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Domenic Marbaniang: 7 Reasons Why Jesus Was Chosen As the Lamb of God: It was not just because He was sinless; for, even the Father and the Holy Spirit are sinless. 1. It was because all things were created ...

Evidence For The Noah’s Global Flood From The Scientific And Geological Discoveries, Part 3

If the Genesis Flood, as described in Genesis 7 and 8, really occurred, what evidence would we expect to find?

3.1 Evidence from the Black Sea

The 1990's that geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman gathered clues pointing to an actual ancient flood in the Middle East about 7,500 years ago. Sediment core samples the scientists took from the bottom of the Black Sea revealed sections of once dry, sun baked land. These sediments were then covered by sections of uniform mud, strongly suggesting that these plains underwent a long ago influx of salt water. Though not worldwide, this cataclysmic event occurred at what could have been a locus of human activity at the time. In their 1998 book, Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event that Changed History, Ryan and Pitman suggest the Black Sea was once a much smaller, land ­locked freshwater lake, fed by ancient rivers, and surrounded by fertile plains. Neolithic people, Ryan and Pitman suppose, would have flocked to farm these Eden like plains to farm them while supplementing their diets with the lake's abundant shellfish. At this time ­ about 7,500 years ago ­ the global climate was still rapidly warming following the last Ice Age, causing the seas to rise. Ryan and Pitman hypothesize that, when sea levels rose beyond a critical point, the Mediterranean Sea overflowed, deluging the Black Sea basin with salty water and destroying the fertile plains around the once shallow freshwater lake. Any people living on those plains at the time would have witnessed what must have seemed like the wrath of an angry god. Based on the still northern flowing undercurrents of what we call the Bosporus Straits, Ryan and Pitman estimate the water rushed northward through this channel with force many times greater than Niagara Falls. As the waters rose about six inches per day, human settlements would have been washed away or under hundreds of feet of water within a year or so. Traumatized refugees from the flood must have told their story to shocked listeners. Inspired by Ryan and Pitman's work, Bob Ballard and an international team of specialized scientists and engineers took a small fleet of ships and remotely operated vehicles (ROV's) into the Black Sea seeking evidence of human habitation before the flood.

3.1.1 An Ancient Shoreline

In July of 1999, Ballard and his colleagues began mapping the floor of the Black Sea, looking for the once fertile plains. Going on Ryan and Pitman's estimates that sea levels rose roughly 150 meters during the flood, Ballard and his colleagues searched for what would have been the ancient coastline of the freshwater lake. Using sonar and global positioning system (GPS) to navigate, Ballard swept his ship back and forth through the target area, creating the first detailed profile of the sea floor. As the ship's computer processed the sonar data, the images scrolled across the ship's monitors. Precisely where Ryan and Pitman said it would be, the sonar images revealed a broad flat plain spanning some 20 miles from the present day coastline out to sea. Adjacent to this plain lies the ancient lakebed. Farther out, a sand bar echoes the shape of the original shoreline. The sonar imaging left little doubt the Black Sea had once been smaller. But there were still more pieces of this puzzle to be found.

3.1.2 Water from Fresh to Salty

On this same expedition, the scientists dredged the bottom of the Black Sea, bringing up­ among other things ­ a variety of seashells. Though analysis of those seashells would take some time, the results would turn out to be worth the wait. In November 1999, Ballard announced the conclusions to the world. Ballard and his colleagues had collected shells from nine separate species of mollusks, shell building invertebrates such as snails and clams. Expert analysis by Gary Rosenberg of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia revealed that seven of the species were saltwater mollusks, ranging up to 6,800 years old. The other two species, however, were extinct freshwater species that might have lived between 7,460 and 15,500 years ago. These two species proved this body of water must have been fresh until 7,460 years ago, providing more­ and incontrovertible evidence of an influx of saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea

3.1.3. Noah's Home Address

The ancient beach and the mollusk shells left little doubt that the Mediterranean Sea had flooded the Black Sea basin. But had people witnessed it? And how cataclysmic was the change? "It's not clear how rapidly it happened," says Brendan Foley, a student of Maritime Archeology at MIT's program for Science, Technology and Society. “But, if the flooding happened quickly, then there's a possibility dwelling sites were inundated and the sites would have been just covered with water and not beaten up by waves." With that hope in mind, the expedition searched for remains of human settlements in the fall of 2000. The garbage heaps and tools they discovered were significant finds. But for Ballard, the Holy Grail was the remnants of a dwelling ­ what Ballard and the others only half jokingly referred to as "Noah's House" ­ the surest sign of human presence. This time, Ballard and his colleagues sailed back and forth in 100­meter deep waters, over what would have been dry land before the flood, concentrating on channels carved by the ancient rivers that fed the once freshwater lake. Archaeologists familiar with the region suspect that the once dry land of river deltas would have been attractive real estate for the farmers who may have lived here before the flood.

Once again, Ballard's team hit pay dirt Foley refers to what the team calls "Site 82," a decidedly manmade structure submerged in 95 meters of water, nestled between the beds of two rivers that once fed the ancient freshwater lake. The researchers deployed the Rov called "Little Hercules" to obtain images of the promising site. Stunned scientists stared at the ship's monitors as the Rov sent back pictures of manmade wooden beams, ceramic shards and stone tools. Disappointingly, radiocarbon dating proved the wood to be too young to have been the actual walls and roof of "Noah's house." However, sediment samples collected from the site revealed what may be a stone foundation similar to other Neolithic dwellings found in the region. While scientists cannot say for certain that Site 82 was a Neolithic dwelling before the flood, the tantalizing possibility exists. Only further exploration will tell for sure.

