Review by Greg Neyman
First Published 2006
In an article on the Creation, Dinosaurs and the Flood website,
young earth creation science advocate Charlie Liebert argues that
God's judgment against the world could not have been carried out
with a local flood.1
Liebert claims a local flood in the Mesopotamian region of the
Middle East would not fulfill God's judgment. First, not all old
earth creationists point to Mesopotamia. The area of Iraq could not
hold the water of a large flood...you need a basin. Research is
currently being done to identify this basin, and one promising
possible location has been identified.
The basis of Liebert's claim is that God's declaration to
destroy man and beast could not be fulfilled in a local flood. One
must remember, however, that mankind prior to the Tower of Babel
spoke one language, and had a tendency to live in the same region.
Thus, all that was needed was for that region to be flooded. A
global flood was unnecessary.
But what about the animals? God did say he would destroy the
animals too. Dr. Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe thinks this refers
to the animals associated with mankind. Mankind had corrupted even
the beasts of the earth that were with him. Animals outside of man's
sphere of influence did not have to be destroyed, and thus again,
there was no need to flood the entire planet.
There is no problem, with the Hebrew language, to believe
that God intended a "universal" flood. Everything that mankind had
and owned, everything that mankind had influenced, could be
destroyed with a local flood, that was "universal" in its effect.
What about the ark being 15 cubits above the mountains? This
was probably the "draft" of the ark. Since it floated in the middle
of this large flood, with no land in sight, and did not "bump" into
any mountains under the water, then Noah would claim that the earth
was covered at least to this depth. When Noah says "ALL" the earth
was flooded, from his perspective on the ark, with no land in sight,
ALL of the land associated with man was indeed flooded.
Liebert mentions that in a local flood, the people could have
fled to another region. However, if Noah had done this, with the way
man grouped together prior to Babel, others would have followed, and
escaped the flood as well.
The local flood was indeed a universal judgment against
mankind...everyone but Noah and his family died. Thus, you can
interpret the Bible literally, and still believe in a local flood,
and an old earth.
1 God's Judgement in the Flood, published on the web at
www.sixdaycreation.com/facts/flood/nov2.html
If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.
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