Was Noah's Flood Local or Global?

[Guest man]

Man -

I'm surrounded by non-Christians and liberal theologically minded Christians.

Do you honestly believe the answers you have given are giving me effective weapons against these?

Your trying to prove the unprovable (is that a word? ) to those who don't believe.

All the answers I have provided come from the Word. For me, there is no other source.

[~candice~]

OK Neb... let's say for the sake of it, that the flood was local. How would that impact on our current theology? Can you think of any holes it might cause?

God did promise that He would never again wipe out the "earth" with a flood. If we take it local, is God promising that He would never again wipe out THAT earth with a flood? For THOSE people? We have had many floods since.

If you take the local hypothesis, does that mean that not all men died (only those on THAT earth?).

I also wonder why the flood mythology is mostly global if it were a local flood.

I'm playing devils advocate here, btw...

If the flood covered all the land that humans dwelt upon, it would still destroy the entire human race except for Noah and his family.

But really, I am not trying to argue the flood was local - I mean, what does "local" mean even?

Just like what does "fountains of the deep" mean?

Really, I'm presenting cases because I'm looking for answers to questions and challenges I've been bombarded with, and things that got me thinking and digging . . . I'm the type of person that just has a "need" to get to the bottom of things, to put pieces together. Well, pieces aren't coming together. And if frustrates me when people respond by flinging the pieces out of my hands and saying there's nothing to put together. Really, I have a way of seeing and finding things that others don't see because I dig and piece together like this. I wish people would stop shooting me down for this.

Sending you a pm sis .

[oldzimm]

Friends I think we are (a term I like to use) getting wrapped around the axle here. I have come to the conclusion that there are things that we won't know all the details to until we are called home and then things will make perfect sense.

My own personal thought on the great flood (not the one of 1972 lol) is yes it covered the whole Earth as we know it and as God knew it, heck he created it. Nebula I believe you when you say you know of a mountain that has no oceanic fossils on it, yet I live in Pennsylvania and where I live there is a ridge close by that has lots of oceanic fossils and Pennsylvania is far from Noah's local earth (so to speak) that he knew of. If I remember right, I heard not long ago a fossil of a whale was found in the middle of a desert here in the USA.

Nebula you keep digging, I'm sure if anybody can get to the bottom of this, you can.

[nebula]

Thanks oldzimm!

The mountains I speak of are the Shenandoah mountains. These are on the eastern edge of the Appalachians in Virginia (for those that don't know the location). Geologists have calculated them to be older than the mountains to the west which are higher and younger. The geological explanation is that the Shenandoah Mts. were formed before the formation of Pangaea (Pangaea was not the first supercontinent).

I haven't heard anything from the Creation scientists on an explanation for that yet.

[CSLewis]

Ok so let me get this straight - angels came down from heaven and had sex with women of the earth - they had children which were the nephilim the Lord saw that the world was wicked so of course God in his mighty benevolence had to kill everything except two of every kind, a sort of Holy holocaust if you will. But these Nephilim must have been mighty swimmers because they are found after the flood waters recede numbers 13.33 deut 2.10-11

[nebula]

Ok so let me get this straight - angels came down from heaven and had sex with women of the earth - they had children which were the nephilim

That's one interpretation. Not all agree with that.

[JIME]

The earth is land as Nebula has stated. However, to say the flood was local is to say that when God created the land, the land that Noah inhabited would have to have been the only land created. We know that was not the case. Isaiah exlplains that the earth is a circle (globe). This was absolutely proven when we started to explore space. The earth is a circle with lots of land on it. Noah did not inhabit all of the land areas, he did however, inhabit the earth. The flood was a global flood just as scripture states.

JIME

[Guest shiloh357]

Well keep in mind that there is a supernatural element in play. I mean, how is it that the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the rocky wilderness and their shoes never wore out?

You're not helping me.

Hello! Scientist over here!

I can accept a supernatural element where the Bible mentions one. But it didn't here.

I'm trying to make sense out of what was meant by what was said. As I stated, it isn't clear. Therefore, interpretation is open-ended as far as I can see. It's OK from a theological standpoint to state that everything means what it appears to mean from a 21st century Western perspective on the reading of Scripture. But from a scientific perspective, I want it to make sense . . . and it's not.

Okay, so from an Middle Eastern mindset what would this phrase mean that it doesn't mean in the 21st century Western perspective:

And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.

It could have been that the mountains were not as high given that the topography of the planet was so much different. That would account for the eleveation issue. The supernatural element would be obvious. This was not a natural flood, to start with. The fact that God caused the animals to come to Noah is another part of that element. God personally locked the door behind them when they entered the Ark. The flood began immediately after. To say that no supernatural element is mentioned just is not true.

[Blien]

Ok so let me get this straight - angels came down from heaven and had sex with women of the earth - they had children which were the nephilim the Lord saw that the world was wicked so of course God in his mighty benevolence had to kill everything except two of every kind, a sort of Holy holocaust if you will.

YES

But these Nephilim must have been mighty swimmers because they are found after the flood waters recede numbers 13.33 deut 2.10-11

Maybe the angels had intercourse with women again.. angels don't die because of floods. They are immortal beings.

[Blien]

The earth is land as Nebula has stated. However, to say the flood was local is to say that when God created the land, the land that Noah inhabited would have to have been the only land created. We know that was not the case. Isaiah exlplains that the earth is a circle (globe). This was absolutely proven when we started to explore space. The earth is a circle with lots of land on it. Noah did not inhabit all of the land areas, he did however, inhabit the earth. The flood was a global flood just as scripture states.

JIME

Amen.