The ark was a massive ship. Five hundred ten feet long, fifty-one feet high, and eighty-five feet wide. It easily fit all the animals needed, plus supplies, and Noah’s family.

Some people argue the flood was local, not global. But why would God command Noah to build such a massive ship if he could’ve just moved to an area outside of God’s judgment?

And Genesis tells us every land-dwelling creature and every person outside the ark perished. But if the Flood was local, some animals and people would’ve survived.

When we ignore what the Bible clearly teaches, we make God out to be a liar. Instead, we need to take God at his Word.

Dig Deeper

• Thinking Outside the Box
• How Could All the Animals Fit on the Ark?

Genesis seven tells us that during the flood of Noah’s day, the water covered all the high hills to a depth of over twenty feet. Now, some people argue the flood was just local to the Mesopotamian valley. But how could a local flood cover all the mountains in twenty feet of water?

Water seeks its own level; it won’t cover all the hills in one area without spilling into other areas. And, besides, the flood lasted over a year. No small, regional flood has ever lasted that long! You can’t claim the Bible teaches a local flood without completely ignoring what the text says.

The flood—it was global!

Dig Deeper

• Was the Flood of Noah Global or Local in Extent?
• Was the Flood of Noah Global or Local in Extent?

Genesis says Noah’s flood covered all the high hills and destroyed every land-dwelling creature not on the Ark. So why do some people believe it was just a local flood?

It’s because they’ve already compromised on the age of the earth. You see, when you reinterpret Genesis to add in millions of years, you’ve got a big problem with the flood. The supposed long ages come from the rock layers. But, if there was a global flood, those rock layers can’t be old. So not only do you have to reinterpret the days in Genesis, now you’ve got to change the flood too.

Instead of changing God’s Word, you know what we need to do? We need to trust it from the beginning.

Dig Deeper

• Layers of Sedimentary Rock Deposited by Global Flood
• Transcontinental Rock Layers

Nearly all of the world’s opals are found in my home country of Australia. That’s because in nature opals only form under very specific conditions. And Noah’s flood would’ve produced just the right mix of conditions to allow opals to form.

You see, opals don’t take millions of years to form. In the lab they can be produced in just weeks and the man-made opal is almost indistinguishable from the natural-made one.

Gems like opals remind us that God can make something beautiful out of anything—even his judgment on the world. God can take any sinner and, through his Son, turn them into a thing of great beauty.

Dig Deeper

• Rapid Opals in the Outback
• Creating Opals

Geologists who start with millions of years have a hard time explaining how the right chemicals and unlikely conditions needed to form emeralds came together at just the right time. Well, that’s because they ignore the Bible’s history!

The relatively rare ingredients needed to form emeralds are found in different types of rocks. They find each other as they’re transported and mixed together by hot water, conditions only met during major earth movements and rising waters during mountain building.

The flood of Noah’s day provides the perfect conditions. Emeralds remind us of the truth of the history in God’s Word.

Dig Deeper

• Emeralds—Treasures from Catastrophe
• Gemstones—From Eden to Eternity

Sapphires and rubies are among Earth’s most valuable gems. They’re both varieties of the same mineral, corundum, which is made from aluminum and oxygen. After diamonds, corundum is the hardest mineral.

During the global flood, continental plates rapidly crashed into one another. The intense pressure and heat transformed flood deposits into super-hard rocks with gems. Magma, rising from the mantle, picked up these gems, bringing them to the surface. Others were brought up by crashing plates.

We only have sapphires and rubies because of the processes of the flood of Noah’s day.

Dig Deeper

• Rubies & Sapphires—Sparkling Reminders of God’s Judgment
• Fine Gems—Grown in Minutes?

Diamonds are thought to be one of Earth’s oldest substances. And they are! But they aren’t billions of years old. They were formed in creation rocks so they’re only around six thousand years old.

Carbon-14 can only last for tens of thousands of years before it decays away. But researchers have found carbon-14 in diamonds. If they really are billions of years old, there shouldn’t be any carbon-14 left—but there is! And diamonds—the hardest natural material on earth—are too hard to have been contaminated.

Diamonds aren’t just beautiful—they point to the truth of a young earth, which comes from the history in God’s Word.

Dig Deeper

• Radiocarbon in Diamonds Confirmed
• Carbon-14 in Fossils and Diamonds

Diamonds are formed 100 miles below earth’s surface. They can only survive in a narrow zone. Above or below this zone they break down into graphite, the so-called “lead” in pencils. This stable zone is actually found in rocks that were part of the original creation.

Diamonds are brought to the surface by “pipes” formed from molten rock and cracks in earth’s crust. This rough journey can easily destroy the diamond, unless it happens very quickly. The special conditions of the flood provide an excellent model for rapid diamond delivery!

