Did Jesus believe in a literal Noah's Ark and Flood?

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx

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It seems many Christian evolutionists do not take Noah's Ark or the Flood story literally, yet you accept Jesus as your savior. Jesus addresses Noah and the Flood in the New Testament:

‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all.’ (Luke 17:26–27)

From this passage, it sounds like Jesus is speaking of the Flood as a real event. Since Jesus is your savior, would his words affirming Noah and the Flood convince you it literally happened? If not, why?

This is part 2 of me as an outsider trying to understand the seeming contradiction of Christian TEs who tend to not take the Bible literally except for the Resurrection. (Wherefore Bible literalism is rejected in favor of physical evidence, yet there is none for the Resurrection.)
 

JohnR7

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx said:
Noah's Ark
We are told that Noah's Ark landed on Mt Ararat. Its interesting that if you look at the lakes in that area, they all contain salt water.

An intriguing matter which few people know about Lake Van is that, at 1670 meters above sea level, it is a salt lake. Other large bodies of water in the same general region, including Lake Urmia (at 1250 meters above sea level), the Caspian Sea (the largest landlocked body of water on the entire planet), and the Aral Sea (480 kilometers east in the countries of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) are also salt lakes, and yet there are no appreciable salt layers bordering any of these lakes in the local geological strata. The Caspian Sea also contains porpoises and seals, animals which are normally only found in marine environments. The existence of these high altitude salt lakes and their unusual marine life so far inland from ocean environments is a perplexing mystery to orthodox scientists. Certain ‘unorthodox’ scholars, however, (for example Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, writing in Uriel’s Machine) have gathered evidence which suggests that these bodies of water are each of relatively recent geological origin, dating to around 7640 BC and the seven cometary objects known to have impacted the earth at that time. Why this is so fascinating is that these cometary impacts were all in ocean locations and are known to have initiated massive waves that flooded great areas of land far inland from the actual sites of the cometary impacts. One of the seven impacts was in the Persian Gulf region roughly 800 kilometers south of the region with the enigmatic salt lakes. Considering the strange occurrence of great landlocked, seawater lakes deep within the continental landmass and the unexplained existence of ocean mammals in the lakes, it is safe to say that the probably explanation was that both the water and the mammals were deposited there by the massive flooding caused by the 7640 BC cometary impacts. http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/turkey/akdamar.htm
 
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Kahalachan

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx said:
It seems many Christian evolutionists do not take Noah's Ark or the Flood story literally, yet you accept Jesus as your savior. Jesus addresses Noah and the Flood in the New Testament:

‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all.’ (Luke 17:26–27)

From this passage, it sounds like Jesus is speaking of the Flood as a real event. Since Jesus is your savior, would his words affirming Noah and the Flood convince you it literally happened? If not, why?

This is part 2 of me as an outsider trying to understand the seeming contradiction of Christian TEs who tend to not take the Bible literally except for the Resurrection. (Wherefore Bible literalism is rejected in favor of physical evidence, yet there is none for the Resurrection.)

"Just as the Sith mercilessly wiped out the Jedi, so terrorists mercilessly killed civilians on September 11th."

I don't believe the Sith and Jedi exist simply cause I use it as a metaphour.

Also Jesus talked about how evil people were back then, I don't see a flood reference.
 
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Kahalachan said:
"Just as the Sith mercilessly wiped out the Jedi, so terrorists mercilessly killed civilians on September 11th."

I don't believe the Sith and Jedi exist simply cause I use it as a metaphour.

Also Jesus talked about how evil people were back then, I don't see a flood reference.

Ah so your position is he was speaking of the Flood situation, but in keeping with an original metaphorical context?
 
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Kahalachan

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx said:
Ah so your position is he was speaking of the Flood situation, but in keeping with an original metaphorical context?

Yes. You can talk about some ominous evil in terms of fiction that will become reality, just as I talked about an immense fictional evil from the Sith but became reality on September 11th.

Even to those of us who don't believe in the flood literally, it is a powerful lesson that the worst possible evil conceived can become true.
 
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Kahalachan said:
Yes. You can talk about some ominous evil in terms of fiction that will become reality, just as I talked about an immense fictional evil from the Sith but became reality on September 11th.

Even to those of us who don't believe in the flood literally, it is a powerful lesson that the worst possible evil conceived can become true.

Is there anything in the Bible that helps you come to the conclusion of the Flood and Jesus' talking about it being of a metaphorical context? Or is it your world view outside of the Bible that has helped you reach this interpretation?
 
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Amaziah

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Jesus would not make reference to something that was false or misleading and indicate it as truth. This would violate His own nature being that He is God and the fact that God cannot lie because He is the Truth and is not capable or willing or able to make false or misleading statements. References of John 1:1 "The Word was God..."; Psalm 119:160 "The entirety of Your word is truth, and all You righteous judgments endure forever"; John 1:17 "... grace and truth came through Jesus ...", John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life ...". Man (humanity) is susceptible to exchanging God's truth for lie (Romans 1:25 "They exchange the truth of God for a lie, ...").

