The Great Flood

Originally posted by rwingett
This is for the Christians on the site who think that the bible is literally true, or that the Great Flood actually occurred.

[b]Gen 7:21-24
[i]And all the flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beast, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life d ...[text shortened]... cannot exist, or that he is a genocidal monster who is more worthy of condemnation than praise.[/b]

God has a right to take a life. There is a reason behind ever death.

Originally posted by RBHILL
God has a right to take a life. There is a reason behind ever death.

Does that reason have to be moral if God took it?

Originally posted by twhitehead
Were those the only sins, and did every single person engage in them? Which of those sins (or others) deserve death?

[b]God found ONLY ONE righteous man,
What is a 'righteous man'? Clearly Noah was not without sin.

God will visit wrath upon this world again, and it is not too far away because we are living the life as those people did durin ...[text shortened]... 0. More people were lost during WWII.
How is that relevant? Did God start WWII as well?[/b]

1. A righteous man is one who follows God
2. Yes; you, me, and the whole human race was born into sin, and unless we repent and accept Jesus' gift of eternal life, we shall perish-our choice, plain and simple; it doesn't matter what sin I, or you, am guilty of-sin is sin.
3. no relavence-just data; No, God did not start WWII-Satan, and his human slaves started WWII.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
And all 22.5 million of them - every single one - were thieves and murderers?

Not even one guy who never stole anything or killed anyone? Does that even strike you as likely?

You know there had to be at least one little 98 lb man somewhere who was too weak and afraid to risk trying it.

Do you also consider the infants and children of the time to be 'evil' somehow? If so, please explain.

No, children are precious and innocent in the eyes of Jersus; they will inherit the Kingdom of God; we adults can inherit paradise ONLY if we become as children and accept Jesus as Lord

Any adult ignorant of Jesus' teachings, for whatever reason(s), shall have the chance to choose between Heaven or Hell. I don't know how God will do this, but through God all things ARE possible.

Originally posted by LemonJello
That you think it is justified for God to systematically exterminate people for some of those 'sins' (like adultery, homosexuality, theft, idol worship, etc) is bizarre enough. (Yours is a death and punishment cult.) But consider also that your argument does not even extend to any number of moral patients that also would have been cruelly exterminated i ...[text shortened]... not even capable of sinning).

EDIT:

**I see SwissGambit already beat me to this point.

Please see post to SwissGambit.

Death culture??? Impossible! God is life; God is love. Death, as you see it, exists only in this world where we are promised to die only once, then the judgement. Even though innocent people may have died in the flood, death for those who love God is simply leaving this world and entering paradise. Death, as you described it, is for those who refuse to believe in Jesus.

Originally posted by twhitehead
He didn't say that. Most of them were homosexuals 🙂
One wonders then why he couldn't simply put all the homosexual men to live in peace and happiness on one continent and all the homosexual women on another continent and wait for them to die off (as no reproduction would take place).

One also wonders whether or not he believes homosexuality to be a sin worthy of the death even today.

Thieves, homos...adulterers...it doesn't matter. A sin is a sin. Only God will decide the fate of homos, just as He will decide the fate of murderers...and those who kept the faith.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
The article has other examples. It also suggests that the flood simply represents chaos; as plausible as any answer I've yet been given.

Interesting. I must admit I do not know any Lozi folk tales. So has anyone checked whether or not they have any myths regarding fire, drought or other catastrophe? Maybe the number of flood myths has to do with the number of flood researchers.
I suspect that the tales around the middle east may have a common root but whether that root is based on a particularly catastrophic flood is unclear.
In the past 10 years or so almost every part of the globe has experienced major flooding of one kind or another - it is almost certainly the most prevalent type of disaster except possibly drought - for which I am sure tales abound.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I am curious.
Do you think that average human behavior has got significantly worse? Over what period? Have we got worse in the last 50 years, 100 years, 1000 years? Do we behave worse than the Egyptians of the OT, or the Jews of that time?
To what extent do you have good evidence for that belief, or is it just a feeling?

