The Mismatch Between a Local Flood and the Biblical Flood

[Originally published as 12 reasons Robert Ballard has not discovered Noah’s Flood]

Christiane Amanpour, in her two-part ABC News special, “Back to the Beginning” features Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard claiming he found evidence of Noah’s Flood. (See Evidence Noah’s Biblical Flood happened, says Robert Ballard.)

In 1999/2000, Ballard explored for human settlements beneath the Black Sea on the basis of a theory by geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman. In their book Noah’s Flood, they presented geological evidence that the level of the Black Sea rose in the past and claimed this was Noah’s Flood.

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Claims need to be tested against evidence. How do the claims by Ballard, Ryan, and Pitman check against the data? The biblical data is what we are talking about, of course, because they have all claimed to have found the biblical flood.

1. Flood Too small: The biblical Flood covered the entire globe. Ryan and Pitman’s flood covered an area just the size of Texas. FAIL
2. Water not deep enough: The waters of the biblical Flood rose until they covered the highest mountains. The waters of Ryan and Pitman’s flood simply rose 150 m FAIL
3. No warning: In the biblical Flood, Noah was given warning to build the ark and collect the animals. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood there was no warning. FAIL
4. No ark: In the biblical Flood, Noah built the enormous ark 140 metres long, which would have taken considerable time. With no time to build an ark, Ryan and Pitman said there were hundreds of tiny ‘arks’ hastily cobbled together. FAIL
5. No animals or birds loaded: In the biblical Flood, Noah took two of every land-dwelling, air-breathing animal (7 pairs of some) on the Ark. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood, there was no Ark and no need to collect any animals. FAIL
6. No people died: In the biblical Flood, all the people outside the Ark perished. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood the people would have ambled out of the area; none would have died. FAIL
7. No animals died: In the biblical Flood, all the air-breathing, land-dwelling animals outside the Ark died. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood, the animals could have meandered slowly away from the creeping water. FAIL
8. No birds died: In the biblical Flood, all the birds not on the Ark died. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood birds could have easily flown out of the area. FAIL
9. Wrong source of water: In the biblical Flood, the water came from above and below. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood, the water gushed sideways. FAIL
10. Ark did not rest on the Mountains of Ararat: In the biblical Flood, the Ark came to rest on the Mountains of Ararat after 5 months. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood, there was no ark, and anyway, the water level was 1500 metres below the nearby Krymskiye Gory mountains on the adjacent Crimean Peninsula. FAIL
11. Water did not go down: In the biblical Flood, the water took over six months to go down. In Ryan and Pitman’s flood, the water stayed at its increased level. It won’t ever go down. FAIL
12. Rainbow promise meaningless: In the biblical Flood, the rainbow is a sign that there will never be another global flood. Ryan and Pitman’s flood is still flooding as much as it did. FAIL

It is so easy for this information to be checked these days, either by buying a Bible or reading Genesis online. No one should be taken in with unsubstantiated media reports about Noah’s Flood. When we check the facts, we find the claims of Ballard, Ryan, and Pitman do not agree with the evidence. It’s a complete FAIL.

For Further Reading:

The Black Sea flood: Definitely not the Flood of Noah

The Black Sea flood may evaporate completely