The Noah Flood: Myth of Fact?

augustinehippo1
 This is the first installment of a series of articles attempting to separate the mythology of the Noah Flood Story from the facts.
 
We will investigate these questions:
 
1. Is the story of Noah and the Ark “really” true?
 
2. How was the world before the flood different from our world. 
 
3. Why did God cause the flood?
 
4. What was the flood really like?
 
5. An Ark?
 
6. Where did the Ark land and where is it now?
 
7. What happened after the Ark landed?
 
 .
The bible, the word of God is the inspired communication from the Creator of the universe to humanity.
.
2 Timothy 3:16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 
.
It is perfect and without error in it’s original transmission to the writers.
.
Jesus, the 2nd person of the Godhead is the Creator. He was there at the beginning. He created all things. He now and always has upheld the universe through His power. Jesus is the truth.
.
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  He was in the beginning  with God. 3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
.
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
.
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power….
.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
.
When Jesus refers to an incident in the OT, I consider His word to be the highest authority. 
‘
1. What does the bible say about Noah and a flood?
.
Jesus validated the Noah Ark/Flood narrative. 
.
Matthew 24:37-39  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39  and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
.
Luke 17:26-27 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in  marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
.
Dr. Luke includes Noah as an ancestor of Jesus . Luke 3:36  the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 
.
The writer of Hebrews refers to Noah and the Ark.
.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
.
1 Peter 3:20  those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in
that terrible flood. 
.
2 Peter 2:5  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the
world of the ungodly;
. 
2 Peter 3:5-6 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6  and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
The prophet Isaiah references Noah and a flood. 
.
Isaiah 54:9 “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 
.
The Psalmist speaks to the issue of the flood and how God has put a boundary on the water so it may not return to cover the earth. This obviously refers to Noah covenant.
.
Psalm 104:5-9 You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever, 6  You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters stood above the mountains. 7  At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. 8  They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them. 9  You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, That they may not return to cover the earth.
.
Genesis 9:13-17  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15  and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all
flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16  The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17  And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” 
.

2. OK I got it, the bible is clear that there was a real Noah and a real worldwide flood, but do we have any “real” non-biblical evidence for this flood?
.

Flood Stories

According to Dr. Duane Gish, PhD, University of California, Berkeley 1953 in his popular book Dinosaurs by Design, there are more than 270 such stories, most of which share a common theme and similar characters. So many flood stories with such similarities surely come from the Flood of Noah’s day.
.

 

 

Choctaw (Mississippi): A prophet was sent by the high god to warn of a coming flood, but nobody took notice. When the flood came, the prophet took to a raft. After several months, he saw a black bird. He signaled it, but it just cawed and flew away. Later, he sighted and signaled a bluish bird. The bird flapped, moaned dolorously, and guided the raft towards where the sun was breaking through. Next morning, he landed on an island with all kinds of animals. He cursed the black bird (a crow) and blessed the bluish one (a dove).
.
Macusi (British Guyana) The good spirit Makunaima (“He who works in the night”) created the heaven and earth. When he had created plants and trees, he came down from his heavenly mansion, climbed a tree, and chipped off bark with a large stone axe. The chips turned into animals of all kinds when they fell into the river at the base of the tree. Next, Makunaima created man, and after the man had fallen asleep, he awoke to find a woman beside him. Later the evil spirit got more power on earth, so Makunaima sent a great flood. Only one man survived in a canoe. He sent a rat to see whether the flood had abated, and the rat returned with a cob of maize. When the flood had subsided, the man threw stones behind him, which became other people. [Frazer, pp. 255-256]
.
Victoria Australia  Aborigines Bunjil, the creator, was angry with people because of the evil they did, so he caused the ocean to flood by urinating into it. All people were destroyed except those whom Bunjil loved and fixed as stars in the sky, and a man and a woman who climbed a tall tree on a mountain, and from whom the present human race is descended. [Gaster, p. 114]
.
Bahnar (Cochin China):  A kite once quarrelled with the crab and pecked a hole in its skull (which can still be seen today). In revenge, the crab caused the sea and rivers to swell until the waters reached the sky. The only survivors were a brother and sister who took a pair of all kinds of animals with them in a huge chest. They floated for seven days and nights. Then the brother heard a cock crowing outside, sent by the spirits to signal that the flood had abated. All disembarked, birds first, then the animals, then the two people. The brother and sister did not know how they would live, for they had eaten all the rice that was stored in the chest. However, a black ant brought two grains of rice. The brother planted them, and the plain was covered with a rice crop the next morning. [Gaster, p. 98]
.
Rome: Jupiter, angered at the evil ways of humanity, resolved to destroy it. He was about to set the earth to burning, but considered that that might set heaven itself afire, so he decided to flood the earth instead. With Neptune’s help, he caused storm and earthquake to flood everything but the summit of Parnassus, where Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha came by boat and found refuge. Recognizing their piety, Jupiter let them live and withdrew the flood. Deucalion and Pyrrha, at the advice of an oracle, repopulated the world by throwing “your mother’s bones” (stones) behind them; each stone became a person. [Ovid, book 1]
.
Kamchadale (northeast Siberia): A flood covered the whole land in the early days of the world. A few people saved themselves on rafts made from bound-together tree trunks. They carried their property and provisions and used stones tied to straps as anchors to prevent being swept out to sea. They were left stranded on mountains when the waters receded. [Holmberg, p. 368; Gaster, p. 100]
.
.
In fact, literally hundreds of flood traditions have been preserved all over the world, with traditions abounding in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, as well as both of the Americas, and the Genesis account shares similarities with most of them. Of the flood traditions which have survived to the present time, about 95% describe a global cataclysmic deluge, 88% tell of a favored family of humans saved from drowning to reestablish the human race after the deluge, 66% say the family was forewarned of the coming cataclysm, 66% blame the wickedness of man for the deluge, and 70% record a boat as being the means by which the chosen family (and animals) survived the flood. More than one third of these traditions mention birds being sent out from the boat. :http://www.gotquestions.org/Flood-accounts.html#ixzz2xaALmVc2
.
Why would hundreds of totally separate people groups in all continents of the world have knowledge, distorted as it may be, of a flood which destroys all humanity except for one family which is saved in a floating object? 
.
3. What about scientific evidence?
.
Massive Fossil “Boneyards” All Over the World
“….Massive fossil graveyards of dinosaurs still exist all over the world. The Morrison beds in North America, the dinosaur beds in Montana, in the Rocky Mountains, in Alberta, the Dakotas, China, Colorado, Utah, Africa, etc., etc., contain literally millions of dinosaur fossils piled together in tremendous heaps. Ten thousand Hadrosaurs were found on Egg Mountain alone, jumbled together in what appears to have been a mass death. Would this happen under normal, uniformitarian conditions? 
.
 