During these voyages, Ballard and his colleagues uncovered still other artifacts that reveal much about other chapters of human history. Among these finds were four shipwrecks, almost perfectly preserved in the cold, oxygen less waters at the bottom of the Black Sea, where timbers would be safe from decomposing bacteria and wood boring worms. Expedition member and nautical archeologist Cheryl Ward recalls her first impressions of one of the wrecks. "There was no rope anywhere on the ship, which to me was an indication that this was probably much older than a couple of hundred years," says Ward. "Looking at the way that the ship itself was laid out, I started to think that this probably was about the same age as the other three shipwrecks that had been found, probably around 1500 years old." While 1500 years old is far from Biblical, little is known about shipbuilding in the Black Sea during this period. Ward wants to know which traditions these ships' builders were heir to­ local standards or older Greek ones passed down through generations. Moreover, the ships' cargo could reveal much about the people who sailed them. Were these ships full of goods to be traded, were they passenger ferries, or warships? "We'd be able to find all kinds of intimate details of the daily life of the people who were operating this little vessel," says Ward. In addition to learning more about the ancients, Ward also appreciates what these shipwrecks have to teach us about ourselves. "One of the things that modern people like to do is to think they're more sophisticated than people in the past," she says. "But every time we excavate a ship, what is proven is that the people who lived thousands of years ago were solving the same kind of problems and were just as clever as we are." The Black Sea and its cold, oxygen poor depths preserved evidence unlikely to have survived seven millennia anywhere else. The faithful need no proof of Noah's Flood, and conclusive proof of a flood is not evidence of God to the non­religious. Though Ballard's expeditions have yet to prove that Neolithic people witnessed the flooding of the Black Sea Basin 7,500 years ago, the shipwrecks, the tools, garbage and other artifacts have much to tell us about human history. Religious or not, we are all awed by the lives our ancient ancestors might have lived.

3.2 Scriptural Evidence

The Garden of Eden must have been a wonderful place to call home, a place with an ideal climate and setting, where man apex of God’s creation, could live in a covenant relationship with his Creator. The climate apparently was so mild that Adam and Eve were able to inhabit the garden on a daily basis completely unclothed (Genesis 2:25). It was truly a paradise setting. How long, however, did such a climate remain after man’s fall, or did it continue at all outside the Garden of Eden? Several pieces of evidence, both scriptural and scientific, point to the fact that indeed, the mild climate present in the Garden did continue, at least for a while (and most likely even up to the time of the Flood). In all likelihood, the antediluvian world was vastly different from the Earth of today. For example, we know from clear statements of Scripture (e.g., Psalm 104:8) that after the Flood, God caused the mountains to rise and the valleys to sink, evidently indicating that the mountains of the antediluvian world were not nearly as high as those of today. We also know from Scripture that on day two of Creation, God “divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Genesis 1:7). It is the view of some scientists that there may have been a water “canopy” of some sort above the Earth (the same canopy, they suggest, that later would shower rain on the Earth for 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:17 and 8:6). What effect(s) would this canopy have on the Earth’s climate if, in fact, it did exist?

The most immediate and obvious of these effects would be to cause a uniformly warm temperate climate around the earth. Such water vapor as is present in the atmosphere today has this specific effect of regulating the earth’s temperature. The inferred antediluvian vapor envelope would have produced this result in much greater degree, with a larger percentage of the sun’s incoming radiant energy being absorbed and retained and uniformly distributed over the earth than at present, both seasonally and latitudinally. The constant battle of “fronts” would be mostly absent, so that antediluvian climates were not only warm but also without violent windstorms.[1]

Interestingly, even evolutionists speak conclusively of a universally mild climate characterizing the Earth at one time. Speaking of the age of reptiles, for example, E.H. Colbert said:

Many lines of dinosaurs evolved during the 100 million years or more (according to the evolutionists’ timetable) of Mesozoic history in which they lived. In those days the earth had a tropical or subtropical climate over much of its land surface, and in the widespread tropical lands there was an abundance of lush vegetation. The land was low and there were no high mountains forming physical or climatic barriers.[2]

3.3 Necessity of the Ship

Was an Ark really necessary? All the time (more than 100 years), effort, and expense of building this enormous ship was wasted if it were only a local flood. Noah and his family, guiding a host of animals and other creatures, could have migrated to a higher area and waited for a local flood to flow out into the ocean.

3.4 Measuring the Flood Water

“One need not be a professional scientist to realize the tremendous implications of these Biblical statements. If only one (to say nothing of all) of the high mountains had been covered with water, the Flood would have been absolutely universal; for water must seek its own level and must do so quickly!”[3]

Critics, however, have been quick to point out that the phrase “all the high mountains” need not necessarily mean all the high mountains, for the word “all” can be used in a relative or distributive sense. A measure of the waters is now made by comparison with the only available standard for such waters; the mountains. They are said to have been “covered.” Not a few merely but “all the high mountains under all the heavens.” One of these expressions alone would almost necessitate the impression that the author intends to convey the idea of the absolute universality of the Flood, e.g., “all the high mountains.” Yet since “all” is known to be used in a relative sense, the writer removes all possible ambiguity by adding the phrase “under all the heavens.” A double “all” (kol) cannot allow for so relative a sense. It almost constitutes a Hebrew superlative. So we believe that the text disposes of the question of the universality of the Flood.

How deep, then, was this water “over all the high mountains”? The text indicates it was “fifteen cubits upward” that the water “prevailed.” This phrase obviously cannot mean that the waters went only fifteen cubits high (approximately 22 1 2 feet), for the phrase is qualified by the one that immediately follows—“and the mountains were covered.” The true meaning of the phrase is to be found in comparing Genesis 7: 19-20 with Genesis 6:15, where it is stated that the ark was thirty cubits high. The phrase “fifteen cubits” must then refer to the draught of the ark. The draught of a boat such as the ark is generally half its height. That is, when fully loaded, it sinks in the water to a depth equal to half the height. If the ark was thirty cubits high, and sank half of that, it would sink fifteen cubits. If the waters then prevailed upward “fifteen cubits,” that would be adequate to protect the ark as it floated on the waters all over the Earth for little more than a year. Therefore the ark would not hit any mountain tops during its journey. Psalm 104:8 speaks of God “raising up new mountains” after the Flood, it is likely that the mountains of Noah’s day were not nearly as high as the mountains that today. It seems probable that such mountains were much smaller than, say, such peaks as Mt. Everest or Mt. McKinley that are so well known to us.

A careful reading of the Genesis text indicates that the Flood lasted approximately a year.

