Literal belief in the flood story

[orangebox21]

So now jesus is a door.. its amazing that Christians say what they feel is comfortable "jesus" or god.. jesus is the sun, the moon, a tree...Jesus is my sac, Jesus is the knotted up ass hair on my ass..

John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

So what evil thoughts do babies think? I mean, a child isn't even self aware until like two, so your blanket, stupid generalization is just factually wrong to begin with...

Whatever happened to taking the Bible for what it says? It literally says: 'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' Your telling me they weren't. Should I take your word for it? Can you read everyone's thoughts?

So I take it you don't buy into the "age of accountability" apologetics? Assuming a baby hasn't made a conscious effort to accept Jesus as his/her lord and savior, the baby goes to hell if it dies?

I do believe the Bible speaks of the age of accountability. Prior to the age of accountability or in cases of the mentally handicapped, situations where a person cannot make a profession of faith, Christ's grace covers their sin without a profession. So no, a person before the age of accountability does not go to hell, just the opposite.

And even still, you haven't addressed the part of my OP where I asked why God couldn't have had Noah raise the children in a moral fashion. We know that children are impressionable and can be raised in a good or bad way, and it will influence how they turn out.

Are you proposing he kidnap them?

If you are going to assert that they are wicked and nothing could be done, then I take it you do not believe in free will?

It is not my assertion to make, I'm simply relaying the message written in the Word. It says what is written. They used their "free will" to use their minds to let "every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts to be only evil continually."

Free will is the entire justification for the flood myth. You can't have it both ways. Either:

1) God could have taken steps to make sure the children were saved so they could be raised in a better way (remember, he went out of his way to magically solve all the things I listed in the OP), or

2) The children are incapable of being raised in a moral way and having it work. If that's the case, there is no free will.

There is no magical third option.

The dilemma has been created in your own mind and it is a 'false' one. You believe in magic but not more than two options?

In summation most of the arguments stated here misrepresent what the scriptures say. God judged the earth because the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Somehow that statement in the posters minds becomes: God murders babies. You have created a false image, a straw man, to be precise.