The Vital Doctrine
of a Global Flood
John D. Morris, Ph.D.*
Few biblical
teachings are as controversial among evangelicals
as that of the global nature of Noah's Flood. If
Scripture is our guide, however, it could not have
been just a local flood covering the Mesopotamian
River Valley, as taught by most leading
evangelicals today, but must have been worldwide
in extent and effect.
For instance,
Scripture lists the primary mechanisms for the
Flood as the wrenching open of "the fountains of
the great deep" (Genesis
7:11).
Such cataclysmic faulting as Scripture indicates
on the ocean floor (the great deep) would trigger
continual tsunamis racing onto the continents.
Similarly, "the windows of heaven were opened" for
six straight months. At the very least, the
"heavens" implies the atmosphere, signifying
global torrents of rain.
The depth of the
flood waters, covering the tops of the mountains,
also implies a global flood, as does the length of
the flood--over one full year. A
mountain-covering, year-long,
tectonically-controlled flood could not be a local
flood.
If the flood was
merely local, Noah could have easily escaped it
simply by migrating out of the valley. Nor would
there have been any need for an Ark. Animals
certainly lived in outlying areas, so
representatives wouldn't need to be rescued. Those
restricted to the valley could have migrated to
safety. Why was Noah commanded to build such an
immense boat, a brutally difficult task, if it was
not truly needed?
The primary purpose
for the Flood was the destruction of all mankind.
Population calculations indicate men had increased
in number far beyond the capacity of one valley.
Furthermore, Genesis repeatedly employs terms of
global extent to describe the Flood and its
impact: "all the high hills...the mountains were
covered...all in whose nostrils was the breath of
life...everything under the high heavens," etc. It
seems like God went out of His way to remove every
possible excuse for thinking that the Flood was
only local.
After the Flood,
God issued an unconditional promise not to send
another such flood. If the Flood was not global,
He has broken that promise, for there have been
many local floods since Noah's day. But God keeps
His promises. He cannot lie. The Flood must
certainly have been global in extent.
Why is this point
important? If you ask an evolutionist "Where is
the evidence for evolution?" his answer will most
likely include the rock and fossil records. If the
Flood was global and geologically, tectonically
significant, it laid down the rock and fossil
records of the earth. "The world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished" (2
Peter 3:6).
If the true origin of the rock layers and fossils
is the Flood, they cannot be the remains of
ordinary processes acting over great ages. On the
authority of God's Word, the Flood was global and
restructured the earth's surface, thus the earth
is young. Few doctrines are clearer in Scripture,
which contains no evidence that points to an old
earth.
There have always
been challenges to Scripture from within and
without the church. My late father, Dr. Henry
Morris, kept in the flyleaf of his Bible a quote
from Martin Luther that motivated and encouraged
him as he unswervingly called the church to
account for its compromise. It has been used in
these pages before, but it bears repeating, for we
all need encouragement and motivation.
Martin Luther
stated, "If I profess with the loudest voice and
clearest exposition every portion of the truth
of God except precisely that little point which
the world and the devil are at that moment
attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however
boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the
battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier
is proved, and to be steady on all the
battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace
if he flinches at that point."
*Dr. Morris is
President and Director of
Research of the
Institute for Creation Research.
(© 2009 Institute for
Creation Research.
All Rights Reserved. http://icr.org)
|