The order of events as set forth in the first part of the eighth chapter of Genesis would seem, then, to be as follows: (1) after the waters had “prevailed upon the earth” 150 days, the waters began to assuage. (2) The Ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat the same day that the waters began to assuage, for the 17th day of the 7th month was exactly 150 days after the Flood began. (3) The waters continued to subside, so that by the 1st day of the 10th month (74 days later), the tops of various lower mountains could be seen. This would suggest a drop of perhaps fifteen or twenty feet a day, at least during the initial phase of this assuaging period. (4) The Flood level continued to fall for forty more days, so that Noah, no longer fearing that the Flood would return, sent forth a raven to investigate the conditions outside the Ark.[4]

3.5 High & Dry Sea Creatures

It is beyond dispute among geologists that on every continent we find fossils of sea creatures in rock layers which today are high above sea level. For example, we find marine fossils in most of the rock layers in Grand Canyon. This includes the topmost layer in the sequence, the Kaibab Limestone exposed at the rim of the canyon, which today is approximately 7,000–8,000 feet (2,130–2,440 m) above sea level.[5] Marine fossils are also found high in the Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountain range, reaching up to 29,029 feet (8,848 m) above sea level. The best explanation which we have of these sea creatures’ fossils appears above sea level that how they reached there? It is only the consequence of the great Flood of Noah because these rock layers in the Himalayas and other mountain ranges around the globe were deposited during the Flood.

3.6 The World’s a Graveyard

Rapid burial of plants and animals: after noting in Genesis 7 that all the high hills and the mountains were covered by water and all air-breathing life on the land was swept away and perished, it should be obvious what evidence we would expect to find. Wouldn’t we expect to find rock layers all over the earth filled with billions of dead animals and plants that were buried rapidly and fossilized in sand, mud, and lime? Of course, and that’s exactly what we find. Furthermore, even though the catastrophic geologic activity of the Flood would have waned in the immediate post-Flood period, ongoing mini-catastrophes would still have produced localized fossil deposits. For example, billions of straight-shelled, chambered nautilus are found fossilized with other marine creatures in a 7 foot (2 m) thick layer within the Red wall Limestone of Grand Canyon.[6] This fossil graveyard stretches for 180 miles (290 km) across northern Arizona and into southern Nevada, covering an area of at least 10,500 square miles (30,000 km).[7] These squid-like fossils are all different sizes, from small, young nautilus to their bigger, older relatives. To form such a vast fossil graveyard required 24 cubic miles (100 km³) of lime sand and silt, flowing in a thick, soup-like slurry at more than 16 feet (5 m) per second (more than 11 mph [18 km/h]) to catastrophically overwhelm and bury this huge, living population of nautilus. Hundreds of thousands of marine creatures were buried with amphibians, spiders, scorpions, millipedes, insects, and reptiles in a fossil graveyard at Montceau-les-Mines, France. More than 100,000 fossil specimens, representing more than 400 species, have been recovered from a shale layer associated with coal beds in the Mazon Creek area near Chicago.[8] This spectacular fossil graveyard includes ferns, insects, scorpions, and tetra pods buried with jellyfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish, often with soft parts exquisitely preserved. Notice in many of these examples how marine and land-dwelling creatures are found buried together. How could this have happened unless the ocean waters rose and swept over the continents in a global, catastrophic Flood?

3.6.1 Exquisite Preservation

Such was the speed at which many creatures were buried and fossilized—under catastrophic flood conditions that they were exquisitely preserved. Many fish were buried so rapidly, virtually alive, those even fine details of fins and eye sockets have been preserved. Many trilobites have been so exquisitely preserved that even the compound lens systems in their eyes are still available for detailed study.

3.7 Transcontinental Rock Layers

On every continent are found layers of sedimentary rocks over vast areas. Many of these sediment layers can be traced all the way across continents, and even between continents. Furthermore, when geologists look closely at these rocks, they find evidence that the sediments were deposited rapidly. Consider the sedimentary rock layers exposed in the walls of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. This sequence of layers is not unique to that region of the USA. For more than 50 years geologists have recognized that these strata belong to six mega sequences (very thick, distinctive sequences of sedimentary rock layers) that can be traced right across North America. The lowermost sedimentary layers in Grand Canyon are the Tapeats Sandstone, belonging to the Sauk Mega sequence. It and its equivalents (those layers comprised of the same materials) cover much of the United State of America. We can hardly imagine what forces were necessary to deposit such a vast, continent- wide series of deposits. Yet at the base of this sequence are huge boulders and sand beds deposited by storms. Both are evidence that massive forces deposited these sediment layers rapidly and violently right across the entire United State of America. Slow-and-gradual (present-day uniformitarian) processes cannot account for this evidence, but the global catastrophic Genesis Flood surely can. Another layer in Grand Canyon is the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) Red wall Limestone. This belongs to the Kaskaskia Mega sequence of North America. So the same limes tones appear in many places across North America, as far as Tennessee and Pennsylvania. These limes tones also appear in the exact same position in the strata sequences, and they have the exact same fossils and other features in them. Unfortunately, these lime stones have been given different names in other locations because the geologists saw only what they were working on locally and didn’t realize that other geologists were studying essentially the same limestone beds in other places. Even more remarkable, the same Carboniferous limestone beds also appear thousands of miles east in England, containing the same fossils and other features. The buff-colored Coconino Sandstone is very distinctive in the walls of Grand Canyon. It has an average thickness of 315 feet (96 m) and covers an area of at least 200,000 square miles (518,000 km2) eastward across adjoining states.[9] So the volume of sand in the Coconino Sandstone layer is at least 10,000 cubic miles (41,682 km3). This layer also contains physical features called cross beds. While the overall layer of sandstone is horizontal, these cross beds are clearly visible as sloped beds. These beds are remnants of the sand waves produced by the water currents that deposited the sand (like sand dunes, but underwater). So it can be demonstrated that water, flowing at 3–5 miles per hour (4.8–8 km/h), deposited the Coconino Sandstone as massive sheets of sand, with sand waves up to 60 feet (18 m) high.   At this rate, the whole Coconino Sandstone layer (all 10,000 cubic miles of sand) would have been deposited in just a few days! Sediment layers that spread across vast continents are evidence that water covered the continents in the past. Even more dramatic are the fossil-bearing sediment layers that were deposited rapidly right across many or most of the continents at the same time. To catastrophically deposit such extensive sediment layers implies global flooding of the continents.

