CreationEvolution

The Bible Clearly Teaches That the Flood Was Universal and Global

• Universal: Every Living, Breathing Creature was Destroyed by the Flood - with the exception of those creatures that were preserved on the ark with Noah, his three sons and their wives.

– Note: The living things that were completely destroyed by the flood involved specifically those animals that lived on "dry land" and "breathed" (Gen.7:22). Animals that lived in the water (e.g. fish) could survive outside the ark, though, no doubt, in the turbulence of the flood, many fish died as well.

• Global: Every High Mountain on the Face of the Earth Was Covered By the Waters of the Flood

The Flood Was Universal - Every Living, Breathing Creature was Destroyed by the Flood

• Genesis 6:17-19 - I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

• Genesis 7:21-23 - Every living thing that moved on the earth perished --birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark

• Genesis 9:11,15 - I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood ; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth . . . I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

• 1Peter 3:20 - God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.

• 2Peter 2:5 - [God] did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.

• 2Peter 3:5-6 - Long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

The Flood Was Global - Every High Mountain on the Face of the Earth Was Covered By the Waters of the Flood

• Genesis 7:18-20 - The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.

• Psalm 104:5-9 - He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

• Isaiah 54:9 - I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

Where Did All the Water For the Flood Come From?

• 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. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Two Sources:

1. The Springs (or Fountains) of the Great Deep

• May Have Lasted For 150 days

• Came from within the earth

• Probably Involved a Great Deal of Volcanic Activity

2. The Floodgates (or Windows) of the Heavens

• An Extraordinary Rain

• Lasted for "40 days and 40 nights"

What are the Springs (or Fountains) of the Deep?

• Referred to twice in the flood account:

– Genesis 7:11 – . . . the springs of the great deep burst forth. . .

– Genesis 8:2 - . . . the springs of the deep . . . had been closed

• As best we can tell, the “springs (or fountains) of the great deep” seem to be underground water sources that existed deep within the earth prior to the flood.

• These springs are said to “burst forth” which seems to imply a violent release of the water as it breaks through the ground.

• Note: Given the number of volcanic rocks that we see interspersed between the layers in the rocks laid down by the Flood – it seems likely that the bursting forth of these fountains involved an large number volcanic eruptions as well.

Taken from Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning – Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 7th Edition, 2001, p.101

Available at http:www.creationscience.com

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Taken from Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning – Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 7th Edition, 2001, p.101

Available at http:www.creationscience.com

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Taken from Walt Brown, Ph.D., In the Beginning – Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 7th Edition, 2001, p.101

Available at http:www.creationscience.com

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What are the Floodgates (or Windows) of the Heavens?

• The other source of the waters for Noah's Flood was “the floodgates (windows) of the heavens.” Genesis 7:12 says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights continuously.

• Genesis 2:5 tells us that there was no rain before man was created. Because of this, some have suggested that there was no rainfall anywhere on the earth until the time of the Flood. However, the Bible does not actually say this, so we really don’t know for sure.

• The expression “floodgates of the heavens” is used twice in reference to the flood :

– Genesis 7:11 – . . . the floodgates of the heavens were opened. . .

– Genesis 8:2 - . . . the floodgates of the heavens had been closed. . .

• This expression is only used four other times in the Old Testament:

– Twice in 2 Kings 7:2 and 19, referring to God's miraculous intervention in sending rain

– Once in Isaiah 24:18 to refer to an outpouring of God’s judgment

– Once in Malachi 3:10, where the phrase is used again of God intervening to pour out abundant blessings on his people

• Here in Genesis, the expression seems to refer to an extraordinary rain poured out by God during the first 40 days of the flood.

What was the water source for this extraordinary “floodgates of the heavens” rainfall?

• “If all the water in our present atmosphere were suddenly precipitated, it would suffice to cover the ground to an average depth of less than two inches” (Whitcomb and Morris, The Genesis Flood, 1961, p.121)

• So how was the rain able to continue falling for 40 days and nights during the flood?

• One possibility is that God miraculously created water for the rain throughout the 40 days and nights.

