Christians, independent of their interpretations of the Genesis flood, “view the story of Noah’s ark and the Flood an essential part of the Bible’s divine teaching about God, his relationship to creation, and the just punishment that sin deserves” (1). This is because the “story points to the magnitude of Christ’s work, saving us from judgement and giving us new life.” The vast majority of biblical scholars, however, believe that the Genesis flood story, although it might be based upon an actual flood in the Mesopotamia region, does not to provide information on historical events (2) (3). Biblical scholars note the story for its message on God’s sovereignty over nature and his justice, love and grace, but not because of its historicity. Many have argued, myself included, that if the Genesis flood is based upon a historical event then it was probably a local flood, as suggested by the internal witness of the Bible. Very much like the exodus, the flood story has history behind it. Christian biblical scholar and professor Peter Enns explains that “Many biblical scholars relying on geological findings believe that a great deluge in Mesopotamia around 2900 BCE was the trigger for the many flood stories that circulated in the ancient world, some already two thousand years old by the time King David came on the scene” (4).
Then there is persuasive scientific evidence that needs to be considered. Christian and Professor of the History of Science Ted Davis explains that “Although some geologists once believed that geological evidence supported the historicity of a truly worldwide flood, by the 1830s that view was rapidly on the way out, as evidence grew for glacial activity that offered a much better explanation of “erratic boulders” and other things previously understood as detritus caused by the Flood” (5). This is supported by studies of ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica that provide evidence of never being inundated by water. Historical evidence also suggests that North America has been occupied by humans for at least 12 000 years, a fact that seems very difficult to reconcile with a worldwide catastrophe in Noah’s time. The vast and overwhelming consensus among professional scientists is that a global flood is contradicted by consensus in geology, stratigraphy, geophysics, physics, paleontology, biology, anthropology, and archeology (6). Thus contemporary scientists overwhelmingly reject it (7) as our best evidence points away from there ever being a global flood.
Yet, how did the ancient Israelites come upon the idea of a global flood? Scholars have persuasively argued that an entire generation of Israelites had been raised in a culture where the creation stories of their Mesopotamian neighbours involved cosmic battles between gods and demigods fighting for control of the elements. The oceans (the deep), the moon and sun were given major roles in these narratives. The point being that the Israelites were familiar with these tales and used them to construct their own creation story with Yahweh, Israel’s God, at the center, as Enns explains that “the flood story, though rooted in history, is dressed up in mythic clothes from head to toe” (8). The late scholar James Barr explained that scholars routinely acknowledge that “Such material [is not considered] to be historical or scientific: it belongs to legend… It belongs to mythology, or to the psychology of ancient peoples, or to literary symbolism, but it certainly is not historical or scientific chronology” (9). But, as Enns and others have pointed out, myth was an ancient category that God used to reveal himself to his people, the ancient Israelites. He points out that skeptics who use myth as an argument against biblical Christianity make the unwarranted assumption that God cannot use a category that we call “myth” to reveal truth to the ancient Israelites: “God lets his children tell the story – in ways they understand and that is packed with meaning for them. These are ancient stories. For ancient Israelites to talk about their God as the ultimate chaos tamer back at creation was a bold statement of faith – none of the gods of other nations could hold that spot” (10).
On a similar note John Walton, in his book The Lost World of Genesis One, argues that within the ancient world the creation stories focused on the “why” not the how. If Walton’s argument follows then it would be pointless to ask the “how” question and use it as a criterion for judging the biblical author and his story. John Shelby Spong agrees that geological details weren’t the purpose of the authors writing of scripture, instead, “The Scriptures are acculturated stories of a specific people” (11) in a way that was meaningful to them at their time. Thus, explains Haarsma, “to claim from our perch in the 21st century that Genesis was an attempt at science is a misguided effort.”
References.
1. Haarsma, D. 2016. Biologos Responds to the “Ark Encounter.” Available.
2. Chisholm, H. 1910. “Ark” in Encyclopedia Britannica Company. p. 549.
3. Young. 1995. History of the Collapse of “Flood Geology” and a Young Earth.
4. Enns, P. 2014. The Bible Tells Me So. p. 152 (Scribd ebook format).
5. Davis, T. 2016. Flooding the World with Creationism. Available.
6. Senter, P. 2011. “The Defeat of Flood Geology by Flood Geology” in Reports of the National Center for Science Education 31:3.