3.8 Sand Transported Cross Country

Now it logically follows that, when the Flood waters swept over the continents and rapidly deposited sediment layers across vast areas, these sediments had to have been transported long distances. In other words, the sediments in the strata had to come from distant sources. And that’s exactly the evidence we find. The Coconino Sandstone, seen spectacularly in the walls of the Grand Canyon and it has an average thickness of 315 feet (96 m), covers an area of at least 200,000 square miles (518,000 km 2), and thus contains at least 10,000 cubic miles (41,700 km 3) of sand. Where did this sand come from, and how do we know? The sand grains are pure quartz (a natural glass mineral), which is why the Coconino Sandstone is such a distinctive buff color. Directly underneath it is the strikingly different red-brown Hermit Formation, consisting of siltstone and shale. Sand for the Coconino Sandstone could not have come from the underlying Hermit Formation. The sloping remnants of sand “waves” in the Coconino Sandstone point to the south, indicating the water that deposited the sand flowed from the north.[10] Another clue is that the Coconino Sandstone thins to zero to the north in Utah, but the Hermit Formation spreads farther into Utah and beyond. So the Coconino’s pure quartz sand had to come from a source even farther north, above and beyond the red-brown Hermit. Within this sandstone, we find grains of the mineral zircon, which is relatively easy to trace to its source because zircon usually contains radioactive uranium. By “dating” these zircon grains, using the uranium, lead (U-Pb) radioactive method, it has been postulated that the sand grains in the Navajo Sandstone came from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania and New York, and from former mountains further north in Canada. If this is true, the sand grains were transported at least 1,800 miles (3000 km) right across North America.[11] Yet the evidence is overwhelming that the water was flowing in one direction. More than half a million measurements have been collected from 15,615 North American localities, recording water current direction indicators throughout the geologic record. The evidence indicates that water moved sediments across the entire continent, from the east and northeast to the west and southwest throughout the so-called Paleozoic. This general pattern continued on up into the Mesozoic, when the Navajo Sandstone was deposited. How could water be flowing across the North American continent consistently for hundreds of millions of years? Absolutely impossible! The only logical and viable explanation is the global cataclysmic Genesis Flood. Only the water currents of a global ocean, lasting a few months, could have transported such huge volumes of sediments right across the North American continent to deposit the thick strata sequences which blanket the continent.

3.9 No Slow and Gradual Erosion

The dominant view today is that slow and gradual (uniformitarian) processes, similar to the processes we observe in the present, explain the thick, fossil-bearing sedimentary rock layers all over the earth. These slow geologic processes would require hundreds of millions of years to deposit all the successive sediment layers. Furthermore, this popular view holds that slow weathering and erosion gradually wore away the earth’s surface to produce its relief features, such as hills and valleys. This view has a problem, however. If the fossil-bearing layers took hundreds of millions of years to accumulate, then we would expect to find many examples of weathering and erosion after successive layers were deposited. The boundaries between many sedimentary strata should be broken by lots of topographic relief with weathered surfaces. After all, shouldn’t millions of years worth of weathering and erosion follow each deposition? On the other hand, the cataclysmic global Flood described in Genesis 7–8 would lead us to expect something much different. Most of the fossil-bearing layers would have accumulated in just over one year. Under such catastrophic conditions, even if land surfaces were briefly exposed to erosion, such erosion (called sheet erosion) would have been rapid and widespread, leaving behind flat and smooth surfaces. The erosion would not create the localized topographic relief (hills and valleys) we see forming at today’s snail’s pace. So, if the Genesis Flood caused the fossil-bearing geologic record, then we would only expect evidence of rapid or no erosion at the boundaries between sedimentary strata. So what evidence do we find? At the boundaries between some sedimentary layers we find evidence of only rapid erosion. In most other cases, the boundaries are flat, featureless, and knife-edge, with absolutely no evidence of any erosion, which is consistent with no long periods of elapsed time, as would be expected during the global, cataclysmic Genesis Flood. If there were weathering, we would expect to see soils, but we don’t. Second, we find boulders and features known as “storm beds” in the Tapeats Sandstone above the boundary.

3.10 Rock Layers Folded, Not Fractured

The fossil-bearing geologic record consists of tens of thousands of feet of sedimentary layers, though not all these layers are found everywhere around the globe, and their thickness varies from place to place. At most locations only a small portion is available to view, such as about 4,500 feet (1371 m) of strata in the walls of the Grand Canyon. Uniformitarian (long-age) geologists believe that these sedimentary layers were deposited and deformed over the past 500 million years. If it really did take millions of years, then individual sediment layers would have been deposited slowly and the sequences would have been laid down sporadically. In contrast, if the global cataclysmic Genesis Flood deposited all these strata in a little more than a year, then the individual layers would have been deposited in rapid succession, one on top of the other. When solid, hard rock is bent (or folded) it invariably fractures and breaks because it is brittle.   Rock will bend only if it is still soft and pliable, “plastic” like modeling clay or children’s Play dough. If such modeling clay is allowed to dry out, it is no longer pliable but hard and brittle, so any attempt to bend it will cause it to break and shatter. When water deposits sediments in a layer, some water is left behind, trapped between the sediment grains. Clay particles may also be among the sediment grains. As other sedimentary layers are laid on top of the deposits, the pressure squeezes the sedimentary particles closer together and forces out much of the water. The earth’s internal heat may also remove water from the sediment. As the sediment layer dries out, the chemicals that were in the water and between the clay particles convert into natural cement. This cement transforms the originally soft and wet sediment layer into a hard, brittle rock layer. This process, known technically as diagenesis, can be exceedingly rapid.   It is known to occur within hours but generally takes days or months, depending on the prevailing conditions. It doesn’t take millions of years, even under today’s slow-and-gradual geologic conditions.

Conclusion

The Bible records the true account of creation, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. The more we find legends from cultures around the world that contain elements of these actual events, the more excited the Christian should be to connect these confirmations to the Bible’s truth. As people left Babel, they took their history with them. Therefore, we would expect to find cultures with this history of Creation, Catastrophe, and Confusion, and we would expect it to be corrupted, unlike the Bible, whose word will never pass away (Luke 21:33). In the Flood stories, there is almost complete agreement among practically all flood accounts: (a) a universal destruction by water of the human race and all other living things occurred; (b) an ark, or boat, was provided as the means of escape for some; and (c) a seed of mankind was provided to perpetuate the human race. Further, we find that the geologic evidence is absolutely in harmony with the Word of God. As the ocean waters flooded over the continents, they must have buried plants and animals in rapid succession. So, we know now that the Flood of Noah is not mere myth or fancy of primitive man or solely a doctrine of the Hebrew Scriptures. The record of the catastrophe is preserved in some of the oldest historical documents of several distinct races of men, and is indirectly corroborated by the whole tenor of the early history of most of the civilized races.

