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Good grief!
Really?
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For over a hundred years nobody has has been able to falsify evolution or produce a valid testable alternative. For obvious reasons, animals popping out of the ground fully formed is not testable, there is plentyI can identify with that because, as a kid I too accepted the flood story without question, but as I was exposed to science and it made me question a lot of what I was taught...and rightly so.
I heard all that too, but I realized that the evidence supporting all that supposition was based on human calculations. On further investigation of evolution and geology and archeology, I came to understand that science can never claim to have real facts about any of it unless their evidence is substantiated. Because a lot of can never be truly substantiated, the next discovery might just overturn everything they were formerly led to believe. I don't trust science on that basis...or should I say I trust science a whole lot less than I trust the Creator.
There's no reason that a mythology, such as Noah's Flood can't be useful for teaching, etc. In fact that is what makes a good mythology. They may have been inspired to speak using mythological language for the sake of teaching. I think that is a very good way to understand it, in fact.
But this is nonsense. All humans interpret everything they read, including scripture. And since when is uniformity in thoughts and ideas a definition of unity? Unity requires differences. Uniformity requires you all think and believe, and interpret exactly 100% the same. It eliminates differences, not unite them. If you don't understand anything else, understand that.
They don't need to speak 100% in agreement. When it comes to understanding the Bible, there are hundreds of thousands of ways to understand it. That's what makes it so useful.
People have this notion of the Creator as some kind of great wizard in the sky 'poofing' things into existence.
That is not the way the Bible portrays events. "Creationists" who insist on a literal 7 day creation period have done much to perpetuate that myth.
Genesis has condensed what is a very long period of time (millions or even billions of years) into a few verses. It wasn't necessary for him to go into detail at that point as it was always his intention for man to discover science for himself. He has a natural curiosity about those things. The creative periods were eons, not just days. Science at least can prove that.
To Bible believers though, we have reason to doubt what man says when it conflicts with what God says. We believe that there is another power behind the scenes manipulating the thinking of many who in their own hearts want to get rid of God (and all that goes with him) and do as they please. Humans are basically selfish and 'doing their own thing' is all they seem to care about. Hedonism has taken over the western world but sadly I do not see any benefits from it.
The jury seems to be out on this question among those who identify as Christians.....so was the flood a real event or was it just a dramatized myth with a message?
God commanded Noah: “Make for yourself an ark out of wood of a resinous tree.”—Genesis 6:14.
Some might be familiar with children's storybook illustrations like this...
But what is exactly is an ark?
This ark was not a ship, as some assume. It had neither bow nor stern, keel nor rudder—no bends or curves. It was basically a great chest, or box.
More like this....
God gave Noah the precise dimensions of the ark, some details regarding its design, and directions to coat it inside and out with tar. And he told Noah why: “Here I am bringing the deluge of waters upon the earth . . . Everything that is in the earth will expire.” However, Jehovah gave this direction to Noah: “You must go into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.” Noah was also to bring representatives of all kinds of animals. Only those aboard the ark could survive the coming Deluge!—Genesis 6:17-20.
Have we ever stopped to imagine the size of this vessel?
This replica built to Biblical specifications gives us some idea....
Noah faced a gigantic task. This ark was to be enormous—some 437 feet (133 m) long, 73 feet (22 m) wide, and 44 feet (13 m) tall. It was far larger than the largest seagoing wooden ships built even in modern times. Did Noah back off from this assignment, complain about its challenges, or alter the details to make it easier on himself? The Bible answers: “Noah proceeded to do according to all that God had commanded him. He did just so.”—Genesis 6:22.
The work took decades, perhaps 40 to 50 years. There were trees to fell, logs to haul, and beams to hew, shape, and join. The ark was to have three stories, or decks, a number of compartments, and a door in the side. Evidently, there were windows along the top, as well as a roof that likely peaked in the middle with a slight pitch so that water would run off.—Genesis 6:14-16.
On completion of this assignment God told Noah....“Go, you and all your household, into the ark.” At the same time, God told Noah to take all the varieties of animals into the ark—by sevens in the case of the clean ones, fit for sacrificial use, and the rest by twos.—Genesis 7:1-3.
It is assumed by many that just two of every animas that God brought to Noah went on board the ark, but animals designated as "clean" (i.e. suitable for sacrifice and later for food) were taken in by sevens. That was three breeding pairs and one for sacrifice (which is what Noah did upon disembarking from the ark to thank his God for preserving his family alive through such a cataclysmic event.)
It must have been an unforgettable sight. From the horizon they streamed in by the hundreds—walking, flying, crawling, waddling, lumbering—all in a dizzying variety of sizes, shapes, and dispositions. We need not imagine poor Noah trying to corral, wrangle, or somehow cajole all those wild animals into entering the confined space of the ark. The account says that “they went in . . . to Noah inside the ark.”—Genesis 7:9.
And since dinosaurs were long extinct before man came on the scene, there were no dinosaurs on the ark.
Some skeptics might ask: ‘How could such a thing happen? And how could all those animals coexist peacefully in a confined space?’ Consider this: Is it really beyond the power of the Creator of the universe to control his animal creations, even render them tame and docile if needed? Remember, Jehovah is the God who parted the Red Sea and made the sun stand still. Could he not carry out every event described in Noah’s account?
Excerpts from 2013 WATCHTOWER. Pics from Google
You actually did the math! Funny indeed.
So question, if you don't take the 7 day thing literal doesn't that kind of apply to the flood 40 days and nights are not literal?I guess so...if you want them to. There have been many theories proven by science...like germ theory and gravity. We know that both exist beyond a shadow of doubt because we can see what happens under a microscope and what results when we drop something from a great height. These things are testable.
Evolution OTOH, is not provable by any scientific method that demonstrates beyond question that what science assumes to have taken place in the dim dark past, is actually true. They have a theory and the power of suggestion, and great diagrams, but not much in the way of actual evidence that was not interpreted to fit that theory.
People have this notion of the Creator as some kind of great wizard in the sky 'poofing' things into existence.
That is not the way the Bible portrays events. "Creationists" who insist on a literal 7 day creation period have done much to perpetuate that myth.
Genesis has condensed what is a very long period of time (millions or even billions of years) into a few verses. It wasn't necessary for him to go into detail at that point as it was always his intention for man to discover science for himself. He has a natural curiosity about those things. The creative periods were eons, not just days. Science at least can prove that.
To Bible believers though, we have reason to doubt what man says when it conflicts with what God says. We believe that there is another power behind the scenes manipulating the thinking of many who in their own hearts want to get rid of God (and all that goes with him) and do as they please. Humans are basically selfish and 'doing their own thing' is all they seem to care about. Hedonism has taken over the western world but sadly I do not see any benefits from it.
same ballparkAre you sure?
