Noachian flood , Universal or Local ? (Perspectives on Science and Faith Journal Vol 54, # 3 , Sep 2002

In this paper University of New Mexico Geologist and Christian , Carol A. Hill makes the geologic/biblical case for Noah's flood being a local geologic flood event in the Mesopotamian basin rather than a Global flood . The biblical and scientific evidence pertaining to the subject of a universal versus local Noachian Flood are discussed in this paper. From a biblical perspective, a universal flood model (and its corollary models: flood geology and the canopy theory) is based primarily on: (1) the universal language of Gen. 6–8, (2) Gen 2:5–6, and (3) the presumed landing of Noah’s ark on the summit of Mount Ararat (Gen. 8:4). It is argued that the “universal” language of Gen. 6–8 was meant to cover the whole known world of that time (third millennium BC), not the entire planet Earth, and that this interpretation also applies to Gen. 2:5–6—the verses on which the canopy theory is based. It is also argued that the “fifteen cubits upward” flood depth mentioned in Gen. 7:20 favors a local rather than a universal flood. From a scientific perspective, a universal flood, flood geology, and canopy theory are entirely without support. The geology of the Mount Ararat region precludes the premise of flood geologists that all of the sedimentary rock on Earth formed during the time of Noah’s Flood. The most likely landing place of the ark is considered to have been in the vicinity of Jabel Judi (the “mountains of Ararat” near Cizre, Turkey) within the northern boundary of the Mesopotamian hydrologic basin, rather than on 17,000-foot-high Mount Ararat in northeastern Turkey. Since it would have been logistically impossible for all animal species on Earth to be gathered by Noah and contained in the ark, it is concluded that the animals of the ark were those that lived within the Mesopotamian region. The archaeological record outside of Mesopotamia also does not support a universal flood model. All of the evidence, both biblical and scientific, leads to the conclusion that the Noachian deluge was a local, rather than universal, flood.