Questions for Christians....

[Chris OConnor]

After the great flood waters subsided and Noah's Ark landed on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, how did all the different species get to their proper habitats again? For instance, how did the kangeroos get back to Australia?Chris "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them"

[Niall001]

You're assuming that all christians don't believe in evolution? If you are, thats a rather massive mistake to make.

[Chris OConnor]

Please just answer the question. I'm assuming nothing of the kind.Quote:...how did all the different species get to their proper habitats again?This has nothing to do with evolution. This has everything to do with the impossibility of the Noah's Ark myth. Did Kangaroo's swim across the ocean?Chris "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them"

[Brother William of Basker]

Please take the ensuing snarkiness in the spirit intended. (What that is I have no intention of telling you.) Quote:After the great flood waters subsided and Noah's Ark landed on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, how did all the different species get to their proper habitats again? For instance, how did the kangeroos get back to Australia?In fact, I hold that the flood of Noah (for the sake of argument, I'll say if it happened at all) was a localized event, that nevertheless impressed itself upon all those vastly divergent races that have a flood myth (more on that in a minute) as something "global" in that man (as man) had not moved very far from his point of origin, and thus could be wiped out by a severe but localized flood submerging the Mesopotamian plain.Quote:This has everything to do with the impossibility of the Noah's Ark myth. I have no answer for your question, because it was never something that arose from my own premises. However, I have a question for you: do you find it evidence for or against this "myth", as you called it, that nearly every race of man seems to remember it happened? While admittedly many do, you seem to be assuming that all Christians believe that the flood was truly global in the modern sense of the term (a possibility which I find ludicrous from any number of angles - the biggest one being that the kind of planet wide disruption required would have rendered the earth uninhabitable to humans for a long time.) They don't. Of those who do, I have to say these seemingly bourgeoisophic (see here: http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/p ... 2gwtnf.asp) displays of intellectual bullying and haughtiness toward what the Joe-Sixpack Christians do happen to believe is just the sort of gnostic hubris I've come to expect from many disciples of Sagan and co. For that I offer these two curativeswww.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire042203.aspwww.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/derbyshire/derbyshire082503.asp ... from the inestimable John Derbyshire (a confirmed Evolutiuonist, as you will see.)Edited to remove undue snarkiness --- But I do maintain that imaginative fairness to the other side is going to have to be a part of this equation. I already chat at a politics board where people on both side seem to think argumenta ad hominem is the first, last and everything-in-between recourse to solving disagreement. I can get that there. Edited by: Brother William of Baskerville 02 at: 6/29/04 11:32 am

[Niall001]

Personally, I can't answer the question because I don't believe in hyperliteral interpretations of much of the O.T.

[Mr. P]

Unfortunately, there are many who do take the bible as word for word. The stories of the bible are just that. Much could be learned from them; a good story seeks to accomplish little else.It is the literalists that drive me crazy. There are still people and organizations that hold that Geocentricity and Flat Earth-ism are true.I just cannot grasp how so many are deceived by so little.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

[Chris OConnor]

What should we take literally? Do we really know that Jesus rose from the dead? ...or is this a way of saying that his message lived on after his death?Chris "For Every Winner, There Are Dozens Of Losers. Odds Are You're One Of Them"

[Mr. P]

As I said, I cannot grasp the whole thing...and this is after 12 years of Catholic school! The more I learned, the more I distanced myself from it all.But as I said, there are even some scientists who look to explicate the bible as proof of the how and why of things. So long as this:Flat Earth Society&Geocentricity (This is actualy a refutation of GeoC, but it shows how the arguments are formed in favor of it).exists, I remain very frightened by my brothers and sisters here on our little ball of lint, nestled ever so insignificantly in the belly button of our slight little solar system.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.Edited by: misterpessimistic at: 6/30/04 8:05 am

[Niall001]

Th starting point for any Christian bible study would be any of the four gospels. For the most part, these are reports although there are culture gaps which should be understood. Once you've read about what Jesus said/did, you have the lens through which to read the O.T. Of course, thats not to say that you should read every O.T. book in the same way.The 'trick' to reading any book is to realise that the writer has a message to convey. The books are inspired by the divine but not dictated. Every book has a number of themes and messages. It is the message not the method of conveying the message that one should focus on. Personally, I don't believe that the account of creation given in genesis is meant to be taken literally. I don't think that one should believe that Noah's flood should be thought of as a literally global flood. At the same time, I consider it possible that perhaps events occurred as recorded. I just think that its highly unlikely. I don't trouble myself which such matters all that much. Knowing the name of the mountain which the ark was supposed to have landed on will not help me to become a better person. It won't bring me any closer to God. It doesn't add anything to my faith. Indeed, it doesn't even matter much if there was any flood, or if Noah's name was really Noah. It is the message that matters. Nothing else is of consequence.

[booper54]

Everytime I hear someone say they don't believe in literal interpretation of the Bible I always have an urge to say "WHY?!" Why didn't the writers just explain exactly what happened? Why did they need to be so vague about it when all that will do is cause doubts?