Noah and the Global Flood

Why should you believe in the Biblical account of Noah and the Global Flood?

Hopefully, this article will shed some light on a story in the Bible that is very tough to prove 100 percent. In spite of this, I believe there are some very good answers to many of the questions related to this narrative that I personally feel make this a very believable story.

For those of you who do not know the entire story, I will try to briefly highlight the facts as recorded in the Bible in Genesis chapters 6-8. This event takes place around 2,350 BC, or about 4,370 years ago. The Bible starts by telling of God's wrath at all of the wicked people on earth whose every thought in their heart was evil and corrupt.Therefore, God says He will bring flood waters upon the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. This means that God planned to start life over on earth by destroying not only man, but all of the beasts of the earth, all of the creeping things, and all of the birds of the air. Noah and his family (who had found grace with God), were selected by God to build an ark to house their family, and a small sample of all of the kinds of reptiles, mammals, birds, and select amphibians (both male and female) that existed on earth.

These different kinds were meant by God to survive the coming catastrophic flood, to ensure their kind's future reproduction and growth. This selection for the ark though, did not include insects, fish, and those amphibians that could live totally in the sea.

God gives Noah the dimensions and instructions as to how to build an incredibly large ark/ship that He wants him to construct. In Genesis 6:14-16 of the Bible God says to Noah to "Make an ark of gopher-wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you should make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second and third decks." Since one cubit equals approximately 18 inches, the dimensions of this ark would translate to an ark with the dimensions of approximately 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high; and over 1,518,000 cubic feet total. The ship would be three decks high, and have many different rooms of many different sizes. To give you some perspective of the cubic footage capacity of this ark, this ark would be equal to almost 300 railroad boxcars of 55 ft+ in length,10.5 ft in width and 10 ft in height.

This ship would house Noah and his wife, their three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth) and their wives, as well as all of the animals, food, water, and other supplies. Noah and his sons build this ark to God's specifications, and it took approximately 120 years to complete.

Reasons Why Many Doubt The Story

The first reason that I believe some people have trouble believing in this biblical narrative is that they question that all of the animals needed could actually fit in the ark that was built. John Woodmorappe, author and science educator, in an article "How Could Noah Fit the Animals on the Ark and Care for Them." estimates that the total number of animals required for the ark at that time would be a total of 16,000 animals. He further goes on to state that he “estimates that even without the tier of cages that only 47 percent of the ark floor would have been necessary.” Lastly, it was estimated by Woodmorappe that the food supplies would have taken up another 15% of the total space. Personally, I think that both of these figures are a lot smaller than most people would imagine. Why is this?

1) Maybe these people thought that there were many animals that were to be included on the ark that in fact God did not really want to include. In Genesis 6:19-20 God states, "And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of the animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive." The key here is that God specifies kinds of animals and not species or breeds of animals, as many think. For example, God might ask that one pair of a dog kind of animal be included, but not one pair for each of the 340 breeds of dog to be included. Also, all living things that do not breathe through their nostrils shall be excluded.

Insects breathe through their skin and not through their nostrils, so they would have been excluded from the ark selection group. The last exclusion would be those amphibians that were able to live totally in the sea. In the Bible in chapter 7:2-3, God states that Noah "should also take an additional seven each of every clean animal, a male and a female; two each of every animal that are unclean, a male and a female; also seven each of the birds of the air, a male and a female, to keep the species alive on the face of the earth. These additional seven pairs of clean animals and birds were added to the ark for the purpose of later sacrifices at the alter, and for the preliminary surveying of the earth throughout the journey

2) The size of all of the animals on the ark was estimated to be smaller than a rat; with 70% of all the animals being the size of a rat or less. God was the one who was selecting the males and females of each kind of animal, and delivering them to the ark for entry. God knew that He did not want the elder and larger of each kind of animal, but rather the younger and smaller versions; as they would be the ones that would not only have a better chance of survival, but also be more productive once they were back on the land of earth. So he delivered the younger and smaller versions of the different kinds of larger animals, such as elephants, giraffes, bears, etc. According to scientists, at the time this event took place, dinosaurs were extinct for 60 million years, so there was no need for these kinds of animals to be accounted for. If you believe, on the other hand, that dinosaurs lived with man on earth, as the Bible seems to indicate might be true, they still would not pose a real problem. Not only were most dinosaurs small in size, but God would have chosen the younger and smaller size male and female of even the larger dinosaurs.

