beyondtimeandspace

You might find this interesting.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

You'll probably find this interesting too. It has its flaws, but I think it also has its strengths. It should be something to consider at the very least, in my opinion.

http://www.cryingvoice.com/Evolution/Hydroplate1.html

To move between the pages, look at the top of the webpage to find the proper buttons.

walt6

For the flood myths of the ancient civilizations in central america, a reasonable explanation might be hurricanes. A nice level 5 hurricane slamming into the Yuccatan peninsula might leave a bit of a flooding that would be above the normal flooding caused by rains.

Nialler

Of course lots of cultures have stories about floods. Tell your friend that the same applies to the modern world.

Except that he can change the word "myths" to "facts".

In the last 100 years we have seen enormous floods in all quarters of the earth. China, India, Europe etc etc. Even the US. Fllods happen all the time. Given the number that we have seen and can verify in even the last 20 years, it would be surprising if ancient cultures idn't have fllod stories built up over time. It's almost impossible, given civilisation's preference for taking hold on coasts and on rivers, that civilisations wouldn't have had to deal with severe flooding.

You might thus ask yourself why some civilisations don't have flood myths. The specific that I am thinking of is the Egyptians, who, despite having records which predate the assumed year of the Noachian flood, do not record being effected by any such thing.

*most* civilisations will have been hit by flloding at some stage; this is almost inevitable. One civilisation that was taking records at the time of the Flood didn't notice it happening. We can only explain this by saying that the myths and stories were all related to local floods, and that there never was a global flood.

beyondtimeandspace

Nialler, if you refer to the site I posted, Egypt seems to have had some kind of flood myth, though fragmentary and damaged. As you'll note, by following the links provided, the story is recorded in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Also, do not forget, there are still tens of thousands of Egyptian (and other) documents yet to be translated, any one of which may contain, in greater detail, such a story. Who knows, though?

Chili

The great flood is a good metaphor for the enduring melancholy that befalls the human spirit before it finds permament relief. It is the rising action before the tsunami-like tempest destroys the ego identity by just calling it a pretender. The water resembles our intuiton that must overpower the faculty of reason that would be the dry land that we stand and go by in our every day life.

The event described with the metaphor is universal to man because the human condition is universal to man (also called original sin) and was before dry land appeared in Gen.1:9 . . . which is also a metaphor for knowledge having existence for us to go by and trust.

Amaleq13

They don't. As I've already said, all they have in common is 1) at least one survivor and 2) lots of water.

Sometimes the survivor(s) escapes by climbing a really high tree or a mountain and sometimes there is just one guy and the god has to recreate the other people and the animals. Sometimes the flood is actually avoided.

See Flood Stories from Around the World.

Spanky

Thanks for the Talk Origin link Ameleq13. I have more to read now.

Harry Bosch

Another point to remember is that there were many many ancient civilizations before the biblical flood and they remained intact after the flood. For example, at the exact time of the biblical flood the Chinese had a well established culture and Egyptians were building the prymids. A scroll was found during this time (3500 BC I think) that described a Chinese kings marriage. They described many details and yet no one noticed the flood.

premjan

Maybe the flood was just an Egyptian myth, as they had floods every year.

Tigers!

It does mean though that Christian missonaries cannot be blamed for their supposed transmission of the Noachian flood.