Water, water everywhere
Many atheists are obsessed with the global flood that is described in Genesis 6-9. That flood, of course, was a judgment of God:
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”1
It is easy to understand why the judgment of God makes an atheist uncomfortable, but in the specific case of a global flood, we can all rest easy. After the flood waters subsided, God made a covenant with Noah and his offspring, assuring us that a global flood will never happen again:
I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.2
We can learn much from the story of Noah, his ark, and the flood. King David summed much of it up beautifully here:
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.3
God is loving, faithful, and righteous in all he does. He rightly judges and condemns wickedness. But still, he always preserves a faithful remnant. Now, these are not perfect people. They are simply those who, like Noah, have found favor with God. And why was Noah favored? We are told that he was righteous, and blameless in his generation. But we are also told that God is not impressed by our righteousness. To God, Isaiah explains, our righteous acts are like filthy rags.4 Why, then, was Noah spared? Not because he was righteous, but because he walked with God. Noah sought the companionship of his Maker.
It is sad to think that in all the earth, Noah alone walked with God. But we can take from this that God always notices those who seek him. Such a person always catches his attention. God’s eyes, we are told, range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.5 And Noah was just such a person. We can know this with certainty by observing his response to God’s directions for building the ark: Noah, we are told, did all that the Lord commanded him.6
When God tells us how to escape his coming wrath, we are wise if we heed his commands. We will never see another global flood, so we need not build an ark to be saved. For us, his command is a much simpler one:
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.7
If we are wise, we will follow in the footsteps of Noah and do what God has commanded us to do. If we do, we will be spared from the judgement that is to come. But sadly, many atheists draw a different conclusion after reading Noah’s story. Instead of seeking God’s face, as Noah wisely did, they reject their Maker. And on top of this, they insist that a global flood is impossible!
The “flood-busting” objections raised by atheists come in a variety of shapes and sizes. But a great many of them hinge on a particular detail that is given in Genesis: And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.8
Atheists know that Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is nearly 8,900 meters tall — that is, about 5.5 miles. A cubit is the span from a man’s elbow to the tips of his fingers — typically considered to be about 18 inches. So if Mount Everest were submerged to a depth of 15 cubits, that would be about 22 feet. How much water would it take to cover the earth to that depth?
The radius of the earth is about 3,958 miles, or 6,369,784 meters. Thus, the volume of the earth is about 1.08258680 x 1012 km3. If we add the height of Mount Everest, 8,848 meters, to the earth’s radius, the volume of a sphere with a radius of 6,378,632 meters is about 1.08710439 x 1012 km3. Subtracting, it would take 4.51759 x 109 km3 of water to cover the earth to that depth. That is, about 4.5 billion km3 of water.
Atheists are quick to observe that such a quantity of water is impossible for the earth to bear. (The current volume of the earth’s oceans is about 1.332 billion km3.) This leads atheists to ask things like this:
- “Where did all the water come from?”
- “Where did all the water go?”
- “That much water would throw the earth out of orbit.”
- “It would have to rain 6 inches per minute for 40 days straight. That would boil the oceans away.”
- Etc.
All of these objections hinge on the vast amount of water that would be necessary to cover a mountain 5.5 miles tall to a depth of 15 cubits. For this calculation, the atheists briefly become biblical literalists — insisting that the flood was global and covered every mountain to that depth, including Mount Everest. They imagine that with this, they have struck a death blow to the veracity of Noah’s story. But they overlook a very simple fact:
Mount Everest wasn’t always that tall.
How do we know that? We know it, first, because the Bible says so. We’ll examine those verses in a few moments. But we know it, also, through items that are dear to the heart of every atheist: fossils.
You see, marine fossils have been found at the summit of Mount Everest, including sea lilies (crinoids), trilobites and ostracods. This phenomenon is not unique: fossilized whales have been discovered in the Andes Mountains. Does this mean that during the global flood, sea creatures swam to the tops of the mountains and became fossilized? Certainly not. A sea lily (an animal, not a plant) attaches itself to the sea floor, and moves very slowly. It would take a sea lily over 5 years to climb a submerged Mount Everest at its modern height. Thus we may conclude that when the summit of Everest was underwater, it was not 5.5 miles tall. The atheists, after all, have made it clear that the earth could not bear such a volume of water anyway.
That the tall mountains of the world were once lower is the position of the atheist as well. That must be their position, of course, because of the marine fossils found there. Typically, atheists will say that it has taken these mountains millions of years to rise to their current height. We will postpone a discussion of the age of the earth and the reliability of dating techniques for another day. For now, we will simply observe that all of the tall mountains of the world were once much lower: low enough that they could be submerged for a long enough period of time to produce a fossil without the earth being thrown out of orbit, or the oceans boiling, or anything of the sort. An atheist must logically agree that this was once the case, regardless of how long in the past it was.
Let us now ask, if the tall mountains of the world were less tall, could the earth be globally flooded? The answer is a resounding yes.
As we have noted, the current volume of the earth’s oceans is about 1.332 billion km3. Additionally, the surface area of the earth is about 510.1 million km2. We can use these numbers to make a rough approximation: If the earth were flat, and had a perfectly smooth surface, then that 510.1 million km2 surface could be submerged under 1.332 billion km3 of water to a depth of 2.61125270 km. That is, about 1.6 miles.
We can confirm our approximation by calculating the actual spherical volumes. If we add the volume of the earth’s oceans, 0.001332 x 1012 km3, to the volume of the earth itself, 1.08258680 x 1012 km3, we get a volume of 1.0839188 x 1012 km3. The radius of a sphere with that volume is 6,372,395 meters, 2.611 km more than the radius of the earth itself. The difference between our planar approximation and the actual amount is indistinguishable at this precision.
There is enough water on earth today to flood the earth to a depth of 1.6 miles, if the surface of the earth were perfectly level.
Now, no one is suggesting that the surface of the earth was perfectly level at the time of the flood. After all, we are told that the flood waters covered all the high mountains to a depth of about 22 feet. The earth, then, had mountains and valleys at the time of the flood. If the volume of the flood waters was the exact volume of the water in the oceans today, the tallest mountain at that time must have been no more than 2.604 km tall — about 1.6 miles tall.
We know that the tallest places on earth today were once underwater, because of the marine fossils found in those places. But we also know it because God's word tells us so:
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.9
David speaks of a time when the earth was covered with the deep as with a garment — that is, the global flood. The waters, he says, stood above the mountains. This is in perfect agreement with the flood narrative in Genesis, and also with the marine fossils found at the tops of mountains. But when the flood waters receded, the mountains rose and the valleys sank down. In this way, David says, God set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. This, of course, mirrors God’s covenant with Noah to never again send a global flood.
The height of the tallest mountains of today makes a global flood impossible. As we have seen, King David has told us so in the Psalms, and modern atheists roundly agree. It is probably not a pleasant thought for them, but when they forcefully argue that a global flood is impossible because of the height of Mount Everest, they are only affirming the truth and reliability of God’s word. Let us hope they find time to consider the remainder of it. Peter’s words here seem most relevant:
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.10
God’s judgment awaits us all. But today, his mercy is freely offered. It is for this very reason that his judgment tarries:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.11
In light of God’s patience and grace, may we all do as Noah did those long years ago.
Let us seek the Lord while he may be found.
In response to this post, some have claimed that a rapid reshaping of Earth's topography would "boil the oceans." See my follow-up post here: To build a mountain.