The Flood

[Sexton Blake]

The story of a God who so loved the world that he MURDERED everyone and everything.

 

I think anyone who has read beyond the bible knows that the Noah - biblical account, is stolen from earlier Flood stories from elsewhere:

 

"In the Gilgamesh epic, Utanapishti tells Gilgamesh the story of the great flood and how he survived it. Scholars have often held that this story lies behind the biblical account of Noah and the flood. However, a good case can be made that an even more ancient tale, the Atrahasis epic, on which the flood story in Gilgamesh draws, is the source of the biblical flood story."

 

https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-mesopotamian-origin-of-the-biblical-flood-story

 

There are flood legends around the world but as this link shows, they were different floods that happened at different times and in different (local) places:

 

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

 

Also there are low lying areas around the world that have not been underwater in geological time.

 

We know now of collisions of continental plates, how they can form mountain ranges so what was once a sea bed becomes top of a mountain so creationists point to sea fossils there as evidence they were once under water. Here is an example of such a collision, which produced Mount Everest, etc:

 

"The Himalayan mountain range and Tibetan plateau have formed as a result of the collision between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate which began 50 million years ago and continues today."

 

So a bit more than 6,000 years ago.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Himalaya

 

Creationist comedians also explain that the Grand Canyon formed when flood waters drained away (I think God lifted up one side of America so the water would drain the other way.) BTW, the Grand Canyon is 508 miles from the sea by the shortest route. It is also made of many hard rocks which are not going to quickly erode away because water sweeps by it, as in a Flood draining.

 

Also it is millions of years old and not the 5,000 odd years since the imaginary Flood:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon

 

And then there is the laughable Ark story in the bible:

 

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html

 

Ken (the) Ham built a Noah's Ark experience, ON DRY LAND, which was eventually ruined by rain water. He of course blamed atheists for its miserable failure.

 

His Ark had just a few animals, and some models, and it was open to air and not sealed in, on dry land and not at sea with tsunami waves which were not tempered by any land masses, where water was free to produce waves which would swamp the biggest ships we could build today let alone a small wooden boat like the Ark, made by primitive means. It was built of "gopher wood" meaning any wood Noah and his family could find.

 

There were no mountains of animal and human poop for the over thirty million different species of insects to live on. That must have been fun, cooped up with them in a tiny place for over a year.

 

It has not been repeated as far as I know but some 20 years ago, Britain's BBC2 had a programme about the Ark and expert after expert was produced and explained why it was not possible.

 

"All flesh" was on that Ark so if dinosaurs existed before the Flood, they existed afterwards, so what happened to one of the most successful groups ever?

 

We are also told that after the Flood that God made the first ever rainbow as a sign he would not do it again. As rainbows are a natural effect of what is now "white light", presumably before then, the world must have been in black and white and not in colour as it is now?

 

 

[Joshpantera]

9 hours ago, Sexton Blake said:

We know now of collisions of continental plates, how they can form mountain ranges so what was once a sea bed becomes top of a mountain so creationists point to sea fossils there as evidence they were once under water. Here is an example of such a collision, which produced Mount Everest, etc:

 

I was standing on an overlook outside of Helen Georgia explaining this to my family. You can see the Appalachian Mountain range cascade down into smaller foothills in the distance. You can see how compression pushed the landmass up. We were all raised in literalist christainity. And they enjoy learning about the world as it actually is. The natural explanations are compelling and self-evident when you just look at the evidence without religiously biased goggles strapped on. And as one new member recently mentioned, it can be embarrassing then to look back on a time when you thought that the flood was literally true and seabed fossils up in mountains prove the bible. 

 

Here in Florida our landmass was once reef completely covered over by the ocean. I live on the central ridge. At another point in time the high points of the central ridge were a series of Islands sticking out above sea level. But during times of large-scale glaciation, our landmass extended way out into the Gulf of Mexico and the peninsula was much wider than it is today. The evidence is blatant and found all around. We find sharks teeth in the middle of the state on riverbeds and spring runs. Our springs are the result of rainwater penetrating down into the old limestone reef rock below our sedimentary layers that have developed on top of the old reefs. Acidic water erodes the limestone and forms channels underground. This is the Floridan Aquifer system. The largest in the world. And there are springs on the seabed out to where dry land once was. Native American artifacts and tree stumps are found well out into the Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Growing up, the church tried to control all of this. The shark's teeth we find inland in freshwater rivers beds and springs were credited as evidence of Noah's Flood. They claim that the springs are freshwater underground dating back to Noah's Flood. I was actually explaining how springs work to a man a couple years ago who still thought that Noah's Flood is the answer. 

 

It's embarrassing to look back on a time when I believed all of that too. But I was a kid. I believed that I was being told the truth by people who knew what they were talking about. Just as my family once did as well. We're not worried about looking back. We're concerned with looking forwards and enjoying the fact that we're no longer stuck in a bad place believing people who obviously haven't a clue what they're talking about. We're free to do our own thinking now. 

 

People who feel embarrassed about once believing this nonsense, don't need to be. Just keep looking forward. And keep an open mind to learning new things as evidence develops. That's all that anyone can do. 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

2 hours ago, Joshpantera said:

I was standing on an overlook outside of Helen Georgia

Helen would be a beautiful town but for all the god damn tourists.

[◊ Krowb ◊]

I find it kitschy and too small for what it's billed to be.  For a weekend away we like like drive up to Blairsville.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

I'll always prefer the comfort and coziness of Newnan. 

[Joshpantera]

The overlook is at the tall peaks between Helen and Blue Ridge. We did a day trip over to see Hellen. I fish the upper Toccoa, Noontootla Creek, the lower Toccoa Tailwater, and across the border to Gofourth Creek on the Ocoee and Reliance on the Hiwasse. But I'm probably going to head over near Clarksville and fish the Soque sometime. Get into something different.