Local or Global

[Dr. John Nay]

Was the flood of Genesis a local flood or a global flood, what do you think?

[Skepti Que]

Local, but I don't know how large an area was included.

[Dr. John Nay]

Over the years there has been a flood of questions relative to the Flood, especially as to whether the Flood was local or global.

Thanks to the Discovery channel and National Geographic Magazine the majority of people either believe there never was a ?Noah?s Flood? or if there was it was a local flood, e.g. the Black Sea or some place in Mesopotamia (means, Between the Rivers, i.e. between the Eurphrates and Tigris Rivers - Iraq)

For those that accept the Bible as the inspired (God-breathed) Word of God, this question is not difficult to answer. For those that do not accept the Bible in this way it is more difficult to answer, but I believe it can be answered.

First, Bible Believers: God gave man the ?sign? of the rainbow that He?d never again destroy Earth with a flood (Genesis 9:8-17).

* If the flood of Genesis was a local flood, what would God be doing each time there is a local flood? (Whether just in the region of Mesopotamia or not) I propose that He would be breaking His promise (covenant).

In other words, if the Flood was a local flood and God gave the sign of the rainbow that He?d never again destroy Earth in this way (local flood), then what would happen each time there is a local flood? Again, God would be breaking His promise. I suggest that God keeps His promises.

* Now if the flood of Genesis was a global flood, how is God doing with His promise (covenant)? I suggest He is keeping it.

I believe the Bible clearly teaches that the Flood was a global flood. However, God not only told up this in His Word, but gave us evidence all over Earth to strengthen one?s faith in His Word. I believe the following information not only strengthens one's believe in the Bible, but is strong empirical support for the factuality of a global flood to the non-Bible believer:

Coal: There is an estimated 7-14 trillion tons of coal on Earth, with some seams 100 feet thick. It takes an estimated 7-10 cubic feet of plant foliage to produce one cubic foot of coal. Many indications are given that these deposits of coal were swept into position, layered and produced by water catastrophe (not only this, but a major event -- like the Flood , not by the slow accumulation of organic material in fresh water swamps, as the evolutionists would have us to believe. Fossil trees are found extending through several layers of coal, some trees are upside down; these coal seam have various kinds of marine (sea) fossils, mixed with large boulders, etceteras, pointing to a global flood. Coal is found throughout Earth, pointing to a global flood.

Fossils: About 1/7 of the earth?s surface, from Siberia into Alaska, is a frozen muck containing the remains of millions of mammoths. There are many places around the world containing log jams of fossil dinosaur bones. Dinosaur National Monument in Utah contains over 300 different kinds of dinosaurs. In Sicily there are graveyards with thousands of hippopotamuses, in the Permian beds of Texas there?s an estimated 8 billion fossilized clams with their shells closed, in a three foot thick stratum (layer). When a clam dies the muscle relaxes and the shell opens. These clams were buried alive! Evolutionists want to clam up over this kind of information. Earth is a global graveyard of fossils, pointing to a global flood.

Petroleum: Oil deposits point to the global flood. Although geologists are divided over the source and mechanism for the production of oil, most all agree that it is the product (pun intended) of organics (things that were alive) and plants subjected to pressure, heat and other stuff (bacterial action, radioactive bombardment, etc.) If you look up petroleum in an encyclopaedia (pretty exciting, huh!), you?ll find that a global flood fits very nicely with how geologists propose petroleum was formed (local floods).

I believe that the natural reading of the following passages strongly suggest a global flood:

Genesis 7:18-23; Isaiah 54:9; Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20

I am aware of the argumentation against these passages refering to a global flood, so in support of the global flood conclusion I would again point to the Covenant of the Rainbow.