I spent most of my life being told things that I just accepted without questioning. As I pick up a Bible now and begin reading in Genesis it sounds so different. I remember the flood being used as an example of what would happen in our day. I remember thinking that Noah had engaged in a warning work that corresponded to the preaching work today. Now when I read the account it doesn't say that Noah did anything like that. Where did I get that understanding? Is it possible I made that up in my mind?
. Another Flood Question
by startingover 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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RunningMan
I can't cite the exact publication, but the idea that Noah preached for 100 years prior to the flood is perpetuated among JWs. You certainly didn't make it up.
And, you're right. A quick perusal of Genesis chapter 6 yields no reference to preaching or anything that could even be construed as preaching.
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peacefulpete
Noah is called a "preacher of righteousness" by the author of 2 Peter 2:5. Creative reinterpreting of OT stories has been a Christian hobby from it's beginning.
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startingover
I sometimes I think I am going crazy when I share things with my wife and parents and they tell me they never understood the thing being discussed that way at all. I ask them where I got my understanding, I didn't make it up. I have believed a certain way because that's what I heard for years at the meetings. They try to make me look like I'm just looking for a problem so I don't have to believe, and that the society never said that even though I can show them in a publication.
What brought this flood question up was a discussion with my parents. From what I remembered about the Noah and the warning work, it came to mind that God had already decided there was going to be no one responding to Noah's message as he had already set the ark's size. I thought, what if 10,000 people responded? Where was there going to be room? Did God predestine the event? I was going to ask my parents that, and I thought I would get buffed up on exactly what the bible said first. To my surprise, it wasn't even mentioned. I decided along time ago that the bible isn't what I once thought it to be, but this was a new one for me.
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Navigator
You have to remember that the Jewish authors borrowed that story from the Babylonians. There was a good explanation of the "flood" on NOVA (TV) the other night. It was a highly localized event as far as the earth was concerned, but devastating to the area affected. It was, in effect, a massive natural dam failure. It is also important to remember that there were no Hebrew people until Moses rounded up the "wetbacks" in Egypt and made of them a nation. Being a stubborn and stiff-necked people, it took Moses 40 years to sort them out. The Jews made good use of their time in captivity in Babylon and under the Persians. They borrowed a good deal from their concepts and ideas. Note the names of Job's friends in the Book of Job. Those are not Hebrew names. They also borrowed the concept of angels from the Persians. This belief and others marked the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Jesus and Paul's day.
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nicolaou
it came to mind that God had already decided there was going to be no one responding to Noah's message as he had already set the ark's size. I thought, what if 10,000 people responded? Where was there going to be room?
What a bloody good point! I never thought of that, it's little gems like that which keep me trawling through so many posts. Thanks startingover.
Nic'