Evidence for the Flood
1 Key Facts about the Flood
2 Worldwide Cretaceous Layer
3 Water Deposits
4 Fossils
5 V-Shaped Canyons
6 Fold Mountains and Sandstone Columns
7 Paleocurrents
8 Petrified Forests
9 Coal
10 Curved Layers
11 Arguments Against a Local Flood
12 Conclusion
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1 Key Facts about the Flood
The Bible reports that in the early days of Earth's history, there was a flood that spanned the entire planet. Flood stories have been handed down in many civilizations on Earth, including the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and the peoples of Egypt, Greece, China, Africa, India, and many others. In total, there are approximately 270 such accounts. Most of them even mention a person named Noah, whose name is also found in the Bible.
The Bible testifies that just a few generations after the Fall, the earth was already corrupted and full of violence due to human wickedness. According to biblical tradition, this is why God sent a massive flood across the entire earth. 120 years earlier, God commanded a man named Noah, who found favor with God because of his fear of God, to build a gigantic wooden ship: the ark. After the ark's construction was completed, God instructed Noah to take aboard the ship a pair of every land creature that existed at the time, along with food for humans and animals. After Noah and his family boarded the ark, God sent the predicted flood, in which all the humans and animals outside the ark perished. After about a year, the flood waters receded, allowing Noah and his family to leave the ark along with the remaining animals. It is noteworthy that, according to the biblical account, the ark landed in the southern region of the Ararat Mountains (present-day Turkey), where all civilizations began. From there, the spread of all peoples can be traced historically.
Video footage shows the unimaginable natural forces at work in local flood disasters and the enormous damage these events cause. Given this, the effects of a global flood can only be imagined. Today's natural disasters are not even remotely comparable to the Flood described in the Bible. Science denies that a worldwide Flood ever occurred. The reason for this is that a global flood, which would have destroyed all life on Earth, would simultaneously refute the theory of evolution – according to which organisms evolved slowly over millions of years.
It can be assumed that the Earth looked different in pre-Flood times than it does afterward. The shape of today's continents suggests that there was initially only a single (super)continent. This assumption is also supported by the continental rifts in the oceans between the continents. Researchers believe that the oceans back then were smaller and shallower and – unlike today – contained fresh water. Furthermore, the average water temperature is said to have been higher than in today's oceans. Mountains, however, were much lower in the past than they are today. They were most likely small to medium-sized hills. Most of today's mountains were probably raised from the seas during the Flood. The climate was generally pleasant, subtropical, with lush vegetation and optimal living conditions for humans and animals, which is why humans reached a much older age than is the case today. According to the Bible, Noah, for example, lived to be 950 years old before his death. This suggests that animals also lived much longer at that time. This also explains the considerable body size of some animal species in relation to their descendants living today.
According to Bible 6:14, the ark's dimensions were 300 cubits (approximately 130 meters) long, 50 cubits (approximately 22 meters) wide, and 30 cubits (approximately 13 meters) high. The construction of such a massive ship without the aid of modern technology demonstrates that humans around 5,000 years ago were by no means primitive, but were far superior in strength to us. This is also evidenced by other ancient buildings, such as the Egyptian pyramids or the enormous temple complexes of Greece and Rome, whose ruins can still be admired today.
Since the early Earth consisted of a single, continuous landmass and animals had not yet spread so widely across the planet, it was not too much of an effort for Noah to bring the animals on board the ship. Furthermore, one can assume that the animals at that time were far less shy and aggressive due to the better living conditions on the planet and their proximity to humans. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that God himself supernaturally persuaded the selected animals to go into the ark. Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume that Noah only took young animals of each species on board the ship, as they have lower nutritional needs and take up less space than adult specimens. Other animals that exist in water were also able to survive outside the ark. Furthermore, it can be assumed that only so-called basic species of each animal were on board the ark (e.g., wolf), from which the various variations that populate the Earth today later emerged. This would have limited the total number of animals on board the Ark to a few thousand, significantly reducing the space required. This would have left enough room for food and Noah's family.
2 Worldwide Cretaceous Layer
A special geological layer found on every continent worldwide is chalk. This layer consists of microscopic marine organisms such as algae, mussels, crabs, snail shells, etc. When these organisms die and decompose, only the animals' skeletons, made of calcium carbonate, remain, which eventually turns into chalk. The lion's share of the world's chalk layers consists of algae. However, algae cannot form in very deep waters, but only in relatively shallow ones. Furthermore, algae grow very quickly, so they can spread over large areas within a short period of time. The fact that algae live exclusively in water and that chalk layers are widespread on every continent proves that everything on earth was once underwater at the same time. Furthermore, chalk is found not only in the deeper layers but also on high mountains. This, in turn, proves that even these mountains—even if they were only raised to their present size during or after the Flood—must have been completely covered by the waters of the Flood.
