#02 - The Record of The Flood
Since the whole mission of Scargazers is to share the many evidences of a recent worldwide water catastrophe, aka the flood of Noah’s time as recorded in the Bible, we should start by looking at what the Bible actually says about that event! If the flood of Noah’s day really occurred, what would you expect to see? I’ll share my answers at the end of this newsletter.
The entire biblical flood narrative is found in Genesis 6:5-9:17. I encourage you to read it all, but for now we’ll focus on just the flood event itself.
The purpose – Mankind had become wicked and evil in every thought and intention, so God purposed to wipe them out, including all the animals, creeping things and birds. Some scholars believe the preceding verse in Genesis (6:4) explains how the DNA may have been corrupted, so the only solution was to eliminate the entire population.
The salvation – God found favor in Noah, so it was through him that he purposed to save a remnant of mankind, and all the animals, creeping things, and birds.
The water – Water came from two sources, rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and from the fountains of the deep as they burst forth. The water that came from the earth poured out for 150 days (5 months) as the waters rose on the land.
Two key stages – There were two primary stages of the flood, which are clearly evident in the scars that we see today.
Stage 1
The first stage is the rising waters that poured out for a period of five months. We get a glimpse of the magnitude and intensity of this part of the flood in the language used in Genesis 7:17-19:
Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water multiplied and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. And the water prevailed and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark went on the surface of the water. And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.
We are told ALL the earth was covered by water, including ALL the highest mountains, to a depth of at least 25 feet. In this stage of the flood the sedimentary layers were deposited all over the earth. As we would expect, we see something called the great unconformity where many scientists believe the original creation rocks and the sedimentary rocks of the first stage of the flood meet.
Order of burial in relation to ability to escape rising flood waters.
Mixed into the sedimentary layers are many of the creatures that died as the flood waters rose, with marine and tidewater creatures buried first, followed by those who could move quickly enough to make it to higher ground, until they were all swept away. We call those dead things that got buried fossils, and they’re mostly found buried in that order all over the world, with only a few exceptions. Fossils are rarely formed today, and yet they’re abundant in the sedimentary layers. In a later article we will see how the global flood best explains their existence and abundance.
Stage 2
The second stage is where the retreating waters began after the five-month period of waters rising in stage one. Most scientists see evidence that the earth once had one land mass, and it appears the oceans widened as clearly seen in the trench in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The worldwide catastrophic flood provides the most likely scenario and catalyst for the separation of the land masses to occur. If we look at our earth today, we see evidence of large water erosion nearly everywhere, and the canyons and road-cuts show us evidence of the first stage of the flood. Those layers of sediment laid down during the beginning of the flood often exist right under our feet and often include fossils.
Canyonlands National Park, evidence of stage 2 of the flood
Length of flood – The flood period lasted for one year and Noah and all the animals left the ark one year and 10 days after they entered.
Expectations – If the flood of Noah’s day occurred as explained in the book of Genesis, I would expect to see the surface of the earth today show evidence of massive water-formed landscapes. I would expect to see a bottom layer of rock with no evidence of fossils before the flood occurred. I would expect to see sedimentary layers all over the world that contain the dead remnants of the pre-flood world, both plants and animals. I would expect to see rock layers that were formed in water to be curved and bent. I would expect to see flat surfaces planed by sheets of water along with canyons and modern road cuts that expose the sedimentary layers all over the world.
The Grand Staircase in Utah and Arizona is a great place to find all that you would expect to see and is a place we plan to spend much of our time, and you can expect to see covered in the newsletter.
As we continue to ponder the question of what we would expect to see, consider this statement, “If Noah's flood is true, you'd find billions of dead things buried in rock, laid down by water, all over the earth.”
UPCOMING TOPICS:
Mount St. Helens, 45 years of studying the results of catastrophic impacts on the landscape followed by unexpected wildlife renewal
The earth’s plates, a discussion about the global impact of the flood
Why do we find lava (basalts) all over the western US?
The Colorado River zone from the Rockies to Baja California
CONNECT WITH US
Email: greg@scargazers.com
YouTube: coming soon
We welcome questions and comments and will reply personally to emails we receive.
The flood is mentioned in many places in the Bible, even in the New Testament. In 2 Peter 3:5-6 we read, “… it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water” (LSB).
Let’s enjoy the pursuit of noticing.