A Few Words: Noah

Showing posts with label Noah. Show all posts

Friday, December 19, 2014

Deja Vu Blogfest: My Thoughts about a Favorite Story

D.L. Hammons has hosted the Deja Vu Blogfest for a couple of years now. In this event bloggers have the opportunity to give a second chance to neglected posts that appeared over the previous year. This is a time when we're also able to allow other bloggers who might be unfamiliar with what we do take a look at an example of our work.

A Few Words is but one of four blogs that I publish. I normally post on this blog on Sundays only unless there is a special reason for posting such as this blogfest or the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This is my least visited blog, partly due the nature of its subject matter of spirituality and probably because I typically lead off with a Bible verse which I realize might be an immediate turn-off to some visitors. It's what I do here and I can only hope that those who do manage to make their ways here might be open minded enough to just read through and consider what I have to offer. For my look back I am offering a post from March 30th which deals with one of my favorite stories from the Bible.

Noah

The Rainbow set as the symbol of the Covenant with Noah after the Great Flood of the Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

Psalm 104:5-9

New International Version (NIV)

The story of Noah is among my favorites in the Bible. Like so many Bible stories, this account does not go into great detail about all that happened, but there is enough to not only have a clear picture of the event, but also to infer many other possibilities of the consequences of such a great flood. A worldwide deluge would have catastrophic impact.

Just thinking of the massive mudslide in the state of Washington recently, we can glean some idea of how forty days of rain would affect the world. Waters high and deep enough to cover all of the mountains of Earth would cause significant erosion. The shifting of land as waters receded would have a tumultuous effect upon the geological makeup of our planet. We can only imagine, but we can probably also come to some pretty good conclusions.

The epic Bible stories of the Old Testament can fuel some interesting speculation, but ultimately that is not the point of those stories. For example, the story of Noah is about the faith of a man, the evil of the world, and obedience to God. But the real story is what is still ultimately to come to this world. Noah's story was amazing, but nothing like the story of Jesus.

We may be the modern version of Noah. Or we may be like those lost in the flood. Who do you want to be?

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Matthew 24:36-39

New International Version (NIV)

Monday, April 21, 2014

Rain #atozchallenge

Landscape with Noah's Thank Offering (painting circa 1803 by Joseph Anton Koch) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Genesis 1:6-8

New International Version (NIV)

In the beginning there was no rain. What is indicated in Genesis is that there was water on or in the Earth and water retained in a "vault" above the Earth. A paradisiacal environment would preclude any destructive forces such as the forces that could be included in rain. If we picture a greenhouse we get an idea of what the earthly paradise might have been like.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

Genesis 2:5-6

New International Version (NIV)

Another bit of evidence of the no rain in paradise theory comes at the end of the cycle of creation. A sort of irrigation system is described. Pictured from a modern perspective this system of watering the Earth is remarkable. This is a way that some watering is now done in agricultural settings. We also note the God had not yet sent rain upon the Earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:11-12

New International Version (NIV)

At this point we actually hear about the first occurrence of rain in the Bible. Some scholars maintain that the incident as described in Noah's time would not have been the first rain, but there is no absolute evidence one way or another. My conclusion would be that the "vault" which held waters above the Earth was broken, allowing the waters to be unleashed from the sky. This conclusion is inferred by the statement that the "floodgates of the heavens were opened". Additionally a major diluvial catastrophic event would account for much concerning massive erosion and fossil bearing sedimentary layers.

This is all speculation based on my understanding of the Biblical account and my own reasoning regarding scientific findings. Others agree with this idea while still variant theories exist.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous..."

Matthew 5:43-45

New International Version (NIV)

The phenomena of rain is cited throughout the Bible to illustrate many points. After all, we depend on rain for many things. Without rain we suffer drought. Rain refreshes and renews. Rain can also be a destructive force. Though rain can bring suffering, we have been promised by God that rain will never be used as a worldwide divine judgement.

Perhaps if we see the Great Flood as a cleansing of the Earth from the sin of those days, we might see a metaphorical baptizing of our planet in this event. The next destruction will not be a cleansing from rain. In the words of John the Baptist regarding the coming of Jesus:

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”