Should The Biblical Flood Story Be Taken Literally?

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WinePusher

Should The Biblical Flood Story Be Taken Literally?

Post #1

Post by WinePusher »

As otseng suggested, I am creating a thread to further discuss the topic of the Biblical Flood story. Both otseng and I are Christians, however I do not think that the flood story should be interpreted literally. So, in this debate, I will affirm the negative, that the flood story in the Bible is not literally.

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otseng
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Post #51

Post by otseng »

WinePusher wrote:But I would consider some parts of the Bible admissable as evidence, such as the New Testament Letters and the Gospels in regards to the Resurrection.
I've already quoted several passages from the NT letters and the gospels regarding Noah and the flood. Do you regard those as admissable evidence?
But to say that you presented biblical evidence for the flood seems unusual.
Only if you did not accept the Bible as authoritative would I not have used scripture as evidence.
The Bible states that the Flood occured, so it would be impossible for me to use the Bible to disprove something that the Bible claims acutally happened.
Yes, this is a very critical observation.
Rather I tried to point out internal inconsistencies in the story with the rest of the Bible, and how the Flood story portrays God in a different manner then the God of the New Testament.
And as I've countered, I see no internal inconsistencies.
But you did not address my problem, do you think that inspiration rules out human error? If so, you deny the humanity of the authors.
I briefly convered it in post 25 - "Though I do not discount minor errors introduced by Biblical authors, I do not believe they would've introduced major errors into the Bible. So much so that it would require to interpret their meaning only symbolicly to cover up their errors."
I am not arguing that a local flood occured. I am proposing it as a more plausible explanation and alternative for the Biblical Flood Account.
Either way, you still need to present evidence to support your view.
I read through the last pages of it, and you mostly addressed the geological and biological aspects of the flood.
You'll need to read through the whole thing, particularly the beginning pages.
I am talking about historical evidence for the historical claims of the flood story. It lacks attestation to the characters mentioned and the "technical" claims of it.
As for historical evidence, I've already presented the multitude of flood stories around the world. I would agree that the stories are not all completely identical, but they all do share many similarities. For the technical aspects of it, the deluge thread contains more of this.

WinePusher

Post #52

Post by WinePusher »

Alrighty, I think we've been through the biblical and literal aspects surrounding the flood and that we should end it here. Good discussion, and thank's for challenging me to do this debate.

I tried approaching it with an open mind, and I have to say that you've brought me over to your side, only by a little bit though ;) I still think that it should be taken as a fictional story. Can you recommend any books dealing with the science behind the Flood besides Walter Brown's Book, it is not sold at Barnes and Noble.

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Post #53

Post by otseng »

WinePusher wrote:Alrighty, I think we've been through the biblical and literal aspects surrounding the flood and that we should end it here. Good discussion, and thank's for challenging me to do this debate.
This is actually the first time I've debated the flood on a Biblical basis, so it was a good debate for me as well.
Can you recommend any books dealing with the science behind the Flood besides Walter Brown's Book, it is not sold at Barnes and Noble.
Walt Brown's book is the best book I've read on the flood. There is no other that matches it.

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