“A Few Little Facts About the Genesis Flood”

     Are the first 11 chapters of Genesis just grand narratives that are supposed only to impart spiritual truths and not be taken seriously as an account of real events in the past?

     As true believers, we hold fast to the truth that the Bible is the Word of God and the events recorded therein are real historical events and the people, real people who once walked the face of the earth. One of the stories in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is the story of Noah, found in chapters six through nine.

     As we read these chapters, we would immediately see that the deluge that God had brought down upon the earth was worldwide. It destroyed every land-dwelling, air-breathing creatures that walked upon the face of the earth in order to judge its extremely-wicked inhabitants (Gen. 6:11-13). This story of a worldwide flood may have parallels in Babylonian and Greek mythologies, but the Biblical account is the original.

     Granted that the Genesis flood actually happened, there is also a theory that it was just local, meaning it occurred only in the area where Noah’s family and their incurably-wicked neighbors lived because the population has not yet scattered to the ends of the earth. Life started in the Garden of Eden in Babylon (Gen. 2:11).

     The Bible plainly states that the Genesis flood is a global flood, not local. And to this, some traces in nature also agree.

     Let us look first at what the Bible says.

     In Genesis 6, God commanded Noah to build an ark. He specified its size, measurements, and the materials for making it. It was a gigantic and overwhelmingly-imposing workmanship of wood, and Noah and his family probably spent more or less a hundred years making it because people before the flood lived hundreds of years (Gen. 5:27, 6:3). Why would God impose on them such a lengthy and laborious task to the point of being ridiculous in the eyes of their sinful neighbors if He would only inundate and submerge the place where they lived? God could have just told them to relocate (Morris, 2009) until the deluge is over. And after that, they can choose to return or not to anymore.

     Also, God asked Noah to save a pair of each air-breathing land mammals and birds and put them in the ark. This task also required effort which would have proven unnecessary if God’s intention is only to bring down a massive local flood in the cradle of civilization. For sure, Noah and his family will find the same species of animals in the distant parts of the world they will flee to. For sure, by this time, there are already a lot of them.

     The Lord Jesus Himself referred to the Genesis flood as a global flood (Mt. 24:39); and so does His apostle, Peter, later on (II Pet. 3:6) who referred to it as a worldwide hydraulic cataclysm that overwhelmed the world and caused it to perish (Morris, 1998).

     Let’s now look at the physical traces found scattered at different places on earth.

     First is the sedimentary rocks which were formed by the rapid and catastrophic nature of the Genesis flood (ICR, 2015b). The Genesis flood was not a tranquil flood (Morris, 2015b) or a merely suspicious steady downpour on a regular rainy day. It was a violent and destructive flood. Everything that breathed on the face of the earth died not only of drowning because the floodwaters had reached mountain levels (Gen. 8:4) but also of the impact of tsunamis and waves caused by the shrill drop of water from the sky that submerged and defaced the soil and also of the springs from beneath the earth that just burst forth (Gen. 7:11). These forces caused the sedimentary rocks to form.

     Looking inside the sedimentary rock formations, we will find marine fossils or remains of aquatic creatures that didn’t survive the flood (Morris, 2011). They are scattered everywhere around the world and are usually found in high continental areas and near the summits of mountains and volcanoes (ICR, 2015a). That means that the waters of the Genesis flood carried these extinct sea creatures upward to these high areas where they perished. And when the waters subsided, they were no longer taken down. Those that did survive the flood are now the sharks, whales, dolphins, sea lions, janitor fishes, and others that now swim around in our different bodies of water.

     Why did they not go down the way they were taken up? It’s because the sheer violence of the flood caused the sedimentary rocks to form and wrap the sea creatures that drift near it. This action caused the sea creatures to be fossilized. If the Genesis flood was just local, the fossils should be found only in the Middle East. But they are scattered everywhere around the world (Morris, 1998).

     These findings prove not only the global nature of the Genesis flood but also of the relatively youngness of Earth. Morris (1998) argues that marine fossils cannot last for a billion years. Instead, they are trapped in the rocks briefly and catastrophically. He adds, “To become fossilized, a plant or animal must usually have hard parts such as bone, shell, or wood. It must be buried quickly to prevent decay and must be undisturbed throughout the process” Morris (1973).

by: Marven T. Baldo

References:

International Creation Research (ICR) (2023a). Much evidence exists for a worldwide flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/geological-strata

ICR (2023b). Worldwide catastrophic evidence is everywhere. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/worldwide-flood

Morris, H. M. (1973). Geology and the flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/article/geology-flood

Morris, H. M. (1998). Why Christians should believe in a global flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/article/why-christians-should-believe-global-flood

Morris H. M. (2023). Jesus and the flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/article/jesus-flood

Morris, J. D. (2009). The vital doctrine of a global flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from 

https://www.icr.org/article/vital-doctrine-global-flood

Morris J. D. (2011). Fish in the flood. Retrieved September 24, 2023 from https://www.icr.org/article/fish-flood