Noah's Ark: localised flooding or global?

Question

I see so many people on here say the flood was localised, to these people I ask -
why didn't the people and animals simply walk to the bits that didn't flood as the water fot higher?
As water finds its' own level the bit that flooded would have had to been a basin shape no to have spread outward. In effect a lake.
Noah was on the ark for over a year - that would be some sized lake.
If there was areas no flooded how come the birds came back to the ark for over 7 days and with no foliage or why did they wait until the 7th day until they took the leaves?
Plus it would seem a bit of an effort to get animals from areas that did not flood into the ark and there would be little need to.
In short a localised flood would not have done what it was supposed to have done - kill everyone and thing not on the ark. So why hang on to this belief? It is a load of tat!

no-one has really answered my question. If the flood was to kill all things living and stop the sinning: A quote:
"6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. "
The phrases 'to destroy all flesh ..... from under the heaven' and to destroy ..... everything that is in the earth shall die' to me sounds like the whole earth was affetced and all life killed. A localise flood would simply not do that. As waters rise as the rain fell you move to dry bits and upward.
I also note that none of the other points have been answered was the world just one large basin?

Answer 1

If it was only local, it kills the whole meaning of the Bible story.

Answer 2

So what exactly is your question? I am guessing you are trying to use this logic to convert people into believing exactly as you do.

But I will answer. Say for instance the Mediterranian Sea burst, spilling ALL of it's water into the land surrounding it on one side. Then you would have "localized" flooding-- local for an entire country or massive land mass.

Scientifically, archeologists and other scientific experts, have been able to prove conclusively that a massive flood hit the land during that time frame. They can tell by the thickness of dirt, the washing away of rock mass, and the remainants of debris that was from other areas, pushed further inland.

Back in the time of the Bible, the "land", and the "world" was as far as the eye can see, walk, or travel using donkeys, camels and other forms of early travel. So when the Bible talks about the world being flooded, it is common sense to realize that they were writing about the world as they knew it back then. Not the world as we know it now, to be this huge globe.

Now, there were some animals that were known only in that part of the world, so it would be normal to round up the animals to save the species. Further, if the doves had to travel great distances, they would not be able to do so in one short fly. They would have to stop and rest, fly some more, stop and rest, etc. and once at their destination (which would have been where there was actual land, not just trees floating in the water) they would have rested and found food before returning, so seven days is not that far fetched-- I would not be suprised if those seven days would have been seven weeks (back then, they did not use the same measure of time as we do today).

So to conclude, I would like to say that I believe the account in the Bible, however, I believe that it was written with the knowledge of the land, and world as they knew it back when the Bible was written. So I believe a great flood happened, and I believe every bit of it, but I believe that the whole world as we know it today did not flood, but rather the rains forced a sea to burst it's banks and flood the "world" as they knew it back then.

Science also supports this belief. So I hang onto the belief, using common sense and education to make me realize that back then, the world was not as we know the world to be in 2006 CE. (Common Era).

Answer 3

The Quran says it was a local flood only. There has been no proof of a global flood in the past billion years, but there was one in the region around mt. ararat, where the ark landed. The Quran states he was only told to, and did take a pair of each local animal, not the whole world animal population.

Answer 4

It would have to have been local as how would Noah have collected and saved animals like the kangaroos from Australia (numerous species), The jaguar from South America, The polar bear from the arctic, the rattlesnake from North America, The bonabo from equatorial West Africa, The European badger, the
Bengal tiger from Asia, and the Galapagos giant tortoise. The last example I have included because it is a species unique to a very small area. Such local species exist all over the planet. So Noah would have had to go everywhere, to every single island group, to every small region of every continent except maybe Antarctica. He would have to have climbed all of the highest mountain ranges. He would have had to have collected every one of over 30,000 species of beetles. The idea that it was anything but local is ridiculous. In answer to a comment by anAvidViewer there is no scientific evidence that the mediterranean burst. There is proof however that about 9000 years ago an earthquake opened the Bosphous Channel and the Mediteranean flooded in turning the Black sea, which had been an enclosed fresh water lake into a saline sea of an area about 30% larger. However the rate of this flood was slow enough, that any animals except perhaps the smallest could have walked out of its path. It is well known that there are great flood stories from cultures all over the world. This is because in the last glacial period (ice age) which ended about 9000 years ago huge amounts of water were turned into ice and heaped on the land. The sea levels dropped by up to 30 metres all over the planet. Hence there were huge areas of what is now sea bed exposed for thousands of years. When the ice age ended , and this could have been quite rapid. Huge amounts of ice melted flooding vast areas and leading to global memories of these floods. Mitochondrian DNA research (carried along the maternal lines and is transmitted from generation to generation intact and unchanged except for mutations) has shown that the oldest modern people are Ausralian Aborigines. Like all modern peoples their origins are in Africa. They left Africa about 100,000 years ago in a glacial period and walked accross what is now the Red Sea, all around the Pacific rim to Australia, only having to cross small stretches of water by canoe. This is known because mutations in the mitochondrial DNA that are almost unique in Australian Aborigines are found in tiny percentages of populations in ( for example) Southern India and the Adaman Islands. These represent the remnant poulations of the aboriginal's ancestors that settled along the route.

Answer 5

it could have been a very big localized flood that covered most of the Middle East and the animals could not possibly travel to Europe or Africa.

as for how long he stayed on water that can be easily explained if the flood pushed him out to the Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf.

-same with the birds

as for kill everyone most of the people on earth were located in the Middleast/Africa at that time.

oh and if it was global please explain how Noah got animals like Turkeys and Lamas from North and South America and Kangaroos from Aulstraia and then put them back again?

Answer 6

Globel the whole earth was flood because there were no continances the earth was one land mass.
Remember he did not release the dove until after it had stopped raining. And if you are smart you know that it takes time for water to receed.
It really does not matter if you believe the story or not you was not there to refute the story.
So why do you try?

Answer 7

That also leaves out the ever popular argument about all the bad fish,swans and ducks. A year long flood would be water off a duck's back (pardon the pun).

Answer 8

42

Answer 9

If it was not world wide, then explain this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Flood

More than one civilization has a flood story as part of their religion. Seems to me the story had to start somewhere. Like maybe the Biblical account of a world wide flood.

Answer 10

Does it really matter WE DONT NECESSARY KNOW THAT the story was totally true and it makes no sense to make reality out of a story. for heaves sake Noah lasted over a hundred years.

Answer 11

It must of been localized flooding, because the people continued to sin!!!