15. The Great Flood and the preservation of the human race
The biblical version of the flood myth described in Genesis includes the miracle of the survival of humanity, thanks to the compassion of God and the obedience of Noah, who was well over a half century old when he built the ark according to God’s design. Though the myth is prominent in the Bible, as well as in the beliefs of creationists and those who believe in a literal interpretation of the book, it also appears in the myths of several civilizations and ancient peoples. It is found in the myths of ancient Mesopotamia, halfway around the world in the beliefs of the North American Ojibwa peoples (and others), in Hindu and ancient Chinese mythology, and in the ancient tribes of Australia. It appears in African legend and in the civilizations of the South American continent. Modern scientific study denies the historicity of the event.
It is widely believed that massive tsunamis may have originated in the Indian Ocean basin well over 60 million years ago, the result of meteor impact, and inundating more than half of the globe. This theory is of course disputed by those who believe science to be false and the world to be less than 7,000 years old. The Bible story of Genesis, and a repentant God promising to never again destroy his creation by flood, is thus the relation of a miracle which is repeated in more or less similar events across cultures and belief systems. Those that fervently believe in the story of Noah and his family, a clan critical to subsequent Bible stories, deny that the flood is a myth, and creationists in Kentucky have built an ark celebrating the young earth theory, less than a half-hour drive from a site where fossils millions of years old have been found.
