The Global Flood or Gradual Eons? 

Earth’s surface is covered by massive layers of sedimentary rock. Are these layers the result of gradual deposition over vast ages, or is there reason to believe that the global Flood of Noah’s day may be responsible?

Same Evidence

First to consider is the fact that we all have the same evidence. We all observe the same rocks, the same fossils, and the same world for that matter. Our conclusion is not a matter of who has more evidence, because we all have the same to work with. The real question is how we interpret the evidence, and that depends on our worldview. What we already believe about reality shapes our interpretation of the evidence.

Opposite Views

Two opposite worldviews come into play here: a naturalistic, evolutionary view or a view based on God’s Word. According to the evolutionary view, everything is the result of time and chance, and for the most part, today’s slow processes are assumed to have been what formed all the geologic formations in the past. Thus, the whole column of rock layers is a record of millions of years. But according to the Bible and its historical timeline, God created everything supernaturally somewhere around 6,000 years ago. Around 4,500 years ago, God sent a global flood as judgment on man’s sin, which totally reshaped the earth’s surface, and laid down the layers of sedimentary rock we see today. Let’s look at some examples of evidence that fit a biblical interpretation far better than an evolutionary one.

Folds

In various places around the world the rock layers are bent, in what is called a fold. They range from slight changes in angle to zigzags sometimes sharper than 90 degrees. Whole sequences of layers are found this way. Solid rock doesn’t bend that much without breaking. If these layers were laid down over millions of years, they would have had time to harden. So how could they have bent, with no signs of fracturing? On the other hand, if these layers were laid down quickly during the Flood, they could have been bent easily before they had time to harden.

Flat Layer Boundaries

In between some layers are near-perfect flat edges, sometimes extending for miles undisturbed.¹ If these were laid down quickly there is no problem with a flat boundary between them, but not if millions of years were involved. We see erosion all around us, with canyons, valleys, gullies and ditches. Even a gravel driveway can stop being flat after a lot of rain. If the lower layer sat there for millions of years before the next layer was deposited, why was there little to no erosion?

Trans-Continental Layers

The extent of some layers poses problems for evolutionists. For example, the Tapeats sandstone exposed at the Grand Canyon has been traced across most of the United States, some of Canada and Mexico, and even across the Atlantic Ocean in the United Kingdom.^2 3 Now what besides a global catastrophe could lay down a trans-continental rock layer?

Polystrate Fossils

Sometimes fossilized trees are found in an upright position, extending through more than one rock layer. But how could these trees have not decayed before having the chance to be gradually encased in rock over millions of years, as some believe? The answer is that they had to have been buried quickly, as in the Flood.

Marine Fossils Far Above Sea Level

Another fascinating feature of rock layers is the abundance of fossilized ocean creatures far above sea level. On a recent fossil dig I visited in western Kansas, as we excavated parts of huge fish and marine reptiles, so many fossilized clams were scattered everywhere that I stopped noticing them after a while. Interestingly, the state fossil of Missouri is the Crinoid (because it is so plentiful), which is an ocean-bottom dwelling creature. It is probably unnecessary to point out that neither Kansas nor Missouri are very close to the ocean floor! There are even marine fossils in the Himalayan Mountain range, including high on Mount Everest. While evolutionists explain this using migrating seas, they leave lots of problems unanswered.

Best Explained by the Flood

While the features we’ve looked at pose problems for an evolutionary interpretation, they are very well explained by biblical history, particularly the Flood. A worldwide Flood would have ripped up material and redeposited it on a global scale, laying down continent wide layers, transporting marine creatures up onto the continents, burying some trees in upright positions, and forming undisturbed flat boundaries between some of the layers. When we interpret the evidence through God’s Word, things make sense.

Conclusion

The sedimentary rocks we can observe today are a lasting reminder of God’s judgment on sin. The whole surface of the earth was reshaped, and millions of creatures died, many being preserved as fossils as an added reminder that sin has dire consequences, of which this is only the physical. The spiritual consequences are far more serious. Galatians 6:8 says, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” But just as God made a way for people to be saved from the judgment of the flood, so He has made a way for us to be saved from the future judgment through faith in Jesus Christ.

A time is coming when God will judge the earth with fire, as stated in 2 Peter 3:5-7. But everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, repents of their sins, and cries to God for mercy shall be saved from the wrath to come. May all of us who believe endure to the end and pray that we “may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).