• But as Morris observes: “There is no question that God could have accomplished the entire event miraculously (say by special creation of the waters of the Flood and then by special ‘uncreation’ of them when it was over), but this would be unnecessary and therefore theologically unlikely” (Henry Morris, The Genesis Record, p.195)

The Water Canopy Theory?

• In 1874, Isaac Vail (1840 -1912) proposed (for the first time) a theory that has come to be known as the "Water Canopy Theory". (Walt Brown, In the Beginning, Seventh Edition, p.260)

• This theory was later popularized by Whitcomb and Morris in their book The Genesis Flood (1961). (Brown, p.266)

• Whitcomb and Morris have argued that, prior to the flood, the earth was surrounded by a "water canopy" and that God opened the floodgates of heaven by causing the water canopy to fall to the earth.

• To support this idea they point to Genesis 1:6-8 where it says that on the second day of creation God separated the waters that were on the earth by an “expanse” (Hebrew: raqiya) or “firmament”.

• Genesis 1:6-8 – And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." (7) So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. (8) God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the second day.

• They reason that “expanse” in this text refers to the atmosphere, because it says a few verses later that birds fly in the expanse (Genesis 1:20).

Thus they envision a literal blanket of water surrounding the earth (not to scale):

Problems With the Canopy Theory

• In recent years many traditional supporters of the Water Canopy Theory, such as Larry Vardiman (with ICR) have discovered a problem with the canopy theory: The “greenhouse effect” caused by a large water canopy would cause the surface of the earth to become intolerably hot!

• Using computer models, Vardiman tried to solve the problem, but found that he had to drastically reduce the amount of water vapor in the canopy in order to make it work.

• It seems that the maximum amount of water that could be held in such a canopy without causing things on the earth to get too hot would be the rain equivalent of about 6.5 feet of water.

• Obviously such a reduced canopy would not significantly contribute to the 40 days and nights of rain at the beginning of the flood!

• Many creation scientists are now either abandoning the water vapor canopy model or no longer see any need for such a concept, particularly if other reasonable mechanisms could have supplied the rain for the flood.

• http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/answersbook/flood12.asp#2

So if there is no water canopy around the earth, what is Genesis 1:6-8 talking about?

• Some other recent suggestions:

– Walt Brown:

• Expanse = the earth’s outer crust

• Waters below the expanse = subterranean water

• Waters above the expanse = surface waters (which became seas, lakes, etc. when the dry land appeared on day 3)

– Dr. Russell Humphreys:

• Expanse = interstellar space (the abode of the sun moon and stars – Genesis 1:17)

• Waters below the expanse = surface waters on the earth (which became seas, lakes, etc. when the dry land appeared on day 3)

• Waters above the expanse = water beyond the stars at the edge of the universe!

• The Traditional View – Calvin (1554), Gill (1810), Keil and Delitzsch (1890?) and others:

– Expanse = the atmosphere

– Waters below the expanse = surface waters on the earth (which became seas, lakes, etc. when the dry land appeared on day 3)

– Waters above the expanse = water stored in the clouds

• While the other views of this passage are interesting and worthy of consideration, the traditional view seems to be the most straightforward and seems to have the least problems!

So if there is no water canopy around the earth, what was the water source for this extraordinary "floodgates of the heavens" rainfall?

• The most reasonable suggestion seems to be that the water (along with rocks and mud) that burst forth from the fountains of the deep with incredibly violent force went far up into the atmosphere and fell back to the earth as rain.

Where Did All the Water Go After the Flood?

• Psalm 104:6-9 - The waters were standing above the mountains. At Thy rebuke they fled; At the sound of Thy thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which Thou didst establish for them. Thou didst set a boundary that they may not pass over; That they may not return to cover the earth. (NASB)

• This passage would seem to indicate that the bulk of the waters from Noah's Flood ended up in today's ocean basins.

• Note: On our present earth, without mountains or sea basins, water would cover the whole earth to a depth of 2.7 km, or 1.7 miles (not to scale):