7. Isaac, M. 2007. The Counter-Creationism Handbook. p. 173.
8. Enns, P. 2014. Ibid.
9. Barr, J. 1987. Biblical Chronology, Fact or Fiction? Available.
10. Enns, P. 2014. p. 156.
11. Spong, J. 1991. Saving the Bible From Fundamentalism. p. 102.
12. Wray, C. 2016. 8 Unfortunate Myths Christians Believe About Evolution. Available.
Bishop's Encyclopedia of Religion, Society and Philosophy 
God´s Word literally says : Gén 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Gén 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. (the covenant was a God`s initiative with mankind to not destroy the entire earth by water again)
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
If the flood was a local event, then Jesus lied to compare the flood`s extention to his second coming, so if we say the flood was a just local event, we become the second coming in a very local event, to allegorize some of the controversial teachings of the Bible to make them coincide with the secular and liberal scientific interpretations is give the burden proof to men instead of God. To Deny the worldwide flood and the first makind judgement is to deny the authority, almighty, sovereignty and power of our God, to hint when God says a worldwide Flood Moses didn`t understand God. Moses overstate what God said or God overstate what he did with flood, in any case we are saying with these kind of statements that Bible make too much of flood and world`s big men science said is truth. Many of them have a very interest of deny a worldwide flood, just like that they can continue living a sinfull live with no consequences. Remember:
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; (Is Peter liying?, I don´t think so)
1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
[…] history, is dressed up in mythic clothes from head to toe” (5). The consensus view is that the biblical flood story has its origins in older Mesopotamia myths that were likely themselves triggered by a […]
[…] physics, palaeontology, biology, anthropology, and archaeology that there was never a global flood, as some Christians believe. Many (Vela, Deem, Minton, Peters, Young) have persuasively argued, […]
[…] reason that within the biblical texts we have solid historical data. For example, that the Genesis flood is a product of prior mythological flood stories retold to make a powerful theological point […]
[…] East at the time the text was initially composed (+- 1400 BC). This has precedent in the Genesis flood myth where the author of the “Bible uses universal language to describe local events of great […]
Strange.
So, is Jesus lying then when he talks about the flood, and Noah?
I’ve seen several articles from academic peer review journals which state that there are “several ocean’s worth of water stored in the mantle.”
As Genesis 6 states that the fountains of the deep were broken up, I see two items which raise some questions.
1- what does fountains of the deep mean?
2- how dramatic would the earthquakes have to be to release “several ocean’s worth” of water from the mantle?
Personally, I have no problem with the idea that history happened just the way the bible says it did. Especially when I wasn’t around.
If you are having a problem with it, then perhaps the real problem you’re having isn’t with the book, but God himself.
I.e., he can’t really be trusted to ensure that the truth makes it to his people.
So, if he can’t be trusted to let us know the truth of so simple, and disconcerting a story, why can he be trusted to ensure that the gospel of Jesus isn’t just a metaphor for. …. oh. I don’t know….. that the sun will one day shine prettier?
Do yourself a favor.
Look for articles on the mantle storing several ocean’s worth of water.
Once I got going, I was floored at just how much information exists on this one.
[…] The Bible, for a start, has its fair share of pre-scientific myths (also see Noah’s flood myth and a closer look at Genesis). In fact, next to no scholar who is not either a Christian or an […]
I am reading the book written by Dr Walt Brown. “in the beginning compelling evidence for creation and a global flood”. This book is excellent. I can highly recommend it.
[…] Majority of Old Testament scholars will confidently retort that the biblical flood account is one mythical narrative the biblical author(s) of Genesis derived from older accounts, and that was never intended to be a […]
[…] example of appropriation is in the book of Genesis from the Bible where the great flood story is borrowed from the Babylonian myths. This is a good example of appropriation: the flood and God […]
[…] Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, for example, trace themselves back to the stories of Noah and the Flood, long before any Middle Eastern civilizations. Various branches of Hinduism are based upon beliefs […]