>> If the flood was only local, God sure wanted us to think it was global.
That depends on who authored Genesis. The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God — but it is written by human hands, translated by human hands, and handed down through human history. Perhaps, to the author of Genesis, it appeared that the entire world was flooded ... but it would be impossible for the human writer of Genesis to verify that, in fact, the entirety of both hemispheres were flooded.
It is possible that the flood was local, or continental, and not global ... and, that it was visually misinterpreted by the author, translations were screwed up, or something else happened. It is also possible that the entire world was truly flooded.
This is one of the many questions I’m planning on asking when my number comes up ...
SnakeDoc
Perhaps we will soon gain understanding of the cause of events recorded 6,000 ago and more, such as the unimaginably catastrophic flood that is featured in the lore of so many ancient civilizations - events that occurred either at intervals or in cycles before history was recorded
2012 may be more than tin foil hat stuff- again, there is a basis for predicting events that will change life on earth (earth magnetism and polar shift) it should be unavoidably obvious soon
“Perhaps, to the author of Genesis, it appeared that the entire world was flooded ... but it would be impossible for the human writer of Genesis to verify that”
I think the book of Genesis was written by Moses. It seems reasonable that Moses and other prophets would have made sciptural writings to the best of their abilities, and if there are errors of observation, this does not (IMO) render the Bible doctrinally false. Moses was not a direct witness of the flood, as he was born long after it happened. So he was either relaying a verbal or written account of the flood, or he was writing based on direct revelation from God, I’m not sure which. If he was relaying a previous account, it seems plausible that some changes could have been introduced to the account unless he was using a direct record written by the hand of Noah. Even if he was using an account directly written by Noah, it is possible that Noah himself thought the entire earth was covered with water even if it wasn’t, because Noah would be describing events from his point of view.