RE: I 'believe' in Evolution
October 24, 2012 at 9:54 pm
(This post was last modified: October 24, 2012 at 9:57 pm by Darkstar.)
(October 24, 2012 at 9:42 pm)Polaris Wrote: The Flood story was only in reference to the cultures that experienced the deluge in the Black Sea some eight thousand years ago.
Genesis 6:13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
in case you think this is ambiguous, there is also this:
Genesis 7:22-23 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
(bolding added)
Maybe it was a real flood, but that isn't consistent with the biblical account that says it will end all people (except those on the ark). So, it would be reasonable to conclude that an actual flood was misconstrued as an act of god. Considering that there are flood stories in some other cultures may also suggest this. This could not be an act of god because the bible was supposedly divinely inspired, and if the actual flood did not wipe out everything on earth, the bible is wrong. Not that many people still interpret this literally anyway; it's the most problematic story in the entire bible. The real question is, how can we say it is a metaphor other than its impossibility? The bible seems to claim that it is literal, we just redefine it as metaphor once accepting it as literal is considerably more illogical than even other stories. So how do we know they aren't all metaphors?
