2. God judges man for his failure to spread out over the globe and rule it both during and after the flood.
"...during the flood? Perhaps he meant "before"? Anyway, this is a necessary point for him to attempt to validate in order for the rest of his origins scenario to work. It’s a major “link”. He states: “The fact that God rebukes both the pre-flood and post-flood people for
failing to fill the earth strongly suggests that the universal flood need not have been global to accomplish God’s purpose.” I don’t know from which Bible he is reading. Where does one find in the Bible that God rebukes pre and post-flood man for “failing to fill the Earth”? There is no such claim by God against man. That's not why God is angry and His heart filled with pain.
However, we do find that man is utterly sinful, that the earth was full of violence because of man, that man’s heart was inclined to evil only, that man’s heart is deceitful above all else, etc. I know of no theologian, liberal or otherwise, who has ever made such a
claim as this. This claim has to be made in order for the “local flood” scenario to be possible. A localized flood theory keeps intact the idea that the layered strata, that became so important to Darwinian evolution, were in fact laid down over billions of years trapping fossils of each so-called “geological period”. Therein lies another problem that we have with his thinking in this area. His view on the flood supports the Darwinian time scenario that evolutionists
must have in order to have the evolution theory appear viable. As a scientist, why would he support this? As a Christian, why would he support this with “scriptures” that nobody has ever heard of?
3. A limited number of creatures are earmarked for rescue, namely, Noah and Noah’s family and birds and mammals that have had significant contact with humanity.
Here, again, is a statement that is completely unverifiable from Scripture. Where does it say this? The Bible says, in Genesis 6:19 & 20, “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of
animal, and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.” Genesis 7:14-16 verifies that Noah in fact did exactly what God commanded and brought along pairs of all creatures that had the breath of life in them. In the same chapter, verse 22 verifies the types of creatures that were lost in the flood - “Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.” Note that this does
not include the fish, and especially - the insects. Certainly, these would have had significant contact with humanity and therefore would have been “tainted” according to his scenario. But they weren’t. Why?