Genesis Flood Local Or Global ?

[Scott Hutchinson]

Was the great flood in Genesis local or global ?
What say ye ?

[Aquila]

Don't know. Could be either one. For most it ties into what one believes regarding the earth's age.

[MissBrattified]

Well, the Bible says that every living thing was destroyed, so I would think the whole earth was affected by the flood.

[n david]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Well, the Bible says that every living thing was destroyed, so I would think the whole earth was affected by the flood.

Genesis 7
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land , died. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive , and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

I would assume, by this passage and others, that the flood was global, not just local.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by n david

Genesis 7
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land , died. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive , and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

I would assume, by this passage and others, that the flood was global, not just local.

Luke 10:25-37 - Did this "certain man" really travel from Jerusalem to Jericho where he "fell among theives" and was rescued by a good Samaritan? Did it really happen? No.

Matthew 5:30 - If you really believed the Bible to be "true" and to be taken literally you would place baskets in your churches to receive the hands, feet and eyeballs of every single member of your local church.

Jesus didn't say, "I'm only kidding here, guys!" Jesus didn't say, "Hey! It's a parable!" Jesus said - "CUT IT OFF!"

Why are you a "cafeteria Christian?" Why do you skip through the Bible picking and choosing what verses to believe and what to allegorize?

And, why didn't Jesus tell us - "Hey wait! Don't mutilate yourselves... I was only trying to make a point!" Why?

Because He knows you have better sense that to behave so foolishly. So also is it with the 6,000 year old earth and the "global flood." God is actually hoping that you will wake up and pay attention to the world around you enough to behave wisely and not foolishly.

Otherwise, I expect to see a basket full off hands and feet and eyeballs this Wednesday night.

[n david]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Luke 10:25-37 - Did this "certain man" really travel from Jerusalem to Jericho where he "fell among theives" and was rescued by a good Samaritan? Did it really happen? No.

Matthew 5:30 - If you really believed the Bible to be "true" and to be taken literally you would place baskets in your churches to receive the hands, feet and eyeballs of every single member of your local church.

Jesus didn't say, "I'm only kidding here, guys!" Jesus didn't say, "Hey! It's a parable!" Jesus said - "CUT IT OFF!"

Why are you a "cafeteria Christian?" Why do you skip through the Bible picking and choosing what verses to believe and what to allegorize?

And, why didn't Jesus tell us - "Hey wait! Don't mutilate yourselves... I was only trying to make a point!" Why?

Because He knows you have better sense that to behave so foolishly. So also is it with the 6,000 year old earth and the "global flood." God is actually hoping that you will wake up and pay attention to the world around you enough to behave wisely and not foolishly.

Otherwise, I expect to see a basket full off hands and feet and eyeballs this Wednesday night.

It's a rather broad stretch suggesting that the Flood of Genesis 5-8 is just a parable likened to those of Jesus.

Perhaps the Creation was also just a parable, as was the Crucifixion. The first to give a story of how the earth and everything may have been created and the last to give a great story of love and the ultimate sacrifice.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by n david

It's a rather broad stretch suggesting that the Flood of Genesis 5-8 is just a parable likened to those of Jesus.

Perhaps the Creation was also just a parable, as was the Crucifixion. The first to give a story of how the earth and everything may have been created and the last to give a great story of love and the ultimate sacrifice.

Well, we're here - so the Creation is at least one plausible explanation. And Jesus died some how - might as well accept the testimony of those who witnessed the event.

But there is simply no evidence of a global flood. None. Nada. Nothing. Zip. There is however, a tremendous amount of evidence that something culturally took place at that time. It's not a "broad stretch" when an event like a global flood would have left a huge amount of evidence in its (literal) wake. There is simply no such evidence. However, I personally believe the Bible to be true, so in the absence of any evidence of a global flood - what does a reasonable person conclude?

And, there is a huge amount of data to show that the human race has gone through at least 2 incredibly narrow genetic bottlenecks. These two events were so severe that the entire human population was reduced to just a single female and (obviously) a single male breeding pair. Kind of odd - whatever the circumstances, it's really quite odd. But there it is.

We are presented with difficult puzzles when we read the Bible or when we examine the world around us. I personally believe God gave us the ability to reason so that we (at least most of us) would avoid the pitfalls of accepting the language of Scripture with an overly literal bias. That's why I'm confident that you've had good sense not to pluck your own eyes out.

[edjen01]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Luke 10:25-37 - Did this "certain man" really travel from Jerusalem to Jericho where he "fell among theives" and was rescued by a good Samaritan? Did it really happen? No.

Matthew 5:30 - If you really believed the Bible to be "true" and to be taken literally you would place baskets in your churches to receive the hands, feet and eyeballs of every single member of your local church.

Jesus didn't say, "I'm only kidding here, guys!" Jesus didn't say, "Hey! It's a parable!" Jesus said - "CUT IT OFF!"

Why are you a "cafeteria Christian?" Why do you skip through the Bible picking and choosing what verses to believe and what to allegorize?

And, why didn't Jesus tell us - "Hey wait! Don't mutilate yourselves... I was only trying to make a point!" Why?

Because He knows you have better sense that to behave so foolishly. So also is it with the 6,000 year old earth and the "global flood." God is actually hoping that you will wake up and pay attention to the world around you enough to behave wisely and not foolishly.

Otherwise, I expect to see a basket full off hands and feet and eyeballs this Wednesday night.

I think you are confusing the teachings of Jesus with Moses' writings. Why would you think that everything in the 66 books has to be one way or the other? couldn't the narrative style of the Bible allow for multiple writing styles?

couldn't the Bible contain actual historical events....and parabolic teachings?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by edjen01

I think you are confusing the teachings of Jesus with Moses' writings. Why would you think that everything in the 66 books has to be one way or the other? couldn't the narrative style of the Bible allow for multiple writing styles?

couldn't the Bible contain actual historical events....and parabolic teachings?

Yes, indeed. But how do we tell which is which? By comparing the writings with the real world around us we can make some comparisions. For example, if there's a story that says there was a global flood 4,000 years ago - a literal interpretation would cause me to expect some evidence of such a flood. But there is none. So how do I handle that story?

And perhaps more to the point - how do I handle those who would say everyone must believe in the literal interpretation? And then they fabricate, lie and conduct campaigns of character assasination against credible scientists who have questioned their interpretation?

[KWSS1976]

yep globel