Someone commented on a post I shared on Facebook, “The Bible gives clear evidence of the dates [of the flood] in Genesis 5 and 11.”
Murray Hogg offered the following reply, which I thought was worth sharing as a post on my blog, and so I am doing so with his permission:
Yep.
It sets the date of Noah’s flood to about 2300 BC <http://creation.com/the-date-of-noahs-flood>.
Problem is, this is a period of history about which we know a fair deal, and there is zero reason to think that there was, at this time, a global flood which destroyed humanity.
I mean, seriously, we’re talking about an event smack bang in the middle of the period during which Old Kingdom Egypt existed and for which we have a continuous list of the Egyptian rulers (just to cite one example).
That’s “continuous” as in “unbroken by a major civilization ending catastrophe.”
I don’t mean to marginalize the contribution of geologists, etc. to this debate, but seriously: one doesn’t even have to look at geology to know that there was NOT a global flood in 2300BC or thereabouts leaving only about half a dozen people alive.
We’re not talking “pre-history” here –there are solid historical records which show cultural continuity throughout the world right when the Bible claims every human culture was destroyed.
Still, I suppose it’s much easier to construct a satisfying theory if you ascribe to a doctrine of willful ignorance.