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Old 08-09-2007, 09:29 AM   #31
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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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:30 AM   #32
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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
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:34 AM   #33
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I guess I don't understand. Many stories in the bible resembles other myths, and that somehow indicates it's actually true?
It mentions two other flood myths, and seems to say that if other religions say there was a flood then it must be true.
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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:35 AM   #34
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I guess I don't understand. Many stories in the bible resembles other myths, and that somehow indicates it's actually true?
It mentions two other flood myths, and seems to say that if other religions say there was a flood then it must be true.
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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:47 AM   #35
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Has the biblical flood ever been disproven? My mom's making me do this question in my history book, 'Why did God send the flood? Tell your view and why you hold it.'. I want to say it was a natural disaster, but I don't know what evidence there is against it.
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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:47 AM   #36
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It mentions two other flood myths, and seems to say that if other religions say there was a flood then it must be true.
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.
The Sumerian and the Gilgamesh.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:50 AM   #37
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The book says that, and it seems to imply that it's proof there was a flood.
Harry Potter book says that, and it seems to imply that it's proof brooms can really fly.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:51 AM   #38
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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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 09:59 AM   #39
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The Sumerian and the Gilgamesh.
KKB, this page (http://cc.usu.edu/%7Efath6/flood.htm) talks a bit about those flood myths.

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...The cause of the flood is not fully explained by the Akkadian myth, but it related to the gods (particularly Ishtar) being disturbed by mankind in some way. In older versions from Sumer, the disturbance was probably something like being too rowdy and making too much noise when Anu wanted to sleep, and this fits well with the reference to overpopulation being involved in this text.
An even earlier version of the flood myth comes from Sumer. It is recorded on tablet 1 of a myth known as Atrahasis. The relevant section, which reveals the cause of Enlil's anger with humankind, reads as follows:

600 years, less than 600, passed,
And the country was as noisy as a bellowing bull.
The god grew restless at their racket,
Ellil had to listen to their noise.
He addressed the great gods,
The noise of mankind has become too much,
I am losing sleep over their racket.
Give the order that suruppu-disease shall break out, ...

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.
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Old 08-09-2007, 10:01 AM   #40
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If I were you I'd try to act as fundy as I could and ask to go to a public school as a "witness." Then leave home and never come back at 18.
I'm thinking about going back to public school next year, but I will never escape my family. They're all crazy...


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