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[1] John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publisher, 1961), 240.

[2] E.H. Colbert “Evolutionary Growth Rates in the Dinosaurs,” Scientific Monthly,([n. p.], [n. p., 1949), 71.

[3] John C, The Genesis Flood,1-2.

[4] John C, The Genesis Flood, 7.

[5]  R. L. Hopkins, and K. L. Thompson, “Kaibab Formation,” in Grand Canyon Geology, 2nd ed., eds. S. S. Beus and M. Morales (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 196–211.

[6]  Steven Austin, “Nautilus Mass Kill and Burial Event, Red wall Limestone (Lower Mississippian), Grand Canyon Region, Arizona and Nevada,” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. L. Ivey (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 2003), 55–99.

[7]  Daniel Heyler and Cecile M. Poplin, “The Fossils of Montceau-les-Mines,” Scientific American, September 1988, 70–76.

[8] Charles Shabika and Andrew Hay, eds. Richardson’s Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek (Chicago: Northeastern Illinois University, 1997).

[9]  A. A. Snelling and S. A. Austin, “Startling Evidence of Noah’s Flood,” Creation Ex Nihilo 15, no. 1 (1992): 46–50; S. A. Austin, ed., Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe (Santee, California: Institute for Creation Research, 1994), 28–36.

[10] A. Austin, Creation Ex Nihilo 15, no. 1, 36.

[11] J. M. Rahl, and others, “Combined Single-Grain (U-Th)/He and U/Pb Dating of Detrital Zircons from the Navajo Sandstone, Utah,” 31.9 (2003):761–764; S. R. Dickinson and G. E. Gehrels, “U-Pb Ages of Detrital Zircons from Permian and Jurassic Eolian Sandstones of the Colorado Plateau, USA: Paleogeographic Implications,” 163 (2003), 29–66.

The Great Flood of Noah: Biblical Great Flood Account, Part 2

2.1 Reason for the Flood and Antediluvian World

According to the Bible, the world was created by God in six, literal 24-hour days. After the Creation (and the seventh day rest), man was given three positive commands and one negative command. The three positive commands were: (1) be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth (Gen. 1:28); (2) subdue the Earth and have dominion over it (Gen. 1:28); and (3) tend the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15). The one negative command was to avoid eating the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17). As every student of Bible history knows, Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God and ate the forbidden fruit. For this sin, they were evicted from the garden paradise and a curse was placed upon them (Gen. 3:16-19; Rom. 8:20-22). Outside the garden, Adam and Eve began their family.

According to Gen. 4:1 ff., it was only after their eviction from the garden that any conceptions and/or births are mentioned. Apparently, since one of the original commands God gave them was to reproduce, they did not remain in the garden very long before they sinned. Their first two sons were named Cain and Abel. Cain murdered Abel, and eventually went into exile, separating himself from the rest of the family (Gen. 4:16ff.). Like two distinct streams, the two groups flowed along side-by-side for more than a thousand years. Eventually, however, the righteous married indiscriminately, being motivated by lust. The Bible observes that “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose” (Gen. 6:2). These marriages gave rise to people who found themselves in total rebellion against God, as described in Gen. 6:5-7.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And Jehovah said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repented me that I have made them” (Gen. 6:5-7).

At this point, it might be prudent to point out that the period from Creation to the Flood was not just “a few short years.” The truth is, the time span involved was approximately 1,656 years. During that period, people, especially those who lived to advanced ages as did the patriarchs, would have proliferated and spread too many areas around the globe. Man not only was endowed with far greater vitality of body and mind than he now possesses (a point that may be inferred legitimately from the great ages to which he lived), but inhabited a pristine world of practically unlimited, unspoiled natural resources.[1]

Living longer under such conditions also would mean that man was much more prolific than he now is. Yet even in our age, when life spans are shortened considerably, 1,656 years would be enough time to produce an enormous population. During the century between 1830 and 1930, for example, the world population was doubled in number (i.e., it increased by about 850 million people within a hundred years). Imagine, given the antediluvian setting of a worldwide mild climate, great vitality, longer life spans, and impressive natural resources, the increase that would occur, not in 100 years, but in 1,656 years.[2]

2.2 The Sources of Water for the Globe Covering Flood in Scientific Context

The Bible gives us information about where the waters came from and where they went. The sources of the water are given in Genesis 7:11 as “the fountains of the great deep” and the “windows of heaven.”

2.2.1 The Fountains of the Great Deep

 “The fountains of the great deep” are mentioned before “the windows of heaven,” indicating either relative importance or the order of events. What are “the fountains of the great deep”? This phrase is used only in Genesis 7:11. “Fountains of the deep” is used in Genesis 8:2, where it clearly refers to the same thing, and Proverbs 8:28, where the precise meaning is not clear. “The great deep” is used three other times: Isaiah 51:10, where it clearly refers to the ocean, Amos 7:4, where God’s fire of judgment is said to dry up the great deep, probably the oceans, and Psalm 36:6 where it is used metaphorically of the depth of God’s justice/ judgment. “The deep” is used more often, and usually refers to the oceans (e.g. Gen. 1:2, Job 38:30, 41:32, Psalm 42:7, 104:6, Isa. 51:10, 63:13, Eze. 26:19, Jonah. 2:3), but sometimes to subterranean sources of water (Eze. 31:4,15). The Hebrew word (mayan) translated ‘fountains’ means ‘fountain, spring, well.’ So, “the fountains of the great deep” are probably oceanic or possibly subterranean sources of water. In the context of the Flood account, it could mean both. If the fountains of the great deep were the major source of the waters, then they must have been a huge source of water. Some have suggested that when God made the dry land appear from under the waters on the third day of creation, some of the water that covered the earth became trapped underneath and within the dry land.[3]

