Noah's Flood: Global or Regional?

Could the Bible actually be teaching the flood was just a regional event, or are Christians committed to believing the floodwaters covered the whole face of the earth?

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Sources:

The Lost World of the Flood - Tremper Longman III & John Walton

[InspiringPhilosophy]

I have 5 more videos on the flood planned. I will address the historical case for the flood, the size of the ark, the dimensions of the ark, why Noah released birds and in the order he did, etc. Upcoming videos on the flood:

Noah's Flood: Biblical Archaeology
Genesis 6b: Judgement Declared
Genesis 7: The Flood
Genesis 8: Creation Renewed
Genesis 9: Meat and Rainbows

[coconutshrimp]

Personally, I think it was regional flooding on a global scale. Archeological records seem to point out there was wide spread heavy flooding in the distant past and I believe the floods came over the heavily populated regions of the world, but not the whole world, as there are flooding stories from cultures all over the world

[andrewdoesapologetics]

My Brain: How many InspiringPhilosophy videos are we watching this week?

Me: Yes

[carloswater]

In my understanding, when the ancient people spoke about the whole world, they were not referring to the whole planet Earth. They were referring to the Civilized Nations they knew.

[manne]

Great video. What about God promising that He will never flood the earth again? Some say if it was a local flood, God would have broken his promise since there were and still are lots of local floodings.

[georgeluke]

Hey IP. Global flood brother here. Appreciate you going to the passage in 2 Peter, and thinking through the case relative to "world" and whether the usage of that word necessitates "all the planet". Would be happy to hear more of your thoughts on the NT argument, specifically. Looking forward to the rest of this series.

A lot of interesting points here that I want to consider. Eager to hear more of them.

I might not end up agreeing with you here, but I'm grateful overall for the tenor and quality of the work you produce.

[vedinthorn]

I already know the answer, but the biggest objection is going to be, "then why not move instead of building an ark and putting animals on it?"

[AntonsClass]

If it were a regional flood, it wouldn't have lasted for nearly a year, and there would be absolutely no point in rescuing humans and animals by putting them on an ark. They could have walked out of the path of destruction.

[kymmoore]

I think this is the first time that I’ve listened to one of your videos and disagreed at all, for two reasons:

I think that many creationists, such as Ken Ham, *do* take every verse very literary.

Regional floods happen all the time and God promised on the rainbow that he would never do it again. So is God breaking his promise?

Edit: And if God didn’t flood the whole Earth and it was just regional why bother telling Noah to build an Ark, why not just tell him to go to the land of such and such which won’t be affected? And what would be the point of him gathering two of each kind of animal?

[ophirbushi]

As a native Hebrew speaker, the text is very clearly speaking about a global flood. You distort it very much. No honest reading could ever come to the conclusion that the flood was local.

[rickandrygel]

And the Lord said "Noah! You have a few decades, move east for a while."

[zach]

I think it was a global flood. There are stories of a flood from all over the world. Ancient Mesopotamian flood stories are the most famous but there are flood stories in China, India and even the Americas. Most of them involve a man being instructed to build a huge boat to survive the flood. This leads me to believe it was a global flood and that all those stories are telling, what at the time, was known history

[cget]

To your point about Genesis 8:13 where it says the waters were dried off from the earth, couldn't it be the case that it was just talking about the land? That the waters that covered the land dried up?

[mystaree]

The fact that 90% of the worlds ancient populations describe a great deluge would be evidence that it was global.

[Kahless_the_Unforgettable]

I'm almost afraid to watch, considering his heretical views on Evolution.

Edit: Ugh. I was right to be worried. Even a cursory reading makes it very obvious. God did not need to send every animal two by two to an Ark if it was just a regional flood. He could have just sent them to a neighboring region. Also, the Earth still bears the scars of the global flood.

[mindspace]

If the flood was a local one, why send out a dove to see if there was dry land? Why not just sail to where the flood didn't take place?

[Captain_Of_A_Starship]

If it wasn't global then Noah and the animals could have retreated outside from a local area, I think the existence of the ark tells us that the writer means the whole earth was flooded.

[DanielApologetics]

Well presented, Mike - God has blessed your wisdom, and I'm happy to be a small part and supporter of your big project

[ramblinbob]

Everyone else in the comments: excellent point on the flood controversy IP


Me: Boy your cat does look like a dog.

[kennethacheson]

I found a petrified Octopus tentacle, 3 feet long and 4 inch diameter in Montana, elevation about 3, 000 feet.