RE: [asa] Noah's Ark- the debate over floods... and biblical interpretation

I think the Babel story brings up a whole slew of more questions.

Back to people in towns. Babel comes after the flood, so it says in those days people lived together, assuming pre-flood people were wiped-out. So it is easier to think people were grouped after this re-creation, which we both reject. Before the flood, did all live together in cities? Evidently, at the very least, Cain moved out of town after he killed Abel, and Cain started a different clan. Cain and his clan were obviously not part of the same social group, since he was kicked-out of town. And that is near the very start of creation way before the flood, so with more time comes more separation.

...Bernie

________________________________
From: Kirk Bertsche [mailto:Bertsche@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 11:04 AM
To: Dehler, Bernie; ASA Affiliation
Subject: Re: [asa] Noah's Ark- the debate over floods... and biblical interpretation

I think we're losing the point of this sub-thread. Bernie had argued against a historical local flood on the grounds that man would naturally have been spread out across the earth, so could not have been wiped out by a local flood. I pointed out that Gen 11 implies that man did not spread out until his language was confused. Thus, man was likely not spread out very far in Gen 7-9, either. A historical, local flood does not seem to be ruled out on this basis.

A second question has been suggested in this sub-thread: "If the account of Babel is non-historical, what is its point?" Whether the account is historical or not, it is divine communication intended to TEACH something. It tells us something about man's character (desire for a self-aggrandizing community), which is true irrespective of historicity.

Kirk

On Apr 13, 2009, at 9:02 AM, Dehler, Bernie wrote:

Kirk said:
"The implication of the text is that early man was together until God forced mankind to spread out. "

It also implies that just prior there was a worldwide flood that wiped out all humans except those who were on the ark- something I think neither of us accept. So if we believe that all humans weren't wiped-out, why believe all men lived in one city and had one language???

...Bernie

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Received on Mon Apr 13 14:34:58 2009