The second reason why I believe that many people do not take the ark and flood story seriously is that they do not believe that 40 days of rain could ever be enough to cause a global flood. While this is probably true if the origins of the rains came exclusively from above, the Bible tells us that the waters flooding the earth were much more than the rains from above. Most people forget, or do not know how to interpret the passage in the Bible that makes this story possible. In Genesis 7:11-12 the Bible states that, “All of the fountains of the great deep were broken up and at the same time the windows of heaven opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Many interpret this as fountains of water activated by world-wide undersea earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that occurred across the whole earth. These earthquakes and volcanic eruptions would have been responsible for throwing massive ocean waves surging back and forth across the earth.The earth's crust would have split open, and the waters would have burst forth with incredible force as fountains from below the surface of the ocean. Genesis 7:24 states, “And the waters on the earth prevailed for 150 days” (including the 40 days of rainfall), and then started to subside; but not before exceeding the highest mountains of the world by 15 cubits, or 22 feet. Noah's journey through this flood disaster was a tough one, and one that lasted one full year before all were able to disembark the ark to a dry land. But knowing this story, many people might ask, "Where did all of this disruptive water come from?" Well, recent studies have shown that incredible amounts of water exist below the earth's crust/surface level. Estimates have been quoted that the waters below the surface crust of the earth may have as much as three times the amount of water of all the worlds ocean waters put together. This breakup of the earth's crust would not only have released huge volumes of water, but molten rock as well. The lava from this event would have caused the ocean floors to rise more than several thousand feet. Toward the end of the flood, when the molten rock cooled and the ocean floors sank, the sea levels would have fallen and the water drained off. A world wide flood such as the one just mentioned would explain the world wide fossil-bearing sedimentary layers found miles above sea level. To support this statement, many scientists all over the world have found millions of sea or marine fossils embedded in the rock layers of many of the highest mountains in the world. For example, near the very top of the Grand Canyon (about a mile above sea level) many sea/marine fossils have been found in the sedimentary rock layers of their walls. Another site to support this story are the finds revealed in the Himalaya Mountains; the highest mountains in the world. In 2008 an international research team led by Yang Wang of Florida State University, doing research at 15,000 feet (almost 3 miles high) in the Himalayan-Tibetan plateau area in Tibet, found thick layers of sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils; usually found at much lower levels. These are just two examples of numerous mountain ranges throughout the world that tell the same story. Surely these indicate that at one time there was some cataclysmic event that could have caused this to happen. A common scientific belief today is that the earth is ancient, in part because of the successive layers of different fossils found in sedimentary rocks, and also the diverse number of layers of rocks. If in fact Noah's flood is true, a consequence of this powerful flood would have been the deposition of many fossils laid down in the new layers of rock that would have been deposited. Additionally, this major event could also be the cause of our earth splitting from one land mass in creation to the multiple continents that we now see on earth today.

A third reason why many do not believe in this event is that they do not believe that the ark has ever been found to substantiate this event. This I believe is not true. In an article in National Geographic in 2010 titled "Noah's Ark Found in Turkey" author Ker Than states, "A team of evangelical explorers claim they have found the remains of Noah's ark beneath snow and volcanic debris on Turkey's Mount Ararat." This team was made up of Turkish and Chinese explorers from a group called 'Noah's Ark Ministries International', based in Hong Kong. One of the members of this team Man-fai Yuen stated, "We believe that the wooden structure we entered is the same structure recorded in historical accounts." Further, Young Wing-Cheung stated, "It's not 100 percent that it is Noah's ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent." The team claims to have found in 2007 and 2008 seven large wooden compartments buried in snow at 13,000 feet (approximately 2.5 miles) above sea level, near the peak of Mount Ararat. This location is very consistent with the Genesis account in the Bible (Gen 8:41) that states that the final resting place of the ark is in the Mount Ararat Mountains. Amazingly, wood taken from this ark was aged using radiocarbon dating at 4,800 years old. This again is consistent with the Bible account that this event took place approximately 4,370 years ago. A film crew returned to the site in October of 2009 and took pictures and a video of the site to support their find.

