According to science, the Flood of Noah has to be a myth. There is simply no evidence that a catastrophic flood covered the entire earth, killing every living creature, man and animal around 4,000 years ago. There is no evidence of it in the geological record, and there is no way that all the diversity in life around the globe could have radiated and spread in such a short amount of time from only 2 representatives of each species. The diversity and locations of species today is very well explained by evolution and the breakup of Pangaea (some 200 million years ago).
Therefore, according to science, if the story of Noah is a true account, then it must describe a LOCAL flood, rather than a GLOBAL one. Nowhere in the scriptures does it definitively say that the Great Flood was a local flood, but there may be some clues given to us in some of the revealed truths of the Restoration that it was. This page is a collection of those clues, which will hopefully help all of us realize that maybe there’s more to the Flood of Noah than we typically think when we teach it as a worldwide disaster. The categories of Restoration truths that I’ll be pulling from are the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and Church History.
Potential Clues That Noah’s Flood Was Not Global
- Cain Survived the Flood? One of the first apostles in this dispensation claimed he met Cain, still alive after all these millennia. If this is true, how did Cain survive a global flood that was meant to kill everything and everyone except Noah and those on his ark? READ MORE….
- The Sea East (Moses 6:42). In Moses 6, we learn that Enoch’s homeland was near “the sea east”. According to modern revelation, Enoch most likely lived in North America. And if he lived in North America, AND had an east sea, then the ideas that the continents of the world were in Pangaea until the Flood are most likely wrong. And if they’re wrong about that, could they be wrong about the Flood being global too? READ MORE….
- The People of Shum (Moses 7:4-8). In Moses 7, Enoch sees a vision of the people of Canaan and the people of Shum. Because the events Enoch sees are far into his future, and due to several other reasons, this story only serves to complicate the idea that the Flood was a global one. Who are these people, and why is this story included in Enoch’s narrative? Is it a clue that the Flood was small? READ MORE…..
- A “Remnant” of Noah “Among” the Nations (Moses 7:52). In Moses 7, the Lord makes a covenant with Enoch that “a remnant of [Noah’s] seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth should stand.” If nobody survived the Flood except Noah’s own family, then how could his descendants later “be found” “among” the earth’s population? READ MORE…..
Notes: The featured image for this page is Noah and the Ark with Animals (The Lord Fulfilleth All His Words), by Clark Kelley Price; GAK 103; GAB 8; Primary manual 1-30; Primary manual 2-72; Primary manual 6-08; Genesis 6:12–22; 7:2–23; 8, found at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/images/noah-and-animals-39461?lang=eng.
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 