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The amount of water from each source (rain & subsurface water) needed to flood the world

Do we try to compare the modern Christian scientific theories with secular theories enough?


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Halbhh

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At first I got curious about a slightly related question, as the math or science or engineering mindset might tend to -- if the Earth were a perfect sphere (and not rotating for simplicity), then how deep would the surface water be if static (not flowing at all), and that's been calculated of course, and the answer seems to be about 2.7 km. Just a trivial side fact, really.

Really. Because the meaning in the story is 0% about the mere details of the flood, of course, such as for instance 22 feet. I mean that if instead 12 feet or 29 feet, it would make no difference to us (usually) -- the exact number just not mattering at all. Even if we look at verse 19 in that chapter (gen 7) it allows more than one interpretation the math/science mind might be exploring --
"19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered."
-- does it mean all within sight, all the way out out to the extreme limit of view from on top of the ark for instance, say from 25 feet up above the water? That straining for a long time see out to the horizon in all directions, one wouldn't see any hint of mountaintop? Or does it mean another thing -- all the Middle East? All the Middle East and also Asia Minor? Etc. All the hemisphere is very flooded, and it takes time for the waters to flow down.

Etc. Seriously --

Since it takes time for waters to flow down, a lot less water is needed than a merely static situation. So that's a radically different amount of water. Etc.

Well, I submit that kind of question doesn't even matter at all, not even a bit.

Instead, we want ultimately to listen and hear the overall meaning of the story, so that we get the real messages, which are meant to help us in our being, our relationship with God.

For instance, such as -- "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ..."

That's a moment. Can we even hear words like these?

Every (!?) intention of the thoughts of their hearts only (!?!?) evil, and continually (!?!?!?), all the time....

Just...wow. Can we even absorb this?

Perhaps the American mind cannot usually even hear those words usually.

They go right by, unheard.

The people listened to the reading, and they did not hear much of it....

We need to though.

"... 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

We just need to somehow be able to even hear the words, and have had them affect us, make us understand some things we need to understand.

11 "Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence."

Are we getting it yet? Are we listening? What does "filled with violence"...mean to you?

Well, I'm old enough, that I can try to hear it....

Rapes (probably pretty continuous)
Murders.
Raids.
Pillages.
Genocides.

continually

Notice it did not at all say "and there was much violence" -- not the wording.

Have we heard the words?

Did we notice what they say?

When we learn somewhere else, some other day, we hear that we should "fear the Lord", and it seems antiquated language? Do we get it?

It's not about just this mortal life after all.

Luke 12:5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!

So, I want to get out of my mathematical, or engineering, mindset, when I'm listening to this story.
 
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dad

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That certainly sounds like upheaval. The question is when? At creation? The flood? After the flood? Who really knows?
 
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klutedavid

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One would need to know whether the flood account was describing a local event or a world wide event.

To calculate the date of the flood requires the genealogy to be an accurate listing of generations, is it safe to assume that the genealogy record is accurate?
 
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SinoBen

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Great, I am happy for them. Were you trying to lead to some point, such as that you feel perhaps that the existence of those creatures somehow argues that there was no worldwide flood??
Oh there was a worldwide flood alright, just not a global one.
 
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dad

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I think it refers to their local world, the only world they knew.
I see, so the claim the poster is making is that when all men on earth died in the bible, it really means all men in a certain neighborhood. To the poster I say...good luck with that.
 
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Job 33:6

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The tallest mountains are in the ballpark of 30,000 feet in elevation.

If we assume 25,000 feet in water elevation, multiplied by the earths circumference, 5.49x10^14th, that would give us...

1.37x10^19 cubic feet of water.

Is this what you're looking for?

Actually this is all wrong. 197 square mile surface area x 25,000 feet. But even this wouldn't quite be right because we would need the surface area of the elevated water. Hm
 
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SinoBen

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I see, so the claim the poster is making is that when all men on earth died in the bible, it really means all men in a certain neighborhood. To the poster I say...good luck with that.
I'm comfortable with it.

How about this passage where you have the whole global population on earth in Egypt:

Genesis 41:57 English Standard Version (ESV)
57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
 
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dad

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I'm comfortable with it.

Don't insult Scripture by saying that the flood did not obviously kill all but 8 people on earth as well as all the animals on earth not on the ark. I might ask the motive for trying to reinvent the story, but the usual motive is man pleasing...trying to get God's account to fit with science basically.

I mean are there any honest unbelievers out there that really think the bible account of Noah was about some neighborhood flood!?
 
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SinoBen

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Gen 41:57
Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
 
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dad

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Gen 41:57
Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
Context. The destruction of life in the flood was universal. If we are talking taxes in Israel, or a famine in Egypt, that is not the same context or use of the word.

