Good News For Youth (GNFY) published under the oversight of the Alkire Rd Church of Christ elders and posted by permission of the editor.
One of this planet’s most significant events, rivaled only by the eventual end of the world itself, was the great Flood that is recorded in Genesis 6-8. Let us address two questions frequently posed regarding this catastrophe.
It is tragic that some equivocate on this
subject. Willis avers : "There is simply not sufficient concrete
information to allow a dogmatic judgment on this matter" (174). The view
that the Flood was a mere local event was conceived about 300 years ago, and
those today who subscribe to that notion do so because they have been
influenced by evolutionary ideology. Note: "As with the
Creation narrative, however, the evidence and arguments from science
stack up overwhelmingly against a literal interpretation of the Flood
story" (Shelter, 52, emp.WJ). And so, in deference to "science"
(really, evolution theory) biblical data are either dismissed or manipulated so
as to produce the desired result. But the evidence for a global
flood is overwhelming.
The Mosiac language could not be plainer
relative to the extend of the Deluge. "(A)ll the high
mountains, that were under the whole heaven were covered...
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth" (Genesis
7:19-21). While it is true that occasionally comprehensive
terms are employed in a more limited sense, the context must
demand such, and that factor does not obtain here.
A portion of the Flood waters came as a
result of the fountains of "the great deep"
being broken up (Genesis
7:11). The waters of "the
deep" refer to the oceanic depths which adorn the
entire planet (cf. 1:2;
Psalms 104:6). This language
certainly suggests more than a "Mesopotamian mud
puddle."
If the Flood was but a localized
occurrence, why did God have Noah work for more than a century
constructing the Ark (of enormous capacity) when the family
(not to mention the animals) easily could have migrated
elsewhere to a safe region?
There have been numerous devastating floods
in various areas of the earth, which may impact different
locales for weeks on end. But Noah and the other inmates
of the Ark were in the vessel for more than a year. This was
no local inundation.
There are numerous ancient traditions, from
all around the globe, of a Flood that consumed the entire
earth and from which but one family was spared. Noted
archaeologist Howard Vos contends that "on all continents
and among almost all peoples of the earth flood accounts have
been found". Anthropologists have collected between 250
and 300 of these records (32). This evidence hardly suggests a
local flood.
The Flood was designed as a punishment
against the worldwide corruption of humanity (righteous Noah
excepted) (Genesis
6:5,7,13; cf.
Matthew 24:37-39;
Luke
17:26-27; I
Peter 3:20). This important point can be reconciled only with
a global disaster.
God made a covenant with Noah that no flood, of this
scope would occur ever again (Genesis
9:11). If that Flood were simply regional, Jehovah’s pledge has been violated
many times across the centuries.
Peter prophesied the future return of Christ to render judgment upon the
entire earth (II
Peter 3). The apostle then anticipates a responsive quibble.
Certain mockers would chide: "Where is the promise of his coming?"
They appeal to the apparent uniformity of nature (i.e. the present order has
prevailed for centuries). But Peter charges that these scoffers "willfully
forget" that the "world that then was, being overflowed with
water, perished" (3:6). He affirmed that the earth would be destroyed
at the time of the Lord’s return. If language means anything at all, the
implication (indeed the affirmation) is that the entire globe of Noah’s day
was ravaged by the Flood.
I am reminded of a story concerning a critic who once made the same objection. How could all of those animals have been squeezed into a vessel of that size! When asked how many animals there were, he shrugged. When pressed as to the size of the Ark, he confessed he really didn’t know. All he knew was this: That unknown quantity of animals could not have been crammed into a barge of that undetermined size.
In their tremendous book, The Genesis Flood (1961), Whitcomb and Morris put the matter in focus (and their work has not been refuted by critics to this day).
The dimensions of the Ark are given in Genesis 6. Roughly the vessel was some 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. With its three decks, it had a storage space of some 100,000 square feet or the capacity equivalent of 8 freight trains consisting of 65 cars each – a total of 520 cars.
It is estimated (by evolutionary authorities) that there are approximately 1 million animal species (Dobzhansky, 166) – which includes everything from mammals to protozoans. Many of these, of course, would not even need to be inside the Ark; others are exceedingly small. There are only about 17,600 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians altogether. This means there were at most, about 35,000 vertebrate animals within Noah’s ship. And note this: Noah brought into the Ark classifications designated as "kinds." A "kind" is a broader category than a "species". Moses spoke of "the own...after his kind" (Leviticus 11:16), and yet there are more than 500 different sorts of owls. So the number of Ark-dwelling creatures can be reduced even further.
The average animal-size within the Ark is estimated to have been about that of a sheep. A standard railroad freight car can accommodate approximately 240 sheep. Thus, only about 146 cars would be needed to facilitate the number of inmates of the Ark – considerably less than 520 cited above.
A consideration of the evidence, therefore, clearly demonstrates that the arguments levied against the biblical affirmation of a global Deluge are invalid.\
-– Wayne Jackson, July 2001 -–
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