Genesis 7:11 says that on the day the Flood began, there was a ‘breaking up’ of the fountains, which implies a release of the water, possibly through large fissures in the ground or in the sea floor. The waters that had have been held back burst forth with catastrophic consequences. There are many volcanic rocks interspersed between the fossil layers in the rock record; layers that were obviously deposited during Noah’s Flood. So it is quite plausible that these fountains of the great deep involved a series of volcanic eruptions with prodigious amounts of water bursting up through the ground. It is interesting that up to 70% or more of what comes out of volcanoes today is water, often in the form of steam. In their catastrophic plate tectonics model for the Flood, Austin and others (J.R. Baumgardner, D.R. Humphreys, A. A. Snelling, L. Vardiman, and K.. P. Wise) have proposed that at the onset of the Flood, the ocean floor rapidly lifted up to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) due to an increase in temperature as horizontal movement of the tectonic plates accelerated. This would spill the seawater onto the land and cause massive flooding, perhaps what is aptly described as the breaking up of “the fountains of the great deep.”[4]

2.2.2 The Windows of Heaven

The other source of the waters for Noah’s Flood was “the windows of heaven.” Genesis 7:12 says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights continuously. Genesis 2:5 tells us that there was no rain before man was created. Some have suggested that there was no rainfall anywhere on Earth until the time of the Flood. However, the Bible does not actually say this.3 Some have argued that God’s use of the rainbow as the sign of His covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:12–17) suggests that there were no rainbows, and therefore no clouds or rain, before the Flood. However, if rainbows (and clouds) existed before the Flood, this would not be the only time God used an existing thing as a special ‘new’ sign of a covenant (e.g. bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper).

It is difficult to envisage a pre-Flood water cycle without clouds and rain, as the sun’s heat, even in that era, must have evaporated large volumes of surface waters which would have to have eventually condensed back into liquid water. And droplets of liquid water form clouds from which we get rain. The Bible uses ‘windows of heaven’ twice in reference to the Flood (Gen. 7:11, 8:2). The term is used four times elsewhere in the Old Testament: in 2 Kings 7:2, 19, Isaiah 24:18 and Malachi 3:10. In all cases, it refers to God intervening in an extraordinary way to pour out blessings or judgment on his people. ‘Windows of heaven’ is not a term applied to ordinary events. Clearly, in Genesis the expression suggests the extraordinary nature of the rainfall attending the Flood. The rain was extraordinary; like nothing anyone had seen before.

2.2.2.1 The Water Above

We are told in Genesis 1:6–8 that on the second day of creation God divided the waters that were on the earth from the waters that He placed above the earth when He made a ‘firmament’ (Hebrew, raqiya,[5] meaning ‘expanse’) between those waters.[6] Many have concluded that this ‘expanse’ was the atmosphere, because God placed the birds in the expanse, suggesting that the expanse included the atmosphere where the birds fly. This would put these waters above the atmosphere. However, Gen. 1:20, speaking of the creation of the birds, says (literally), “let birds fly above the ground across the face of the expanse of the heavens.” [7] This at least allows that ‘the expanse’ may include the space beyond the atmosphere. Dr Russell Humphreys has argued that since Genesis 1:17 tells us that God put the sun, moon and stars also “in the expanse of the heaven” then the expanse must at least include interstellar space, and thus the waters above the expanse of Genesis 1:7 would be beyond the stars at the edge of the universe.[8] However, prepositions (in, under, above, etc.) are somewhat flexible in Hebrew, as well as English. A submarine can be spoken of as both under the sea and in the sea. Likewise, the waters could be above the expanse and in the expanse, so we should perhaps be careful not to draw too much from these expressions.

2.2.2.2 A Water Vapor Canopy

Dr Joseph Dillow[9] did much research into the idea of a blanket of water vapor surrounding the earth before the Flood. In a modification of the canopy theory, Dr Larry Vardiman suggested that much of the “waters above” could have been stored in small ice particles distributed in equatorial rings around Earth similar to those around Venus. The Genesis 7:11 reference to the windows of heaven being opened has been interpreted as the collapse of such a water vapor canopy, which somehow became unstable and fell as rain. Volcanic eruptions associated with the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep could have thrown dust into the water vapor canopy, causing the water vapor to nucleate on the dust particles and make rain.

Some have suggested that the vapor canopy caused a greenhouse effect before the Flood with a pleasant subtropical-to-temperate climate all around the globe, even at the poles where today there is ice. This would have caused the growth of lush vegetation on the land all around the globe. The discovery of coal seams in Antarctica containing vegetation that is not now found growing at the poles, but which obviously grew under warmer conditions, was taken as support for these ideas.[10] A vapor canopy would also affect the global wind systems. Also, the mountains were almost certainly not as high before the Flood as they are today. In today’s world, the major winds and high mountain ranges are a very important part of the water cycle that brings rain to the continents. Before the Flood, however, these factors would have caused the weather systems to be different.

2.2.2.3 A Major Problem with the Canopy Theory

Vardiman recognized a major difficulty with the canopy theory. The best canopy model still gives an intolerably high temperature at the surface of the earth. Rush and Vardiman have attempted a solution,[11] but found that they had to drastically reduce the amount of water vapor in the canopy from a rain equivalent of 12 m (40 ft) to only 0.5 m (20 in.). Further Modelling suggested that a maximum of 2 m of water could be held in such a canopy, even if all relevant factors were adjusted to the best possible values to maximize the amount of water stored. Such a reduced canopy would not significantly contribute to the 40 days and nights of rain at the beginning of the Flood. Most creationist scientists have now either abandoned the water vapor canopy model or no longer see any need for such a concept, particularly as other reasonable mechanisms could have supplied the rain.[12] For example, in the catastrophic plate tectonics model for the Flood, volcanic activity associated with the breaking up of the pre-Flood ocean floor would have created a linear geyser (like a wall) of superheated steam from the ocean, causing intense global rain. Nevertheless, whatever the source or mechanism, the scriptural statement about the windows of heaven opening is an apt description of global torrential rain.

2.2.2.4 Where did the waters go?

The whole earth was covered with the Flood waters, and the world that then existed was destroyed by the very waters out of which the land had originally emerged at God’s command (Gen. 1:9, 2 Pet. 3:5–6). But where did those waters go after the Flood?

