You may be wondering what the Bible account of Noah has to do with our aim of convincing the reader that all life
on Earth was designed and created by the Christian God! Well, the Noah story is one of the most targetted parts of the Bible by
those who are determined to dismiss the Bible as being a work of fiction. If the Bible stories are rejected then so is the
Genesis account, undermining our case for Creationism, so we wish to provide firm evidence to rigorously support the story of Noah
using modern scientific revelations and common sense.
Many of our arguments in support of the Noah story are based on an article in the book 'The Genesis Account' by Jonathan D Sarfati
PH.D., F.M. (Preparation for the Flood, chapter 17):
The Genesis Account shows how all the doctrines of Christianity have their foundations in
Genesis. How did Jesus and the NT writers understand Genesis?
Dr Sarfati leaves no stone unturned in his determination to convince the reader
that the Bible account of the flood is real history. Many doubters have suggested that it was a localised flood in contradiction
of the Bible but given that flood stories are found in virtually every society across the Globe suggests that the flood was indeed
a Worldwide event in accordance with scripture.
If the flood was not worldwide then people belonging to
societies outside of the flood area would not have perished so they would have escaped God's judgement on sin. Also God would have
repeatedly broken his promise to never send a flood again because there have been many local floods since then.
Richard Fangrad presents the case for taking Scripture seriously.
Richard CEO of CMI-Canada, and producer and co-host of the weekly, half-hour TV show Creation Magazine LIVE has been speaking on
the creation/evolution issue since 1994.
Perhaps one of the most difficult to believe stories in the Old Testament is the quoted lifespans of those living before
and shortly after the Noah flood.
To try to throw some light on the situation it would be reasonable to question what possible motives Old Testament
writers would have in making up stories that people in future generations would find difficult to believe.
They would not wish to cast doubt on the authenticity of The Bible in general so they must have fully believed
what was reported by their ancestors and were therefore obliged to pass the extraordinary knowledge on.
The following Creation.com video examines in detail whether there is scientific
evidence for these claims and the conclusion is that living much longer in the distant past is perfectly in tune with
modern understanding of the human genome when taking account of the irretrievable and damaging effect of mutations
over time:
Join Bible researcher Jonathan Clerke as he examines the remarkable lifespans recorded in Genesis and asks whether they reflect myth, symbolism, or genuine history.
Further convincing evidence for the Worldwide Noah Flood
The account of the Ark has been the subject of intense investigation by many experts including naval architects examining the
recorded data laid down in the Bible:
1) The dimensions of the Ark containing 3 decks:
300 X 50 X 30 cubits. The Hebrew cubit is 18 inches (46 cm) which means the size of the Ark using familiar dimensions is:
450 ft X 75 ft X 45 ft.
According to the experts this could comfortably accomodate 19,000 large sheep-sized animals. It also allows plenty of room for food
and water. If the flood was a local one there would have been no need to provide accomodation for every animal kind on Earth.
2) Ark proportions:
According to experts the Ark's dimensions are perfect for maintaining stability, necessary if livestock are to be held
over a long period of time in a confined space. Apparently modern river barges have been built with the same proportions and
have proved almost impossible to capsize. The Arks shape tends to resist rotational motions that destabilize a boat or make
the ride uncomfortable.
The information needed to build such a vessel was clearly not available in Noah's day.
It required
expert knowledge and understanding confirming the Bible account which clearly states that God was the architect
who provided the precise measurements for building the vessel.
God gave Noah the facts and he
obediently set about building the Ark over a long period of time (estimated to be about 70 years) with many rooms to accomodate
2 of every kind of animal, one male and one female.
3) Human occupants:
Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and his son's wives were to survive the flood as they were deemed to be good people.
The Bible states that Noah was the only blameless person living on Earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.
The remainder of mankind was to perish in the flood as punishment for the widespread wickedness and unbridled sin that had enveloped
them. God justified His right to do so on the grounds that He was the architest of all life on Earth.
We are therefore all descendents of Noah. Skeptics would claim the story of Noah was mythological. If this was the case
why would the authors bother to quote precise, verifiable, figures for the design of the Ark, indeed how would they have attained
this level of knowledge and understanding in the first place? God clearly hoped that the decendents of Noah would live better,
more Godly lives, after the flood.
4) Scattering of facts that bolster the Noah account:
a) If the flood was local Noah could have walked to the other side of the mountain range to avoid it.
b) Why was every 'kind' of animal placed in the Ark because animal 'kinds' existing in unflooded areas would be
able to reproduce to replace those lost in the flooded areas once the floods had subsided.
c) Why was the Ark constructed big enough to house all the animal 'kinds' that ever existed if it was a local flood?
d) Tribes around the World have their own legends that describe a global flood disaster that is similar to the Noah flood account.
That the flood was a global event is brilliantly demonstrated by the following websites. They provide evidence
of catastrophic flood damage across the World:
Recent discoveries have rocked the scientific community as archeologists unearthed forty artifacts that might connect to the biblical flood narrative.
Whilst the site provides strong evidence for the Noah flood which of course meets with our approval
the authors believe in millions of years. We disagree with this of course.
all of these accounts must have been independently derived by the various people-groups'
ancestors from the eight who were on the vessel that endured the global Flood.
