Im a christian, but i never really bought the old testament stories. a talking donkey breifly converted the prophet Balaam? (that one's the most strange) but the main one that i was surprised that a lot of people belive in is Noah's ark. how many of you belive that the world was litterally flooded, it rained supernaturally for 40 days and 40 nights, and Noah was able to fit 2 of every kind of animal onto an ark? just wanted some feedback, thancks
Um, I think a flood happened (i"m pretty sure there's archaeological evidence for it) but I definitely don't believe that it was all over the world, or that Noah had to repopulate the Earth, or the two of EVERY kind of animal. I think its slightly embellished. But ya, flood, sure Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I'm a believer now! After that thread about a talking fish, now I see the truth in Moses talking to a burning bush. It has to be the truth, dammit, don't all bushes that burn talk to you in one way or another?
I'm pretty sure there's some evidence for them, too. What about the NT? Perhaps the Virgin Birth, the walking on water, and the multiple resurrections were "greatly exagerated" as well.
The story of Noah and the flood is a translation made 1,500 years after the original story. In the original story the heros name was: Ziusudra- the Akkadian version was Utnapishtim. It explains about the flood, (not all the earth just a portion of it), whereas the bible version the whole earth is flooded. In the end they were saved by a raven, not a dove. it might be worth finding out where the original superstitions of ravens and doves came from. Ravens are regarded in many superstitions to be creatures of evil whereas doves symbolise purity. We can also mention the nephilim at this point. In the bible only Noah and his family survived the flood so how did these nephilim appear again to be living in the land of Israel after the flood? Of course in the older version not all of the land was flooded, just the lowlands where most humans lived. In the sumerian version the nephilim, (anunnaki), were watching the flood from above. Funnily enough there wasn't mention of two of every animal in the original. I suppose when it was rewritten the authors realised they'd have a hard time explaining the existence of animals if they claimed all the earth was flooded completely.
There was an enormus flood, but the bible has incerased its' proportions. According to a version developed by two marine geologists, William Ryan and Walter Pitman, the Black sea was created by a massive flood at about 5600 BC. This was later confirmed by Robert D. Ballard, who found remnants of ancient 7800 year old houses on the bottom of the Black sea.
See, for example, The Truth Behind Noah's Flood. Note that there is no reference to "ancient 7800 year old houses". As for the distance from Israel. The folklore no doubt traveled further than the flood.
