Who believes in a Flood sent by God? + some other things?

[Miss Hepburn]

Because of another thread ... I see people believe God gets angry.
Then, caused a massive extermination by water.
My question is: Do you believe these things ...why or why not? Thanks.


-Then, we have the whole Noah story, our new Adam, now.
Carnivores on a boat with gentle vegetarians...all needing food for 150 days....bringing:
any other living thing that creepeth upon the earth, onto the ark.

-With no forewarning - killed Lot's wife...for simply looking at the town God was destroying with all inhabitants. Genesis

-And a story not talked about: Elisha is laughed at by 42 kids for being bald (it was mocking God and His prophet, after all)...so God
has bears maul all the kids...II Kings (Could have been a teenage gang, it is said.)

- Here are the people God doesn't want near His alter making offerings: People with blemishes, blind people, the lame, those with flat noses,
dwarves, hunchbacks, people with scurvy, people with bad eyes, people with bad skin..
Leviticus 21 Here is one version:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...1&version=NKJV

[Nathaniel]

I guess a good question to ask is what is God?

God to me is no-thing, that is, not a concept outside of myself to be believed in. It is pure potentiality, or creativity itself, expressing itself as you, me, the gentle morning light filtering through the curtains and the wild forest fire.

Everything and nothing, a complete paradox, a mystery.

Some of the stories mentioned here seem to be based on a conceptualised God created by and thus sharing the attributes of the human personality.

Of course that’s not to say there is no wisdom to be found in a true parable.

[lemex]

Certainly a myth and a story about some major event that happened. So have no problem seeing it based of a major flood event. The idea of Garden of Eden (loss of) certainly a myth about some major ecological event that happen early on. Did it happen, yes. And people would have written down such events but our ancestors were far too primitive to understand how powerful nature is. Imagine them explaining it, not possible. It would be events that were in the memory of our ancestor they saw. It was seen and remembered. Nothing magical but real. They were not knowledgeable about such things. 100% agree, ancient times were very bad and the idea of anger is what humans themselves felt and saw and certain passed to God. The ideas mentioned of making events happen even takes away from free-will which would mean free-will is brand new.

[AngelBlue]

Ooohhhh I love questions like this, it's like getting BBQ ribs from the Chinese, something to really get your teeth into.....
Firstly NO. GOD does not get angry.
As for Noah, YES. There was a flood ( nothing changes) and he had to escape with his family ( as you would)....
Did he build the ark himself ? Did he take 2 of every species on the planet with them ?
NO. In real life it's every man for himself !!!!
But they are lovely stories which stay with us forever unlike French or algebra.
I DO believe in some of the bible stories , but only with my own interpretation of some of them which would be easy to understand and easily explained.
And we had to trust that when Adam and Eve were "created" it's a good job they were happy to reproduce .
Can you imagine if they turned round and declared to each other "we don't want kids "..... LOL...

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by lemex

... a story about some major event that happened..

That's what I mean. Something happens and a story is made
about it from primitive superstitious people. No blame, it's just how they saw things, imo.

Angel Blue - you're so funny!!

I heard that did happen..... The world was cleansed... It rained 40 days and nights.. God said he wouldnt do that again though...

[BigJohn]

What is written in the Old Testament seems to be very similar to 'accounts' written in other religions. Should not other religions be viewed thru the same lens? And then, there is the issue with Jesus. The Biblical Jesus seemed to agree with what is mentioned in the Old Testament and seemed to have built his beliefs upon that.

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by Dude111

I heard that did happen..... The world was cleansed... It rained 40 days and nights.. God said he wouldnt do that again though...

I think no one really knows such things but people do have strong opinions and beliefs about such things like posting "God does not get angry" (as a fact) instead of posting I think or believe God does not get angry. Maybe God does who knows? (If there is a God.)

There's a lot of words representing "anger" like displeased, wrath, upset at someone or something etc. I think it's all the same basic thing. "Anger" is a result of someone or something not doing what you want it to do. Or behaving in a way you don't like. We even get angry at ourselves if we do something we wish we didn't.

Could a creator or creators that made us and this world, and gave us free will, be displeased (a kind of anger) with what some do? I would say of course! Then the question is, what does this "God" or creator or creators do about those who are doing things they don't like?

Well one obvious "solution" by a creator or creators is to reward those who behave how they want and punish those who act in ways they don't like. Make a "carrot on a stick" system to "push us" to behaviors or ways to be they want. Eastern religions and Western religions all teach this idea in their own ways whether through an idea of karma or one of judgement day or heaven or hell. Even "new agers" teach this in beliefs like we will get happier (a reward) if we meditate which they may teach attunes us with God in some way. The unstated punishment here is we don't get this happiness if we don't meditate (which God wants us to do or God built into this life system.)

Even our own human bodies will "reward" or "punish" us based on decisions we make with our own free will. Like eat nothing but sugar or eat non-stop we will get really sick and die eventually from an illness from that. Or if we decide to never move or get out of bed.

Cultures and societies make laws that will "punish" or have consequences for certain actions that harm others. Because of the "punishment" most will not do the bad actions. Some don't care, do it anyway, and end up in jail or whatever the culture decides.

So I think the idea of a God getting upset or angry (or not being pleased) and punishing in some way is not really a far fetched idea. I think some may not believe in a flood, but they may believe in other "rewards" or "punishments" by making their God happy. Like they get some reward and think it's because God is pleased with them in some way. It's the same belief to me. The idea God doles out rewards or punishment's based on what we do or are. Even if someone didn't believe in God, they will still know our actions or what we do, will have positive or negative results. I think it's built into the creation, life itself. I guess one could say it's "nature" doing it or "reality" and not a God. (If one did not believe in a creator or an intelligence behind what exists.)

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

And then, there is the issue with Jesus. The Biblical Jesus seemed to agree with what is mentioned in the Old Testament and seemed to have built his beliefs upon that.

There is that passage in the bible where Jesus got really angry as well, turning over tables and benches. Jesus seemed to be "displeased" (a form of anger) with how others were acting.

Matthew 23:13 “How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter it yourselves,

He could have not cared about what others were doing or saying instead of being angry about it. Like believe what you want! Say whatever you want! I think being a hypocrite is pretty normal in human beings to one degree or another. I don't think it means they should be judged for it. I think no one is perfect. Though I think some may come close, and others miss it by a mile.

[BigJohn]

As for the flood: it appears that 2 different people or groups wrote their own versions of the event. This is very similar with the 2 creation accounts. I suspect the styles of these events were the forerunner what later would evolve in to what we call the Talmud.