Jeff,
 
    Permit me to share some thoughts with you on the flood and the veracity of the Bible account.  I personally believe that the account of Noah's ark is authentic.  However, it seems that Hollywood always has an underlying agenda when addressing Biblical subjects which is to cast doubt on the Bible's credibility.  We might question exactly how God accomplished the flood or whether we truly understand the scope of the flood, but questioning the Bible's veracity is just what the devil wants us to do.
 
    I did not see the program to which you refer, but I'm sure there are many ways that God could have used the existing waters to flood "the earth".  Also, when the Bible says, "the earth", it doesn't always refer to the whole planet.  Sometimes, it refers only to Israel and the surrounding area.
 
    Although everyone does not agree with this, it appears that the purpose of the flood was actually to wipe out all mankind with a polluted bloodline.  As such, it would have only been necessary to have flooded the inhabited areas.  Geneses 6:4 tells of the sons of God (fallen angels) bearing children, but in verse 9, it says that Noah was perfect (without blemish) in his generations.  The bloodline had to be purged in order to maintain a pure bloodline from Adam to Christ.  Apparently the angels who left their first estate and committed those transgressions were incarcerated to prevent any future reoccurrence (Jude 1:6).
 
     I know there are many literalists that would say that the whole planet was flooded and I don't deny that as a possibility.  I'm just pointing out that there are other interpretations which don't require as much water and don't do damage to the authenticity of the account.  I also believe in interpreting the scripture literally as much as possible, but we must recognize that the Bible in some places uses superlatives and different figures of speech.
 
    Anyway, given the power of an omnipotent God, I don't thing it would have been a problem for him to flood the earth using the existing amount of water.  I doubt the Discovery program considered the possibility of raising the ocean floor and dropping the continental plates.  Many also believe that the polar ice caps didn't exist before the flood and that the earth's axis was shifted at that time since seasons aren't mentioned in the Bible prior to Noah leaving the ark.  So we see that there is the possibility of a lot of things taking place along with the flood so that we can't even begin to question the Bible account based on the way things exist today.
 
    One thing that I've learned over the years is that the Bible is true and without error.  We may not always understand it or rightly divide it, and even disagree on it's interpretation, but we should never doubt it's veracity.
 
YBIC,
 
David Robinson
robinson@airnet.net