Is there any evidence of a world-wide flood?

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  1. The Bible.
  2. Sea monsters trapped over land when the waters receded which scientists call dinosaurs.
 
PumpkinSeed said:
Are there any traces of evidence of Noahs flood?
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There is evidence that floods have taken place every where in the world. I don’t think there is scientific evidence that there was a world-wide flood during the history of civilization.

This thread will probably become a “do we take the Bible literally” discussion.

Before the discussion can begin we really need to define some words.

My definition of a myth:

A myth is ancient poetry explaining the color blue to the blind.
No matter what we learn with the marvelous tools of scientific thought, we need this poetry in order to see the mysteries beyond our imagination. For me, the book of Genesis gives us insight to the origin of the dignity and beauty of the human person.

Scientific insight can explain the parts of a flower but can not explain why a flower is beautiful.
 
There had to have been a flood, otherwise we wouldn’t have rainbows.

That, and the Bible said so.

I have a simple faith. Obviously. 🤷
 
yellowbird said:
There had to have been a flood, otherwise we wouldn’t have rainbows.

That, and the Bible said so.

I have a simple faith. Obviously. 🤷
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We have rainbows and that alone gives me faith in God.

We also have a moon that is in the exact position in order to see the corona of the sun when there is an eclypse of the sun.

We also have life and blue skies.

I have a simple faith as well.

Whether the Bible is literally true or if there is some poetry explaining truth contained in the Bible does not in anyway take away the perfection of God’s word.

We can always agree that God loves us and created the universe for us to behold His magnificent power.
 
PumpkinSeed said:
Are there any traces of evidence of Noahs flood?
Click to expand...
Short answer: No.

Long answer. There is no evidence of a worldwide flood in the last 6,000 years. There is a great deal of evidence of local floods, but none of a recent global flood. Many effects that we would expect from a global flood are not seen.

Some major points against:

• no recent genetic bottlenecks (except cheetahs)
• where is all the water?
• the heat problem.
• meteorite craters (there are over 30 big ones - dinosaur killer sized).
• limestone (heat problem again).
• Deccan Traps, Siberian Traps and other volcanism (heat problem again).
• biogeography: how did koalas get to and from Turkey?
• aeolian (wind blown) sediment.
• land animal tracks.
• layering of fossils.

Think of the Biblical flood story as a parable. The point of the story is in the moral, not in the literal details.

rossum
 
rossum said:
Short answer: No.

Long answer. There is no evidence of a worldwide flood in the last 6,000 years. There is a great deal of evidence of local floods, but none of a recent global flood. Many effects that we would expect from a global flood are not seen.

Some major points against:

• no recent genetic bottlenecks (except cheetahs)
• where is all the water?
• the heat problem.
• meteorite craters (there are over 30 big ones - dinosaur killer sized).
• limestone (heat problem again).
• Deccan Traps, Siberian Traps and other volcanism (heat problem again).
• biogeography: how did koalas get to and from Turkey?
• aeolian (wind blown) sediment.
• land animal tracks.
• layering of fossils.

Think of the Biblical flood story as a parable. The point of the story is in the moral, not in the literal details.

rossum
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I kind of look at this way. Creation and life is a miracle. If the miracle that took place over 15 billion years or 1 second. It is still a miracle.

The story of the flood may not be a geological fact but it is more than just a story or a moral parable. The truth is much deeper than that. It reaches back to the ancient beginnings of human consciousness and human longing. It is the struggle of human life over nature, the meaning of God’s creation and our place in that creation.
 
HelenRose said:
The story of the flood may not be a geological fact but it is more than just a story or a moral parable. The truth is much deeper than that. It reaches back to the ancient beginnings of human consciousness and human longing. It is the struggle of human life over nature, the meaning of God’s creation and our place in that creation.
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Agreed. There is much more to the story than eight people in a big boat shovelling manure for a year. The overly literal interpretation misses so much of what is there.

rossum
 
rossum said:
Agreed. There is much more to the story than eight people in a big boat shovelling manure for a year. The overly literal interpretation misses so much of what is there.

rossum
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The person who believes in the literal translation of this story is far closer to the ultimate truth of God than the atheist who uses the story as a feeble attempt to discredit the beauty of God’s written word.
 
PumpkinSeed said:
Are there any traces of evidence of Noahs flood?
Click to expand...
Not of a global flood. Look at the oldest and most fragile things on planet Earth. Coral reefs are pretty fragile, and some of the big ones have been undisturbed for the past 25,000 years or more. Large trees, while not exactly fragile, show signs of fires that they have survived but no global floods. Ice core series would have been destroyed by a global flood- the Greenland stuff tends to be of particular interest. But there is 40,000 years’ worth of continuous undisturbed layering. Same goes for varves. This is one that a YEC might make some arguments against, but there are too many places in the world where thin, uniform layers of surface sediment over vast areas give us millions of years of annual surface detail. Sediments may have been laid down quickly due to some catastrophe in another part of the world, but in the last 20 million years, the Green River Formation in Wyoming (one example) has seen none of it.

The evidence against a global flood is staggering. There is some to support a more local flood around 15,000 years ago, but a global one would have required a couple dozen miracles along the way rather than just one or two- and while that can be accepted with a simple faith, there’s also the difficulty of the fact that a global flood did not happen.
 
I’m a relative newbie, so be gentle, lol.

I like your theory Nelka.

Does not the Bible say the Flood covered ‘all the inhabited Earth’? My belief is that the flood was ‘localised’ - as only a small part of the Earth was inhabited.
 
HelenRose said:
Scientific insight can explain the parts of a flower but can not explain why a flower is beautiful.
Click to expand...
As one who enjoys studying myth, this is exactly what the field is all about. 👍

On a side not: Literalists tend to also neglect the scientific implications of the myths being real (be the myths Christian or otherwise).
 
Nelka said:
  1. The Bible.
  2. Sea monsters trapped over land when the waters receded which scientists call dinosaurs.
Click to expand...
No, The Noah flood is a tale from the Mesopotamia Societies and was part of many myths that were incorporated into old testament writings. There was no Adam and Eve, No Abraham or Moses. These are just stories people told each other and was put into writing by those authors.
 
Keith_W_OR_USA said:
No, The Noah flood is a tale from the Mesopotamia Societies and was part of many myths that were incorporated into old testament writings. There was no Adam and Eve, No Abraham or Moses. These are just stories people told each other and was put into writing by those authors.
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Your Church teaches the Bible was inspired by God. Adam & Eve = real people. Abraham & Moses = real people. Why are you Catholic if you don’t believe that’s true?
 
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