Is a worldwide flood possible?

In this follow-on article to the last post ‘Did Noah’s Ark really exist?’, we examine the evidence to support a worldwide flood. When God commanded Noah to build the Ark, why would He do so if the flood was only going to be localised, surely a much smaller vessel would have been enough? And how was it possible that the entire planet was going to be covered in water, leaving only creatures that live in water and those on the Ark alive?

Since the account of Noah and the deluge, there have been many populations experiencing devastation from flooding. The news very often reports flooding across large areas of the world, many of which have destroyed property and taken the lives of people. Water is essential for life, but it can be one of the most destructive powers too, it can cause dams to burst, sweep away entire villages, devastate towns, and even large cities; nothing, it seems, is immune to the power of surging waters. Tsunamis, monsoons, and tropical storms can create massive amounts of damage, with with heavy rainfall from regional weather systems creating emergency situations in a matter of hours. These floods are often localised, but could there have been a time when flooding was severe enough to completely take all known life on the surface of the planet? The Bible answers this question with a definite yes, and has many scriptures that can back up this event.

We’ve all seen news reports of flooding, maybe we’ve even experienced or been affected by it, but could the entire surface of our planet have been completely covered in deep water?

Before going into details of the flood, we have to ask why God decided to wipe out so much life on earth. It wasn’t too long after the final day of creation when problems began, immediately after Adam and Eve sinned; their fatal decision changed everything. Up to that point God had created a paradise home for us to enjoy, it was not meant to be a place where we would all suffer. But, after the downfall in Eden humans lost their opportunity to live forever because sin had introduced something that never previously existed; death: Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. Not only had death been brought into the world through sin, the entire planet would, from that point on, undergo drastic changes that have continued into our present day. God would not have wiped out so much life if it was not bad, in fact He made everything good: Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. He never designed our home to become violent, humans and animals were never meant to kill and be killed. We know how cruel the animal kingdom can be, but human history demonstrates that humans are the cause of our biggest problems; it seems they have not learned anything from the flood account. From scripture it’s clear that from the point of Adam and Eve being deceived by Satan, we have all had to suffer: Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Humans are still fighting, violence is common throughout the world during the final days of human rulership. It was never the intention of God for us to live this way.

Leading up to the flood God could see that the intention of man was always bad: Genesis 6:5-6 When the Lord saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil, the Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved. But surely if God is highly intelligent and able to do anything (except tell a lie) and is able to see into the future, why would He create the first two humans knowing they would do wrong; what sort of God does such a thing? Although He is outside of time and can see into the future, that does not mean He chooses to do so. For example; Imagine a sports fan is waiting to see their favourite team playing a game, they can’t see it live so the event is recorded to watch later on. Once recorded in full, at any point the fan can easily fast forward or skip to the end of the game to see the results. But it’s far more likely the person would want to watch the entire event, not wanting to miss any of the action and see the results after everything had played out. God can do this with our past, present, and future. He knows that soon Satan will be destroyed and God will establish His kingdom, one that will be given power over the entire world. But perhaps between that time ahead and where we are now God is more focused on how to draw us to Him and repent of our sins, giving us a fair chance to avoid being destroyed by allowing time for us to escape His coming wrath, so long was we show a genuine and sincere desire to serve Him: 2nd Peter 3:9 The Lord isn’t slow to do what he promised, as some people think. Rather, he is patient for your sake. He doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act.

We all look different, but in the eyes of God he sees only the human race. He would rather we turned back from our sinful ways than destroy any of us.

The reason God flooded the earth was because of rebellion, and that’s what we are seeing today. Going back to the time of Noah the Bible paints an image of massive destruction on a scale that’s hard to imagine today. The description of the waters flooding the earth over a long period, not just days of very heavy rain, warns us of what He can do when people turn away from him. The flood account begins with this scripture: Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. This event would have made any Hollywood end of the world disaster movie look tame in comparison. The springs of the great deep bursting open would have very likely created massive explosions, causing huge amounts of water to shoot horizontally from the sea. The water falling from the floodgates of the heavens would have been highly destructive, and there was torrential rainfall for a continuous forty days and forty nights, but in total 150 days of no-stop rain. Anything alive before the waters came had no chance of survival, nothing with the breath of life was going to escape this judgement.

A Hollywood special effects frame shows us what a massive flood could do to out larger cities, but the flood of Noah would have made this scene look like taking a shower when compared.

But again, how was this flood worldwide and not localised? There is one scripture in particular that makes the flood physically impossible for it to have been a local flood. Genesis 7:20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. Fifteen cubits is approximately 23 feet (7 metres). It is not possible for water to cover the tops of mountains in any region without first completely covering all surrounding land. This has only ever been recorded in Genesis, it’s not been seen or reported since that time. If the flood was local there is simply no way the waters could have covered the mountain tops by 23 feet. But what about Mount Everest and surrounding Himalayan mountain range, surely there is no way waters could have risen enough to reach a depth of over 29,000 feet and then cover the top by 23 feet? Mount Everest and other large mountains have been formed through tectonic plate shifting, where land pushes together and rises upwards. Around the time of the Genesis Flood mountains such as Everest and other large peaks of land were still lying flat, not yet fully formed due to the land masses pushing together and rising high. When the waters came they were likely not yet fully formed; this would allow for a more logical explanation as to why it is possible to cover the entire planet with water. A very interesting fact is that many various fossils (sea bed types) are found on the top of Mount Everest, they could be there only if at one time the land that pushed together, forming this mountain, was covered in water.