With this truth in light of the current topic, Jesus could not discount the truth of the Flood and Noah's arc if He referrenced it. This would be misleading the same as a lie. It would seem to me, Christians who discount the reality of the flood call Jesus authenticity and nature into question giving leway for people to question God's character and Jesus authenticity of being God incarnate. The reliability of God's Word (the Bible) comes into question, Christ and God therefore the whole witness of Jesus and His followers 'Christians'.

If the flood did not happen then did Jesus really happen? Good question. I am sorry if you have been led to doubt the reality of Christ and the reliability of God's Word. Be encouraged that Christ lives, His Word will endure forever and that He loves you and just as He does me. Blessings.:thumbsup:
 
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Kahalachan

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx said:
Is there anything in the Bible that helps you come to the conclusion of the Flood and Jesus' talking about it being of a metaphorical context? Or is it your world view outside of the Bible that has helped you reach this interpretation?

Not Biblical.

My knowledge of zoology and geology and however much I've learned about it made me realize the flood cannot be literal.

It can because of course God could do anything. Shrink all the animals. Have the flood do everything that Hovind says.

But then there is the philosophical question of Why God would do things in such a manner that future generations with their understanding of science would eventually conclude the flood to be a physical impossibility. Why didn't the aftermath of the flood leave evidence of a flood?

So with a little Descartes, and realizing God isn't some deceiver, and knowledge of science, I realize God operates in a consistent manner free of doubts. It's amazing that through science we can begin to understand how God did things, while still having reverence for the fact there will be things we will never experience and understand.
 
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Kahalachan said:
Not Biblical.

My knowledge of zoology and geology and however much I've learned about it made me realize the flood cannot be literal.

It can because of course God could do anything. Shrink all the animals. Have the flood do everything that Hovind says.

But then there is the philosophical question of Why God would do things in such a manner that future generations with their understanding of science would eventually conclude the flood to be a physical impossibility. Why didn't the aftermath of the flood leave evidence of a flood?

So with a little Descartes, and realizing God isn't some deceiver, and knowledge of science, I realize God operates in a consistent manner free of doubts. It's amazing that through science we can begin to understand how God did things, while still having reverence for the fact there will be things we will never experience and understand.

I am fascinated with Christians who do not believe in literal Biblical events (Genesis, Noah etc) yet choose to accept Jesus as their savior with no evidence.

Were you raised Christian and Jesus is the last shred you haven't shrugged off, or did you choose Jesus but reject the rest? Or maybe something else. Just curious.
 
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Amaziah said:
Jesus would not make reference to something that was false or misleading and indicate it as truth. This would violate His own nature being that He is God and the fact that God cannot lie because He is the Truth and is not capable or willing or able to make false or misleading statements. References of John 1:1 "The Word was God..."; Psalm 119:160 "The entirety of Your word is truth, and all You righteous judgments endure forever"; John 1:17 "... grace and truth came through Jesus ...", John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life ...". Man (humanity) is susceptible to exchanging God's truth for lie (Romans 1:25 "They exchange the truth of God for a lie, ...").

With this truth in light of the current topic, Jesus could not discount the truth of the Flood and Noah's arc if He referrenced it. This would be misleading the same as a lie. It would seem to me, Christians who discount the reality of the flood call Jesus authenticity and nature into question giving leway for people to question God's character and Jesus authenticity of being God incarnate. The reliability of God's Word (the Bible) comes into question, Christ and God therefore the whole witness of Jesus and His followers 'Christians'.

If the flood did not happen then did Jesus really happen? Good question. I am sorry if you have been led to doubt the reality of Christ and the reliability of God's Word. Be encouraged that Christ lives, His Word will endure forever and that He loves you and just as He does me. Blessings.:thumbsup:

Good point. For one on the outside of it all, it is hard to choose the Bible when members of the faith reject the very teachings that are supposed to be at the core.

I am always told to look past the people and look to Jesus and the Word, but sometimes its hard when there is so much in-fighting and contradiction with Christians.
 
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Jase

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Amaziah said:
If the flood did not happen then did Jesus really happen? Good question. I am sorry if you have been led to doubt the reality of Christ and the reliability of God's Word. Be encouraged that Christ lives, His Word will endure forever and that He loves you and just as He does me. Blessings.:thumbsup:
If the Earth isn't supported by pillars, is the Bible accurate? Jesus liked using metaphor to get his point across. How would Him using metaphor about the flood, if that's what He intended, be lying?
 
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Amaziah

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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx said:
Good point. For one on the outside of it all, it is hard to choose the Bible when members of the faith reject the very teachings that are supposed to be at the core.

