watering my trees, lawn and shrubs. Yet the weather reports say snow for the upcoming week. Peering outside, it certainly does not look like that will happen. There are no distant thunderheads or winds that indicate a front is coming. Before the Noation flood, I would imagine the people felt much like this – that everything would always continue as it is now.
And that brings us to the question of the week; was Noah's flood local or global?
Secular science tells us that throughout history, the earth has experienced floods in virtually every area, but occurring as separate (in time and location) events. Creation science agrees that local floods do occur in various areas and different times and that local floods do leave their imprint in the area affected. But the one-time unique condition of a global flood, is the only explanation of worldwide fossil-bearing layers thousands of feet deep, that makes any sense.
Geological strata containing marine fossils provide significant confirmation that oceans once covered all the continents, even the highest mountainous areas. Enormously widespread strata layers demonstrate intercontinental (global) flooding.
Let us look a little closer. Sedimentary rocks have almost all been laid down by moving waters. These sedimentary mudstones make up the bulk of Earth’s mountains and continents. It has long been taught by secular scientists that these mudstones could only be formed by “slow accumulation of sediments in the bottom of calm, shallow water bodies (like lakes).” Such statements support evolution over millions of years and millions of local floods.
Some Christians have tried to put these millions of years of rock formation before the global Flood to explain the bulk of the rock layers that contain fossils. But the problem is that the Flood waters would have ripped up a number of these old rock layers and laid down new ones! When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 secular scientists were hard put to explain the resulting layered mudstones, some even recorded to have accumulated in a matter of twenty minutes! The fossil record itself is evidence for a worldwide flood. “As Ken Ham has often said, ‘If there really was a worldwide flood, what would you expect to see? Billions of dead things, buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.’ This is exactly what we do see.” A world-wide flood has left its mark on every continent on this planet.
God’s word is clear about the historic reality of a world-wide flood in the days of Noah. In Genesis 7:19–22 God tells us that “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered” as “the waters prevailed 15 cubits [26 feet] upward.”, and that all air-breathing land animals (and people) not included in the Ark also died (Genesis 7:22–23). The word all, literally means all – not just something local.
DIGGING DEEPER:
If you are still having doubts, here are some problems associated with a local flood theory;
· “If the Flood was local, why did Noah have to build an Ark? He could have walked to the other side of the mountains and missed it.
· If the Flood was local, why did God send the animals to the Ark so they would escape death? There would have been other animals to reproduce that kind if these particular ones had died.
· If the Flood was local, why was the Ark big enough to hold all kinds of land vertebrate animals that have ever existed? If only Mesopotamian animals were aboard, the Ark could have been much smaller.
· If the Flood was local, why would birds have been sent on board? These could simply have winged across to a nearby mountain range.
· If the Flood was local, how could the waters rise to 15 cubits (8 meters) above the mountains (Genesis 7:20)? Water seeks its own level. It couldn’t rise to cover the local mountains while leaving the rest of the world untouched.
· If the Flood was local, people who did not happen to be living in the vicinity would not be affected by it. They would have escaped God’s judgment on sin.3 If this happened, what did Christ mean when He likened the coming judgment of all men to the judgment of “all” men (Matthew 24:37–39) in the days of Noah? A partial judgment in Noah’s day means a partial judgment to come.
· If the Flood was local, God would have repeatedly broken His promise never to send such a flood again.
Belief in a world-wide Flood, as Scripture clearly indicates, has the backing of common sense, science and Christ Himself.” (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v21/n3/flood)Food to ponder on during the upcoming week!
Until next time, take care and God Bless!
Willow
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