Faid

If there is one advice I can give you, it's this: READ. Read everything there is to read about the subject. Don't just read our side: Read sites like the ones AFDave and others link to here- AiG, CRI, the works. Read their claims, that they use again and again to explain away the findings and data provided by science, then read the responses to those claims. Also, read their "Statement of Faith" at the AiG site. It has to do with the way they evaluate data. It might surprise you.

Getting thoroughly informed on this issue, and seeing the arguments and tactics each side uses, is in my opinion absolutely necessary to form a well-supported opinion of your own. It shouldn't be too hard.

cgordon

Here's an excellent website talking about current research into an event that might have been the basis for the Biblical flood myth (and the one from which it was cribbed): Ballard and the Black Sea -- the Search for Noah's Flood

Donnmathan

Which two is it citing? I only ask because most others will be VASTLY different in the details, and if it is the two I'm suspecting, then the reason they are similar is because they are where the Hebrews GOT the flood myth; the Sumerian version predates the Hebrew one.

Selsaral

Well as I said, it's isn't just the comparison with other flood myths (by the way, myths aren't history, they are similar to folktales and fairy tales) that puts this into perspective. If the bible's flood story so strongly resembles fiction (not real, made up, fairy tales), surely that puts the bible's story in a bad light?

But beyond the flood story we are talking about things like Homer. When you read the Illiad and learn that Achilles as a baby was dipped into the River Styx which made him invulnerable, do you say 'wow, I have to find that river!' or 'that's a cute myth (fictional story)'? When you read the Illiad, do you consider it factual history, or a myth? When you read The Epic of Gilgamesh, are you reading factual, accurate history, or an ancient folktale?

And when the bible shows so many similarities to these (fictional, not true, not historical) stories, it puts the bible into a different context.

Clouseau

No, God did not send a flood. But that does not mean that the story has no meaning. Read in Hebrew, it is very full of meaning- especially in the context of the New Testament. YECs don't want you to see that.

KittyKatBlack

The Sumerian and the Gilgamesh.

atheilicious

Harry Potter book says that, and it seems to imply that it's proof brooms can really fly.

SAWells

You can also look up the legend of Ut-Napishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian myth which predates the Hebrew one. In that legend, there's an argument among the gods, who agree that humans are noisy and troublesome and should all be wiped out. One of the Gods tips off Ut-Napishtim, who tears down his house and rebuilds it as a boat, with which he saves his household, his animals and his valuables. The parallels to the Hebrew myth are very strong, and the polytheism makes the divine behaviour less self-contradictory than the Hebrew version. It's worth noting that the early Hebrews appear to have been not monotheistic but monolatrists (believing in many gods but worshipping only one), some of the rough edges in Genesis are understandable once you read it as a set of polytheistic legends being revised to fit a later monotheistic framework.

driver8

KKB, this page (http://cc.usu.edu/%7Efath6/flood.htm) talks a bit about those flood myths.


I think you should report that the gods (plural) got so fed up with the noise that they felt compelled to quiet we little people up. Unfortunately, we tend to multiply like cockroaches so we've made it a pretty noisy little world again. That's why the gods haven't shown hide nor hair in quite some time, and are unlikely to ever come back for a visit.

Minimalist

You have far bigger problems than answering a history question, dear. Good luck. You're going to need it.