by jimwalton » Sun May 18, 2014 4:01 pm
I have every reason to believe that the flood was not global, but a huge regional (continental?) flood. We can read the set up in Gn. 6.5-8. The rebellion of sin actually increased like a tornado. From Cain's murder in Gn. 4, we read about Lamech's escalated crimes in Gn. 5.23-24. By the time we get to Genesis 6, we read in Gn. 6.5 that society and humanity was collapsing. It wasn't just some evil and some people being bad, but the problem was systemic and comprehensive. It was ruining relationships, corrupting children, and destroying humanity itself. Gn. 6.5: "And the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." Hardly a better description of total depravity could be written. Verse 11 adds to it: "the earth was corrupt...and was full of violence..., for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways." The earth was filled with violence. Survival was at stake. Now, if a gunman walks onto campus and starts shooting people, we hope that someone is going to make it stop. Not only that, we hope that someone is going to bring him to justice for what he has done. Why do we fault God for doing exactly that? I know you have more questions about this, so ask them. I just don't want to write too much the first time around. I'm going to guess you are presuming there were innocent people around who were victims, but that's a presumption that you know the situation of, what, 10,000 BC more accurately than the record in Genesis; of course my follow-up question would be "How do you know that?" Let's talk.
I have every reason to believe that the flood was not global, but a huge regional (continental?) flood. We can read the set up in Gn. 6.5-8. The rebellion of sin actually increased like a tornado. From Cain's murder in Gn. 4, we read about Lamech's escalated crimes in Gn. 5.23-24. By the time we get to Genesis 6, we read in Gn. 6.5 that society and humanity was collapsing. It wasn't just some evil and some people being bad, but the problem was systemic and comprehensive. It was ruining relationships, corrupting children, and destroying humanity itself. Gn. 6.5: "And the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." Hardly a better description of total depravity could be written. Verse 11 adds to it: "the earth was corrupt...and was full of violence..., for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways." The earth was filled with violence. Survival was at stake. Now, if a gunman walks onto campus and starts shooting people, we hope that someone is going to make it stop. Not only that, we hope that someone is going to bring him to justice for what he has done. Why do we fault God for doing exactly that? I know you have more questions about this, so ask them. I just don't want to write too much the first time around. I'm going to guess you are presuming there were innocent people around who were victims, but that's a presumption that you know the situation of, what, 10,000 BC more accurately than the record in Genesis; of course my follow-up question would be "How do you know that?" Let's talk.