Good question. We are no less or no more wicked and twisted than Biblical civilizations were; however, God destroyed those civilization when they became so perverted that God could not, in good conscience, allow them to continue down the path of ruin. Our society today is a mirror image of what ancient civilizations were. Christ died almost 2,000 yerars ago, Christianity was allowed to flourish and bring forth a relativley civil Europe. America was created with theism and became the great country that it is today...or was last year...but today, we are returning to what Sodom and Gamorrah were. Jesus will return soon to smite the evil one, and Satan's followers, those humans who reject Christ and the demons, will be cast in the Lake of Fire forever. I have no emotional compass that tells me this. The Bible speaks clearly of Jesus' return and gives examples of what the endtimes will look like....I witness it every day that I live in this wiecked world.

Originally posted by dystoniac
Any adult ignorant of Jesus' teachings, for whatever reason(s), shall have the chance to choose between Heaven or Hell. I don't know how God will do this, but through God all things ARE possible.

And those of us who are not ignorant of Jesus' teachings do not get to choose?
Who in their right mind would choose Hell anyway?
It is my belief that one of the following must be true:
1. Heaven and Hell are not all they are made out to be.
2. Everyone will choose heaven - if given the facts and a choice.

Originally posted by rwingett
We are living just as God designed us. If God wanted different behavior, then he should have designed us differently. When he examined his finished blueprint for the first man, he knew in advance the very second when he would drown the resulting populace. He went ahead anyway, knowing that his design would displease him and that he would have to start over ...[text shortened]... ghtly condemn him. You god is in the same boat with Hitler and deserves the same condemnation.

Wow, for someone who claims to be atheist, you sure know how to describe God...NOT! We were created not as automotons but as humans with free will. Man is the one who has rejected God. If God wanted to, he could have stopped with Cain's mudering of Abel, but He so loved the world that he willingly allowed His only son, Jesus Christ, to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. Accept Christ and know that you will have eternal life.

Originally posted by twhitehead
And those of us who are not ignorant of Jesus' teachings do not get to choose?
Who in their right mind would choose Hell anyway?
It is my belief that one of the following must be true:
1. Heaven and Hell are not all they are made out to be.
2. Everyone will choose heaven - if given the facts and a choice.

You cannot claim to be ignorant. You have heard the word spoken. You are no longer capable of being ignorant; however, you have a choice in everlasting death or everlasting life.

Who would choose hell? most of mankind...for the road to salvation is narrow, and few seek and find it, but the road to eternal damnation is wide, and many diligently seek and find it.

Originally posted by dystoniac
You cannot claim to be ignorant. You have heard the word spoken. You are no longer capable of being ignorant; however, you have a choice in everlasting death or everlasting life.

Who would choose hell? most of mankind...for the road to salvation is narrow, and few seek and find it, but the road to eternal damnation is wide, and many diligently seek and find it.

Most of mankind would knowledgeably choose everlasting hell?!

Originally posted by vistesd
Most of mankind would knowledgeably choose everlasting hell?!

Good observation. That is a fact. The evidence is quite clear on this site. Many, if not most, of the people here are either agnostic/atheist or simply refuse to believe; therefore, they 'knowingly' accept the opposite to what Jesus offers-eternal death. So, the majority of mankind will readily refuse God's grace, and that is a choice that they will to suffer for.

Originally posted by dystoniac
You cannot claim to be ignorant. You have heard the word spoken. You are no longer capable of being ignorant; however, you have a choice in everlasting death or everlasting life.

I remain ignorant. One must believe what they hear for them to know it. One cannot make a choice amongst choices he believes are not available to him.

Who would choose hell? most of mankind...for the road to salvation is narrow, and few seek and find it, but the road to eternal damnation is wide, and many diligently seek and find it.
Now you are contradicting yourself. First you said it was a simple choice, now you say it is a narrow path that one must search for and diligently follow once found.
Can you explain why someone would knowingly choose Hell?

Originally posted by dystoniac
Many, if not most, of the people here are either agnostic/atheist or simply refuse to believe;

Do you 'refuse to believe' in the existence of Santa Claus? When did you make that choice and why? Was it based on knowing the facts? Have you met Santa? Without having met Santa can you honestly say your choice was an informed one?