I am always told to look past the people and look to Jesus and the Word, but sometimes its hard when there is so much in-fighting and contradiction with Christians.

You cannot put your faith in anyone other than God and His Word. We are to measure everything by His Word. I am sorry that our in-fighting causes many people to doubt God and His Word. I believe every Christian has good intentions but we can only treat them as good intentions. God is the only One to whom we can come to for the complete truth and eventually a person's choosing to believe and accept Christ comes down to a matter of faith and trust in God. Everything has not been revealed to us yet to come to concrete claims using science. Science is a mode or tool for man trying to understand his surroundings. Science cannot understand or make sense of the mind and ways of God. None of us can, no matter how hard we try.

I can only place my hope in God and His Word. If you want to talk about this further you can email me directly but I do have to log off now. Maybe I could share my story with you. Some good authors to check out are Josh McDowell (once an athiest) and Lee Strobel. Later and Blessings.:wave:
 
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kangitanka

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Amaziah said:
Jesus would not make reference to something that was false or misleading and indicate it as truth.
"I think that I will never see
A poem as lovely as a tree"
Factually, that little poem is not accurate
However, would you agree that it is truth?




Amaziah said:
It would seem to me, Christians who discount the reality of the flood call Jesus authenticity and nature into question giving leway for people to question God's character and Jesus authenticity of being God incarnate
Not at all.
Jesus, being familiar with the scriptures and stories in question could very easily have understood the metaphorical meanings behind the stories he referrenced.
And his audience would have understood this as well, which is why Jesus wouldnt have to point out the metaphorical or literal contexts of the stories he was speaking about.

Amaziah said:
The reliability of God's Word (the Bible)
God's Word=the Bible?!?
When did THIS happen?
I thought that, even among Christians, the bible was, well, the bible.
I was pretty sure that Christians agreed that the Word of God= Jesus.
Or is bibliolatry now accepted?
 
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Jase said:
If the Earth isn't supported by pillars, is the Bible accurate? Jesus liked using metaphor to get his point across. How would Him using metaphor about the flood, if that's what He intended, be lying?

I am not sure about what you said means in the first part? Jesus did like using metaphor, but He would not reference a metaphor that was untrue (I may be missing something form earlier that I have not read throughout the whole thread). Jesus used metaphor to clarify not to confuse.
 
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Amaziah said:
You cannot put your faith in anyone other than God and His Word. We are to measure everything by His Word. I am sorry that our in-fighting causes many people to doubt God and His Word. I believe every Christian has good intentions but we can only treat them as good intentions. God is the only One to whom we can come to for the complete truth and eventually a person's choosing to believe and accept Christ comes down to a matter of faith and trust in God. Everything has not been revealed to us yet to come to concrete claims using science. Science is a mode or tool for man trying to understand his surroundings. Science cannot understand or make sense of the mind and ways of God. None of us can, no matter how hard we try.

I can only place my hope in God and His Word. If you want to talk about this further you can email me directly but I do have to log off now. Maybe I could share my story with you. Some good authors to check out are Josh McDowell (once an athiest) and Lee Strobel. Later and Blessings.:wave:

Thanks for the kind words.
 
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Jase

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Amaziah said:
I am not sure about what you said means in the first part? Jesus did like using metaphor, but He would not reference a metaphor that was untrue (I may be missing something form earlier that I have not read throughout the whole thread). Jesus used metaphor to clarify not to confuse.
The Bible says the Earth is set upon pillars, and has ends. You surely don't take that literally, so does not taking something literally mean we can't trust the Bible?
 
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xXThePrimeDirectiveXx

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kangitanka said:
"I think that I will never see
A poem as lovely as a tree"
Factually, that little poem is not accurate
However, would you agree that it is truth?





Not at all.
Jesus, being familiar with the scriptures and stories in question could very easily have understood the metaphorical meanings behind the stories he referrenced.
And his audience would have understood this as well, which is why Jesus wouldnt have to point out the metaphorical or literal contexts of the stories he was speaking about.


God's Word=the Bible?!?
When did THIS happen?
I thought that, even among Christians, the bible was, well, the bible.
I was pretty sure that Christians agreed that the Word of God= Jesus.
Or is bibliolatry now accepted?

This statement raised a question in my mind. Many of our scientific advancements are recent, and just even 3 centuries ago, most people believed in literal Biblical events. (Adam/Eve, Noah etc.) Bible people would have had even less scientific knowledge than our ancestors of 3 centuries ago, so wouldn't a majority of them believe the events were literal? It is not like they discounted Adam/Eve or the Flood in favor of Evolution, zoology, biology etc. And since it does not say anywhere in the Bible that these events were not literal, wouldn't the onus be to prove Jesus and company thought these events metaphorical? We all know "a poem is as lovely as a tree" is metaphorical. Comparing that to The Flood or Adam/Eve is like comparing apples and oranges.
 
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