3 Water Deposits
The majority of the geological layers formed underwater. The lime contained in the Flood hardened them until they finally became solid stone. After the water drained away after about a year, some of the layers remained as mountains and landscapes. Others were washed away and disappeared. The repeated turbidites (= mudslides) underwater gradually formed layers with buried animals and plants. In this way, they were preserved and have survived as fossils to this day. Almost all fossils that are excavated are oriented in the direction of the current. This applies to dinosaurs, mammals, microorganisms, plants, and trees. This also shows that all fossils were initially deposited in water. In addition, large parts of the Earth – including many deserts – show evidence of having once been underwater. The high sand dunes found in the Sahara and other deserts could only grow so high underwater, as on land they would collapse under their own weight.
What all geological layers have in common is that the heavy material (like rocks, boulders, etc.) is at the bottom, and the light material (like sand, chalk, etc.) is at the top. This fact is also evidence of the influence of water in the formation of fossils. Furthermore, this circumstance proves that the layers formed within a very short period of time, rather than over millions of years. In some geological layers, you can find a large number of more or less well-preserved leaves. This is further evidence that the fossils formed in a relatively short period of time, since a leaf exposed to air and weather would decompose within a few weeks.
4 Fossils
Scientists claim that fossils were formed by lava and volcanic ash. However, this is contradicted by the fact that the majority of fossils are embedded in aquatic sediment. This moist sediment protects the fossils from weathering. Therefore, rapid embedding is the most important factor for fossilization. Slow fossilization is not possible, especially not over millions of years, because the dead organisms would decay, decompose, or be eaten by other animals due to the weather. Fish scales and whale baleen, in particular, decay very quickly. Images of modern-day flood disasters show that the dead animals disappear after a short time. This also speaks against fossilization over a long period of time. Furthermore, if the fossils were many millions of years old, they would have been destroyed long ago due to the planet's high rate of erosion. Consequently, there would be no fossils today. Furthermore, fossils of aquatic animals such as marine bivalves and fish can be found in both the lowest and highest regions of the earth. This fact, too, can only be explained by a gigantic flood.
Many of the fossils discovered are completely preserved. This means they must have been buried before the decomposition process began. Some specimens even have prey still in their mouths. Among the fossils unearthed worldwide are many large animals such as whales, dinosaurs, and elephants. Burying these quickly requires enormous amounts of water and sediment. In some places on Earth, vast fossil graveyards containing up to hundreds of such animals are found. Local floods are an inadequate explanation for these catastrophic circumstances. The only plausible explanation is a flood of biblical proportions. Furthermore, the bone remains of tens of thousands of mammals have been found mixed together in the uppermost geological layers, such as the Tertian. This clearly indicates a global catastrophe. The fact that mammals and birds are mostly found in the uppermost layers is due to the fact that these animals float on top of the water. After they perished in the floods and rotted to their bones, they were tossed around by the immense force of the water. They broke apart and were washed together with the bones of other animals and embedded in mud, eventually becoming fossils.
So-called track fossils, which can be found all over the world, indicate the direction in which animals moved in the past. What's astonishing is that over 90% of the discovered tracks point upslope. This is an unnatural phenomenon and suggests an escape behavior that can best be explained in the context of a global flood. Similar animal behavior can be observed in today's flood disasters, although traces are rarely preserved.
For a long time, scientists claimed that the process of fossilization would take a long time, thus disproving the Flood and the theory of a young Earth. However, we now know that fossilization can occur within a short period of time. The more water and calcium carbonate present, the shorter the time it takes for a living being or object to turn into stone. A flood, with its huge amounts of water and calcium carbonate, could have fossilized fossils in a very short time. Worldwide, numerous finds of bottles, clay containers, and ship's bells from sunken ships have been found embedded in hard stone. Since the fossilized objects are only a few decades old, fossilization cannot have taken place over millions of years. The same conclusion can be drawn with regard to fossils. There are also rocks where two different geological layers are mixed together. This may have occurred when mudslides underwater rolled different material into each other. However, this is only possible if the respective layers were soft, which in turn means that they must have formed quickly.
5 V-Shaped Canyons
Extremely wide riverbeds can be found all over the world—including in many canyons—which could not have been formed by natural circumstances. These were created when the enormous waters of the Great Flood flowed down at high speed, eroding the landscape. This formed today's river valleys. In addition, most of these riverbeds are V-shaped. Researchers have found that this indicates that the mountains were eroded quickly within a short period of time, and that very large volumes of water were involved. Slow formation over a long period of time (e.g., by a river) would, in contrast, leave behind U-shaped gorges.
6 Fold Mountains and Sandstone Columns
In many mountain regions, layers several hundred meters thick are bent and folded into hairpin shapes. The usual geological timescale suggests that these formations were deeply buried and solidified over hundreds of millions of years before they were bent. Nevertheless, the folding occurred without fracture. This means that these mountains must have been soft when they were formed. The claim that the mountains were heated by magma is not verifiable, as no sign of heat can be detected.
