But that's not what the Bible teaches. The language of the account clearly shows it was a world wide flood.
The original Hebrew uses the word
eretz, which means land, and can refer to the local land. Besides, there are many parts of scripture that are not meant to be taken literally - surely you must agree that allegories, metaphors, and parables exist in the Bible.
because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Eight persons survived. Why? the flood was world wide.
Eight persons survived the flood in the area it affected.
That's what they told their subordinates at Enron.But they do change the way the narrative is interpreted.
Okay, you think the numbers listed in Genesis are critically important? Answer me this then:
Genesis 7:19 - 20 said:
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
A cubit is the length of the forearm from the elbow to the longest finger (around 1.5 feet).
According to these verses, after covering "the high hills", the waters only had to rise 15 cubits (22.5 feet) further to cover the mountains.
Presuming a global flood, Mount Everest (29,029 feet) would have been covered. But "The Mountains of Ararat" are also mentioned in the Genesis narrative. Obviously, as these are considered mountains, they were higher than "the high hills". The tallest mountain in the Ararat region is the Greater Ararat, which is 16,854 feet tall. 29,029 - 16,854 = 12,175, which is a bit more than 22.5.
Affirmative. No, they didn't. If they did, why are the facts so different?
Folk memory. Stories change over time with multiple retellings.
I'd rather think of the entire U.S. west coast as being beckoned out of the ocean.
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
That's from before the flood, and I don't see the relevance to the part of my post you quoted.