[richlittell]

I would tend to go with global, as a baptism of the earth, but it's truly not relevant to our salvation.
What is relevant to our salvation is how much we decide to "pick and choose" which part of the scripture we choose to interpret as literal and figurative.
When we start picking apart the scriptures, we may very well choose to discard something that was truly literal, and we may unwittingly get caught in that little thread of web that the adversary so silently weaves.

Is the Adam and Eve story true? Did Jonah really get swallowed by a whale? Did Daniel really survive the lion's den?. Is the earth really only 6000 years old? What about evolution, and dinosaur bones?

Here's my take, I'll stand before the Lord taking everything literal until we have direct revelation otherwise.

I don't discard scientific evidence such as that of dinosaur bones, but I believe in the creation as literal and know that in the millennium or one of the eternal kingdoms I can figure out how science and scripture all come together as a whole. Inactivity or even apostasy is never an overnight thing and the more doubts we place on the scriptures the more dangerous things become.

Nevertheless, I have an inquisitive mind and search out many non-spiritual things and think they are exciting to learn, but please, my fellow saints, don't go wresting the scriptures needlessly.

And besides, when we start saying one miracle sounds plausible while others are probably impossible, do we not undermine the capability of our Creator? I wouldn't want to stand before him in that last day and say, "You know, there are just some things you could not possibly have done."