Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

The Young Earth Creation model is not just about how God created the universe, but on the foundations of how everything on the planet began, including languages, cultures, and everything. It is the model of origins that brings us to where we are today. The Young Earth Creation Model (YEC) emphasizes on the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Last week, I talked about Genesis 1 and its genre, if it is history, myth, allegory, or else. I did skip Genesis 2-5 but I will come back to that later. Noah’s Flood plays such a significant role that it covers 4 chapters of the Bible. And many questions are asked. Was it Local or Global? Was it an original account or was it based on Babylonian myths like Gilgamesh? Is there any scientific evidence for it? Is it important to the Christian faith to believe in the Flood? I’ll tackle these four questions in this post.

Local or Global? Here we need to look at the text. The sources of water from the flood are 40 days and nights of rain and the fountains of the deep bursting forth. The account describes how mountains were covered by up to a depth of about 15 cubits (or about 20 feet). The flood then covered the earth for 150 days. After these 150 days, the Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. But it was not for an additional three months that the mountain tops were visible. Ultimately, Noah spent just over a year in the Ark before disembarking.

So those are the facts. All the Old Earth positions have a local flood interpretation of the account. Their reasons why is because when the flood waters wiped all the living creatures from the face of the earth, they believe this just references the ‘known world’. This concept is seen in Acts 2 at Pentacost when peoples from all over the earth were in Jerusalem. But let’s take this a little deeper. How can we tell if we are talking about “the whole planet” or “just the known earth”? Let’s look at the clues. We have waters covering the mountain tops for well over 150 days. The local flood supporters suggest that Mesopotamia is a basin or that the Flood is what filled the Black Sea. But if this were the case, the mountains, which were supposed to be hidden for 8 months would easily be seen. Let us not forget that Mesopotamia has two rivers that drain into the Persian Gulf. So those flood waters would easily go right into the ocean if it was local. All the facts combined show that only a Global Flood is optional here. That is the only explanation from the text alone for the time frame and the physical description of the Flood.

Was the account based on other flood legends? This works two ways. Was the Biblical account based off others, or were the others based off the Biblical account. The Babylonian account of Gilgamesh was written before Genesis was compiled. So the claim that the Biblical account was based off that has initial merit. The Jews never engaged with ancient Babylon possibly if Ur, where Abraham was from, was part of Babylon. So it doesn’t make sense for Abraham to pass on the flood legend as history to a people that didn’t deal with that opposing culture. There is one detail though that stands out to me: the two Arks. Noah’s Ark was about 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet. This is the world’s #1, most ideal ship building ratio used in most cargo ships and aircraft carriers today. No ship builder has found a better ratio that perfectly balances strength, stability, and comfort. Gilgamesh’s ark was 180x180x180 cubits. A perfect sphere. That would capsize with every wave. It would be impossible to stay in that thing. There is no basis for Genesis to base the account off Gilgamesh, but there is very good reason for the Babylonians to base their myth off the legends that would have passed through the generations from the Flood account, which eventually was written down by Moses. Worldwide, there are many Flood legends, and the Chinese word for “Flood” literally means “8 people in a boat”. How did they get it all? We find that out with the Tower of Babel dispersion.

Scientific Evidence? This one is a biggie because the major dating methods that suggest an old earth depend on uniformitarian assumptions. The Biblical account depicts a Global Flood, so we should see evidence of large amounts of water affecting the entire planet. And that’s exactly what we see. In fact, the Evolutionary model depicts a worldwide Flood as well. The difference is when. The Biblical account was 4400 years ago, and the Evolutionary account was before life initially formed in the Primordial Soup. Two things that are often used against Noah’s Flood, the Geologic Column and fossils, are actually best supported by Noah’s Flood. The Geologic Column is made up of sedimentary layers, which by definition were laid down by water (or occasionally, wind, but usually water). The Geologic Column as shown in textbooks is nowhere to be found complete anywhere in the world. It doesn’t exist. Every area has layers missing, layers out of order, and in some places upside down. What is more is that between all the rock layers, the boundaries are smooth and flat. They do not show evidence of plants having grown through the layers (while there are plant fossils, this is different than plants growing) nor do they show evidence of wind or water erosion between the layers. Fossils themselves do not reflect the Evolutionary model. While there are several ways to form fossils, the most common in the natural world shows it must be buried quickly, rapidly before any scavengers can get to it and be put under pressure. The Evolutionary model does not have this. But Noah’s Flood does. With the fountains of the deep bursting forth, this would create sediment-laden waves that would produce tsunami like effects. This would account for the smooth layers as well as very smooth flat-topped hills as such seen in Oklahoma where, had they grown to standard mountain height, they would be over 20,000 feet tall. I’ll be visiting these hills in September. Noah’s Flood provides a quality mechanism to lay down the rock layers and provides the conditions to not only create fossils but also in the order, location, and condition they are found in. There are many more evidences but that will need to wait for another post at another time.

The last question is “Is the Flood important for a Christian to believe”? The Flood is referenced a number of times throughout Scripture. The Flood is a picture of Baptism, of God using water as a tool of judgment to bring about new life. It is also the same picture of what happens when we believe in Christ. When we die to ourselves and to the world, God then raises us up back to life. This sequence is seen numerous times in the Bible and the picture painted here in by the Hebrew letters comprises the word “Amen”. Jesus, when talking about the End Times warned about the “Days of Noah.” Peter warned about scoffers who deny the Flood account. Peter, in the same context tells us the world will be destroyed by fire like it was with water at the end times.

The Flood was a major worldwide event that reminds us that God takes sin seriously. He did promise never to Flood the earth again. This also rules out a local flood because there have been MANY local floods in recorded history. But there has never been another Global Flood and there never will be. But if we believe the account, and we believe there is only one means of Salvation (the Ark) only one door (Jesus Christ) it gives us a much clearer understanding of the Gospel. Next week, I’ll address the next major historical event of the Young Earth Creation account based off Scripture: the Tower of Babel dispersion.