Noah and the Flood

[da_nolo]

I am discussing Noah with someone else who believes that the flood is an example of genocide. so of coarse there are several problems here.

thus far I seem to be stuck. I am having a little trouble trying to find more info about Noah, so I thought I’d ask here.

Does the Church give any examples or reasons or what ever with Noah?

 

[buffalo]

I am discussing Noah with someone else who believes that the flood is an example of genocide. so of coarse there are several problems here.

thus far I seem to be stuck. I am having a little trouble trying to find more info about Noah, so I thought I’d ask here.

Does the Church give any examples or reasons or what ever with Noah?

God can do what He wishes with His creation. We do not know the state of those souls that perished.

Next they will move on to the killing of children. Consider: When one has a cancerous tumor one doesn’t ask the surgeon to remove only a portion, one asks that it all be eradicated.

 

[ardis3958]

I am discussing Noah with someone else who believes that the flood is an example of genocide. so of coarse there are several problems here. thus far I seem to be stuck.

Judging the morality of God’s acts is tricky. A lot of things that are okay for God to do are not okay for us to do.

Genocide is bad for us, but it’s not exactly the same thing with God. God gave those people their lives and their existence, and technically he can take that away if he wants, for any reason, or none at all, although for the most part he doesn’t, because he gave us existence so that we could enjoy him.

But it doesn’t have to be that technical. The Bible says that every inclination of man’s heart was evil 24/7 back then, so I guess it was past the point of cajoling the world back into shaping up, and it would be more efficient to just pick the best and toss the rest, which is what he did. In other words, there really was no hope for change.

Also you can look at it this way. How bad is death anyways? After you die, you are judged by a fair and merciful God and then you go to heaven or hell, and even then, you are there basically by your own choice. Would you rather spend the rest of eternity in heaven if you can get there, or spend another 900 years in this life (because that’s how old they used to live to) living in a world full of people bent on evil 24/7?

So in a way it’s kind of relative, and personally I think God handled the situation in the best way possible, quickly sending everybody into eternity and starting over with one family.

 

[manualman]

I do have to shake my head when people forget the number one first rule of faith: God is GOD and we’re not. Being God doesn’t just mean having a big stick and lifting heavy objects. We are just an image and likeness of Him. Our ability to reason and discern right from wrong is a shadow of what His is. He also exists outside of time and space. All moments of history, past, present and future are NOW to Him. There are no unknowns to Him.

When people get angry with God for the bloodletting in the OT (Exodus killing of Egyptian first born, slaughter of previous inhabitants of the Promised Land, the people of Noah’s day, Sodom, etc), they fundamentally misunderstand God is just a human with a bigger stick.

God has made it clear throughout Scripture that His Mercy has and will always cause Him to put up with a lot of badness for the sake of even one good and righteous man. We take civilized behavior for granted in these days, but forget that we’re enjoying the fruits of 2,000 years of christian influence on civilization.

If God killed the entire world of noah’s day beside noah, it was because he is GOD and is able to see the outcomes of every single one of their lives. Nothing good came from it. Same goes for those Egyptian firstborn. It’s hard for use to imagine a culture that depraved, but humans are capable of it. We’ve proven it over and over again.

God is able to see that and has the right to judge them for it. We aren’t. So nobody can say that God’s behavior sets a bad example for humans. Humans aren’t able to see the outcome of people’s lives and are therefore unqualified to make such judgements on our own.