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Ignatius_ofNOLA
Guest
How do we explain tsunamis and localized floods if God promised never to flood the earth again?
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Usagi
Guest
Tsunamis and localized floods do not wipe out all terrestrial life. IIRC, God promised that He would not “destroy the earth” by a flood, not that large quantities of water would never, ever collect in unfortunate places.
Usagi
Usagi
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Ignatius_ofNOLA
Guest
That seems like a matter of semantics. It seems like you are letting God of the hook by a mere technicality.
meltzerboy
New member
Another interesting part of this is that G-d makes promises to humans. How should this be interpreted?
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BListon
Guest
He meant that He would never flood the WHOLE earth again.
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thistle
Guest
The whole earth has not been flooded. In fact very little of it has been.
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ElizMary
Guest
Basically, as I understand it, before reading Genesis 9:11 (the covenant you spoke of), we need to take into consideration Genesis 8:21, “…the Lord said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done.” Sounds to me like God is saying the flood does not remove man’s nature to sin. I don’t think he’s promising that nature will not take a life due to acts of nature.
Scripture is not to be confused with science. I believe the Church states that religion and science support each other but neither is intended to take the place of the other.
As to floods in the recent history, it’s way above my status to be “letting God off the hook”, if you know what I mean. I prefer to believe that God is letting me off the hook through Christ’s healing forgiveness.
Peace.
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atheistgirl
Guest
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buffalo
Guest
Fact? Really?
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Usagi
Guest
No, I’m going by what He actually promised not to do, while you are holding Him to something He never said.
11*I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Usagi
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Justice_Mercy
Guest
It isn’t a technicality. You must read the entire passage regarding the post-Flood covenant. It doesn’t speak of there never being a localized flood:
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"Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 'Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.'”
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TimothyH
Guest
Looking at the story of Noah as the “Third creation” account helped me tremendously.
God uses the same language in the story of Noah as he does in the first two creation accounts in Genesis 1 through 3. In both the first creation account and the story of Noah, there is water covering the face of the earth. In both stories land appears. In Genesis 1, plants and birds are created before man. In the story of Noah, a dove brings a plant to man before man can leave the ark.
God tells them to be fruitful and mulitply in the first creation account and in the story of Noah. .
***And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” **(Genesis 1:22)
**And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” **(Genesis 1:28)
Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh – birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth – that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." (Genesis 8:17)
**And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. **(Genesis 9:1)
**And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it. *(Genesis 9:7)
In both stories, God gives man food as a way to indicate the natural order of creation.
*And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:29)
**Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. *(Genesis 9:3)
The story of Noah comes alive when one reads it light of the first and second creation accounts at the beginning of Genesis, and looks at it as a third account of creation.
-Tim-
God uses the same language in the story of Noah as he does in the first two creation accounts in Genesis 1 through 3. In both the first creation account and the story of Noah, there is water covering the face of the earth. In both stories land appears. In Genesis 1, plants and birds are created before man. In the story of Noah, a dove brings a plant to man before man can leave the ark.
God tells them to be fruitful and mulitply in the first creation account and in the story of Noah. .
***And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” **(Genesis 1:22)
**And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” **(Genesis 1:28)
Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh – birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth – that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." (Genesis 8:17)
**And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. **(Genesis 9:1)
**And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it. *(Genesis 9:7)
In both stories, God gives man food as a way to indicate the natural order of creation.
*And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:29)
**Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. *(Genesis 9:3)
The story of Noah comes alive when one reads it light of the first and second creation accounts at the beginning of Genesis, and looks at it as a third account of creation.
-Tim-
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TimothyH
Guest
By the way, this is one of my favorite verses…
I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13)
First of all, it is not a covenant between a God and one man, but between God and all creation!
A bow is a weapon, to be used with arrows. God sets his bow in the clouds. God hangs up his weapon in the clouds. Now, whenever I see a rainbow, I think of this passage. It is a sign to me, and to all creation of God’s covenant promise that he will never use creation as a weapon against man.
The localized floods and Tsunamis are not sent by God to punish man. God made a covenant promise with all creation that he would never do that. God hung up his bow.
-Tim-
I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13)
First of all, it is not a covenant between a God and one man, but between God and all creation!
A bow is a weapon, to be used with arrows. God sets his bow in the clouds. God hangs up his weapon in the clouds. Now, whenever I see a rainbow, I think of this passage. It is a sign to me, and to all creation of God’s covenant promise that he will never use creation as a weapon against man.
The localized floods and Tsunamis are not sent by God to punish man. God made a covenant promise with all creation that he would never do that. God hung up his bow.
-Tim-
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thistle
Guest
Are you trying to be sarcastic??Fact? Really?
The OP is talking about what is happening NOW in our lifetime. That is what I am responding to.
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buffalo
Guest
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thistle
Guest
Are you here just to provoke a heated argument. You surely can’t be so naive as to think that we are actually discussing the fact that about 70% of the world is covered by water.Ok - got it.
But,
The OP is taking about flooding of the other 30%!!
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COPLAND_3
Guest
Not to be disrespectful, but I think 99% of anyone who has ever read that passage understands the context not to be referring to floods that kill only a micro-percentage of the earth’s population, but a flood that wipes out the whole population, such as the one in Scripture that says the water reached over the mountains.
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BListon
Guest
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