Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There was no global flood. The dating of the supposed Noah's flood is based on the biblical genealogies and puts it at about 4,500 years ago which puts it at the same time that ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were flourishing. Therefore . . . no global flood.
It's a story just like the other ancient Near East flood stories which are all based on an actual regional flood, perhaps a flooding of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, or perhaps a memory of the Black Sea flood. Over time legends of the flood developed and to explain the flood the gods were said to have caused it for their own reasons.
The biblical flood story is no different. The Hebrew Bible is big on polemicizing the other gods and stories of the other ancient Near East peoples and the biblical flood story is an example of that in which Yahweh is given the credit for causing the flood. Not because humans made so much noise that the gods couldn't sleep and so sent the flood to wipe out mankind, but because mankind was so evil that Yahweh decided to start over and so destroyed all but Noah and his family.
It's a story and not historical.
Yes its a story that was to be picked up in what it was actually looking forward to in its symbolic and prophetic meaning
That is why Jesus and Peter and John all refer to the story and use it in reference to Baptism, people, water, etc
Mat 24:36**But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37**But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38**For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39**And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
1Pe 3:18**For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19**By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20**Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21**The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22**Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
2Pe 2:1**But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2**And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3**And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2Pe 2:4**For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5**And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Rev 17:15**And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the ***** sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16**And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the *****, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17**For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18**And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
I am just throwing this out there as a theory.....the reason I believe the flood may have happened is this. Modern man has been around for 200,000-300,000 years. We only have recorded history going back 6,000 years or so. What if during these hundreds of thousands of years of lost history, man's technology became advanced, even for a moment. Look at just the past 100 years, an instant explosion of knowledge.
Jesus said as in the days of Noah so shall it be in the last days. Other reasons, our life span was in the hundreds of years before the flood, after it, it dropped to 100 or so. What about the rainbow? It never rained before the flood. The Earth was watered by springs and morning dew. Plus, if Noah was advanced, he could have built the ark.
Something happened to the Earth to change it's axis. The sun's radiations now penetrates everything. The canopy over the Earth was destroyed. I just happen to believe this event happened maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago and there are sea fossils practically everywhere. Not sure Christ would talk about it much even it was a story. He confirmed it.
Another possibility is that is was a story about Homosapien winning out instead of Neanderthals. They did live together at one time.
I am just throwing this out there as a theory.....the reason I believe the flood may have happened is this. Modern man has been around for 200,000-300,000 years. We only have recorded history going back 6,000 years or so. What if during these hundreds of thousands of years of lost history, man's technology became advanced, even for a moment. Look at just the past 100 years, an instant explosion of knowledge.
Jesus said as in the days of Noah so shall it be in the last days. Other reasons, our life span was in the hundreds of years before the flood, after it, it dropped to 100 or so. What about the rainbow? It never rained before the flood. The Earth was watered by springs and morning dew. Plus, if Noah was advanced, he could have built the ark.
Something happened to the Earth to change it's axis. The sun's radiations now penetrates everything. The canopy over the Earth was destroyed. I just happen to believe this event happened maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago and there are sea fossils practically everywhere. Not sure Christ would talk about it much even it was a story. He confirmed it.
Another possibility is that is was a story about Homosapien winning out instead of Neanderthals. They did live together at one time.
Even the young earth creationist site Anwers in Genesis no longer holds to the canopy over the earth theory. You can read why here. It's a bad theory.
Astronomers believe an impact from a large object billions of years ago originally caused the earth's tilt. And over long periods of time the earth's tilt changes.
There never was a global flood and the earth's geology shows that there wasn't.
Astronomers believe an impact from a large object billions of years ago originally caused the earth's tilt. And over long periods of time the earth's tilt changes.
There never was a global flood and the earth's geology shows that there wasn't.
OK, thanks for setting the record straight on the canopy theory. If Noah's flood never happened , why even have it in the bible? Christ mentioned it as well. The reason I struggle with it possibly being a local flood is the rainbow thing. According to the story, there was never a rainbow in the sky before that. Plus, it may not have been the Earth tilting either that caused it, just threw that out there.
OK, thanks for setting the record straight on the canopy theory. If Noah's flood never happened , why even have it in the bible? Christ mentioned it as well. The reason I struggle with it possibly being a local flood is the rainbow thing. According to the story, there was never a rainbow in the sky before that. Plus, it may not have been the Earth tilting either that caused it, just threw that out there.
The Bible is not meant as a historical record. Historical events are referenced in the Bible but that doesnt mean that everything in the Bible happened. Just because it says that a rainbow never happened before it doesnt mean that one actually never happened before the flood.
The Bible is not meant as a historical record. Historical events are referenced in the Bible but that doesnt mean that everything in the Bible happened. Just because it says that a rainbow never happened before it doesnt mean that one actually never happened before the flood.
What is the moral of the story if the flood never happened?
I think it is an event that happened a very long time ago, pre-history. Why do so many ancient civilizations tell the story? It varies what happened but each early civilization had their version of the flood.
The same I guess as if it didn't happen....if mankind becomes evil and violent, God will wipe it out. Fire, water, Ice, Godzilla. God has many tools at His disposal.
The same I guess as if it didn't happen....if mankind becomes evil and violent, God will wipe it out. Fire, water, Ice, Godzilla. God has many tools at His disposal.
If that is the moral of the flood then why would it have had to actually happen?
OK, thanks for setting the record straight on the canopy theory. If Noah's flood never happened , why even have it in the bible? Christ mentioned it as well. The reason I struggle with it possibly being a local flood is the rainbow thing. According to the story, there was never a rainbow in the sky before that. Plus, it may not have been the Earth tilting either that caused it, just threw that out there.
Polemics. That's the reason for the flood story being in Genesis. The biblical writers made attacks on the creation and flood stories of the other ancient Near East peoples. The ancient Hebrews were exposed to the beliefs and religions of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Canaanite and Ugarit peoples, and in order to subvert the stories those peoples told the biblical writers adapted those stories to take the credit for creation, for the flood, away from their gods and give the credit to the Hebrew God Yahweh. It was Yahweh who created the heavens and the earth. It was Yahweh who brought the flood. But the reason for the flood wasn't because man made so much noise that the gods couldn't sleep and so sent the flood to destroy man so that they could get some sleep. The reason for the flood in the Hebrew version was because the world was full of evil. The biblical writer(s) wanted the Hebrew people to understand that it was Yahweh rather than the pagan gods who was responsible for creation, and for the flood.
The bit about the rainbow is just part of the story. You have to realize that those stories were written by an ancient people to an ancient people concerning matters that were important to them.
So why did Jesus make reference to the creation and flood stories? Perhaps because he was speaking to a Jewish people who knew and even believed those stories and so he spoke to them in terms they understood.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
