A remarkable account is told in the Bible, and similar stories can be found
in legends
from around the world.
It describes the intentional flooding of the world by God to
destroy all of mankind except one because of their wickedness,
and in particular due to the influence of a race known as the Nephilim. Through specific instructions
from God, Noah saved every
type of terrestrial animal
on earth by placing them on a large vessel called an ark.
Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, "I will
wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men
and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds
of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."
According to the Biblical chronology the global flood occurred approximately
4500 years ago. If this event occurred as described in the Bible,
the geological evidence left behind could never be correctly
interpreted by a naturalist. Although the earth is covered in
monumental
volumes of sediment,
the existence of modern animals atop these deposits must be explained
naturally (i.e. many local floods, gradual deposition over millions
of years). However, the Bible specifically says that God caused
the earth to be flooded until the waters exceeded the highest
mountain by 20 feet (Gen 7:20), and to the extent necessary so
no human was capable of surviving without supernatural intervention.
The evidence of this event covers the entire world, but can not
be correctly interpreted by modern science due to their atheistic philosophy and naturalistic
presuppositions.
Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of
Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that
day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates
of the heavens were opened.
Noah's ark is described
as a wooden barge-like vessel approximately 450 feet long, 75
feet wide and 45 feet high. According
to the Bible, God brought pairs of every kind of terrestrial
animal to the ark to save them from this catastrophe. A single
breeding pair of "unclean" animals, and seven
pairs of "clean" or potentially edible animals
were brought to the ark before the flood. The animals that were
saved and reintroduced, evolved into
all the various species alive today. With few exceptions,
the Biblical "kinds"
of animals brought to the ark are believed to be analogous to
groups like the mammalian "Family" level of
scientific classification, such as the Canine or Feline.
According
to scripture, the
ark came to rest in the mountains
of Ararat which
are now in Turkey. There have been numerous reports
of sightings
throughout history,
but the region remains largely unexplored.
Although the ark probably
decomposed completely since the flood, it remains a dream of
Biblical
archaeologists worldwide
that the ark would be found. The ark's discovery would substantiate
the Biblical account of a recent global flood and God's judgment.
A vessel of that size would arguably verify that it was not millions
of years, but divine intervention that was responsible for saving
modern terrestrial animals from the global flood that deposited
the geological
column.
Timeline of Noah's Flood
