The
story of Noah as recorded in Genesis was discredited as knowledge was
increased and geology
indicated no worldwide flood occurred. The
ancients lacked knowledge. There were fossils of shells,
and other sea life in limestone, sandstone, and shale on
the mountains of the world including Israel.
Ammonite fossil, Akrabiim Pass, Negev,
Israel |
Some of
those among them may have attributed the presence of fossils in
the sedimentary rocks as derived from an ancient flood that
covered the entire earth. Only a man with a boat for his
family might have been saved. We know the mountains
were raised up out of the depths of the sea and then torn down
again by erosion. The flood never covered the entire
earth. Tectonic stresses lifted ocean bottom onto dry land
over the course of millions of years. The book of Genesis
has generations going back a few thousand years, but the world
is billions of years old.
Before Genesis there was already a written legend about a man living in
house near a river warned of a flood by a God who was able to
forecast the future before it happened.
This testimony about Ziasudra or Atrahasis was that God saved a
man and his family in contrast to the stories of the gods
sending famine, disease, and war to kill mankind. The
existence of an omnipotent God has been attested by many, thus
the appeal of a story about the ability of an omnipotent
spiritual being to warn of a coming flood may seem credible to
some according to their own experiences. |
In the areas where writing, agriculture, engineering,
literature and much of civilization advanced some had knowledge of a God
who possessed greater knowledge
than mankind. In Egypt it was written that a god had lived a
million years. In early Mesopotamia and Egypt there was already some speculation of eternal life
widely published. The specialized knowledge of a few might have inspired many yarns, stories,
and legends that were less than perfect. A flood destroying hundreds of square miles and a man
escaping it by divine intervention is probable. There were numerous typhoons striking India and
Pakistan and these killed thousands of people. The early trade connections between the Indus River
and Mesopotamia might have brought such a legend to Mesopotamia. Otherwise the spring snow
melt in the mountains of Turkey or Iran accompanied by a late spring storm along the Tigris or
Euphrates River in May might been the setting for the testimony of a time when God
warned a man to prepare for his salvation, and the faith of a man to believe and be saved.
 |
This
is a picture of flooding in China during 1931. The flood
covered 70,000 square
miles along the Yangtze and other major rivers in
China, affecting coastal lowlands
more than the mountains to the west. A
Chinese committee estimated 140,000 people
died of drowning as dikes broke. An estimated
420,000 more died of famine and
disease. Field crops and as many
as 2,000,000 livestock were lost. From a report
prepared for the US Government
by the Chinese Flood Commission.
Floods killed more people than earthquakes. People living along flood
risk rivers feared the floods that caused devastation,
yet needed the fertile bottom land
to survive. |
Reader
Commentary: dqhall59@yahoo.com
Some of Dave's
other websites: Israel Photos
Israel
Photos II Web Site
Israel Photos III
The Last Supper
Was Mt.
Sinai a Volcano?
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