Think about it.
Millions of buffalo were slaughtered on the North American plains during the last century, so this should be an ideal reason why multiplied thousands of fossil buffalo should be scattered all over the place.
Are there any great buffalo fossil graveyards to be found? Most assuredly, there are not. Their remains were disposed of by the normal ravages of the weather, scavengers, and decomposition. So why are there great fossil graveyards of dinosaurs, where the bones of millions of these beasts lie entombed in vast heaps, together with the piles of fossilized mammals, fish, insects, plants etc., testifying that they all
perished together in a great mass death? 
.
HOW FOSSILS ARE FORMED….. Let us find out what Stein and Rowe have to say about the process of fossilization.
They state: “Effective fossilization usually depends on having hard parts, such as bones or shells, and being buried immediately after death. The work of predators and scavengers and the weathering effects of rain, heat, cold, and wind often serve to destroy most or all of an organism before burial takes place.”
.
They further state: “Once an organism dies, it is seldom buried immediately …. . .The point of ultimate burial and fossilization may be hundreds of miles from the place of death.”
.
They then give us three conditions necessary for the preservation of fossils.  
.
First, an organism must have hard parts ike teeth, bones and shells that are preserved, but that is not all that is necessary, (else we would find numerous buffalo fossils in North America).
.
Second, they further state: “ the organism must not be destroyed immediately by other organisms or by the action of climatic or geologic forces. 
.
Third, the organism must be protected immediately from decaying. This usually takes the form of rapid burial, which also protects the organism from being totally destroyed.” 
.
What natural occurrence then could account for the great dinosaur graveyards under these conditions, simultaneously killing and burying multitudes of dinosaurs, mammals, birds, fish, etc. in huge numbers, many of them apparently dying in the prime of life, some of them caught in the very act of eating smaller animals that became preserved as fossils too? 
 
.
.
It had to be something sudden, to kill them in what appears in many cases to be an unnatural, violent death; it was something universal that destroyed them in every part of the earth at roughly the same period in history; it was something that swiftly covered them up to “mummify” their remains so that the normal exposure to water or air and other predations wouldn’t obliterate their remains, and it did this on a massive scale to create such numerous and extensive fossil graveyards.
.
There are vast fossil graveyards found on every continent and large amounts of coal deposits that would require the rapid covering of vast quantities of vegetation. Oceanic fossils are found upon mountain tops around the world. Cultures in all parts of the world have some form of flood legend. All of these facts and many others are evidence of a global flood.:http://www.gotquestions.org/global-flood.html#ixzz2xaKwZ1ms
.

The vast deposits of coal and oil throughout the world are the result of a worldwide flood that would have buried and sealed massive

amounts of carbon in the form of plants that became coal and oil—NOT slow processes over millions of years. Although widespread surface coal and fossils of tropical plants have been found in polar regions, such evidence has been largely ignored by secular geologists because it implies a worldwide flood, a post-diluvium Ice Age, and a young earth.

.

