Christians - Do you believe the flood occurred?

by AlmostAtheist 59 Replies latest jw friends

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  moshe

  I agree on a regional flood scenario. A global flood- NO.

  40 days of rain would have melted all the ice in Greenland and Antarctica, but dated ice core borings going back several hundred thousand years disprove that idea. We also have lakes in arctic regions which have unbroken layers of seasonal spring thaw river sedimentation that can be dated back 10-15,000 years- just like the rings on a tree. I wrote a Christian who maintains a pro- Noah's flood website, has videos and does the talk circuit at churches why his website doesn't disprove these two arguements. I'm still waiting for his rebuttal letter.

  peace,

  Moshe
• 

  bebu

  I think localized flooding, as opposed to global flooding, was more likely. I think the the whole known world (to the writer) was troubled. A cataclysmic flood was referred to by many ANE cultures; it would seem more strange (in my view) if no one else but the Jews referred to it at all.

  I think the reason for its inclusion in the Bible is not for teaching geology, science or creationism. It is a picture of judgment, but also of rescue. Did the ark really exist?... possibly! I just wouldn't be surprised. On the other hand, I don't use belief in this story as any kind of litmus test for Christianity. It's peripheral, imo.

  I think most of the stories in the OT are there for helping people understand how they could/should relate to God. Primitive peoples, children, and unsophisticated people can easily grasp (if they want) the message of a story. More 'sophisticated' folks can enjoy the stories on other levels, too. A perfect example of this is the story of Joseph.

  bebu
• 

  Leolaia

  You might recall Raymond Franz' essay on the Flood, which he regards as local (if representing Mesopotamian river flooding) or global (if representing worldwide flooding as sea levels rose after the last Ice Age):

  http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html

  Personally, I view the biblical story (or rather, stories) as derivative of the Sumerian/Babylonian version and is historically rooted in a series of devastating Mesopotamian floods that interrupted local cultures in the fourth to third millenia BC. I do not accept the Black Sea hypothesis of Ballard and others; the event was surely unspeakably catastrophic, but it bears much less similarity to the Sumerian/Babylonian/biblical tales than the river floods of many millenia later (indeed, it is questionable whether any historical memory at all would have survived orally over a period of 4,000 years.
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  M.J.

  There was a public talk recently on this one. I only caught second-hand bits and pieces, but one of the arguments brought up against a localized flood was that if that were so, then why didn't God have Noah simply travel to wherever it didn't flood? Why did he instruct Noah to save the animals by taking them in if it was only localized?

  I'm simply repeatin'. don't shoot the messenger...
• 

  RodentBoy

  I'm afraid the Black Sea Flood hypothesis was falsified. There was no catastrophic flooding the Black Sea. It is not the source of the Middle Eastern flood myth.
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  Mulan

  No...............it's an allegory for sure.

  Modern technology has proven that there was never a global flood.

  And............because of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which predates the Noah flood, I believe it is a myth, borrowed from other ancient legends.
• 

  Navigator

  One of the science channels has a research program concerning the flood. Seems as if when the ice age was ending, the water level in the Medditerranian rose and overtopped a natural dam in what is now the Black Sea area. Earth dams fail very quickly once overtopped and the result would have been catastrophic to the heavily populated area below sea level. A research ship found evidence of human habitation under the Black Sea that confirms this theory. It happened way before the Hebrew people got organized (When Moses led the wetbacks out of Egypt). The Jews borrowed that story from the Babylonians to make a theological point. It pays to listen to God! There probably never was an Ark.
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  Navigator

  Hey Rodent Boy. What is your evidence that the Black Sea Theory was falsified? I doubt that the Science Channel would broadcast something that was not well documented and proven.
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  mrsjones5

  LOL GBL

  I feel the same way

  Josie
• 

  Shazard

  Yes I believe!