Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
By Duane Warden
What Statement Does The Author Want to Make in the First 11 Chapters of Genesis?
When God created there was harmony between God and people, God and creation (Gen. 1-2). The harmony was broken because humankind was unwilling to be innocent; driven by pride, people rose against God. They did things their own way. The narratives in Genesis 3 (first sin), Genesis 6-9 (flood), and Genesis 11 (Babel) illustrate the disharmony that results when people want to be like God. The call of Abraham introduced the path to a restoration of harmony (Gen. 12-50).
The Flood Narrative Supports the Theme That Unites the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis
God governs the world of humankind consistent with moral principals that are inherent in his Being. God is angry when people rebel against the moral order by which he governs the world. Men and women are moral beings. God holds them morally accountable. These are the concerns of Genesis. Whether the flood was universal or local has little relevance for what the author wants to communicate.
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Genesis 6:5: The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.
God took note of the extensiveness of sin.
Genesis 6:9: Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:18: I will establish my covenant with you.
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Where Does the Data Lead Us? Was The Entire Earth Covered by Water?
A literal reading of the Genesis account suggests a universal flood (Gen. 6:7, 17; 7:19). Before the development of modern science, there was no question. Readers of the Bible accepted the flood as universal. The great majority of modern geologists, seemingly with no ax to grind, deny that the geological data point to a universal flood. Therein lies the problem. Despite claims that geological evidence points to a universal flood, the viewpoint is not widely accepted.
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For All that Can be Said in Its Favor, There Are Serious Reasons to Doubt That the Earth Was Even Inundated by a Universal Flood
For the most part only non-geologists believe that a universal flood occurring some 5-6 thousand years ago best accounts for the geological data. Elaborate theories of vapor canopies and such for the antediluvian world have the appearance of being born of desperation. We dont want to argue that God could not have brought a universal flood. It is a matter of the evidence. Has a universal flood left its print on 11 the planet? The answer appears to be no.
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The Most Interesting of Ancient Flood Stories Comprises a Part of What Is Called the Gilgamesh Epic. The Story Itself Dates from the Early Second Millennium B. C. Though the Oldest Surviving Copies Come from the 8th Century B. C.
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A portion of Gilgamesh Epic. The clay tablet is from the 8th century Assyria period, but the epic itself is much older. In his quest, Gilgamesh found a story about a flood.
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The Gilgamesh Epic Offers Likenesses and Differences to the Genesis Flood
The hero was warned by the gods that a flood was coming. He constructed a vessel that was cube, 120 cubits in each direction. It had 7 stories and 63 compartments. He deceived his neighbors about the purpose of the boat so they wouldnt suspect a flood. He loaded his family, skilled craftsmen, and the seed of all life into his boat. At the end, he sent out birds to find dry land. The raven didnt return. He offers a sacrifice around which the gods gather like 16 flies.
Question: Does the frequency of flood traditions testify to a historical flood of universal dimensions? Answer: In the end the traditions seem to have more to do with floods and their near universal experience than they have to do with testimony to a world wide flood event.
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There Are Enough Geological Obstacles to a Universal Flood to Drive Us Back to the Text
Does the narrative in Genesis 6-9 demand that we read it as a universal, world-wide flood? Does faith in God and faith in the Bible as his revelation require the conclusion that a universal flood inundated the earth some 5-6,000 years ago? How we answer these questions will depend to some degree on the way authors of the Bible addressed their contemporary world.
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A parallel to the universal language used of the flood can be found in the New Testament when Paul says of the gospel: just as in all the world it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing (Col. 1:6) Surely Paul means that the gospel was bearing fruit in the world known to him and his readers.
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Some of the more spectacular claims about the flood are about Noahs Ark
A television production called The Incredible Discovery of Noahs Ark aired on CBS in 1993. It has replayed on the History Channel, Discovery, etc. The primary source for the documentary turned out to be a fabrication. Events such as this often turn out to be more of an embarrassment than a help to those whose faith is in God. 23
From the mid-5th Century a Mountain in Eastern Turkey has been identified with Mt. Ararat
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Enthusiasts Who Search for the Ark of Noah Have Long Had the Goal Just Within Reach
Wood that was supposed to have been from the Ark has been carbon dated. Carbon dating has shown the wood to come from the mid-5th century, just the time when Christians began to identify this mountain with Ararat. Stories and witnesses, on close examination amount to little. Pictures taken from space are not convincing after careful examination. See Lloyd Bailey, Where Is Noahs Ark? 27 (Abingdon, 1978) for more information.
New images of Noahs Ark on Mt. Ararat surface regularly. This one was captured by a commercial satellite in 2003.
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The Flood Has Become a Gateway for Projecting an Entire Interpretative Scheme on Genesis 1-11
By means of Flood Geology assertions are made that the flood was universal and that it happened in the relatively immediate past. From there, the assertion is that Genesis 1-2 describe a relatively recent earth. The young earth theory has been driven by a way of reading the flood narrative, and only later a way of reading the creation narrative. All of this would be fine were it not for the additional implication or assertion that anyone who believes differently doesnt believe the Bible. 29
What is popularly called Flood Geology is set forth in John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications (Philadephia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1961)
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A Better Way: The Creation & Flood Narratives are Interpreted History. Using Metaphors and Poetic Imagination the Author Sets Forth Real Events in Terms of Gods Sovereign Rule Over Against the Alternative of Idolatry. The Author of Genesis Presents Humankind as Moral Beings Responsible to God.
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Why Would God Use Poetry & Metaphor to Speak of Creation and the Flood? Why are they in the Bible at All?
1) The stories speak to universal points of curiosity and interest. They teach important truths. 2) Poetry and metaphor use universal language. The language speaks across culture and history. 3) Poetic devices engage listeners or readers on a level where narrative alone fails. They tease our minds for new levels of understanding. 4) Poetic devices set forth universal truths in memorable, striking ways.
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CONCLUSIONS
1) For those who have no trouble reconciling scientific data with a universal flood in Genesis, we respect the viewpoint. 2) To those who believe the scientific data cannot be reconciled with a young earth and a universal flood, we maintain that the Genesis narrative does not demand such an interpretation. 3) The historical testimony of Genesis is to be taken seriously. There was a flood. The narrative is not to be dismissed as mythological, hence with no historical claim. 4) The flood narrative is about Gods moral governance of his world. He judges the world as he wills.
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In Spite of Tension as the 19th Century Yielded to the 20th, Theology Considered Science its Ally
New scientific data added to the perception that the world was a place of design. The teleological argument was evidence for Gods existence. The publication of Origin of the Species in 1859 did little to fragment the alliance.
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Facile representations of contrary viewpoints is not the exclusive domain of religious adherents
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Further Considerations:
How does the church stick to its own faith without becoming impervious to truths made known from outside its field? It is said that the driving forces behind science are prediction and explanation. Which of these do you think is the more powerful factor? Is it true that the definition, purposes, and justification of science are philosophical presuppositions about science that cannot be validated by science?
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Discussion Continued:
If natural theology does not prove that God exists, may we at least say that natural theology is an important plank in a coherent view of the universe? Can science by itself address subjective experience, e.g., I think I am worried about the safety of my child. Could you run a few tests to see if I really am?
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Final Thought
False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion. --J. Gresham Machen
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