Noah’s Flood – Was It Real? Did It Happen?
To see if Noah’s flood was real, there should be:
1…flood stories in ancient cultures and
2…physical evidence in the Earth of the cataclysmic event
1…Are there any flood stories from ancient cultures? There are over 300 flood stories from ancient cultures from all over the world on every continent. From Africa to China, India, the Philippines, Hawaii, South, Central & North America, Greece, Sumeria, the British Isles, etc.
As can be expected, these accounts differ a little but they all have one man or family saving themselves in a boat while the rest of the civilization gets wiped out because God or the gods were displeased for some reason. Many ancient cultures divide their history into pre- & post-flood periods. The pre-flood people all had long lifespans while the post-flood people had normal lifespans.
Here’s just an example of a few of these ancient cultures;
Put them all together and they sound like this—Once there was a worldwide flood, sent by God to judge the wickedness of man. But there was one righteous family which was forewarned of the coming flood. They built a boat on which they survived the flood along with the animals. As the flood ended, their boat landed on a high mountain from which they descended and repopulated the whole earth. Sound familiar? It should!
Why would all these ancient cultures, now separated by geography, have similar flood stories if a global flood never happened?
2…Is there any physical evidence of a global flood? Yes and no!
No because most geologists bring up things that should result from a global flood but we don’t see in the Earth’s terrain. However, flood geologists can answer most, but not all, of these problems. Remember though that scientists are looking at the same set of facts. The only difference is in how they interpret those facts. One other thing that occurs here (and in other subjects also) is that many scientists have a natural aversion to interpreting data in a fashion that relates to ‘God’ or anything supernatural. This ‘colors’ their interpretation of the data.
There are, however, 7 strong evidences for a global flood;
– fossils of sea creatures found high above sea level, like at the tops of the very highest mountains, due to ocean waters having flooded over them. For example, fossilized shellfish have been found in the Himalayas.
– rapid burial of plants and animals. Some animals still had undigested food frozen in their stomachs. Billions of nautiloid fossils are found in one layer in the Redwall Limestone of the Grand Canyon. This layer was deposited catastrophically by a massive flow of sediment.
– rapidly deposited sediment layers spread across vast areas. The chalk beds of England (the White Cliffs of Dover) can be found across Europe, into the Middle East and even parts of the midwestern U.S. and western Australia. These were deposited by huge water currents within days.
– rapid or no erosion between rock layers, but not gradual erosion which evolution predicts.
– many strata laid down in rapid succession. Rocks don’t normally bend, they break because they’re hard and brittle. But in many cases, we find rock layers that have been bent. This is due to rapidly being deposited and folded while still wet and pliable from the tremendous pressure of flood waters.
– almost all mountain ranges run roughly from north to south. If there was one super-continent before the flood, when that continent broke into pieces, the mountain ranges were formed when one piece of land bumped into another. The longest mountain range is the mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs north to south down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and is on the ocean floor. On both sides of this ridge are sand deposits, which would be expected if the waters of the deep were broken up and burst thru the ocean floor. This video explains it best but you don’t have to agree with everything in this video to see what we mean. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD9ZGt9UA-U. Evolutionary geologists have explanations for the above items but honestly, they’re pretty weak.
We’ve heard for years that rock takes millions of years to form.
– in 1975 a clock was found embedded in rock near the South Jetty at Westport, Washington
– a marine spark plug was found encased in rock on a beach in Ventura County,California in 1998
– Mt.St.Helens eruption in 1980 laid down rock layers in a matter of hours and days. Some of the rock layers were over 600 feet deep.
– doesn’t rock break when it bends? Yes, it does. Yet we find rock layers that have bent or folded layers in the Grand Canyon. The most famous one is the Tapeats Sandstone at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Geologists have traced this 90 degree fold. There are no signs of heat deformation, so it is not metamorphic rock. The only signs of cracking are from drying, which is to be expected. Geologists note that the folded layers were laid down at the same time. There are other bent rock formations in the Grand Canyon.
– Dr. Warren D. Allmon, a secular scientists, says, “Indeed geology appears to have outgrown Lyell (the ‘father’ of Geology). In an intellectual shift that may well rival that which accompanied the widespread acceptance of plate tectonics, the last 30 years have witnessed an increasing acceptance of rapid, rare, episodic, and catastrophic events.” Many secular scientists have been shifting away from the idea that fossil layers were laid down slowly and gradually in the past. But they still agree with the millions of years timescale. But where to they put these millions of years if they don’t put them where Lyell said to.
– when Mt. St. Helens re-erupted in 1982, the new drainage channel of the North Fork of the Toutle River was established in a single day.
– in 2002, the Guadalupe River in Texas had extensive flooding. The flood carved out the Canyon Lake Gorge about one mile in length and as high as 50 feet in a matter of days. Normally, a steep walled, narrow gorge in thought to have been done by slow, persistent erosion. Many of the geological Canyon formations are indistinguishable from other formations that are attributed to long term, slower processes. This data lends further credence to the hypothesis that some of the most spectacular canyons on Earth may have been carved out rapidly during ancient megaflood events. There are several other rapidly formed canyons in the USA.
Below is one theory of how the flood happened. While there are some controversial things in this video, it does bring up some very interesting points.
There is much, much more proof of a global flood. The book that started the modern flood geology movement was “The Genesis Flood” by Morris & Whitcomb in 1961. Dr. Morris was a recognized expert in hydrology (the study of water) and was the Chairman of the department at Virginia Polytech University for over 20 years.
While anything in history cannot be proven with 100% accuracy, overall the global flood has some positive proofs that point to its happening.
Please check out these references:
Book references;
“A Flood of Evidence” by Bodie Hodge & Ken Ham
“In the Beginning”Dr. Walt Brown
“The New Answers Books 1,2,3 & 4” from Answers in Genesis
“A Pocket Guide to The Global Flood” & “A Pocket Guide to Noah’s Ark”, both from Answers in Genesis.
Websites & videos;
www.icr.org/geological-strata
http://creation.com/geomorphology-provides-evidence-for-global-flood
http://answeringenesis.org/the-flood/global/worldwide-flood-evidence
www.alwaysbeready.com/flood-evidence
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMSSwoJFq-8 this is an interview with Dr. Andrew Snelling, a geologist.
For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://BSSSB-LLC.com