Lain wrote (to Christopher):
You assert that it is Vernon's
interpretation of the flood that is at fault, but I don't see what your
interpretation is. For example, what is your interpretation of Gen
7:22-23? Particularly 23, which (in the NIV) states "Every living
thing on the face of the earth was wiped out"
My seventeen year-old daughter remarked to a friend on the phone the
other day, "And I was like, 'Yeah, right!'" Made
perfectly good sense to me. But if it was translated word for word
into Hebrew and read to Moses 3500 years ago, I'm not sure he would have
understood it. The reverse is also true. We take Hebrew
words, translate them directly into English, and then try to figure out
what they mean in a vacuum of extra-biblical information. That's
why the local, Mesopotamian flood has been misunderstood as a global
catastrophe.
The words for "earth" and "land" are the same in
Hebrew. And in typical Hebrew fashion, "all" and
"every" are less encompassing. Jeremiah 23:9 says:
"Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my
bones shake ..."
Try to shake 206 bones. It ain't easy. By the same token
"every creature" on the face of the [land] can die without
effect on the kangaroo population.
Read Genesis as Semitic history, not as human history, and every thing
pretty much falls into place.
Dick Fischer -
Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Sun Apr 10 13:26:41 2005