Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2006

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Claim CG201:

Source:

Response:

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 do not 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.)
   
   If the world's flood myths arose from a common source, then we would expect evidence of common descent. An analysis of their similarities and differences should show either a branching tree such as the evolutionary tree of life, or, if the original biblical myth was preserved unchanged, the differences should be greater the further one gets from Babylon. Neither pattern matches the evidence. Flood myths are best explained by repeated independent origins with some local spread and some spread by missionaries. The biblical flood myth in particular has close parallels only to other myths from the same region, with which it probably shares a common source, and to versions spread to other cultures by missionaries (Isaak 2002).
   
   
2. Flood myths are likely common because floods are common; the commonness of the myth in no way implies a global flood. Myths about snakes are even more common than myths about floods, but that does not mean there was once one snake surrounding the entire earth.

References:

Further Reading: