Posted on 02/15/2017 9:40:23 AM PST by Salvation
As we read the flood story in Tuesday’s daily Mass, I feel that a few clarifications are in order.
While we are not required as Catholics to interpret every detail of the flood story literally, there does seem to be some evidence (preserved in many ancient cultures) of a flood or “mega event” that drastically reduced the size of the human race. In addition, genetic, geological, and anthropological information point to a period some 70,000 years ago during which humans almost vanished from the planet [*].
How much of the flood narrative is a story and how much is history may be debatable, but something surely happened. In Genesis, God is recounting for us that He intervened at a critical moment to prune and purify the human family of the more egregious effects of sin in the aftermath of original sin.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:5-8).
This leads to another necessary clarification. God is said to regret that He made us and is described as being deeply grieved. Descriptions such as these are largely held to be anthropomorphisms, which ascribe human traits to God as a way of indicating the thoughts of God by analogy. In whatever manner God is “grieved” or “regretful,” it is not in the same way that we are. We are being told in this text that God has a resolve to set things right and to put an end to extreme wickedness. The artful use of anthropomorphic language to advance the story should not be considered as overriding other Scriptures that remind us that God is not subject to change and passions as we are. For example,
A third clarification is needed in order to “rescue” God from charges of injustice in this “mass killing” of the human race. God, of course, is the giver of life. As the one who gives it, He also sets the length of our life and the manner of our death. This is His right. Indeed, one might even say that this is His “job.”
By way of analogy, I tend to many rose bushes in front of my rectory. At times, I feed them, water them, and foster their growth. At other times, I prune them. In certain cases, I remove diseased plants from the rose bed. Last year, I removed three diseased rose bushes. Who would dispute my right to do this? Who would accuse me of injustice? This is my work and my proper role.
While it is true that human beings are certainly more precious than roses, it is still God’s role to attend to the life and death of human beings, to the planting and harvesting of individuals, cultures, and civilizations. In His providence, God will at times prune away large segments in order to stave off disease or foster growth in individuals and in humanity as a whole.
Thus in the flood narrative, God sees the widespread evil and chooses to save what little good remains by cutting away the rest. In so doing, He creates a new beginning of goodness for the world. It is not free of sin, but is less beset by grave wickedness.
Yet even here, God does not utterly forsake the wicked whose earthly lives He ends. They are confined in Sheol and await a day of visitation from the Lord. Scripture speaks to the fulfillment of this merciful outreach:
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water (1 Peter 3:18-20).
The Lord calls to them once more in His descent to the dead after Good Friday. He awakens them, preaches to them, and summons them to repentance. Did some or all repent? We do not know, but the point remains that in ending their earthly lives, God did not completely forsake them. The worst thing is not dying (which we all will do); it is refusing God’s merciful love though an impenitent heart. God works for our eternal salvation, not merely our earthly comfort.
Here’s one scientific theory; take it or leave it as you wish.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
“While we are not required as Catholics to interpret every detail of the flood story literally, there does seem to be some evidence (preserved in many ancient cultures) of a flood or “mega event” that drastically reduced the size of the human race. In addition, genetic, geological, and anthropological information point to a period some 70,000 years ago during which humans almost vanished from the planet [*].”
He refers to a volcanic eruption as a flood ..
Bing Stan Deyo and Flood. It will give you rational explanation of the Great Flood. Short version: The Arabian Peninsula was an island. Big asteroid/comet hits Indian Ocean and opens the fountains of the deep.
The catholic has serious problems in believing Genesis as actual events.
Yet Christ did not. "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." Matt 24:37
Peter seemed to understand it as an actual event.
5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; 2 Peter 2:5
Perhaps if the catholic trusted the Word they would be able to trust Christ at His Word.
They’re not denying it was an event, they’re saying that there are historical indications that mankind was nearly wiped out. And that would correspond very closely to the Biblical narrative: only 8 were saved.
Let’s see... ark of Noah, saving mankind, comes to rest on the 17th day of the month of Nisan.
Joshua (ie, the name ‘Jesus’) leads Israel into the promised land on the 17th day of the month of Nisan.
Later, another Jesus rises from the dead, on the 17th day of the month of Nisan, saving mankind.
It all fits. (And there’s lot’s more.)
Given striking parallels in the accounts it seems a better idea to connect the Genesis flood with the flood described in the Sumerian/Akkadian records and epics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List#First_Dynasty_of_Kish
The desire to push it back to a time when it can plausibly cover the whole human race is completely understandable, but I just don’t think all told a prehistoric flood matches Genesis’s very clear setting in Neolithic Mesopotamia (farming, metals, herding, cities). Plus recent statistical modeling places the most recent common ancestor of all living humans as early as 3000 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor#TMRCA_of_all_living_humans
Got to understand that this is from a Catholic/Christian perspective or understanding of the first 11 chapters of Genesis.
FYI
Christians are accepting too many premises set by the world (the Bible is a fairy tale!!!) and not doing enough research on their own to get to the truth. I see this in a lot of my studies. A shocking number of Bible commentaries shy away from the historical evidence, I guess due to fear of approaching the subject created by godless archaeologists.
The flood is just one example. Many secular Egyptologists are adamant that the Exodus was a myth with no archaeological evidence to back it up, and as a result, I see many Christians and Jews shy away from the subject, as if ashamed of their own Bible. But read David Rohl’s book, “Exodus: Myth or History?” It’s astonishing!
They’re hedging their bets. The Flood either happened as recorded in Genesis and latter affirmed in the NT or it didn’t.
Trust me...I do understand its from the Roman Catholic perspective. If you can’t believe the first 11 chapters of Genesis, how can you believe the rest?
You may see Roman Catholics ashamed of their Bibles....not Evangelicals.
The author might have meant to type 'through' instead of though an impenitent heart.
The author might do well to reread what Paul wrote about the coming Rapture of BELIEVERS. [1Thess$:13-18; 1Cor 15:512-53]
Thanks for the ping, Mark17, I would have missed this one.
Well, this is unfortunate. Looks like that is the last time I read from that website.
Genetic manipulation???
Pope says it's worth looking into.
I just read recently that, due to a renewed analysis of the Russian Kola Superdeep Bore Hole and other data, it's now thought that there's at least 3x MORE water under the surface of the earth, than there is in all of earth's oceans. If God caused some huge tectonic event to release all this water ("unsealing the fountains of the deep") --- whammo, there's planetary inundation right there.
Worth looking into.
I already have. For my OT seminary class I wrote a paper on Evidence for The Genesis Flood. Found scientific research on the water below the earth and how it could get up here. If it did it would cover the highest mountains per my research. BTW...the articles with this were not Christian. They were secular. It was a fun paper. Made a 95.
It was really 39 days 14 hours and 12 minutes, not 40 days.
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