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Evidences for the Flood

The ood recorded in Genesis 6 cannot be proved with absolute certainty, but
there is ample evidence to support the view that a global ood did occur.

One evidence of the ood of Noah’s day is the abundance of global ood
stories found in a wide variety of cultures. Anthropologists have catalogued
hundreds of ancient ood legends from all over the world. The ancient
Babylonians, Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals, Aztecs, Romans,
Greeks, Chinese, Mayans, Inuits, and many others recorded ood stories.
Further, their stories share many similarities to the Genesis account,
including an angry god and people who survived the ood in a boat.

A second area of evidence for the ood of Genesis 6 is physical evidence
found on the earth’s surface. For example, 75 percent of earth’s land surface is
comprised of sedimentary rock—rock that was washed away, dissolved in
uid, and redeposited elsewhere. Fossils are found in many of these
sedimentary layers. It is common to nd massive fossil graveyards consisting
of jumbled, smashed, and contorted fossil remains that give the appearance
of a large number of animals destroyed simultaneously by an incredible
force.

A third area of evidence for the ood of Noah’s day is the long-distance
movement of various types of rock. For example, scientists have noted
quartzites discovered more than 300 miles from their source in Oregon, a
phenomenon no longer taking place today. The displaced minerals could be
the result of what is spoken of in Psalm 104:6–8—the waters standing above
the mountains and violently running down into the valleys.

A fourth evidence for a global ood is the presence of abundant fossil
remains of marine life at the tops of every major mountain range in the world,
including the Himalayas. A global ood in which water covered the tallest
mountains would explain this phenomenon. Genesis 7:18–19 records how
the waters rose greatly on the earth and all the high mountains were covered.
Scientists have yet to provide an adequate alternative theory for the
abundance of fossilized marine life at high elevations.

The Bible itself is also an additional line of support. The history of the Bible
has repeatedly been validated through a variety of means so if Scripture is
accurate in other areas of history, the global ood would also be accurate.
With the evidence from the various global ood narratives, abundant fossils,
and high-elevation marine fossils, the Bible’s account o ers a plausible
scenario for what took place during the time of Noah.

Sources: The Genesis Flood: John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris;
GotQuestions.org
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