The story of Noah's Ark, fiction?

[PlanetTraveller]

After looking at all the aspects of the story of Noah's Ark, and I find it to be overall fiction. There are many things that just are a bit odd to me. And no one has yet been able to give me a straight answer for the questions I have about it. So yeah, I have basically so far concluded it to be no more than mythology.

I know this topic is probably nothing new, but I was just wondering if anyone here has an explanation...

 

[ebia]

After looking at all the aspects of the story of Noah's Ark, and I find it to be overall fiction. There are many things that just are a bit odd to me. And no one has yet been able to give me a straight answer for the questions I have about it. So yeah, I have basically so far concluded it to be no more than mythology.

Why do you say "no more than" mythology? Mythology can be just as powerful and just as true as factual history, if not more so.

 

[depthdeception]

Why do you say "no more than" mythology? Mythology can be just as powerful and just as true as factual history, if not more so.

 

[PaladinValer]

A myth is a fictional story or a legend that, while never actually to have happened, teaches moral and spiritual truths.

So yes, the story of Noah's Ark is a myth. An excellent myth at that.

 

[PlanetTraveller]

Why do you say "no more than" mythology? Mythology can be just as powerful and just as true as factual history, if not more so.

My bad, I didn't mean that as a negative.

I was implying towards the question of if it actually happened or not...

But yeah I do agree that the story does express moral and spirituality.

 

[billwald]

A "myth" is a creation story. Myths go so far back in time that it is not possible to classify them as truth or fiction.

There were probably many floods that appeared world wide.

 

[Trainwreck]

It could have been a localized flood, or it may have never happened at all. It's really not important. When you stand before God, he'll ask you whether or not you believed in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, not some silly flood.

 

[LewisWildermuth]

After looking at all the aspects of the story of Noah's Ark, and I find it to be overall fiction. There are many things that just are a bit odd to me. And no one has yet been able to give me a straight answer for the questions I have about it. So yeah, I have basically so far concluded it to be no more than mythology.

I know this topic is probably nothing new, but I was just wondering if anyone here has an explanation...

Is it mythical? Yes most definitely. But there may be a core true story buried under the myth. In the oldest flood story in the Mid-East there seems to be a very believable story under all the myth about a business man/king that was having a meal with his family on a large trading boat he just built when a flood caused by a seven day rain swept him and his family out into the Persian Gulf. For another seven days he floated around until his boat shipwrecked on an island. When he tried to go home after loosing everything in the flood his creditors threatened to enslave him unless he paid them off so he escaped back to the island and lived a life of luxury. The island, btw, is also on of the places that the Garden of Eden is thought to be based off of.

 

[FreezBee]

In the oldest flood story in the Mid-East there seems to be a very believable story under all the myth about a business man/king that was having a meal with his family on a large trading boat he just built when a flood caused by a seven day rain swept him and his family out into the Persian Gulf. For another seven days he floated around until his boat shipwrecked on an island. When he tried to go home after loosing everything in the flood his creditors threatened to enslave him unless he paid them off so he escaped back to the island and lived a life of luxury. The island, btw, is also on of the places that the Garden of Eden is thought to be based off of.

However, don't forget

The 12th commandment: do not make myths about myths; there are enough myths in the worls already as it is.

Also it may be woth noting some parallels/ant-parallels between the flood story and the creation story. E.g. compare this to the beginning of Gen 1:

1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth.

Noah plants a vineyard (parallel to the Garden of Eden), he drinks of its wine (parallel to the eating of the Tree of Knowledge), and takes of his clothes (anti-parallel to the nakedness of Adam and Eve).

Yes, it's all fiction, maybe with some inspiration from actual events, but the actual events don't really matter, you are supposed to learn something from the stories, and what that is, is what matters.


- FreezBee

 

[jasperbound]

After looking at all the aspects of the story of Noah's Ark, and I find it to be overall fiction. There are many things that just are a bit odd to me. And no one has yet been able to give me a straight answer for the questions I have about it. So yeah, I have basically so far concluded it to be no more than mythology.

I know this topic is probably nothing new, but I was just wondering if anyone here has an explanation...

I find it funny how people think that the story of Noah couldn't have happened, but the story of Jesus could have. Three gods in one? A person who is both god and man completely? Coming back from the dead? Virgin birth? HA! Now if that isn't stuff made for a myth, I don't know what is!

 

[FreezBee]

I find it funny how people think that the story of Noah couldn't have happened, but the story of Jesus could have. Three gods in one? A person who is both god and man completely? Coming back from the dead? Virgin birth? HA! Now if that isn't stuff made for a myth, I don't know what is!

The latter us part of the Nicean Creed, the former is not! Also, a creed is not a collection of scientific facts, not something that can be proved or disproved.

Whether Jesus was or was not the son of God cannot be proved or disproved, any attempt at doing either makes no real sense.

Whether there was a global flood or not is something for science - there would certainly be clear evidence of the flood! And that a flood story occurs in many religions does not by itself provide enough proof, just an interesting observation.


