I'm sure there are 1001 logical or physical impossibilities described in the bible, but I have been wondering how those who accept the bible as literal history regard the deluge. I don't know if there are any such believers here, but the question is (of course) open to anybody. Specifically, if the flood is accepted as an actual global phenomenon (you can't argue with the Grand Canyon and the Washington Scablands after all), then the ark was presumably loaded with a breeding pair of every single one of the Earth's terrestrial species. So Noah gathered samples of each and every land-dwelling animal and plant species on Earth (of which still more are being discovered today) and stowed them all on his boat - the dimensions of which the bible states explicitly. Then, when the flood waters receded, they were globally redistributed to their particular environmental niches, where their offspring somehow escaped the consequences of belonging to the least genetically diverse population since Adam got his way with Eve. I hope people will forgive me for picking on such a soft target (bible literalists, and the flood story specifically), but I just watched 'The Root Of All Evil', and I'm in a religion bashing mood.
The "global flood" seems to be a favorite theme of many, many religions of the world. And those stories/myths were independently formed in regions far, far removed from regions with similar stories/myths. "...and I'm in a religion bashing mood." Well, that's not very nice of you, is it? Didn't your mommy teach you tolerance of the beliefs and freedoms of others? Or did she teach you to bully and denigrate those who think like you or aren't like you? And are you going to teach your own children to denigrate others for their beliefs? Baron Max
Surely that's then his right, and you should tolerate his beliefs and respect his freedom to do as he pleases just as you espouse in your quote?
THE FLOOD HAPPENED... but it wasnt world wide... 70,000 years ago... a caldera volcano exploded in the indian ocean... it was mostLY underwater... an the net result of its explosion would have been a vast volume of water vapor... it could of made it rain for 40 days.... and coincided with a bottleneck in human evoution... i.e.. before that... there were many varieties of humans... after which there was only one survivor... homosapians... noah and his children... are representative of these survivors.. but science shows.. there were atleast 1000... not one small family. -MT
Numbers have meaning in the Bible. 40 is mentioned several times and it means "eternity" (seemingly endless time)
but according to the bible the world is only some 6000 years old, so nothing 70,000 years ago could have happened Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
THE BIBLE NEVER SAYS... 6000 YEARS... stupid people think they can add up the lives of adams children an find a date. dumb.... if MOSES wasnted to say 6000 years.. he would have. -MT
************* M*W: Matriarchal societies were known to have existed some 30,000 years ago. I've visited some Native American sites in Appalachia whose artifacts were believed to be from around 35,000 years ago. Recorded history began more than 6,000 years ago in Sumeria (not counting the matriarchial relics and cave paintings, etc., which were earlier). Six thousand years ago is really recent when you study archeology.
Baron Max, I am not impinging on anybody's freedom, and I believe that tolerating people's beliefs does not preclude inviting those people to defend them. I will teach my children about rational, evidence-based thinking. Hopefully they'll learn the denigration bit all by themselves. Mosheh Thezion, I'm vaguely familiar with the idea of a genetic bottleneck coinciding with the eruption of Toba, but I don't see how a volcanic winter would cause catastrophic flooding - especially on the scale necessary to produce the flood myths of diverse cultures, as cited by Baron Max. Even if the Toba eruption did cause flooding, I find it implausible that the story could be handed down orally for 3000 generations (though I have no evidence that such information could or could not be transmitted so). I was asking specifically about the arguments of those who do interpret the bible literally. There are some, and I'm curious to know how they deal with this obvious conflict with reality.
M*W, you know I love you, but as an archaeology major, I would have to point out that there aren't many who believe them to be dated to ca. 35,000. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Strictly speaking, human history only goes back to about the 3rd millenium BCE when writing was introduced in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Mesoamerica. But archaeologically speaking, we do have evidence of human culture going back tens of thousands of years, depending upon what artifacts you accept as evidence of historical presence.
Here's a good link: Watch the video = http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002764.html Dawkins get attacked ! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
it's juz like the bible says..... our world began 5000 years ago.... this generation of humans... but of course....... there was a world and humans before that tooo.....
i have a very old King James Version published by the society for promoting christian knowledge, every page has the proposed date printed on it for each book and chapter. appparrently this was standard for a bible at the time of prinitng. genesis begins 4004 years before christ. genesis chapter 7 the rememberance of noah is dated 2349 before christ. genesis takes up a long time in relation to the rest of the book as Exodus begins 1706 before christ. if any body wants to know the offical dates for any events let me know the book and chapter. of course they are not the official dates anymore. it would be ridiculous to think the world was created only 6010 years ago.
************* M*W: Thanks. I certainly don't claim any authority here, although I enjoy reading everything I can on the subject.
