Today’s mantra of global warming has grown tedious since the “evidence” turns out to show exactly the opposite of what those who would have us give up our rights are advocating.
But there are all kinds of interesting websites showing the new coastlines if the polar ice caps melted. Gone would be New Orleans, Florida, the East coast, and most of England. It would be sad to see Disney World submerged, and I so enjoy watching the English Premier League (it just wouldn’t be the same if it were the English Premier Water Polo League.) And I didn’t even mention the lost habitat of the lovable polar bears. This terrible scenario would all be as a result of the waters rising a little over 200 feet.
It’s been said by the old earth movement that the flood of Noah’s day was a localized flood. They have put up reasons like, there’s not enough water, the writer of Genesis would not have known about the whole globe, and there’s no evidence of a global flood. All of these objections have been answered and shown to be false multiple times. A serious objection to the old earth theory of a local flood is God’s promise never to flood the earth again. Genesis 9:8-17 records God’s repeated covenant that he would never again flood the earth like he did when he destroyed all life and the earth. If we are to accept the old earth proposal that this was a local flood, then God would have broken his word because there have been many catastrophic local floods.
One argument that I have never heard used to counter the old earth local flood heresy is the water level above Mt. Ararat argument. Today, Mt Ararat stands almost 17,000 feet above sea level. Many volcanic eruptions have been recorded from this mountain, so it’s safe to say that this mountain has been much taller in the past. Mt. St. Helens lost over 1000 feet to its overall height when it erupted in 1980, so it’s not beyond reason to believe that Mt. Ararat would have been much taller the further back in time we go towards the catastrophic flood of Genesis 7-9. But for the sake, of argument, let’s say it was at its current height of 17,000 feet.
We know from Genesis 7:19-20 that “all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.” Some translations have cubits calculated at about 20 feet. We also know from Genesis 8:4, that the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters would have had to cover Mt Ararat to be in accordance with scripture, so what would happen to the coastlines if the seas were to rise about 17,000 feet? Our four memorialized Republican presidents on Mount Rushmore would be over 2 miles below the surface of the water. The Eiffel Tower would be three miles below the surface. And remember this is if we assume the waters to ONLY be as high as the old earth people tell us. If we take the Bible at its word, we know that it covered all of the mountains however high they were at the time. At the very least, we know that the flood covered the high mountains of Ararat, so if we take the old earth view of a local flood seriously, we have to assume that God put up some kind of imaginary boundaries at the edge of his flood area…but why would we want to do that. Why not take the words of scripture to mean what they actually say rather than trying to inject one’s pet theory into the text?
An ardent old earth advocate might say, “Well what if the ark landed at the base of Mt Ararat? The local flood waters could have just carried the ark to the base of this mountain.” Nice try, but the text says that the waters covered the mountains to a depth of fifteen cubits. So, it doesn’t matter at which point on the mountains of Ararat that the ark landed; the only highest mountain in the only range mentioned in the text is surely covered by more than 15 cubits of water. That’s a minimum of 17,000 feet.
We can trust God’s Word to be the authoritative source for interpreting evidence. We can trust what God’s Word has said about history, so we can trust what God’s word tells us about salvation and our future hope! You are valuable because you are created in God’s image, and he purchased your future with the death of his precious Son.
Especially since the mountains of Ararat contain volcanic peaks, it very likely that they were of different heights that the peaks we see today. Volcanoes can appear out of flat ground and create their own mountain in just a few short days, or they can reduce an entire mountain to rubble. Mt. Ararat is 17,000 feet tall today; it might have been 23,000 feet tall in Noah’s day, or only 5,000 feet, or even non-existent.
The “mountains of Ararat” as phrased in Scripture are not insisting upon the specific peak we call “Ararat” today, regardless of its height.
Nevertheless, Scripture IS clear on this point: the water covered the mountains to a depth of 20 cubits AND DESTROYED ALL LIFE SAVE THOSE IN THE ARK. It matters not how tall this peak is or that one. What matters is that everything was destroyed in the Flood. Who knows but God whether “Mt. Ararat” was formed during the Flood or four centuries later? Who knows but God whether Mt. Everest was 29,000 feet tall before the Flood or was formed much later in the “days of Peleg” when India’s continental shelf slammed into southern Asia. All that we DO know is that God buried it all under at least 30 feet of water.
No, the Flood wasn’t localized, for the reason given here and for many other reasons. It only NEEDS to be localized by people who are unwilling to take Scripture at face value. When someone believes an opposing faith system–namely, evolution–he must of necessity take extremely creative liberties with the clear and plain meanings of Scripture. It would be laughable (if it weren’t so lamentable) to watch grown men wrest “alternative” interpretations, wring out ludicrous meanings, and wrangle for years with the Truth that stares them in the face.
Such is the plight of unbelief.
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Well spoken, Andy! When people leave the reliable basis of scripture to incorporate the naturalistic interpretations, they also open themselves up to irrationality.
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