Worldwide flood. Genesis 6-11 describes a cataclysmic flood that covered the whole Earth. Only Noah, his family, and two of every kind of air-breathing animal survived the flood inside the ark. If this truly was a worldwide flood about 4500 years ago as the Bible says, then there should be some evidence today that we can verify. Also, by neglecting the predicted effects of the worldwide flood, one could be deceived into believing that the things (fossils, layered soils, flood graveyards…) caused by the flood would have instead been caused by uniformitarian processes over billions of years.

1. What would be the first thing we would expect to find if every air-breathing creature as well as many underwater creatures were buried rapidly during the year-long worldwide flood? Billions of dead things buried in sedimentary rock layers. This is exactly what archeologists find when they dig. Fossils are evidence of flood conditions. Fossils are not expectations of uniformitarian time scales with the geologic column being laid down slowly over billions of years. For example, there are no fossils of the millions of American Bison that were slaughtered within the last 200 years. This is because they were exposed to the elements instead of being buried quickly to avoid the concentric levels of scavengers. But since we do find fossils all over the world, it is very strong evidence of flood conditions having happened all over the world. When thinking back to the purpose of this post and pointing out the incompatibilities of the biblical creation story and the atheistic origins story, either the fossils were created by the flood or they were created by uniformitarian processes over billions of years. It cannot be both since the upheaval of “the springs of the great deep bursting forth” and the resorting of the sedimentary layers would have destroyed the preexisting fossils. Therefore, to believe that the fossils were laid down over billions of years would cause someone to discount the biblical flood story as historical by relegating it to mythology.
2. Soil layers appear to be perfectly sorted by water. If you drive through the cutouts in the road as you travel across the country, it is easy to distinguish the individual layers that appear to be sorted. This fits very easily in what we would expect to find if the world were covered by water for an entire year. The layers look nothing like what one would expect to find if they were exposed for millions of years. This is to say that exposed layers face erosion from wind and water. The picture below will help. What we find when digging in the soil looks like picture 1 above. The layers were sorted and solidified in a short period of time so that the layers were not exposed to millions of years of erosion. If however, the layers of soil were exposed for millions of years, then the soil layers as we dug down into the soil would look like picture 4. As millions of years of erosion acted on the layers, they would be alternately exposed, filled in, cut through, and refilled again…all with new soil types to create an amalgamation of heterogeneous soil mixtures. But this is not what is found when digging.
3. There is little or no erosion between layers. This shows that the layers were not exposed for a long time. They were sorted and solidified in a short period of time as would be expected from the biblical worldwide flood. This is solid evidence that shows the layers did not get laid down slowly over billions of years and endure eons of exposure to erosion. They were laid down quickly over the course (and just after) the worldwide flood.
4. No bioturbation fossils are found in layers below the current levels. If the soil were exposed to plant growth and worm/rodent digging for millions of years, the layers of soil should record this in the fossil record. But bioturbation is found only in the upper layer of soil. This shows that the lower layers were not exposed for millions of years, but were laid down quickly and homogenously during the worldwide flood.
5. Huge fossil graveyards. Not only are there fossils, but there are huge graveyards of animal fossils. This is confirmation of flood conditions trapping millions of animals in an area and burying them quickly. Fossil graveyards are found all over the world (Colorado, Africa, Canada, China…)
6. Fossils of marine life (and most everything else) exist on mountaintops. Finding marine fossils on mountaintops is a strong indication that these mountains were once underwater. This literally confirms the words of Genesis 7 that say, “The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.”
7. Polystrata fossils. There are many fossils that span multiple layers of soil. This is consistent with flood conditions in that while the soil is still moist from sedimentary sorting, trees/animals can be buried as more layers are laid down on top during the flood. But polystrata fossils are not consistent with the idea that the geologic layers were formed over millions of years. It is inconceivable that organic material would avoid decomposition long enough for millions of years of soil to collect around it to bury it.
8. The amount of salt in the sea is consistent with the expectation that the seas were formed within the biblical timeframe. Were the oceans to be billions of years old, the amount of salt in them would be much higher.
9. Delta formation at river mouths is consistent with the deltas having formed about 4500 years ago after the worldwide flood.
10. Fossilized thorns – If the layers were laid down over billions of years before Adam sinned, Christians would expect not to find any thorns in “old” layers since thorns were a curse of sin as mentions in Genesis 3:18. The problem for those who believe that God used evolution as his creative mechanism is that there are fossilized thorns buried in layers of soil that are evolutionarily dated as millions of years old…prior to mankind’s existence. The choice one would have is either:
    1. Evolutionary view – that thorns have always been around and would have fossilized in the uniformitarian millions of years of geologic layers. This view would be in conflict with God’s curse in Genesis 3.
    2. Biblical view – that thorns were a part of the curse and appeared after Adam sinned. These thorns were buried and fossilized during the worldwide flood of Noah’s day.
11. Almost every ancient culture has a flood story that resembles the Biblical story. As Christians, we would expect this because all civilizations would have come from 4 pairs (Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth) once they got off the ark. All civilizations would have separated from this family and though distorted over time, have in their history a story that would resemble the true one that we find in Genesis.

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