Was The Flood local?

[MorkandMindy]

Here’s the case that it must have been Global:

1. Why spend a hundred years building an Ark when Noah and cohorts could have left the area due for flooding in a matter of days?


2. A local flood wouldn’t destroy man, the slowly rising waters might have caught a few stranded on hills but most would have escaped, and I doubt it would have caught any flighted bird:


Gen 6

‘5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.’


Note: this poll does not record or reveal the names of voters

 

[AV1611VET]

A specific act of God --- and global.

Noah would not have been on the Ark for a year, had the Flood just been a local one.

 

[Assyrian]

A specific act of God --- and global.

Noah would not have been on the Ark for a year, had the Flood just been a local one.

Interesting argument. It wouldn't take 40 years to walk from Egypt to Canaan either, so can't have been a local Exodus. Must have come from Memphis Tennessee.

 

[ThankGodforGod]

Why do we have to insist that it is literal? Should we just assume that Moby Dick was written as fact or should we look at the author's previous works as well as other works at the time for indicators?

No, it is far more likely that God literally reached down from the clouds and allowed a handful of people to magically build a structure that was too large to float or be built in the first place. After that he "poofed" trillion upon trillions of gallons of water onto the earth (killing either all the fresh or salt water fish on the planet, you pick) and when it was all over cleaned up the scene better than a serial killer.

Occam's razor FTW.

 

[The Penitent Man]

I am undecided.

To my mind, there are checks in both the Literal and Metaphor columns. Maybe it was based on some real-life event but got embellished over time. Or maybe the Ark never physically existed in any form. Maybe the story got lost in translation, linguistically culturally or temporally. Or maybe it happened more or less exactly as the Bible says it did, impossibilities and all.

Somehow.

 

[Assyrian]

Or maybe it happened more or less exactly as the Bible says it did, impossibilities and all.

Except the bible doesn't say if the bible was local or global.

 

[MorkandMindy]

A specific act of God --- and global.

Noah would not have been on the Ark for a year, had the Flood just been a local one.

A very good point too. If prevailing winds caused the Ark to drift at 1 mph for example, then it would go 600 miles in a month, enough to get to the far side of the Black Sea starting from the opposite side.


Unless...

Well, there wasn't much room so Mrs. Noah pushed this big heavy thing overboard and nobody noticed the rope tied to it and to Ark for about a year...

 

[TheBlueBlurr]

The flood never happened.

 

[AV1611VET]

It wouldn't take 40 years to walk from Egypt to Canaan either...

Oh, yes it would --- believe me, it would.

In fact, if God told you it would take 80 years --- I guarantee you --- it would take 80 years.

 

[AV1611VET]

A very good point too. If prevailing winds caused the Ark to drift at 1 mph for example, then it would go 600 miles in a month, enough to get to the far side of the Black Sea starting from the opposite side.


Unless...

Well, there wasn't much room so Mrs. Noah pushed this big heavy thing overboard and nobody noticed the rope tied to it and to Ark for about a year...

I didn't understand a word of this post, M&M --- sorry.

 

[Assyrian]

Oh, yes it would --- believe me, it would.

In fact, if God told you it would take 80 years --- I guarantee you --- it would take 80 years.

And yet you think God could not have kept Noah in the ark a year if the flood was local.

 

[AV1611VET]

And yet you think God could not have kept Noah in the ark a year if the flood was local.

Then why did the Ark float for a year?

 

[Assyrian]

Pitch.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Interesting argument. It wouldn't take 40 years to walk from Egypt to Canaan either, so can't have been a local Exodus. Must have come from Memphis Tennessee.

Unless it was a random walk or wandering:


Numbers 32
13And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

 

[MorkandMindy]

A very good point too. If prevailing winds caused the Ark to drift at 1 mph for example, then it would go 600 miles in a month, enough to get to the far side of the Black Sea starting from the opposite side.


Unless...

Well, there wasn't much room so Mrs. Noah pushed this big heavy thing overboard and nobody noticed the rope tied to it and to Ark for about a year...

I didn't understand a word of this post, M&M --- sorry.

I was hoping you would explain it to me

 

[AV1611VET]

I was hoping you would explain it to me

Explain what to you?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Noah was aboard the Ark for a year (one scholar points out a year and ten days).

Does that make sense, if the flood was just a local one?

 

[MorkandMindy]

A very good point too. If prevailing winds caused the Ark to drift at 1 mph for example, then it would go 600 miles in a month, enough to get to the far side of the Black Sea starting from the opposite side.


Unless...

Well, there wasn't much room so Mrs. Noah pushed this big heavy thing overboard and nobody noticed the rope tied to it and to Ark for about a year...

I didn't understand a word of this post, M&M --- sorry.

Mork was being obtuse

If they meant the flooding of the Black Sea then Noah might have been stuck in the middle for a while but wind or currents would bring the Ark to the shore probably in a week or so.

The heavy thing Mrs. Noah threw over was an anchor so the Ark got stuck in the middle out of site of land and it wsa a year before anyone noticed.

 

[Assyrian]

Unless it was a random walk or wandering:


Numbers 32
13And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

Exactly. And the Lord could have kept the ark at sea for a year if he wanted to as well.

 

[MorkandMindy]

...
Well, there wasn't much room so Mrs. Noah pushed this big heavy thing overboard and nobody noticed the rope tied to it and to Ark for about a year...

The Ark got stuck in the middle of the Black Sea well out of sight of land for a year before anyone worked out that the heavy thing Mrs. Noah mentioned throwing overboard was in fact the anchor.

 

[AV1611VET]

Mork was being obtuse

If they meant the flooding of the Black Sea then Noah might have been stuck in the middle for a while but wind or currents would bring the Ark to the shore probably in a week or so.

The heavy thing Mrs. Noah threw over was an anchor so the Ark got stuck in the middle out of site of land and it wsa a year before anyone noticed.

In my opinion, Noah lived (and built the Ark) in the region that is now called New Jersey, USA.