What did flooding the world accomplish for God?

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Reuben_J said:
But yes, God is with us, we can expect divine intervention in our lives but perhaps not in the scale of the OT.
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Actually the Church is the Divine intervention of our times. And it is in a much higher scale than in the OT
 
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It accomplished nothing for Him - it revealed His perfect justice. We dare not read too much more into it.
 
They have a huuuge bible. If I were a “Bible-believing” Christian going to a “Bible-believing” church, I would definitely want the Ethiopian Bible, not that itty-bitty bible they currently use. 😄
 
joseie said:
Who are we to question it?
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po18guy said:
We dare not read too much more into it.
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Imagine how poorer Christian Tradition would be if Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Anselm of Canterbury, or Saint Thomas Aquinas decided not to question or ponder God’s will.

I don’t see why a person with strong faith should be afraid to ask such questions. Surely if we believe God is Good and All-Knowing then there should be no chance of the answer to such questions hurting our faith in him.
 
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Yes St Augustine suggested this interpretation for the Nephalim, a mixed race of descendants of Seth and Cain.
 
Some posters have already made some good points such as the Flood being a figure of the sacrament of baptism and the Church (cf. 1 Peter 3: 20-21) outside of which nobody is saved. Certainly, as the scripture says, the Flood was a cleansing of the earth from the wickedness and sins of mankind in that time. But, it also serves as a warning for future generations who will come to the same end, namely, destruction and the eternal death and punishment of hell unless they repent (cf. again 1 Peter 3: 20-21; what Jesus has said in the gospels; and 2 Peter 3: 5-7).

St Paul also says:

‘All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work’ (2 Timothy 3:16).

St Peter in 2 Peter 3 concerning the promise of the Lord’s coming and the day of judgement and the warning of the Flood for future generations:

…“Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished’ (vv. 4-6).

The Flood is also a figure of the cleansing that God will make of the world of its wickedness on the Last Day but this time by fire:

‘But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men… But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’ (2 Peter 3: 7, 10-13).
 
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mythbuster1 said:
Jewish scholars say that homosexual marriages were practiced in the days before the Flood, but not even Sodom did such a thing. Also, I note that Noah’s father, Lamech, died five years before the Flood, at an age younger than all the other antedeluvian patriarchs (save Enoch, who walked with God). This leads me to believe that the reason that only eight people were on the Ark was because all the other righteous people had been martyred leading up to the Flood. Jewish tradition holds that the last thing Noah’s family did before entering the Ark was to bury Methuselah, and that the Flood began seven days later, after they had spent the week in mourning.
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I disagree with the Jewish scholars here. It appears from the context of the narrative concerning Sodom and Gomorrah and their destruction that it was due to homosexuality and indeed the very word ‘sodomy’, the practice of homosexuality, appears to derive from the Biblical Sodom. And this is how this story has been understood in the whole catholic Tradition beginning in the New Testament with at least St Paul, himself a jew.

'But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot,“Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them” (Gen. 19: 4-5).

Then Lot replies:

'Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” (vv. 6-8).

‘That we may know them’ (v.5) and ‘Behold, I have two daughters who have not known man’ (v.8) appears to refer to sexual relations. The Bible often speaks this way, ‘to know a man’ or to know a woman,’ as referring to sexual relations. At the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, Mary herself speaks this way ‘How will this be since I do not know man?’ (Luke 1:34).

St Paul says:
'Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral [literally fornicators], nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals [ the greek has two words translated here as homosexuals: “effeminate nor sodomites”], nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you (1 Cor. 6: 9-11).

And again:
‘For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error’ (Romans 1: 26-27).

In the christian catechetical tradition, the practice of homosexuality or sodomy is one of the sins that ‘cry to heaven’ (CCC#1867; Gen. 18:20, 19:13).
 
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BornInMarch said:
One of the famous scenes in The Bible is an event called The Deluge, when God resolves to flood the Earth.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh,[for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”" - Genesis 6:11-13 (English Standard Version)

God floods the Earth, but because he told Noah to build an Ark he and his descendants survived. Everyone and everything else did not. My question is, what did this accomplish? If the problem was mankind’s wickedness and violence, the Deluge didn’t solve that as things seemed to remain just as bad after the Flood as before. For a long time I thought it got rid of the worst of it, that the pre-Flood world was so vile that it would have made Sodom and Gomorrah sick, but then I noticed a verse in Matthew 24 that suggests otherwise. In it, when describing how sudden his return would be, Jesus describes the pre-flood world thusly:

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” - Matthew 24:38-39 (English Standard Version)

Based on this, what goal did the flood accomplish? It didn’t rid the world of sin, or even mitigate the sin in the world. If it was to show God’s power, I’m not sure that worked either because even after the flood people still doubted that.
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Only a few as in 8 were saved

Jesus also said only a few will be saved. hopefully way more than 8
 
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I appreciate St. John Bosco’s vision, and the painting that was made of it. So true!

As a child I remember hearing that the flood is a prefigurement of the sacrament of baptism.

Thank you for your post!
 
Not disagreeing with you, but simony was named for Simon Magus, even though he was not the first to commit it (the Jewish High Priesthood had been subject to auction on several occasions). There is no question that Sodom was utterly depraved in every respect, whether or not they were worse than antedeluvian society.
 
It is written that in the last days, “men shall be rarer than gold of Ophir.” While indications are that there will be a lot more than eight people welcoming Christ back from Heaven, martyrdom will be extremely common. A great multitude will be saved, but many will have to endure martyrdom to attain salvation.
 
Giant sized swimming pool 🙂

Seagull… but why the male and female mosquitoes … ergh…
 
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