Was the Great Flood Just a Local Catastrophe?

Does the Bible tell us about a merely local flood, or a world-wide catastrophe that hit the Earth? Here are three types of evidence about the Great Flood:

Literary and Cultural Evidence

A wide variety of cultures have preserved about 230 accounts or legends of a large-scale flood. Such stories are part of the traditions of indigenous peoples including Egypt, Greece, India, Phoenicia, Mexico, China, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Italy, and Easter Island. Almost all of them have common elements such as a survivor and his family on a boat.

Geological Evidence

  1. Almost half of the continental layers of rock were originally deposited in sea basins. How did they end up on land, and even in the mountains?
  2. Lack of evidence of erosion in sedimentary layers, suggesting that they were quickly deposited before streams and rivers could cut through them.
  3. Incomplete ecological systems. Many layers of rock with animal fossils have almost no plant fossils. It would hardly make sense for animals to have flourished without abundant plant life as well.
  4. Quick burial of plants and animals. The huge coal deposits around the world show evidence of fast and deep burial.
  5. Sedimentary layers are often bent and even contorted. Rock does not bend unless it is pliable. Therefore, it makes more sense that many layers formed in a short amount of time, and bent before hardening.
  6. Widespread distribution of distinctive types of rock. Many sedimentary layers cover such massive areas that it would be impossible for them to have been slowly deposited without being eroded away, unless a great short-term flood took place. For example, in the United States, the 100-meter thick Morrison Formation covers more than a million square kilometers. The Chinle Formation has a range of more than 800,000 square kilometers. No regular flood could creative such extensive deposits.

Biblical Evidence

According to Genesis 6:5-7, 11-13, 17; 7:4, 11-12, 17-24; 8:2-9, 21; 9:11-15, the Great Deluge was universal. Other biblical authors mention that Noah’s Flood destroyed everything (Isa. 54:9; Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5; 3:6-7).

Those who believe the Great Flood was real and world-wide are called catastrophists, while those who consider the rocks to have been formed through gradual processes regard themselves as uniformitarians.

Jesus Himself thought the Flood was universal. For Him, it was as real as His promised Second Coming (Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27).