You are taking the flood as a given, as it seems is standard practice with you. I and others are trying to show you why that idea doesn't work in the real world.
Mike,
I think today I'm getting a new insight into the thinking of believers. Faith is the catalyzing example, but this applies to a Mormon who believes the Book of Mormon is true, or a Muslim who believes in the Koran, and on and on.
Now all these books are falsified in one place or another by the real world, by science, or history, or archeology. Fundamentalists who assert inerrancy in the book, doctrine, relgion, or religious leader(s) of their choice know that there is a conflict between reasonable knowledge and their beliefs. But because of the value, the feeling that their beliefs gives them, they want these beliefs to be true.
Now this is the key. Science, or reason, etc. threatens to falsify their beliefs. All the true believer needs to do is some how introduce some uncertainty so that they can discount the falsification. It doesn't have to be much. They don't have to meet rigorous standards because they are not scientists doing science for peer review, etc. They are believers trying to believe that myth, fantasy, fiction is true. It already feels real to them so they need only find one little shred of doubt about the rational counter argument and Voila! They can feel comfortable that their beliefs have not been falsified and hence are true.
Debating a true believer may be interesting and Arach has particularly written some interesting scholarship in debating Faith. But Faith is going to believe what she wants. She only has to find a way to doubt for herself the arguments of science, or history, or archology and then she is confirmed in her faith.
It matters not that a world wide flood or a YEC has not a shred of scientific support. Faith is not doing science she is wanting to believe the religion that has been sold her and to do that she only needs the tiniest doubt of science to dismiss it. And that is easy enough to do. We've seen Mormons, Muslims, Christians do that here often enough.
It's interesting reading and good exercise and there are those of us interested in learning some of this science, but Faith and the other true believers are not paying attention. They are arguing away real world threats to their dearly loved fantasy.
All this is too say, you can show Faith why it doesn't work in the real world and she will simply find some pretext to doubt a tiny bit of your argument and then she is back where she wants to be believing what she wants to believe which is in this case that the world is 6,000 or so years old and that a one time it was covered with water and only 8 people lived through that flood.
lfen