Today tectonic plate movement is causing Mount Everest to continue growing, it’s estimated to be around 2.5 metres taller than when first conquered on 29th May 1953. Plenty of marine life fossils are found on the top, proving it was covered in water before being ‘pushed’ up to its current height.

In the world we see today it’s likely completely different to what existed back in the time of Noah and the flood. As already mentioned, the mountains were then not yet fully formed, still relatively flat in comparison to their heights today. The continents would have been very different in shape and topography, not resembling what we know in our time. Our planet today is covered by 70% of water, with the oceans being deeper than land is higher. On average the height of land above water on a worldwide scale is around 2,756 feet. If at the time of the Genesis Flood the land was even flatter this figure could have been a lot lower, making a flood that covered the entire planet even more feasible for the skeptics.

Another way for the earth to accommodate such massive change in our atmosphere would be due to the movement of the troposphere. This is where all the weather sits, it ranges from sea level to around 60,000 feet at the Equator, to around 20,000 at the poles. These are not fixed numbers, as the troposphere can expand and contract. This would allow the flood waters on Noah to push the atmosphere up higher, and contract again when the waters receded. Imagine the troposphere as a massive bellow, moving in and out when the flood waters came and destroyed an ancient world.

A Cumulus Nimbus grows to the height of the tropopause where it forms the distinct ‘anvil’ shape. Sometimes the lifting action can push the cloud through the tropopause into the stratosphere. The tropopause is our expanding and contracting weather system layer.

There are also hundreds of ancient accounts and legends relating to a global flood, all on a worldwide scale. There are over 200 stories about a flood that came and swept away humans and animals, leaving only a family and animals on board a boat. If the account is fake, then why do so many other cultures have these stories all ranging from being written at different times, with the same end result? These reports come from Africa, China, Mexico, Greece, and many other places far away from each other. They all have a strikingly similar idea of a righteous person and his family, with animals, who are saved in a large wooden vessel from a global flood that God has caused due to his anger regarding the people of that time.

Just some of the flood story data from around the world.

Okay, these are all the stories about the flood, but what about some evidence? The fossil record is one of the best ways to prove there was indeed a flood that not only covered the entire planet, but killed millions of living creatures during the process. Articles on this website have touched on the subject before now, and again we can look at this area of the flood as proof. For something to become a fossil it needs to be buried quickly, sedimentary deposits and water are perfect for this. If the living creature dies suddenly there is no chance for scavengers to come along and remove the body, it will also not have a chance to decay if buried quickly in the way the flood would have covered living creatures. This would allow preservation of whatever was buried, and in time with various minerals it would become a well preserved fossil. When examining the fossil record there is one thing that stands out. Bird and Non-avian dinosaur fossils are frequently found in a characteristic posture. The head is thrown back, tail extended, and mouth wide open. This suggests they were drowning, and were being crushed by something heavy pushing down on them (likely the flood water containing debris). This is known as a death throw, the Opisthotonic death pose.

This is how most fossils are found, the death throw is common and shows the last moments of the creature dying from drowning and being crushed.

There are tree stumps found that are have been buried in various layers thought to be millions of years old, each layer dating at large amounts of time apart. But how would a wooden stump last long enough to stay standing while waiting thousands of years to become buried upright in various layers when the reality if that a tree stump, or long trunk, will soon fall over due to rotting. This makes absolutely no sense to use as a reason for scientists to ‘prove’ there was no worldwide flood. If anything, this proves the very opposite.

No way can a tree trunk last thousands of years standing out of the ground in wind and rain, or even dry weather, while waiting for layers to slowly cover it; the idea presents without any logic.

What about the canyons and ravines that have been cut out by rivers? Well, in many cases there have been ice glaciers that are proven to have cut out massive river valleys and deep ravines. A global flood would have also produced impressive carvings in the land. For example, the Grand Canyon is believed by many Christians to have been carved out from the flood of Noah, all the massive volumes of rock, mud, debris, and water pressing down and rushing through the land to create high walls on either side of the impressive Colorado River. Anyone doubting this can easily research Mount St. Helens, in Washington State, USA, and the eruption that took place on May the 18th 1980. When this volcano blew of a larger part of the top and side, it sent rocks, lava, and about 540 million tons of ash into the air. The debris that fell down the sides of the mountain impacted lakes and the water was pushed over the edges causing it to run through the land below and create a ‘mini Grand Canyon’ in 24 hours. It left behind layers of rock that resemble the layers geologists claim take thousands and millions of years, in just one day. These layers contain tree trunks that, just like the examples they use to justify millions of years, standing upright through these layers, and hydrologic sorting has allowed various objects to be placed through the layers at different heights. All of what can be seen in this mini Grand Canyon was produced in what geologists would consider an impossible time frame; 24 hours.

An area of the ‘mini Grand Canyon’ formed in 24 hours after Mount St. Helens erupted in May 1980.

There are plenty more explanations as to how the world was completely covered in water. Apart from the science, and masses of evidence, to support a flood was capable of wiping out so much life on a worldwide scale, there are scriptures that talk about the flood, and why we should listen to the warning that God is giving us today about not following those who dies during the time of Noah. The Bible is doubted as genuine by so many, yet when we study it and see evidence to support many of the accounts contained in scripture, it becomes ever more clearer that it is inspired of someone who knows more about our world than any human: 2nd Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

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Contact: mark@truthministry.co.uk