Noah's ark and the flood- I'm very confused!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Harriet
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

Harriet

Guest
Hello!
I’m writing an essay about Violence for Religious studies. Anyway, I’m finding it difficult to write about violence being wrong, especially about murder. Murder is worst sin one can commit in my humble opinion and it is one of the ten commandments “Thou shall not murder”. Well I was reading over The Flood in the Bible where God decides to flood the earth and **kill **everyone bar two of every animal and Noah and his family. I don’t understand, why would God kill everyone? People were sinning, yes but isn’t God forgiving? God didn’t give anyone the chance to repent. At the end it says God felt he made a mistake and put a rainbow in the sky so we can remember His covenant that He won’t try to drown us all again.
Is this a myth? God is divine, He cannot make mistakes! No?

I think I am interpreting it wrong. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thankyou!

-Hattie
 
I have always looked at it like this, first you must understand that there is a very real difference between vengeance and revenge. Anyway, if I go into a pottery shop and start breaking vases then I am doing wrong and committing a crime, if the pottery owner walks into the store and starts breaking the vases because they have failed to serve their intended purpose then that is his right. They are his to do of as he wishes.

God created us and we were not serving the purpose for which we were created. He simply reclaimed that which was his in the first place.

Do not feel bad though, Abraham asked the same question…

Remember Gen 18
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD.
23 Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24 "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
26 So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.”
27 And Abraham replied, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.
28 “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”
30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”
32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

If you want some real fun do a search on the internet of my user name, if you do not know the Biblical story behind it…
 
It was my understanding that God allowed Noah to warn everyone before the flood, so that they could make arrangments. Those who did not listen to the warnings were killed by the flood.

There are a number of articles at www.newadvent.com in the Catholic Encyclopedia under:

Noah
Noah’s Ark
Deluge

And probably others. Very interesting read.
 
40.png
Harriet:
God didn’t give anyone the chance to repent. At the end it says God felt he made a mistake and put a rainbow in the sky so we can remember His covenant that He won’t try to drown us all again.
Is this a myth? God is divine, He cannot make mistakes! No?

I think I am interpreting it wrong. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thankyou!

-Hattie
Click to expand...
I think that the answer to this part of your question is in Genesis 22.
  1. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me……
  2. And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
God did a great many things in the beginning in order to teach. If you look at Genesis 22 you see him asking Abraham to offer up his son. This seems out of sort for God, but yet Abraham follows God’s wishes without question and does what is asked. In Hebrews and James this act is glorified to the fullest.

Anyways we see two very great things that we must take from these verses. First, that we must be God fearing people, that God is vengeful and just. Second and most beutifly, he states - And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

Not only is he making a new covenant at that time with Abraham but he, in my opinion is foretelling of the New Covenant to come. By this story we can see the horrible grief that Moses must have went through in offering up his only son to God, now through this lesson we can feel the grief that God must have felt when he offered up his only Son to man.

You must remember that at the time of Noah the Laws of Moses and the like were not yet in place, so some of normal avenues of seeking repentance were not yet in available. God did not leave those that went to Sheol or the grave in the flood to forever be forgotten. After Jesus was crucified, he went to those that died before him and told them of the Good news of the New Covenant and that they would be with him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
Today’s teaching emphasizes the perfection of God’s love. But it is important to understand that he is perfectly just, too.
 
Keep an eye on the repetition of the theme in the Hebrew scriptures.

Yahweh builds a people, the people rebel in pride, and Yahweh preserves a remnant from which to build again.

As if to emphasize the point, Yahweh ordered the prophet Ezekiel to go observe a potter tossing the clay, moulding it, rejecting the result, and tossing the clay on the wheel to begin again.

Where you might see tragedy, I see the most hopeful, redemptive message!

No matter how many times human nature rebels against the will of God, there is always a select remnant that survives to be perfected.

I read this, and I look at my own life. I wish I could re-do parts of my life, but I look at the part that is sanctified, the part of me that has prayed to Yahweh ever so dimly through the Holy Spirit, and I turn once again to face my king and keep walking in His direction.

If you read scripture by at first believing that its message is redemptive, you read it in a whole new way.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top