At 03:04 PM 4/27/2010, Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Let's just step back for a moment, and consider that the Flood story is
predicated on the inerrancy of the Old Testament.
Pucky. It's a story. It's a story whether or not the OT is
"inerrant." Now, if it's a story, inerrant or not, it's still told in
a language that is susceptible to nuances of meaning, and by picking
preposterous meanings, you can make the story preposterous.
If the OT isn't
inerrant then there's no reason whatsoever to think the Ark existed as
anything other than a folk tale.
Perhaps. I wouldn't say that there is "no reason," that's quite an
exaggeration. Might be, might not be, but the evidence for a massive
and sudden flood in that part of the world, when a barrier holding
back the Mediterranean from the Black Sea collapsed, is very strong.
On the other hand, if it *is*
inerrant, then we can also take as true the fact that the rains lasted
150 days, not more, not less, and that *all* the high mountains were
covered to a depth of 15 cubits. "Cubit" is a little hazy, but the
point is the water level rose to a level *at* *least* as high above sea
level as the highest mountain peak.
That's taking a literalist interpretation. What does the text
actually say? And what are "mountains?" And how would any witness
know that "all the mountains" were covered over "the whole earth"?
Couldn't that mean, if it were based on an eyewitness report, say,
that "all the mountains I could see were covered." Which might not be
much depth at all.... depends on the difference between "mountain" and "hill."
In essence, the story tells of people rushing to the "mountains" that
they could quickly get to, and they weren't high enough.
But if it makes you happy to interpret the text in an extreme way,
then debunk it based on that....
None of this is a comment on the alleged "discovery of the ark."
Most of the people I know who accept the Torah story as being "from
God" don't think of it as a history or science textbook, but as a
story about an inward journey and process, and a handbook for
survival with regard to that journey and process. Any floodwaters in
your life, Stephen?
But, yes, there are people who naively think that the literal
meanings for these religious texts must be the only ones, and that
they must be true in that way. In Islam, many of these people are a
rejected and heretical minority that gained a lot of power because
the U.S. and the rest of the West gave them boatloads of money and
military support, due to their political control over oil, in what
had been a backwater where they had been able to survive for only a
few years, and they would not have lasted otherwise.