There are a number of Scripture passages that identify the Flood waters with the present-day seas (Amos 9:6 and Job 38:8–11, note ‘waves’). If the waters are still here, why are the highest mountains not still covered with water, as they were in Noah’s day? Psalm 104 might suggest an answer. After the waters covered the mountains (verse 6), God rebuked them and they fled (verse 7); the mountains rose, the valleys sank down (verse 8) and God set a boundary so that they would never again cover the earth (verse 9).[13] They are the same waters! Isaiah gives this same statement that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth (Isa. 54:9). Clearly, what the Bible is telling us is that God altered the earth’s topography. New continental land-masses bearing new mountain chains of folded rock strata were uplifted from below the globe-encircling waters that had eroded and leveled the pre-Flood topography, while large deep ocean basins were formed to receive and accommodate the flood waters that then drained off the emerging continents. That is why the oceans are so deep, and why there are folded mountain ranges. Indeed, if the entire earth’s surface were leveled by smoothing out the topography of not only the land surface but also the rock surface on the ocean floor, the waters of the ocean would cover Earth’s surface to a depth of 2.7 kilo meters (1.7 miles). We need to remember that about 70% of Earth’s surface is still covered by water. Quite clearly, then, the waters of Noah’s Flood are in today’s ocean basins.

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[1] Thomson Bible pp. 1992, 1995, 265-275

[2] Bert Thomson, The Global Flood of Noah (Montgomery, Alabama: Apologetics Press, 2005), 14-16.

[3] Evidence is mounting that there is still a huge amount of water stored deep in the earth in the crystal lattices of minerals, which is possible because of the immense pressure.

[4] S.A. Austin, Catastrophic plate tectonics: A global Flood model of Earth history ([n. p.]: Proc. Third ICC,1994 ), 609–621.

[5] In trying to disparage the Bible, some skeptics claim that raqiya describes a solid dome and that the ancient Hebrews believed in a flat Earth with a slotted dome over it. Such ideas are not in the Bible or in the Hebrew understanding of raqiya.

[6] J.P. Holding, Is the Raqiya (Firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the Cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: A Response to Paul H. Seely, Creation 13 ([n. p.]: [n. p.], 1999), 44–51.

[7] C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI, US:  Baker Book House, 1942), 78.

[8] D.R. Humphreys, A Biblical Basis for Creationist Cosmology (Pittsburgh, PA: Proc. Third ICC, 1994), 255–266.

[9] J.C. Dillow, The Waters Above (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981).

[10] Movement of tectonic plates could also explain the polar occurrence of such warm-climate plant remains.

[11] D.E. Rush and L, Vardiman, Pre-Flood vapor canopy radiative temperature profiles (Pittsburgh, PA: Proc. Second ICC, 1990), 231–245.

[12] Of course we may never arrive at a correct understanding of exactly how the Flood occurred, but that does not change the fact that it did occur.

[13] The most natural translation of Psalm 104:8a is “The mountains rose up; the valleys sank down” (ESV+, NIV, NASV, GEN-a, HNV). However, some commentators think that this refers to Creation Week events.

The Great Flood of Noah: Extra Biblical Flood Accounts, Part 1

Introduction

The story of the great flood is worldwide known story or event which is mentioned in the various sacred literatures of the world religions, as well as in the Bible. According to  the Christians’  perspective, the great Flood event is a true event occurred in the ancient days of Noah, approximately 4000 BCE as a great intervention of God in the form of judgement on the whole humanity for their rebellious nature and sins against Him Gen 6:1- 7. The various researchers have described over 100 flood epics some like around from the world. For instance, Europe, Asia, Australia, East Indies, Americas, East Africa, and many other places. These events could be accepted as a traditional epic only as individual as described in the particular religious literature, but as far as rational being this phenomenon puzzles the people. Because, how it can be possible that such event named the great flood occurred once upon a time in the history, but it mentioned in almost all religious sacred literatures. Therefore, the critics of the flood narrative consider it either a myth, or a local flood story. The questions which I assume that the Flood narration is belong to whom? Suppose, it is belongs to a particular tribe, sect, or religion, then how it could spread in the other religions? Or in other way, if it is belongs to the Bible then why it is mentioned in the other religions?  Answer would be simple; the emersion of the multi sects and religions would had began as they migrated from the Babel tower, where they were one people, had one language and history, and perhaps worshiped only one true God. Thus they took their history along with them as well as the great flood story. Therefore, the idea of the great Flood absolutely derived from original event. Likewise the people of the every continent could have developed their historical background and religious literature. Therefore, clearly we read the story of great Flood in every sacred writhing. Let’s consider this phenomenon as a hypothesis that the great Flood which we read in almost all ancient sacred literature was global rather than local or myth. As the phenomena of the great Flood covered the whole globe, in the same way the real Flood of Noah had covered whole globe with water and so this event had been spread out as oral tradition in every tribe, nation, and language from generation to generation. If it is false phenomena, then logically it is impossible to get inspiration of almost all same events to note down in the every region of the religion, whereas the religions which we know today around the world are totally different then each other in description, in people who follow it, in languages, and in region, or if it could be possible in some way somewhere, seems no reason that everybody write it down in the sacred literatures. In other hand people were imposed to do that, why? Because they knew with the help of oral tradition that it was true event. The Flood narration was very common event in the ancient days; therefore, it is everywhere as we see today. The differentiation in the narration came much later after the Flood when people began to live in various part of the world. In this course paper we will see the great Flood event in detail in the light of doctrine of creation along with scientific discoveries which thoroughly assist with geographical and other scientific evidence that there was a great Flood once upon a time and earth was completely covered with water. 

1.1 Floods in Context

Some scholars believe that memories of real disasters, such as the violent and unpredictable floods that occurred along Mesopotamia’s Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, underlie mythological accounts of catastrophic rains and floods. These stories give meaning and purpose to events in the natural world. In myths, floods become part of a cycle of destruction and rebirth. Mythological floods are not local. They take place on a grand scale, generally covering the whole world. Though the direct cause of the rising waters  may  be  heavy  rainfall,  gods  or  other  supernatural  beings  are responsible. Often the flood is sent as punishment for the wrongdoings of humankind. In some traditions, a flood reproduces the original mythological conditions of creation, the formless, empty expanse out of which the world was created. The flood not only destroys the old world but also sets the stage for a brand new one.