- FreezBee

 

[PaladinValer]

I find it funny how people think that the story of Noah couldn't have happened, but the story of Jesus could have. Three gods in one? A person who is both god and man completely? Coming back from the dead? Virgin birth? HA! Now if that isn't stuff made for a myth, I don't know what is!

Fallacy of Equivocation.

One deals with things provable. Taking the literal directions of Scripture to build an ark and then calculating the size it would really need to be to fit 7 pairs of clean animals and a pair of unclean animals, you'll see that either you need to take the story metaphorically or it is completely wrong.

The other deals with abstracts. There is nothing available to prove the existence of God, prove the existence of raising the dead, etc.

Sorry, but your argument holds no water.

 

[AngCath]

After looking at all the aspects of the story of Noah's Ark, and I find it to be overall fiction. There are many things that just are a bit odd to me. And no one has yet been able to give me a straight answer for the questions I have about it. So yeah, I have basically so far concluded it to be no more than mythology.

I know this topic is probably nothing new, but I was just wondering if anyone here has an explanation...

like what?

 

[david_x]

The other deals with abstracts. There is nothing available to prove the existence of God, prove the existence of raising the dead, etc.

Nothing to Prove the RESERECTION!
Of cource you mean besides dozens of eye witness accounts, our being able to talk to God thrugh the risen Christ, and the BIBLE!

Of cource there was a flood! It has been reported in every cultural history! Hawaii, China, Indian, Native American, Catholic, Protestant, etc. Try to stop the world from spinning before you prove that God was a liar!

 

[Calminian]

I find it funny how people think that the story of Noah couldn't have happened, but the story of Jesus could have. Three gods in one? A person who is both god and man completely? Coming back from the dead? Virgin birth? HA! Now if that isn't stuff made for a myth, I don't know what is!

You know, sometimes sarcasm speaks volumes. I think seminaries should make it a required class. In fact there should be Sarcasm I, II and III.

 

[depthdeception]

You know, sometimes sarcasm speaks volumes. I think seminaries should make it a required class. In fact there should be Sarcasm I, II and III.

They those at my seminary, but only the first two sections. They're called "Into to Biblical Studies 1" and Intro to Biblical Studies 2".

 

[depthdeception]

Nothing to Prove the RESERECTION!
Of cource you mean besides dozens of eye witness accounts

No, no one actually saw Christ being raised from the dead. They witnessed the risen Christ, but the dynamic of the resurrection was without witness. Therefore, by nature of its supernatural quality, all accounts of the ressurection are necessarily metaphorical. This, of course, does not mean that such did not "happen." However, when speaking about the accounts of the event itself, it is impossible to speak literally about the resurrection, as it is completely and necessarily beyond the scope of natural phenomenon.

Of cource there was a flood! It has been reported in every cultural history! Hawaii, China, Indian, Native American, Catholic, Protestant, etc. Try to stop the world from spinning before you prove that God was a liar!

How does the extensiveness of a story prove that it happened? For untold millenia, people thought the world was flat and that the stars were "fixed." The pervasiveness of this belief did not make it right, though.

 

[Calminian]

Nothing to Prove the RESERECTION!
Of cource you mean besides dozens of eye witness accounts, our being able to talk to God thrugh the risen Christ, and the BIBLE!

Of cource there was a flood! It has been reported in every cultural history! Hawaii, China, Indian, Native American, Catholic, Protestant, etc. Try to stop the world from spinning before you prove that God was a liar!

And not just the flood. In greek mythology you have a paradise eden-like garden, an apple tree, a snake and all kinds of other parallels (including a flood story). Of course the greeks didn't compile these stories from written documents as Moses did, but rather passed them down orally from generation to generation. So we can expect the type of embellishments that we see, namely the deification of what were probably real people. We also have legends of dinosaur like creatures in just about every culture—also deified in most cases.

Unfortunately most TEs completely dismiss all testimonial evidence. If I were a defense lawyer I would stack the jury with as many TEs as I could find.

 

[ebia]

Unfortunately most TEs completely dismiss all testimonial evidence. If I were a defense lawyer I would stack the jury with as many TEs as I could find.

No, they recognise that witness statements do not overide all the other evidence.

In fact, most of the "biblical evidence" isn't even witness statements, but hearsay, which isn't admissible in any court.

 

[Calminian]

How does the extensiveness of a story prove that it happened? For untold millenia, people thought the world was flat and that the stars were "fixed." The pervasiveness of this belief did not make it right, though.

There's a basic flaw in reasoning here. The beliefs you cite are not for the most part from passed-down legends, but rather from false inferences made from direct observations of nature. But they couldn't have inferred these stories of floods and dragons and gardens and snakes with legs from anything they observed in nature. They knew of them solely from passed-down legends, drawings, sculptures, etc.. The fact that these legends and drawings have cross cultural corroboration is powerful evidence of a common source.