Mormons and the Flood

[_drdrfor]

What is the Mormon churches stance on Noah's flood? Was the flood worldwide or merely a "local" phenomenon? Did Noah pack all the earth's creatures (2X2) (seeds, plants?) into a boat and brave the storms for a year? When did this all happen and what signs around the world should one look for as traces of this great flood?

[_zeezrom]

What is the Mormon churches stance on Noah's flood? Was the flood worldwide or merely a "local" phenomenon? Did Noah pack all the earth's creatures (2X2) (seeds, plants?) into a boat and brave the storms for a year? When did this all happen and what signs around the world should one look for as traces of this great flood?

Doing a search on Lds.org, you will soon see that it is officially considered to be literal by church leadership. Apologists on the other hand, tell a different story.

[_zeezrom]

JS-M 1:43
"...the flood came, and took them all away..."

God revealed this to Joseph Smith


Ether 13:2
"...after the waters receded from the face of this land it became choice above..."

Moses 7:43, 50
"...and the floods came and swallowed them up... ...that the earth might never more be covered by the floods."

Moses 8:30
"...I will destroy all flesh from off the earth."

Revelations of Joseph Smith are a bitch for the apologists, aren't they?

[_LDS truthseeker]

It seems pretty clear that the GAs still even preach it as literal but the apologists side with the scientists and say it is not literal. Here's a pretty recent quote from a GA:

January 1998 Ensign

Still other people accept parts of the Flood story, acknowledging that there may have been a local, charismatic preacher, such as Noah, and a localized flood that covered only a specific area of the world, such as the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers or perhaps even the whole of Mesopotamia. Yet these people do not believe in a worldwide or global flood. Both of these groups—those who totally deny the historicity of Noah and the Flood and those who accept parts of the story—are persuaded in their disbelief by the way they interpret modern science. They rely upon geological considerations and theories that postulate it would be impossible for a flood to cover earth’s highest mountains, that the geologic evidence (primarily in the fields of stratigraphy and sedimentation) does not indicate a worldwide flood occurred any time during the earth’s existence.

There is a third group of people—those who accept the literal message of the Bible regarding Noah, the ark, and the Deluge. Latter-day Saints belong to this group. In spite of the world’s arguments against the historicity of the Flood, and despite the supposed lack of geologic evidence, we Latter-day Saints believe that Noah was an actual man, a prophet of God, who preached repentance and raised a voice of warning, built an ark, gathered his family and a host of animals onto the ark, and floated safely away as waters covered the entire earth. We are assured that these events actually occurred by the multiple testimonies of God’s prophets. January 1998 Ensign, The Flood and the Tower of Babel, Donald W. Parry

More on the flood: http://www.mormonthink.com/scienceweb.htm#noah

[_Buffalo]

What is the Mormon churches stance on Noah's flood? Was the flood worldwide or merely a "local" phenomenon? Did Noah pack all the earth's creatures (2X2) (seeds, plants?) into a boat and brave the storms for a year? When did this all happen and what signs around the world should one look for as traces of this great flood?

Doing a search on Lds.org, you will soon see that it is officially considered to be literal by church leadership. Apologists on the other hand, tell a different story.

Yup. This is a big problem since all the evidence points to the flood being nothing more than folklore.

[_Inconceivable]

Oh yeah, the flood was totally real.

Elevation (environmental) Challenges

How cold can it get in a boat (or any other craft) at 22,000 feet above sea level?

How about the thin air?

Sanitation

Think of a zoo. Now think of a rocking floating zoo.

Where did all the poo go everytime the boat rocked to the left? In a bucket? Maybe the left side of the boat where you are taking a dump or eating breakfast?

Sea Creatures

Which fish did Noah gather 2 by two? The saltwater or freshwater? (thanks Port)

Other Creatures

Was Big Foot (Cain) considered a creature or a human? Were there two of them?

[_Polygamy-Porter]

What is the Mormon churches stance on Noah's flood? Was the flood worldwide or merely a "local" phenomenon? Did Noah pack all the earth's creatures (2X2) (seeds, plants?) into a boat and brave the storms for a year? When did this all happen and what signs around the world should one look for as traces of this great flood?

How many people were on this floating zoo??

Additionally what about the food required to feed all of these animals? tons of hay grazers??
What about the meat eating animals??

What about when the animals got off the boat? What would they all eat???
It would be a full season before there was any vegetation at all for the plant eaters to consume and the meat eaters would be on a vegetarian diet until the small animals had time to make babies AND THEN wait for those to grow big enough to make a meal for the large meat eating animals..

The story is completely ridiculous which requires the believer to abandon all logic and scientific knowledge.

This is a great summary of Noah and the flood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk1owD9y1hc

There was a scientific analysis done of the rain claims and I believe it said that in order for it to rain as much it the Bible claims it did to cover the tallest mountain with water(Everest) the amount of water vapor in the air would have created over 13,000 lbs/sq-in of atmopsheric pressure at sea level(normally 14.7 psi) which would have literally crushed every living creature on earth.
So Noah's boat also needed to tightly sealed like a submarine and strong enough to withstand the 13,000 lbs/sq-in of pressure!


Another great video from the thinking atheist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CccaGaKO ... re=related
And another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I225Vcs3 ... re=related

Xtians response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT4bsbiR ... re=related

[_zeezrom]

Come on guys, don't make fun of this sacred event. I mean it is a symbol of baptism after all. Kill all life on the planet and then bring them back to life is a symbol for us lucky folk today. If you talked this way in church, people would think you are being prideful and hurtful to their sacred testimony of the gospel. We should be thankful millions of children, babies, and other innocent bystanders (who may have danced rudely or coveted their neighbors cow) died in order to create this beautiful symbol of baptism for us! Embrace it! Enjoy it! Love it!

Did you feel the spirit when you read my words?

[_Polygamy-Porter]

Come on guys, don't make fun of this sacred event. I mean it is a symbol of baptism after all. Kill all life on the planet and then bring them back to life is a symbol for us lucky folk today. If you talked this way in church, people would think you are being prideful and hurtful to their sacred testimony of the gospel. We should be thankful millions of children, babies, and other innocent bystanders (who may have danced rudely or coveted their neighbors cow) died in order to create this beautiful symbol of baptism for us! Embrace it! Enjoy it! Love it!

Did you feel the spirit when you read my words?

Thank you for your comment Brother Z... which takes me to the next part of the lesson on the flood.

INCEST.

How did Noah's little family essentially repopulate the earth?

Edit to add: Meh, never mind, that's how Adam and Eve's family did it..

[_Rambo]

I was talking to my friend who believes in a global flood. I said to him that there is no evidence of a global flood and that a lot of members (even my latest bishop) don't believe in a global flood. He said to me that if you believe in a God that can do anything then a global flood is possible. I said I don't believe in a God that would purposely hide evidence of a global flood. Then he brought up that silly word faith and that's why we have to have it.

Oh the logic...