Great deposits of coal seem to require the rapid, deep burial of immense quantities of vegetation. As we will see, this may be consistent with a turbulent worldwide Flood, which would have uprooted plants and buried them under a thick layer of sediments.
.
Good point, why would there be huge oil reserves in Polar regions where there is no vegetation. Doesn’t oil come from plants and animals trapped beneath the earth which heat and pressure turn into oil?
Weird.
.
All the available evidence points to a recent catastrophic origin for the world’s vast oil deposits, from plant and other organic debris, consistent with the biblical account of earth history. Vast forests grew on land and water surfaces in the pre-Flood world, and the oceans teemed with diatoms and other tiny photosynthetic organisms. Then during the global Flood cataclysm, the forests were uprooted and swept away. Huge masses of plant debris were rapidly buried in what thus became coal beds, and organic matter generally was dispersed throughout the many catastrophically deposited sedimentary rock layers. The coal beds and
fossiliferous sediment layers became deeply buried as the Flood progressed. As a result, the temperatures in them increased sufficiently to rapidly generate crude oils and natural gas from the organic matter in them. These subsequently migrated until they were trapped in reservoir rocks and structures, thus accumulating to form today’s oil and gas deposits.
.
Does this mean that maybe at one time the entire earth was tropical, even at the poles?
.
“Only one possible event could simultaneously meet all of these conditions: The onrush of swift moving sediment from a tremendous, worldwide Flood.”–End
Quote…. Source: Excerpt from: The Darwin Papers; Dinosaurs and the Flood of Noah, by James M. Foard
.
On Mount Ararat, a volcanic mountain complex, pillow lava is found at the 14,000 foot level.
.
.
.
.

Dr. Andrew Snelling holds a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Sydney and has worked as a consultant research geologist to organizations in both Australia and America. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n1/origin-of-oil

.

Vast horizontal strata point to a global flood. In our southwestern states, where they are well exposed by erosion, but also across the continent and everywhere in the world, thousands to hundreds of thousands of square miles of flat, horizontal strata, from a few feet to hundreds of feet thick are found. At no location on the earth may the production of similar sedimentary deposits of like extent be observed today. These formations are composed of sandstone, graywacke, shale, conglomerate, limestone and other types of rock. Some of them extend for thousands of miles, spanning whole continents. For example, the St. Peter sandstone, composed of clean quartz grains, has been traced in twenty states from California to Vermont. The Shinarump conglomerate in the Southwest covers some 125,000 square miles, and another conglomerate blanket is reported to extend from New Mexico to Saskatchewan and Alberta.
 .
 
A continental blanket of clean sandstone, before being deposited, required a steadily flowing current traversing a great distance to separate the sand from silt and gravel. A continental blanket of conglomerate required a continent-sized maelstrom of water in violent, chaotic motion to dump an ungraded mixture of material of all sizes across thousands of miles of terrain. Tremendous water action such as that which would be produced by a global flood seems to offer the only reasonable explanation for the observed facts.
Wheeler, Harry E., Bull. of the Amer. Assoc. of Petroleum Geologists, 47, p. 1507. Stokes, W.L., Bull. of the Geological Soc. of Amer., 61, 1950, p. 91. Nevins, Stuart E., ref. 10, pp. 59-60.
.
In the walls of the Grand Canyon, we can see that the whole horizontal sedimentary strata sequence was folded without fracturing, supposedly 440 million years after the Tapeats Sandstone and Muav Limestone were deposited, and 200 million years after the Kaibab Limestone was deposited. The only way to explain how these sandstone and limestone beds could be folded, as though still pliable, is to conclude they were deposited during the Genesis Flood, just months before they were folded.
.
 
As the ocean waters flooded over the continents, they must have buried plants and animals in rapid succession. These rapidly deposited sediment layers were spread across vast areas, preserving fossils of sea creatures in layers that are high above the current (receded) sea level. The sand and other sediments in these layers were transported long distances from their original sources. We know that many of these sedimentary strata were laid down in rapid succession because we don’t find evidence of slow erosion between the strata.
.
 

.

http://www.ldolphin.org/cisflood.html

http://www.truth-that-matters.com/noahsflood.htm

http://creation.com/noahs-flood-questions-and-answers

http://www.ldolphin.org/Ruin.html

https://apologiaway1.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/the-nippur-tablet-and-the-flood-story/

https://apologiaway1.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/the-terrible-flood-of-noah-by-lambert-dolphin/

https://apologiaway1.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/i-guess-jesus-and-the-apostles-didnt-know-noahs-ark-and-the-worldwide-flood-were-myth/

“Fair Use “ Notice –
Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 The above post may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, social justice, for the purpose of historical debate, and to advance the understanding of Christian conservative issues.  It is believed that this constitutes a ”fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the Copyright Law. In accordance with the title 17 U.S. C. section 107, the material in this post is shown without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.































 
   

Published by augustinehippo1

Leave a comment