Just some questions that I thought would be fun to talk about.... (and give some evidence if you have some)
1. There is always that famous question of Gen 6: 2,4 where it says the sons of God ... took the daughters of [men]: does that mean that some other beings ("the sons of God") came in and had babies with daughters of man[kind]?
2. In vs. 3 does the Bible mean that God was giving the people 120 years to get their acts together before he would send a flood, or does this mean that God was saying that mankind would only live to be 120 years old on earth from now on (post-flood)? (this is a good one huh Andrea ;)
3. In vs. 4 if there were giants on the earth in those days, why haven't we uncovered their bones yet? Like we uncover dinosaur bones.
4. When it says God repented of making mankind, does that mean that God was sorry that he made them, or made a mistake? (vs. 5-7)
5. How old was Noah when he had his kids and when the floods came? Did he start preaching before they were born?
6. Why did God want different numbers of clean and unclean animals in chap. 7 vs. 2,3?
7. What does it mean in chap. 7 vs. 11 when it says that "fountains of the great deep [were] broken up?"
Have Fun!!
1. Checking with Matthew Henry and Ellen White, I could find no explicit view on this, but they seemed to indicate that the sons of God were human, but they still had remnants of the full human power that Adam was given. But it's still a strange text to me, and I would like to read more. Or maybe ask God when i get to heaven. :)
ReplyDelete2. Yeah, that is a good question. I always thought it meant he was reducing the human life-span, but people did live a bit longer than that still for awhile after the flood, and it was 120 years til the flood, wasn't it? That seems to be how Ellen takes it.
3. Maybe we have, but we put them together wrong and think they're dinosaurs. :) Kidding. Have you ever read Frank Peretti's kids book about the sons of Anak? it's interesting.
4. The New Revised says "the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." I doubt it was a surprise, but it still hurt Him deeply.
5. I thought about this one as well. It says "after" he was 500, he had kids. He was in the boat when he turned 600. So chances are good that the kids came after he started on the ark, if he started it 120 years before the flood (when he was 480). So they were pretty much raised with the idea of the flood and the ark. And probably never knew what it was like to be accepted by society. Good thing they had wives at least. :)
6. Because they were going to kill more of the clean animals for sacrifices and to eat them, so they needed more to start out with. Also, I always thought it was 7 clean animals, and always felt sorry for the odd one out, but just noticed it's 7 pairs...so that's 14 total of clean animals. Apparently birds must die easier too, cause there were 7 pairs of them too.
7. In Earth Science (SAU) Dr. Kulhman talked about one theory where there were large resivoires of water under the earth, kind of like how there are large oceans now, only we can see them. All it would take was a little plate shifting, and fountains would be gushing out. THis is the most realistic way, some scientists were saying, that the whole earth could be covered in water so fast. Also, there's another theory that there was also a different atmosphere...something like gold lining held a layer of water around earth's atmosphere. Some people get this from when God separated the waters above from the waters below. Also, they say that kind of atmosphere would make things grow larger because of more oxygen. I don't remember all the ins-and outs, but it was pretty interesting. Not sure how reputable this site is, but it talks about it: www.genesispark.com/genpark/flood/flood.htm.
I like Noah. He's a true non-conformist, and has to obey God even though no one else in his generation is. It would be easy to doubt your own sanity when everyone else thinks you're insane, but He listens to God and gets his value from Him.
Andrea, what a great response!!! I am completely intrigued that it is just me and you on this it seems, and maybe ben. I guess my sermon wasn't that motivating :( But I'm still gonna power thru. One specific thing I told them to look for was how the person was a loyal Man or Woman of God (MOG/WOG). Looks like you nailed that in the last part :)
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed your sermon. Glad you are powering through, despite the limited discussion. I am enjoying it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to wait to read Andrea's post on this until after I've written mine, because I have a feeling that you both know a whole lot more about the answers to these questions than I do. But here's the humble thoughts of a non-Bible studies major.
ReplyDelete1. I've heard some weird discussions on this passage, and it still confuses me/makes me nervous. It kind of does sound like it's referring to angels getting it on with humans, but the thought just doesn't sit well with me. My Bible had a little side tab that suggeested this could also refer to the "Sons of Seth" - the line of God's people from Adam to Noah. That seems more likely to me. So I'm gonna stick with that until I hear a convincing argument otherwise!
