Beliefs Regarding The Flood

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Budman

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2014
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#1
The Great Flood. Do you believe it was:

1. Local

2. Worldwide

3. An Allegorical Story

Simply curious. Nothing more.
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
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#2
That's an easy question. Obviously since God had to destroy the entire world and begin anew, the flood was world wide.. :)
 

valiant

Senior Member
Mar 22, 2015
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#3
That's an easy question. Obviously since God had to destroy the entire world and begin anew, the flood was world wide.. :)
I'm not convinced that its that easy. God's purpose was only to destroy the world of mankind. At the time that it occurred that may well have been a limited area. Man had not spread abroad as he did after the flood (Gen 10).

The descriptions are written from Noah's point of view. 'Under the whole heavens' indicated the heavens as he saw them. The mountain tops that were covered were those within his range, and in those days they may well have been lower than today.

Thus a massive, but not worldwide flood would fit the Biblical facts. Why cover Australia and America if man had not reached there? It was caused by the 'fountains of the great deep opening up'. Who knows what convulsions of the earth caused this? The rain only had a secondary part to play, although more apparent to Noah. It is quite possible that it was linked with the ice age in some way.
 

Dan58

Senior Member
Nov 13, 2013
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#4
I personally don't believe the flood was world-wide in scope. Often, when the bible says "all the earth", its doesn't mean global, but is referring to a specific area affected by what's being described. The deluge was huge, but imo limited to the wickedness which infected the descendents of Adam, it was all the land they occupied that flooded. Therefore, Noah did not take 2 of every species on earth, but only those animals indigenous to his area... jmo

Thoughts on Noah's Flood
 
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valiant

Senior Member
Mar 22, 2015
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#7
How does the Bible represent it?
as wide enough to destroy mankind. There is nothing in the narrative which requires it to be universal. Indeed ancient man had no conception of 'worldwide'.:)
 

Agricola

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2012
2,638
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#8
Ah the old chestnut that "worldwide" actually means localised, because apparently humans only existed in a small part of the world... Erm... that is a logic fail if there ever was one.
 

oldhermit

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2012
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#9
as wide enough to destroy mankind. There is nothing in the narrative which requires it to be universal. Indeed ancient man had no conception of 'worldwide'.:)
In the first place the concepts are not those of man but of God. The holy Spirit is the author of the material, not man. Secondly the scope of the flood is provided by the text itself. "The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered." The 'all' is qualified by definitive terms. In this case, all means ALL.
 
G

Gr8grace

Guest
#10
as wide enough to destroy mankind. There is nothing in the narrative which requires it to be universal. Indeed ancient man had no conception of 'worldwide'.:)
I don't believe we can say that. You should do a study on the great pyramid of Giza. These are 4400 to 4700 years ago. And the scientists who have studied this pyramid come to some pretty astounding conclusions........they knew these facts...........


  • A precise definition of the Royal Cubit as it relates to the Earth
  • The size and shape of the Earth
  • The Mass and Density of the Earth
  • The Gravitational Constant
  • The Escape Velocity from the Earth to obtain an Open Orbit
  • The Escape Velocity from the Earth to obtain escape from the combined Earth’s and Sun’s gravitational field
  • The significance of the location of the Great Pyramid
  • The Golden Ratio
  • The Mass of the Sun
  • The Mass of the Moon
  • The Mean distance to the Sun and the Circumference of the Earth’s Orbit
  • Neutral Points of Gravity between the Earth and the Sun
  • The Mean distance to the Moon
  • The Orbital Velocity of the Earth
  • The Orbital Velocity of the Moon
  • The Metonic 19 year cycle of the Moon’s orbit of the Earth
  • The Lagrange Point (L1) between the Earth and the Moon
  • The Speed of Light
  • The Orbital Velocity of the Solar System relative to the Center of the Milkyway Galaxy
  • The Velocity of the Local Group of Galaxies which includes the Milky Way Galaxy relative to the Universe

Most people think that we are progressing. I don't think we understand how wise these people were that lived 7 to 10 times longer than we do.
 
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E

ember

Guest
#11
Worldwide I believe

Most people think that we are progressing. I don't think we understand how wise these people were that lived 7 to 10 times longer than we do.
I have thought that we are regressing...maybe in the last 100 years or so have made a bit of a comeback with understanding the body better and so on....but an interesting discussion is on how old people lived...of course some will say the Bible is using some other kind of measurement for a year...but I don't think so
 
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KennethC

Guest
#12
It was worldwide and they have found fish fossils on mountains all around the world, including that of whale fossils in the Andes.
 
Nov 14, 2012
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#13
Ah the old chestnut that "worldwide" actually means localised, because apparently humans only existed in a small part of the world... Erm... that is a logic fail if there ever was one.
Got to agree with this
 
Nov 14, 2012
2,113
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#14
as wide enough to destroy mankind. There is nothing in the narrative which requires it to be universal. Indeed ancient man had no conception of 'worldwide'.:)
I believe it was worldwide as the bible says. You don't believe the bible's acccount?
 

oldhermit

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2012
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#15
"But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth." Gen 8:9
 

Agricola

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2012
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#16
One thing people ignore is how detailed the account of the flood in the Bible is, in Genesis 6:17 we read

I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

So does this mean that nothing was living outside the "local" area of middle east?
 

Elizabeth619

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2011
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#17
If the flood was only local and not global then why did God make a convenantt with Noah to never destroy all life that walked on the earth again? Being as there are local floods still happening wouldn't that make God a liar?
Theres alsonthe fact that Jesus and Peter spoke of a global flood.
 

Agricola

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2012
2,638
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#18

MarcR

Senior Member
Feb 12, 2015
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#19
I think that this issue is part of a larger problem. IMO, some people tend to allegorize anything that conflicts with their opinions. This, IMO, is not how we should approach the authority of Scripture.

I believe that Scripture (both specifically re. the flood, and generally) should be taken literally unless there is compelling LINGUISTIC reason to do otherwise.

Scripture should NOT be altered to conform with our own opinions!
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
#20
Most people think that we are progressing. I don't think we understand how wise these people were that lived 7 to 10 times longer than we do.
I agree that folks were way more advanced back then than we give them credit for. Egypt, Sumeria and the ancient american cultures all have a common theme, they seemed to start out at peak civilization, then gradually the architecture, culture, sophistication, etc seemed to fizzle out.
the flood was global. the ancient cultures from Egypt, Americas, India to China all confirm the flood. and their stories timelines all sync with one another. pretty amazing.