Literal belief in the flood story

[Esquilax]

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, the bible makes a claim, that everyone on earth was wicked. But claims can be evaluated based upon what we know about reality, not just on the basis of what made the claim, and we would be wise to examine each claim on its own, rather than just assuming the truthfulness of every claim contained within a set of claims; after all, things can be wrong on one issue, while right on another.

We know the global flood couldn't happen, but in this thought exercise we're granting it because you guys like the idea that it happened, for some reason. The claim that everyone was wicked is separate from that, and we know, based upon what is scientifically demonstrated in reality, that this second claim simply cannot be true. Literally, it's impossible that this is true. So even assuming that the flood happened, god's stated reasons for doing that are untrue.

But let's also add in some extra sloppy apologetics to make up for this factual inaccuracy in your inerrant book; if you want to go the route that says the children would have been evil growing up, then god interfered with their free will and you never get to use the free will excuse for anything ever again. If you want to just say that the babies were evil, aside from looking a little ridiculous, you'll also be endorsing thought crime, which is hardly moral to begin with.

Either way, you don't really have a lot of solid ground to stand on, with this position you're taking. Oh, and you ask me if I can read everyone's thoughts; I don't have to. Babies aren't self aware until like fifteen months at the earliest. Since there is no actor in their thoughts before then, there is no moral position that can be affixed to them. Telepathy not required.