2. I think this is referring to God shortening their lives post-flood to be 120 years, since this is about the time people started living shorter lives, right? I'm not sure why God would say he "will not contend with man forever," on that note, because shortening man's life to 120 years is still plenty of time for them to sin it up. Maybe that was just part of the package deal of punishment for becoming such a wicked world?
3. Ooooh, this question. Well, we have found giant human skeletons, as I just discovered, thanks to Google. A quote from an article I just read: "However, with the discovery of giant human skeletal remains ranging from 8 feet to 12 feet-tall around the world in the last few hundred years, many believe [a dinosaur bone discovered by Reverend Plot in 1676] may have belonged to a very tall human." Soooo, they are out there, these tall human skeletons. And according to that same article, there are only roughly 1,200 dinosaur skeletons that have been discovered. Umm, that's not really that many when you consider how many there are of any species in the world today (dogs, zebras, alligators). So, perhaps we've just stumbled upon more dinosaur remains thus far in comparison to giant human remains. But they're both out there. And we could dig deeper still and find even larger numbers of them elsewhere. Why people only think to dig around in the midwest and egypt is beyond me.
4. God does not make mistakes, so that can't be it. My Bible says that He was "grieved" that He had made man on earth, and His heart was filled with pain. I think He was grieving because it was hard for Him to watch men be so evil and hurt themselves, not because He was sorry He had ever made them. Because if He was "sorry" that would imply He regretted that decision, which would imply a mistake, which God doesn't make. :-)
ReplyDelete5. Ugh, I'm not good at following Biblical timelines, but I did notice that when God gave Noah the command to build the ark in the first place, He also mentioned that Noah should enter into it with his sons and their wives. So they must have already been born when Noah started preaching (you're referring to him preaching about the flood, right?). That's all I've got on that. I'll read Andrea's post after this and get the real answer, I'm sure. ;-)
6. So they could eat some of the unclean animals while they were stuck on the boat all that time. They had some to spare that could still repopulate the earth. They also would have some left over to sacrifice after the flood, not that God had planned on them doing that or anything. In short - food.
7. Well, this is the verse where the flood action begins, and I believe that refers to the fact that water came from beneath and from above. If you dig down deep enough in most places, you come to water that can be used for a well. I suppose this could just refer to the fact that those waters beneath us were disturbed and came bursting up from below, cracking the earth open in places. Scary.
As familiar as the story is, I don't think we focus on Noah's guts as a MOG enough. He walked with God, he knew God's voice well enough to blindly follow what seemed like a ridiculous command. He KEPT preaching for a really long time, and KEPT building that ridiculous boat, despite the fact that there was no water to be found. How often do we give up on a ministry after a short time? Our minitsries aren't even CLOSE to being this "out there," and we sure won't be working on them as long as Noah stayed true to his! But what a reward. This guy was the only one on the planet that God considered his friend, and then protected him with such a remarkable miracle. And it seems people only give credit to Adam for fathering the people of the world, but really, we're all from Noah's lineage just as much! Okay, now to read the other posts. :-)
Just a note on Andrea's #7, now that I've read it. Speaking of SAU instructors, I read in Columns magazine an article by Dr. Lee Spencer that explained his belief on dinosaurs. He thinks that they were on the ark, and then died shortly after exiting because they could not live on the new earth as it existed. Can't say I agree with that.
ReplyDeleteI think we also have to be careful with how much we try to "science" this stuff out, because either way you look at it, it was a miracle, and God can make things happen whether it makes sense or not (water turning to blood, anyone?). If he wanted to dump enough water on the earth at one time to bury everything and kill everyone, he could drop it in a hot second. What makes people think he had to drop the rain like it happens now? Oh science, what a complicated relationship we have!
Shayna, I think you give yourself too little credit. Your answers were just as knowledgeable as any old Bible major. :) And yeah, I think it's good to look at science and at the Bible, and see how they fit, but sometimes it seems like we try to make them fit, and not allow room for mystery...or forget the huge point that--GOD DID IT. He can use whatever He wants, or just say it, so who really cares how it happened? I mean, it's interesting, but not as important as the fact that He can.
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