So next time you see a diamond, remember it points to the truth of God’s Word.

Dig Deeper

• Dazzling Diamonds by Special Delivery
• Do Diamonds Take Millions of Years to Form?

Today we’re finish our series on how you can encourage your family to stand on the authority of God’s Word. We’ve discussed reading, memorizing, talking about, and rejoicing in it. Now what do all these things have in common? Well, they keep the Bible as a constant companion in your home.

When the Bible is held in this place, you and your family will welcome its authority in your life, and it will have the final say.

When you are constantly reading, memorizing, discussing, and rejoicing in God’s Word, you’ll know what it says and can apply what you’ve learned. God’s Word becomes the standard—the authority—by which you think.

Dig Deeper

• Is the Bible at Home in Your Family?
• A Biblical Authority Ministry!

The Bible is different from any other book. God’s Word is a fountain of wisdom, it details God’s sovereign acts throughout history, lays out the plan of redemption, and even tells how the cosmos will ultimately end. It’s God’s perfect revelation to us. And reading the Word of the sovereign Creator should give us comfort, peace, and hope as we face worrisome circumstances or scary times.

The psalmist writes that he delights in God’s testimonies as much as he delights in riches. Do you rejoice in God’s Word? Does it warm your heart and bring you hope? It should! And you should be sharing that with your family.

Dig Deeper

• Is the Bible at Home in Your Family?
• General Revelation, Special Revelation, the Gospel, and Science

How often do you talk about God’s Word in your home? Do you apply it to what your kids heard in school, what’s happening in the news, or what you saw on social media?

Starting with God’s Word as your authority means you’re reading and memorizing it … but we also need to be talking about it!

Psalm 119 says, “with my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.” We think and talk about what we love. Do you show your family that you love God and his Word by sharing what you’re learning, and encouraging discussion about it? If not, start reading and studying God’s Word and then talk, talk, talk about it with your family.

Dig Deeper

• Is the Bible at Home in Your Family?
• Childhood: Learning to Walk with the Lord

All this week we’re looking at how we can encourage our families to view God’s Word as the authority. Yesterday we learned the first step is to read God’s Word as a family. Well, we also need to be memorizing it. Like the psalmist said, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Knowing God’s Word convicts us of sin and helps us say no to temptation.

But don’t just get your children to memorize verses—do it with them! This shows that Scripture memory should be a lifelong discipline and that it helps shape your thinking and keeps you from sin, just as it does them.

Dig Deeper

• Is the Bible at Home in Your Family?
• A Forgotten Key to Your Christian Walk

Who decides right and wrong in your family? I hope your response was God’s Word. The Bible is the only truly authoritative word on morality, and parents must emphasize God’s Word when discipling their children. But it’s more than just giving a nod to the Bible. In our time, the authority of God’s Word is constantly under attack so we must teach our children how to stand on the authority of God’s Word in all areas. And this week we’re going to look at how to do that.

The first step is simple—read God’s Word together! Know what it says by setting aside time to read, study, and memorize the Bible together as a family.

Dig Deeper

• Is the Bible at Home in Your Family?
• Home Education: An Embarrassment of Riches

Many scientists have assumed the very first settlers to arrive in the Americas had to go over the land, crossing land bridges, because they believe ancient man was too primitive to sail to the coast. But now researchers are re-thinking this assumption.

Many now think the evidence in North and South America suggests some people long ago did sail to the Americas to start new settlements.

This fits with what we’d expect from the Bible. Noah and his sons were obviously shipbuilders and might’ve passed this skill on. Some of the people who left Babel probably left by boat as they began to explore this new world.

Dig Deeper

• Coming to America by Boat
• Feedback: You Need a Dumb 900-Year-Old Man to Build the Ark

Even the “simplest” cell is incredibly complex. So how do evolutionists believe they came about? Well, one common theory is that early, simpler cells engulfed bacteria. These bacteria didn’t get consumed and somehow started to serve a supportive role in the cell, eventually evolving into the complex cell structures of today.

But these cell structures aren’t just floating around in the cell. They’re integrated with the cell’s nucleus which has all the information to produce the proteins these structures need. Without this information already in place, the structures would be worthless.

You know what? Evolution—it’s just storytelling.

Dig Deeper

• The Shifting Sand of Life’s Origin Story
• Design Arguments for God & “Irreducible Complexity”

Most natural history museums teach evolution as scientific fact. So how can you separate the facts from the indoctrination?

One. Know the 7 C’s of History. Having the proper framework for history, especially creation, corruption, catastrophe, and confusion-that helps you properly interpret the evidence.

Two. Know the difference between observational and historical science. When you read an exhibit sign, separate the observations from the story applied to the evidence because of a worldview.

And three. Ask “were you there?” No one was there at the beginning—except God.

