[Bill Davis FR]

was this great flood of noah's time...

[Snidely Whiplash]

was this great flood of noah's time...

Probably not - the flood story here would have to:

1) Become part of aboriginal American folklore;
2) Somehow get all the way to the Middle East, with no one to get it there;
3) Become part of those cultures;
4) Wind up as part of their religious traditions and thence the Bible.

So far, the Black Sea flood referenced earlier is the best candidate for the story's origin (unless one is a literalist).

It would seem that the nature of climatic change is indeed taking on a resemblance to Stephen Jay Gould's puncutated equilibrium model - periods of relative quiet interspersed with rapid, often catastrophic events that drive the changes themselves.

Snidely

[blam]

"was this great flood of noah's time..."

Tell me when was 'Noah's time' and I can probably answer that question.

[goody2shooz]

Yes. Hancock's book, Underworld, explains that the Persian Gulf was above sea level 12,500 years ago and over a six thousand year period was flooded in stages. A very enlightening book. Explains how many cultures world-wide have similiar flood myths, probably describing the same sea flooding events.

[Mark17]

was this great flood of Noah's time...

I think you are right.

[MissAmericanPie]

I don't think so, the flood in Noah's day was something so profound that when Peter writes of it in the new testament, "For this they are willingly ignorant, the world that was then, standing in the water and out, perished, the world we live in now, is reserved for fire, and the judgement of ungodly men", he makes it clear that we no longer live in anything similar to the pre-flood climate conditions of Noah's day.

For instance according to scriptures, it had never rained on the face of the earth up until the flood of Noah. The earth was watered by a mist rising from the ground. The inhabitants of the earth had no idea what rain was, much less a flood.

While science agrees that at one time the earth was watered by a mist rising from the ground, they maintain that this was billions of years before mankind "evolved". The bible contradicts their findings and places man being alive and well at the time that this climate condition was typical. I know where I'd place my money.