Catastrophic Worldwide Flood

From an old earth perspective, secular geologists and evolutionists believe the earth is about 3 to 5 billion years old—and that a massive supercontinent called Pangaea Pangaea is the primeval supercontinent composed of all the major landmasses concentrated in the northern hemisphere. The word Pangaea is derived from the Greek root word for “all lands.” began to slowly break apart about 200 million years ago.¹⁸ From a biblical and young earth perspective, the original ancient continent was created by God as a single landmass about 6,000 years ago: “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” (Genesis 1:9, NAS). The separation or splitting apart of this ancient landmass occurred about 1,600 years later during a catastrophic Catastrophism maintains that normal geological and physical processes of the earth have been interrupted by a cataclysmic worldwide flood as described in Genesis 6-8. Scripture teaches that Noah’s Flood covered the entire earth and destroyed mankind and most land animals except Noah and his family and various “kinds” of animals (ref. Genesis 6:13; 2 Peter 3:6).

Does a worldwide flood covering the mountains seem far-fetched from a geologic and hydraulic standpoint? There is a logical explanation and an impressive array of scientific evidence for a global flood and recent creation of the earth. See Pangaea Flood Video in the next section. worldwide flood event—that is, a global event described in Genesis 6.

Map of Pangaea.
Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior.

Based on uniformity doctrine Uniformitarianism (uniformity theory) maintains that physical processes have remained constant during earth’s history. It is the belief that existing natural processes are sufficient to account for all past changes in our world and the universe. Essentially, the doctrine assumes that conditions on earth have never been interrupted by worldwide cataclysmic events. The principle of uniformitarianism states that scientific laws and processes operating today operated in the past., secular geologists assume that mountain ranges found throughout the world have been in place for hundreds of millions of years and that a cataclysmic worldwide flood is impossible (because of the high mountain ranges we see today). Secular geologists (as well as some progressive theologians), who are profoundly influenced by the theory of evolution and uniformity, assert the Book of Genesis is mistaken if it subscribes to a mountain-covering flood and a young earth. 

Keep in mind that before the flood (antediluvian period), topographic conditions of Pangaea were significantly different from today’s world. Although the supercontinent had mountains, rivers and seas, its topography was much less prominent than we know today—the oceans weren’t so deep and the mountains weren’t so high (i.e., high hills and plateaus). In addition, there were significant climatic differences The milder climate can be verified by fossils of tropical plants found in polar regions. Substantial evidence has been found indicating the climate along the coastline of northern Siberia and Alaska and islands of the Arctic Ocean was at one time very mild and food was plentiful.¹⁹ This polar region once teemed with tropical plants such as “mangroves, palm trees, Burmese lacquer trees, and groups of trees that now produce nutmeg and Macassar oil.”²⁰ Consistent with the antediluvian period, a warm and humid climate is further verified by “widespread discoveries of coal and petrified wood.”²¹—the climate was uniformly mild, similar to today’s tropical to subtropical environment (Genesis 2:5-6). Also, the antediluvian human population By the end of the 1600-year antediluvian period just before the flood, it is believed the human population was more than 250,000,000 people and the society was sophisticated, perhaps comparable to the early Egyptian culture. may have been similar to the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

According to the Bible, there have been two great worldwide upheavals since the beginning of time: Original Creation (Genesis 1) and Noah’s Flood (Genesis 6–8). Because there has been no worldwide catastrophic event in recent times, most people believe there is no reason for concern. While addressing skeptics concerning the end-time (2 Peter 3:3–7, NAS), the apostle Peter described two worldwide catastrophic events which can be explained based on catastrophic doctrine.

The first event was the creation of the world: “…by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed…”

The second event was Noah’s Flood: “…the world (cosmos) at that time was destroyed (apoleto), being flooded with water.”

Although geologic evidence supports a worldwide flood and young earth, evidence has been ignored because it does not fit an evolutionary agenda.
The catastrophic tectonic flood event described in Genesis 6 can be separated into three phases (each phase overlapping into the next), which took place within a span of one year—NOT millions of years as maintained by uniformitarian geologists. The three phases of the catastrophic worldwide flood are 1) continental separation, 2) uplift of ocean basins and worldwide flooding (i.e., massive tsunamis) over less prominent topography, and 3) subsidence of ocean basins, continental uplift (i.e., mountain building) and drainage. The worldwide flood was then followed by the post-diluvium Ice Age. More information about the three phases of the flood and the Great Ice Age is presented in the book, evolution – The Greatest Deception in Modern History. See Pangaea Flood Video in the next section.