Global Flood Waters

Biblegems #190

Question: How did the Flood cover the highest mountains? Where did all that water come from, and where did it go?

Flood skeptics often argue that there would need to be roughly 4 times as much water volume on the earth as we currently have in order to cover the highest mountains and all the land.[i] Before one asks where enough water came from to flood the earth, one needs to ask where all water came from to begin with, and what was the earth like before the Flood.

According to the Bible (contrary to current scientific theory), the fundamental material in earth’s creation was water:

         Gen. 1:1-2  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep (i.e., water), and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And…

         2Pet. 3:5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

From this water God caused one expansive continent to emerge:

         Gen. 1:9-10  And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

The continents were created largely as a result of the global Flood. The driving rains that accompanied the Flood were likely unknown up until that time. The earth was watered from the greenhouse-like humidity created by the water canopy above the breathable atmosphere surrounding the earth, and by the rich supply of underground water from which the dry land emerged, together with the abundance of rivers and lakes (Gen. 1:6-7).

The Flood began with violent, earth-splitting, thunderous earthquakes on a very specific day:

Gen. 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.

Evidence of that event is represented in the great canyons beneath the oceans as the earth’s tectonic plates split apart, releasing massive geysers of water high into the sky and hundreds of miles long. Earth-swamping tsunamis pushed across the relatively flat ground surface. At the same time, the water canopy that enveloped the earth began to disintegrate into a forty day, planet-drenching rain.

Throughout the following year that Noah’s family remained on the ark—and beyond—evidence suggests that continental drift caused by the separating tectonic plates rapidly crunched the landmasses, forming the great mountain ranges, deep valleys and canyons we know today. After one hundred and fifty days (carefully journaled by Noah) the rising mountains began to shed water into the now familiar ocean basins, rivers and lakes (Gen. 7:24). Noah’s garden-like planet plunged into a southward spreading Ice Age that even now covers much of the northern and southern poles.

Today’s world of blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, majestic, snow-capped mountains, vast plains, deserts and gouged out canyons is a reminder of the world that once was. And just as the world Noah knew was brought under the heavy hand of God’s judgment, so too another day of worldwide judgment is looming on the horizon. In a future article we will look at the “fairness” of such judgment upon an entire world. For now, it is enough to know that…

         2Pet. 3:10-12a  …the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

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[i] Currently, according to the US Geological Survey (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/), over 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water.

Where Did All The Water Go?

Biblegems #148

Question: A global flood covering the mountains by more than 20 feet as described in Genesis 7:19-20 would require steady, planet-wide rainfall at the rate of 6 inches per minute, 360 inches an hour, for 40 days and 40 nights, covering Mount Everest under 22 feet of water. How, exactly, did Noah measure this for the record? Where has all of the water gone since? And why is there no legitimate geological evidence of a global flood?

There are actually three questions here, and I will attempt to answer each one accurately as well as briefly.

The first question, how did Noah measure this, is the simplest. The very ancient practice of dropping a weighted rope over the side of a boat to the seabed below allowed sailors to then measure the length of rope immersed. This, of course, only allowed for measurements at the location of the vessel. For Noah, that meant measuring depths that likely covered what we now know as the areas of the ancient Near East and Turkey.

The second question, where has all the water gone, assumes (based upon the statistics in the question above) that the continent, mountains and oceans were pretty much the same in Noah’s day as now. That is a very inaccurate assumption. Recent studies have revealed that mid-oceanic ridges—mountain chains beneath all the oceans—were at one time only about 0.6 miles below the ocean waves. Today, those ridges are much deeper: approximately 1.8 miles below sea level. The cause behind this dramatic change is an abrupt shift in the earth’s tectonic plates caused by extreme heating of the Earth’s mantle—up to 300 degrees hotter than at present.[i] This over-heating triggered the break up of the pre-flood continent(s). It also pushed up the sub-ocean mountains, causing horrific earthquakes, multiple tsunamis and volcanoes. Ocean waters would have inundated the land-masses as the oceanic ridges pushed mountains of water away, adding to the torrent of rain falling for forty days.

Many of the mountain ranges we are familiar with today would have been created during this global upheaval. As the mantle began to cool off the ocean ridges would have dropped some. At the same time, new mountains of great height, such as the Alps, had been created as the continents crumpled and plowed into each other. Water would drain off of these into the newly shaped ocean basins. The Ice Age that followed carved many of the mountains, valleys and riverbeds that now shape our world.

That brings us to the third question— why is there no legitimate geological evidence of a global flood?

The question itself points to a bias that would render any answer unacceptable. The questioner assumes that any geological evidence favoring a biblical, creationist viewpoint is automatically illegitimate. 

Nevertheless, the evidence for a young earth is vast and overwhelmingly convincing. In this brief article alone several false assumptions have been exposed regarding the commonly taught theories of the age and formation of earth’s environments. A serious look at the geological, astronomical, hydrological and fossil evidence apart from these assumptions will reveal a young earth at the heart of a young universe whose origins, design and purpose testify to the accuracy of God’s revealed Word.

         Ps. 33:6  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Below I have listed some sources for those who would like to dig deeper into the abundance of evidence that is available.

For Further Research:

The Global Flood. Dr. John Morris

Clearly Seen, Dr. randy J. Guliuzza

The Fossil Record, Dr. John Morris and Frank J. Sherwin

The Book of Beginnings, vol. 1&2, Dr. Henry Morris lll

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[i] Sources: Brandall, P.A., et. al. 2013. High mantle temperatures following rifting caused by continental insulation. Nature Geoscience. 6 %0: 391-394.

  Langmuir, C. 2013. Older and hotter. Nature geoscience. 6 (5): 332-333.

  Clarey, Timoth, Ph.D., Hot Mantle Initiated Ocean and Flood Beginnings. Acts & Facts. 42 (8): 15.