Dig Deeper

• Seven C’s of History
• Two Kinds of Science?

The more astronomers discover, the more evidence they find that the earth has a special place in the universe. One study found that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is unique compared to other known galaxies. It has less galaxies orbiting it than other galaxies. And other solar systems have either all gas giants or all rocky planets. But our solar system has both!

And the list of what’s necessary for life on a distant planet just keeps getting longer. For example, you need liquid water, tectonic activity, and a magnetic field, just for starters. And our planet has all of these.

Earth is unique because God designed it for life.

Dig Deeper

• There’s No Place Like Home
• Goldilocks Is Dead: Exoplanets Are Inhospitable to Life

Homology is the idea that similar structures in different organisms show they have a shared evolutionary ancestry. It’s supposed “proof” of evolution.

Well, the similarities between organisms are real. For example, most vertebrates, like bats, horses, and humans, share a similar limb structure. But this doesn’t point to a shared ancestry. It points to a shared Creator!

It makes sense God used the same basic design for many different creatures. After all, he made us to live in the same world, eat the same food, and breathe the same air. And the design he chose is the best!

Homology—it means a Creator.

Dig Deeper

• “Common Design Means Common Ancestry”
• Seventy Percent of Human Genes Traced Back to Acorn Worm?

Evolutionists often mock creationists for believing man lived with dinosaurs. But did you know there’s a long list of creatures that live today and are also found buried in the same layers as dinosaurs? This list includes rabbits, squirrels, possums, beavers, parrots, owls, penguins, flamingos, frogs, salamanders, boa constrictors, iguanas, crocodiles, crayfish, sharks, crickets, cockroaches, and more!

This isn’t surprising to biblical creationists. God created all living things over six days, so of course dinosaurs lived at the same time as everything else. And we find them buried together because of the global flood.

Dig Deeper

• Dinosaurs Living with People—The Biblical Worldview
• Dinosaurs, Man, and the Bible

Scientist Richard Lenski has been growing the bacteria E. coli in the lab for over thirty years. That’s over eighty thousand E. coli generations.

Lenski’s work is often touted as evidence of evolution in action. You know why? Because a certain gene that’s normally switched off is now switched on. But that’s not evolution! The information was already there, and lab conditions made it beneficial to switch that gene back on.

What Lenski’s experiments are really showing is that bacteria remain bacteria. After 80,000 generations, his E. coli haven’t gained any new information and they never will!

Dig Deeper

• Celebrating Over 60,000 Generations of Creation Science by an Evolutionist
• A Poke in the Eye?

Is doubting evolution the same as doubting gravity? Well, here’s a simple test of this claim. Drop something and see what happens. It fell to the ground, right?

Now, take a single-celled organism and turn it into a fish. Can’t do it? Well, that’s the difference. Gravity is observational science. We can directly test and observe it and we can repeat our experiments. But evolution supposedly happened in the past. It’s not directly testable, observable, or repeatable.

Gravitational theory and evolution are two different kinds of science. One is observable and the other is not—and never will be!

Dig Deeper

• “Doubting Evolution Is like Doubting Gravity.”
• Two Kinds of Science?

Jesus once said, “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.” Notice Jesus said from the beginning of creation—not millions of years after the beginning!

You see, if you believe the universe is billions of years old, then we were created billions of years after the beginning. And that means Jesus was in error when he said we were created at the beginning!

But Jesus is God and the Bible tells us God doesn’t lie. If Jesus lied about the age of the earth, how can we believe anything he said? Instead of trying to fit man’s ideas into the Bible, we need to start with God’s Word. The universe is young!

Dig Deeper

• 10 New Testament Texts on Genesis 1–11

A few years ago a study found that those who claim they’re not religious, but who still want meaning in their lives, show a greater belief in intelligent aliens. So, they reject God but embrace aliens!

But everyone knows in their heart of hearts that God exists. And because of this, people yearn to find meaning in their lives. But for those who reject God, there’s no ultimate meaning, purpose, or hope. So many look to aliens to feel like they’re not alone and are part of something bigger.

But true meaning, purpose, and hope don’t come from aliens. That comes from believing the gospel and living for Christ.

Dig Deeper

• Study: A Belief in Aliens May Be a Religious Impulse
• Do I Believe in UFOs? Absolutely!

I was once told about a dating website for polygamous relationships. Yes, the idea of having multiple spouses or “open relationships” is quickly becoming more accepted as people reject God’s definition of marriage and instead embrace the idea that everyone can live with whatever makes them “happy.”

But “happiness” is not the definition of morality or marriage! God’s Word is. In Genesis, God created male and female and brought them together to become one flesh. Marriage is God’s institution because he created it. We don’t have the authority to define what God has created.

Dig Deeper

• Polygamy—the New Marriage Battle?
• Losing Innocence