1.2 Floods in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

Of all the floods in mythology, the flood described in the Bible has inspired more artists than any other. Images of Noah and the Biblical deluge can be found throughout European and American art, with famous examples by Michelangelo, Gustave Doré, Jacopo Bassano, and Edward Hicks. Mythological floods have even appeared on film; the Disney animated film Fantasia 2000 contains a sequence re-telling the myth  of  Noah  with  Donald  Duck  filling  the  role,  while  the  2007 comedy Evan Almighty casts Steve Carell as a modern-day version of Noah.[1]

1.3 Flood Parallel

Native global flood stories are documented as history or legend in almost every region on earth. Old world missionaries reported their amazement at finding remote tribes already possessing legends with tremendous similarities to the Bible's accounts of the worldwide flood. Ancient civilizations such as (China, Babylonia, Wales, Russia, India, America, Hawaii, Scandinavia, Sumatra, Peru, and Polynesia) all have their own versions of a giant flood. These flood tales are frequently linked by common elements that parallel the Biblical account including the warning of the coming flood, the construction of a boat in advance, the storage of animals, the inclusion of family, and the release of birds to determine if the water level had subsided. The overwhelming consistency among flood legends found in distant parts of the globe indicates they were derived from the same origin (the Bible's record), but oral transcription has changed the details through time. Perhaps the second most important historical account of a global flood can be found in a Babylonian flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. When the Biblical and Babylonian accounts are compared, a number of outstanding similarities are found that leave no doubt these stories are rooted in the same event or oral tradition.

1.4 Egyptian Flood Account

People have become rebellious. Atum said he will destroy all he made and return the earth to the Primordial Water which was its original state. Atum will remain, in the form of a serpent, with Osiris. [Faulkner, plate 30]

1.5 Babylonian Flood Account

Three times (every 1200 years), the gods were distressed by the disturbance from human overpopulation. The gods dealt with the problem first by plague, then by famine. Both times, the god Enki advised men to bribe the god causing the problem. The third time, Enlil advised the gods to destroy all humans with a flood, but Enki had Atrahasis build an ark and so escape. Also on the boat were cattle, wild animals and birds, and Atrahasis' family. When the storm came, Atrahasis sealed the door with bitumen and cut the boat's rope. The storm god Adad raged, turning the day black. After the seven day flood, the gods regretted their action. Atrahasis made an offering to them, at which the gods gathered like flies, and Enki established barren women and stillbirth to avoid the problem in the future. [Dalley, pp. 23­35]

1.6 Assyrian Flood Account  

The gods, led by Enlil, agreed to cleanse the earth of an overpopulated humanity, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea in a dream. He and some craftsmen built a large boat (one acre in area, seven decks) in a week. He then loaded it with his family, the craftsmen, and "the seed of all living creatures." The waters of the abyss rose up, and it stormed for six days. Even the gods were frightened by the flood's fury. Upon seeing all the people killed, the gods repented and wept. The waters covered everything but the top of the mountain Nisur, where the boat landed. Seven days later, Utnapishtim released a dove, but it returned finding nowhere else to land. He next returned a sparrow, which also returned, and then a raven, which did not return. Thus he knew the waters had receded enough for the people to emerge. Utnapishtim made a sacrifice to the gods. He and his wife were given immortality and lived at the end of the earth. [Sandars, chpt. 5]

1.7 Persian Flood Account

In early times, the earth was full of malign creatures fashioned by the evil Ahriman. The angel Tistar (the star Sirius) descended three times, in the form of man, horse, and bull respectively, causing ten days and nights of rain each time. Each rain drop became as big as a bowl, and the water rose the height of a man over the whole earth. The first flood drowned the creatures, but the dead noxious creatures went into holes in the earth. Before returning to cause the second flood, Tistar, in the form of a white horse, battled the demon Apaosha, who took the form of a black horse. Ormuzd blasted the demon with lightning, making the demon give a cry which can still be heard in thunderstorms, and Tistar prevailed and caused rivers to flow. The poison washed from the land by the second flood made the seas salty. The waters were driven to the ends of the earth by a great wind and became the sea Vourukasha ("Wide ­Gulfed"). [Carnoy, p. 270; Vitaliano, pp. 161­162; H.Miller, p. 288]

1.8 Asian Flood Account

Vogul: After seven years of drought, the Great Woman said to the Great Man that rains had come elsewhere; how should they save themselves. The Great Man counseled the other giants to make boats from cut poplars, anchor them with ropes of willow roots 500 fathoms long, and provide them with seven days of food and with pots of melted butter to grease the ropes. Those who did not make all the preparations perished when the waters came. After seven days, the waters sank. But all plants and animals had perished, even the fish. The survivors, on the brink of starvation, prayed to the great god Numi­târom, who recreated living things. [Gaster, pp. 93­94]

1.9 Chinese Flood Account

The Chinese classic called the Hihking tells about "the family of Fuhi," that was saved from a great flood. This ancient story tells that the entire land was flooded; the mountains and everything, however one family survived in a boat. The Chinese consider this man the father of their civilization. This record indicates that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the only people that escaped the great flood. It is claimed, that he and his family were the only people alive on earth, and repopulated the world.

1.10 Indian Flood Account

A long time ago lived a man named Manu. Manu, while washing himself, saved a small fish from the jaws of a large fish. The fish told Manu, "If you care for me until I am full grown I will save you from terrible things to come". Manu asked what kind of terrible things. The fish told Manu that a great flood would soon come and destroy everything on the earth. The fish told Manu to put him in a clay jar for protection. The fish grew and each time he outgrew the clay jar Manu gave him a larger one. Finally the fish became a ghasha, one of the largest fish in the world. The fish instructed Manu to build a large ship since the flood was going to happen very soon. As the rains started Manu tied a rope from the ship to the ghasha. The fish guided the ship as the waters rose. The whole earth was covered by water. When the waters began sub siding the ghasha led Manu's ship to a mountaintop.

1.11 Greece Flood Account

A long time ago, perhaps before the golden age was over, humans became proud. This bothered Zeus as they kept getting worse. Finally Zeus decided that he would destroy all humans. Before he did this Prometheus, the creator of humans, warned his human son Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. Prometheus then placed this couple in a large wooden chest. The rains started and lasted nine days and nights until the whole world was flooded. The only thing that was not flooded was the peaks of Mount Parnassus and Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is the home of the gods. The wooden chest came to rest on Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha got out and saw that everything was flooded. They lived on provisions from the chest until the waters subsided. At Zeus' instruction they re­populated the earth.

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[1] [n. a.], "Floods,” UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology, Vols. 1-5, London: Gale Cengage Learning, 2009. 387-393.