Social Media Question of the Week: What is the primary difference between your view of Noah’s flood & that of young-earth creationists?
My Answer: We both believe Genesis 1–11 is an historical, literal account. Our differences are ones of biblical interpretation, not biblical authority. In biblical interpretation context is everything. I believe the context for Genesis 6–11 are humans and their animals. As 2 Peter declares, Noah's flood wiped out the world of the ungodly. Neither Peter nor Moses wrote or implied that Noah's flood covered the entire surface of planet Earth with water and radically transformed Earth's crust, asthenosphere, and mantle. Another fundamental difference are the dates we assign for Noah’s flood. Most young-earth creationists assign a date of 2348–2522 BC, though some will push it as far back as 5,000 BC. At such recent dates, humans and their animals are nearly globally distributed. Therefore, young-earth creationists assert Noah’s flood was global. I note that for Noah’s flood to last 375 days, it must have occurred during an ice age. I also point out that Noah’s flood must predate the great migration events described in Genesis 10–11. Recently, these events have been reliably dated by multiple independent means to have occurred 50,000–40,000 years ago. Before 50,000 years ago, humans and their animals were constrained to portions of the Near and Middle East and parts of East Africa. Therefore, I believe Noah’s flood was worldwide, wiping out the entire world of humans and their animals except for the ark’s inhabitants, but not global. I explain the differences in detail with documentation in Noah’s Flood Revisited.