So what you are saying is all the earth/land that mattered in the scheme of things was flooded , all the earth that had been corrupted as God said . In your thinking were all humans , other than those on the ark , wiped out ?
I'm saying that when the record used the phrase "all the earth" it was actually talking about the territory round about Noah's civilization. A better description would be, in my view, "all the land."
Every piece of dry land, as far as the eye could see, was flooded, and everything that lived on the land died. This was not the earth as in a globe, but rather, all the land round about Noah's civilization.
I think of what God did with Noah was intended to show Man that God intended to save the earth--not destroy it. And so, He had Noah save up a representative sample of animals from his region to show future generations that God does not intend to destroy the earth due to human sin. Rather, He intends to repopulate it with righteous people.
There is so very much we do not know about the antediluvian world such as what was the percentage of oxygen in the air . It has been suggested it was much higher and that is one of the reasons for such longevity of humans and the reason the animals and insects grew so much larger , I am speaking of the same species we have with us today .
True, conditions had to be different for those living before the Flood because they lived such long ages. And even after the Flood people continued to live much longer than we do today.
Do you know what the land mass looked like before the flood ?
I'm not anti-science. It can certainly be wrong, making too many assumptions. But generally, it uses methodologies that can be very accurate. Dating rocks and studying geology can really look into the distant past, though it can indeed make uniformitarian assumptions, as if the geoogical processes evolve uniformly without catastrophe.
My understanding is that the eruption of nearby Mt. St. Helens left a landscape that might ordinarily tell geologists that trees ended up the way they did over many thousands of years. Instead, a single calamity caused an unusual evolution in a short period of time.
But studying the earth and dating rocks we can get a pretty good idea of atmospheric conditions in Old Earth. It's just something we have to look at. For example, unmolested ice at the poles can show trapped gases from eras gone by, as I understand it. Or, the decay of substnces in rocks can show how long it has taken to change from one element to its resulting element.
Do you know what the salinity of the waters were pre-flood ? Wow , a wide variation even today .
No, but it's common sense to know that when rain falls, it gathers into streams and wetlands, the land not having enough salt to make the waters brine. We have the opposite in the oceans. It's a good bet God made some fish freshwater fish, and other fish saltwater fish.
Did you know there are species of fish today that require a depth habitat. The overwhelming waters of a flood would destroy these many species of fish. And without the food chain, beginning with vegetation, I doubt that any fish could survive a global flood.
Have you ever tried to eradicate weeds from your garden , flower beds or yard ? Tough to do isn't it ?
Actually I've done it a number of times in my back yard. I've used throwaway carpet remnants to lay over stickers, dandelions, etc. After a couple of months everything is dead under the carpet. Some things can leave long roots and runners to catch the sun outside of the carpet and survive. But a universal flood--I don't really think so.
Could it be the plants that did not survive the flood God had already considered that at the time of creation ?
I'm not sure what you mean? If God considered that He might cause a Global Flood later, after creation, He would not have made plants, animals, insects, and birds as He did, knowing they would be destroyed.
But several places in the Bible God said that the earth is forever. It may be "made new," but the one we have is the one we'll always have, it seems. It will just become immune to abuses that threaten it.
Could it be the God had preplanned for the flood before the world was ever created so all the necessary components were already figured in ?
Yes, God could create a world underwater and preserve all creatures and plants if He wanted. But this would be more akin to Science Fiction. It's interesting, God can do anything, but would He do something so out of the norm (for God)? I don't really think so.
Thanks for raising the questions though. I do want to cover every base when I take a stand on anything. And I always want to remain flexible, and open to change, if the Lord wishes it and makes it known to me. Thanks brother!
. It certainly not a hill to die on for me , whole earth or just land . But I do like to talk about it .
I was thinking this morning how ought it is finding people to discuss the word verse by verse these days. It's like it's a lost art or something. But it ends up being the difference between truth and heresy, and accuracy vs. lies.