The fact that people groups across the globe know about the flood and that there is variation in their accounts is proof
that their ancestors originated from a common source (the region where the Noah story originated), namely in southwestern Asia
which includes present-day Iraq, bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The descendents
of Noah dispersed across the Globe after the flood repopulating the Earth that had become devoid of all animal kinds including
people.
e) The worldwide discovery of deeply buried fossils is evidence of large scale rock/sediment movement due to a flooding event
of massive proportions. Fossils are not formed from dead animals unless they are buried very rapidly to prevent natural decay
from destroying tissues.
f) Flood waters from 'the fountains of the great deep' and from 40 days and nights of rainfall caused by catastrophic plate tectonic
movement covered even the highest mountains by 8 metres. Mountains with high peaks such as Everest did not form until after the
flood and were attributable to continuing huge tectonic plate movement. It is difficult to believe Earth's water could extend
above ground to the depths proclaimed, however before the tectonic plate movements occured uplifting the landscape after the flood
Earth's landscape was very different, essentially much flatter. It has been scientifically proven that if the Earths surface was
flattened out removing deep trenches and high mountains much as it once was water to the depth of 1.669 miles would cover the
entire Earth.
g) Drying the earth was a gradual and deliberate process that took about seven months (see Genesis 8:3-14). The
water didn't just vanish but slowly returned to the oceans, seas, and underground reservoirs. Psalm 104:6-9 gives
further insight:
You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
At your command, the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
Mountains rose and valleys sank
to the levels you decreed.
Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
so they would never again cover the earth. (NLT)
Many scholars cite this poetic passage as evidence that the earth's topography was reshaped during the flood, raising mountains,
lowering valleys, and creating new ocean basins and trenches to accommodate the water. Some of the flood waters settled into
newly designated reservoirs while the rest returned to their previous places.
Conclusion: Since the Noah account is one of the most hotly disputed Old Testament stories establishing its authenticity does much
to lend credence to all the other Genesis accounts including of course those describing the creation of Adam and Eve. Belief
in the first story in Genesis goes hand in hand with the theory of Intelligenmt Design, the hallmark of this website. The only
way forward is to accept that the Worldwide flood actually took place in accordance with scripture along with other passages
such as the Adam and Eve account of the origin of mankind, otherwise the authenticity of the entire Bible is called into question
which risks casting Christianity into oblivion.
An obvious question that needs answering if the Noah story is to be believed is, "how did the human population manage to survive
and re-establish itself from such a small starting population after the flood?".
The Bible states that only Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and his son's wives survived the flood. This is an extremely small
population one which would under normal circumstances be at severe risk of petering out before it could
expand and grow.
There was after
all no effective medical care available at the time.
The websites below provide plausible explanations to show how the current world
population was able to develop from such a small beginning including reduced mortality rates due to favourable environmental
conditions in place at the time reducing the risk of famine, and that post-Flood generations lived significantly longer
than we do today.
e.g. Shem lived 600 years (Genesis 11:10,11,12) extending childbearing windows.
Earths's population has grown from 8 people to 8 billion people over a period of 4,359 (a figure from answersingenesis.org which
is debatable) years.
At the current rate of exponential growth, assuming a severe Global pandemic doesn't occur, and/or strict birth control measures are
not put in place the Earth's population over the next 100 years is likely to grow from about 8 billion in 2025 to 12.8 billion.
There are various ways to deduce future population figures which do not necessarily agree with one another. One such alternative
calculation is based on a recent population growth rate. In 2014 it was 1.14% per annum. If this rate were to continue unabated
over the next 100 years earth's population would reach about 24 billion.
Growth rates of such magnitude are probably unsustainable. Are we approaching 'the end time' or another World war, due to uncontrollable
population growth. Only time will tell!
According to the Bible it was a direct command from God that set in motion the restoration of humanity after the flood,
courtesy of Noah who was renowned for his obedience to instructions from The Almighty. Little did he know what the result would be
way down the line!
An important question connected with this is, "How old is the Earth, when did God set everything in motion?". Jesus did not
provide an answer to this and in reality He wouldn't have been believed if He had! The current view of Creationists is that
Creation week took place 6 to 7 thousand years ago but many unverifiable assumptions lie behind this estimate. Calculations
can be made assuming an exponential growth rate but the result depends on the reliability of population figures back in time which
are very open to debate. For example some quote 150,000,000 at the time of Jesus, others quote 300,000,000. Considering only
population growth rates (ignoring debatable biblical chronology data) it is possible to arrive at a value of between 11000 and
12000 years. This does give a more believable time frame for the expansion of Earth's life forms and resources, geological events
such as ice ages, uplifting of mountain ranges, etc., to have taken place so soon after a relatively recent beginning.
If human beings have been around for 300 thousand years as evolutionists claim, given known breeding rates
the human population would have reached hundreds of billions by now. For this not to be the case there would need to
have been repeated catastrophic loss of life events due to pandemics, world wars, unprecedented geological upheavals,
ice ages, etc.
Concrete evidence does not exist, only speculation, that such devastating past events repeatedly occured.
All of these unbiblical long age theories are driven by an atheistic desire to rule God out of the equation. They are not
supported by solid, irrefutable scientific evidence and never can be.
There is no passage in which Jesus provides the exact age of the earth.