A fourth reason why I believe some may not believe in the story of the flood is that many skeptics raise the issue of how Noah and his sons could have ever built such a magnificent ark that could have made this all happen. I do not know for sure, but I do know that in the Bible God gives specific instructions to Noah as to the how the ark is to be constructed and the size needed. Be assured, God did not create a false story for the Bible, and further would never initiate any project that would not be a success. God has always shown throughout the Bible that He always gets involved where He needs to, so that those events He cares about can become a reality. For example, God could make sure if He wanted to, that the ark would never be confronted with any terrible storms or misfortunes for the whole year that it was inhabited. Or, He could have made sure that all/many of the animals, birds and other creatures fell into a deep sleep(s) for extended periods of time to minimize food consumption, animal waste and animal management. No one knows how God may have assisted or intervened, but be sure that if God wanted this event to happen, the result would be successful.

A Legend Story

Walt Brown, in his book In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood states that "A gigantic flood may be the most common of all legends-ever. Practically every ancient culture has legends telling of a traumatic flood in which only a few humans and animals survived in a large boat"....."More than 230 flood legends contain many common elements, suggesting that they have a common historical source that left a vivid impression on survivors of that catastrophe.”

Final Thoughts

I think that Noah and the Global Flood is a believable narrative because I think that most of the problems that people have with the narrative can be resolved.

Many people (including scientists) who do believe in the flood event think of the flood as having been a local one, and not a global one. If this were the case, why would God have had Noah build an Ark, and put all of the kinds of animals in it, if it was not going to be a global flood.

Personally, I believe strongly in this event for the following reasons:

1) Because a catastrophic event like Noah's Flood would explain how the one land mass at creation ended up as being the several continents that we see today. I think that this event in history could very well be the reason for most of the animal fossils that we find in the rock layers today. Why? Because most the animal fossils found today are the result of a fast death caused by a watery environment, where the animal is buried in mud and silt.This cataclysmic flood could also have created many of the numerous and varied rock layers that we see today, as those powerful forces of moving water would have broken apart rocks and other rock layers (some with fossils) and deposited them on top of different rock strata in locations along its path. Scientists view the number of rock layers seen today as evidence of the old age of the earth. Could it be that this cataclysmic event of the flood created such drastic changes to the earth that the features of the earth might now appear to have the look of being very ancient (billions of years old), when in fact the rock layers of the earth may be only several thousands of years old. 2) I personally believe because this story is supported by over 230 flood legend stories with similar story lines reported around the world. It would seem that these legend stories might be the result of the survivors of the flood and their ancestors spreading their story as they moved around the world.

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References

1. Bible (New King Jam.comes Version) - Old Testament and New Testament

2. Dr Andrew A. Snelling, “High & Dry Sea Creatures: Flood Evidence Number One,” Answers in Genesis, Dec 7, 2007

3. John Woodmorappe, “How Could Noah Fit te Animals on the Ark and Care for Them,” Answers In Genesis, Oct 15, 2013

4. Florida State University, “Fossils found in Tibet revise history of elevation, climate,” Scientific News, June 12, 2008

5. Sebastian Anthony, “Scientists discover an ocean 400 miles beneath our feet that could fill our oceans three times over," Extreme Tech, June 17, 2014

6. Walt Brown, "In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood," 7th edition 7. Ker Than , "Noah's Ark Found in Turkey?", news.nationalgeographic.com, April 30, 2010