Ge 1:26 -And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Ge 6:12 - And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Ge 6:13 - And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Ge 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.

Ge 7:19 - And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

Ge 9:11 - And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Ge 9:17 - And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

The context is very obviously world wide.


Not a neighborhood, but all the earth that was under the whole heaven.
 
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SkyWriting

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In scripture "The whole world" is all of humanity that was known. If you made that statement today, It might take you a couple years to do a complete survey of the global water levels.
 
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SkyWriting

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It's still Noah telling the story or one of his kin. Not somebody on the moon watching. The story is about the local "whole World", not from a world traveler who had circumvented the globe.
 
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gideon123

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Let me explain why the context is not "world wide" - in the sense of being our whole planet. I agree with others here .. Noah saw his local world flooded ... but that was still a very big disaster.

The reason you believe in a 'world' is because you live in the 21st Century. You see pictures of our World every day on television. You even see pictures of our world from satellites in space.

Now consider Noah's point of view ..

1. He did not know that we live on a planet.
2. He thought that the sky was a solid ceiling.
3. He had never heard of China or Antarctica.
4. He couldnt buy a round-the-world ticket from his travel agent.
5. There was no United Nations.
6. People thought that the Earth was flat and you could fall off the edge.
7. He didnt know that the Atlantic Ocean existed.
8. There was no World Cup Soccer competition.
9. There was no global Internet. There were no power lines and no phone lines either.
10. Noah was a farmer and he didnt go far, except when he floated in the Ark. Otherwise, he never went to the Big City.

You get the idea.

Noah did not speak English.
Noah did not speak Hebrew.
Probably Noah couldnt read or write.

So how can you possibly know what word Noah used when the Bible says 'world'?

You don't.

The best conclusion is that Noah's world - the place that he knew - was flooded. And there is nothing in the Bible to support a different interpretation.

Blessings!!
 
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St_Worm2

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...do you think that the flood waters receded into rocks in the inner earth somehow?
Hi again dad, I would assume so, since that's where the water is now (according to the recent scientific findings).
The ark was well designed. However if someone is claiming the oceans sort or washed over mountains that would mean waves bigger than mountains for the year of the flood.
I thought it was simply water (IOW, still water, not waves of water) that covered the mountains once the storm/deluge stopped?

--David
 
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gideon123

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I dont want to give people the idea that I am against' Noah. Nothing could be further from the truth. Noah was a great man of faith. I believe that he existed, and I think that some type of disastrous flood did occur. You just have to look at things from his point of view.
 
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dad

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It's still Noah telling the story or one of his kin. Not somebody on the moon watching. The story is about the local "whole World", not from a world traveler who had circumvented the globe.
Looking at the context in the verses, we can see it was not some little neighborhood local supposed 'whole world'.

Ge 1:26 -And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Ge 6:12 - And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Ge 6:13 - And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Ge 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.

Ge 7:19 - And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

Ge 9:11 - And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Ge 9:17 - And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.


The bible makes it clear only the people on that ark lived.

1Pe 3:20 - Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.


The old world does not refer to a small area.

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

"And spared not the old world
In distinction from the present world, that now is; which was, as it were, formed anew out of that which was destroyed by the deluge. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the original world"; and the Ethiopic version, "the first world"; it designs the ancient inhabitants of the world, as it was from the beginning, before the flood; who, being wicked, were not spared by God, but had just punishment inflicted on them:"

2 Peter - Chapter 2 - Verse 5 - The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible on StudyLight.org


I mean do you really claim that this verse refers to some small area??
Heb 11:7 -By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

"Another theological problem arises when we come to Genesis 9:11–15. God made a promise to Noah and his descendants that “never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” In other words, God was promising never to send another event like the one Noah experienced, where we are told specifically in Genesis 7:21 that “all flesh died.”

Obviously, if the Flood of Noah were only local in extent, then because we have seen lots of local floods since the time of Noah, that have destroyed both man and animals, God has broken His promise many times over! To the contrary, this rainbow covenant God made with Noah and his descendants could only have been kept by God if the Flood were global in extent, because never since in human history has a global flood been experienced."

Was the Flood of Noah Global or Local in Extent?
 
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dad

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Hi again dad, I would assume so, since that's where the water is now (according to the recent scientific findings).
Having water under the earth does not mean it got there by a worldwide flood on the surface thousands of years ago. Yes a lot of water from somewhere down there did come up in the flood. That we do know. Where it went is another story.
I thought it was simply water (IOW, still water, not waves of water) that covered the mountains once the storm/deluge stopped?

--David
Me too.
 
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