Further evidence pointing to rapid formation of geological strata are sandstone columns, some of which extend through multiple layers. These were shot through the layers from below with tremendous force. However, these layers must have been soft for this to happen. If, on the other hand, the layers were several million years old, they would break apart during this process, and it would be impossible to shoot a column through the hard rock layers without sufficient pressure.
7 Paleocurrents
A special phenomenon in geology is so-called paleocurrents. These indicate the direction of flow of an original wind or water current that deposited sediment. This means that one can read the direction in which water flowed in the past from all geological layers. These paleocurrents can be detected in sedimentary rocks on every continent in the world. Today, there are almost a million measurements in the databases. The continents of North America, South America, Australia, Great Britain, and parts of Western Europe are particularly well documented. What is striking is that the observable trends do not correspond to the standard model for geological basins. While under natural circumstances, water flows into the basin from all sides, in the same geological layers on all continents, a one-directional flow of water can be detected that runs across the entire continent. The same phenomenon can be observed in South America, Europe, and Australia. The trends are therefore consistent with the global catastrophe model and simultaneously provide evidence of a worldwide flood.
8 Petrified Forests
A special phenomenon in geology is so-called paleocurrents. These indicate the direction of flow of an original wind or water current that deposited sediment. This means that one can read the direction in which water flowed in the past from all geological layers. These paleocurrents can be detected in sedimentary rocks on every continent in the world. Today, there are almost a million measurements in the databases. The continents of North America, South America, Australia, Great Britain, and parts of Western Europe are particularly well documented. What is striking is that the observable trends do not correspond to the standard model for geological basins. While under natural circumstances, water flows into the basin from all sides, in the same geological layers on all continents, a one-directional flow of water can be detected that runs across the entire continent. The same phenomenon can be observed in South America, Europe, and Australia. The trends are therefore consistent with the global catastrophe model and simultaneously provide evidence of a worldwide flood.
9 Coal
Massive layers of lignite and black coal can be found all over the world. These indicate the presence of large forests that once existed in the past. In all of these coal layers, clear traces of sedimentary rock can be found, indicating flooding. In some of the upper layers, lignite is mixed with chalk, consisting of mussels and other marine organisms. This suggests that all of these layers must have once been underwater. Some lignite layers contain some wood that is still usable. This, in turn, can only mean that the layers formed relatively recently. If, on the other hand, they were millions of years old, the wood would have long since rotted away and become unusable. Some of the coal layers are up to 30 meters wide. The amount of trees and plants that must have been washed together can only be credibly explained by a massive flood.
10 Curved Layers
In the Bighorn Basin of North America, several geological layers were deposited between two mountains. What's special about them is that they are uplifted at the edges, while the uppermost layers show no uplift. This shows that they must have been soft when the mountains were uplifted. If the layers were several million years old, they would have long since become as hard as rock. This would have caused them to fracture at the edges when the mountains were uplifted, leaving visible traces in the topography.
11 Arguments Against a Local Flood
Some claim that the Flood was merely a regional inundation. However, the following objections speak against this:
1 - Had the Flood been localized, Noah would not have had to spend several years of his life building such a large ship for himself and his family, but could have escaped the flood in other ways.
2 - Had the Flood been localized, other people who were outside the ark at the time of the catastrophe could have survived. However, the Bible testifies that ALL souls not on board the ship perished. Jesus also confirms in the New Testament that the Flood swept away everyone except Noah and his family.
3 - In the New Testament, the Flood is compared to the final judgment that awaits humanity. In this final, great judgment, all ungodly people on earth will be destroyed, leaving only those destined for eternal life. If there had been people who could have survived the Flood without the ark, this parallel would be meaningless.
4 - According to the biblical flood account, if the Flood had been localized, the water would not have been able to rise 6 meters above the mountains at that time. After all, water always strives for the lowest point and spreads horizontally across the surface. Consequently, everything that lies deeper than the water must be covered by water at the same time.
12 Conclusion
There is considerable evidence worldwide that can only be explained by a global flood catastrophe, as attested in the Bible and various ancient accounts. The Flood was God's judgment on the godless people of the ancient world. It is meant to make clear to us that God's patience with the godless will one day run out and that God will hold every person accountable for their sins. At the same time, we can learn from it that God will grant grace to all who turn away from their sins and turn to Him, protecting them from judgment.
Thus, the ark is also a picture of Jesus Christ, whom God appointed as the Savior of all people. If we accept Jesus as our Savior and are willing to obey His commandments, we receive forgiveness for our sins and eternal life. If we instead despise God's grace, we too will perish with the world—just like the people of Noah's time... (see: the way to redemption).