There are flood myths from all over the world (Talk.Origins)

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Response Article
This article (There are flood myths from all over the world (Talk.Origins)) is a response to a rebuttal of a creationist claim published by Talk.Origins Archive under the title Index to Creationist Claims.


Claim CG201:

Many cultures around the world have flood myths, indicating the universality of the Flood.

Source:


CreationWiki response:

This is a misrepresentation of the actual claim. There are actually two variations.

  • The many similar elements in the various flood legends, suggest a common historical source. Walt Brown uses this one.
  • If a global flood did occur accounts would be passed down as legends. This version is preferred since flood legends are a prediction of the Global Flood model.

(Talk.Origins quotes in blue)

1. Flood myths are widespread, but they are not all the same myth. They differ in many important aspects, including
  • reasons for the flood (Most don't give a reason.)
  • who survived (Almost none have only a family of eight surviving.)
  • what they took with them (Very few saved samples of all life.)
  • how they survived (In about half the myths, people escaped to high ground; some flood myths have no survivors.)
  • what they did afterwards. (Few feature any kind of sacrifice after the flood.)

This is expected and even predicted by the Global Flood model.

The only written accounts of the Flood that could exist before the Babel dispersion would have been in the original language. If that language had been Hebrew then Moses could have had Noah's log book or a similar written account to work from.

No other language but the original could have come out of Babel with a written account of the Flood. Furthermore, no other language would have had a written language. As such, until a written language was developed in these other languages, the accounts of the flood would have been passed down by word of mouth. Passing information down by word of mouth is notorious for causing distortions. There would have been a tendency to adjust the account to the groups' cultures and religions over time. It is also likely that the accounts of the original Flood would get mixed up with accounts of local floods.

By the way, some flood legends probably do refer to local floods.

  • The Biblical flood myth has close parallels only to other myths from the same region, with which it probably shares a common source.

This is also predicted by the Global Flood model. Babel was in modern-day Iraq, which is in the same general region of the world as Israel. The groups that spread out from Babel would not have developed a written language until they had settled some place. So the further a group settled from Babel, the longer the account would be passed down by word of mouth and the more distorted it would tend to become.

* to versions spread to other cultures by missionaries.

Talk Origins' reference makes no reference to this, so on what basis do they make this claim? Besides, a comparision shows considerable similarity that cannot be attributed to missionaries.

Reference: Flood Legends from Around the World

2. Flood myths are likely common because floods are common; the commonness of the myth in no way implies a global flood.

Except that many of these legends speak of a global flood, and such a flood is not common. Even local floods that are large enough to be exaggerated into a global flood are not common, particularly in deserts.

The most common type of flood is an overflowing of a river, which is not likely to inspire an idea of a global flood. It might inspire a few, but not the 500+ flood legends known to exist.

* Myths about snakes are even more common than myths about floods, but that doesn't mean there was once one snake surrounding the entire earth.

This is nothing but a straw man argument. If Talk Origins could produce 500+ legends about a snake surrounding the world, then they would have a point.

Note that the abundance of flood myths around the world have mainstream scientists curious. They do not accept Biblical explanations or an original event which descended with modification through oral tradition, but they do acknowledge the number of flood myths is noting.[1]

Further reading

See Also


Responses to Anticreationist Assertions
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