LDS truthseeker wrote: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
<snip>
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
drdrfor wrote: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.
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!
For all the reasons you stated an more, the global flood myth is about as logical as Santa Clause delivering billions of gifts around the world in one night. Just simply impossible.
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I just got back from a trip to Egypt. I was just wondering how Mormons deal with the facts that Egyptian society went from pyramid building for Khufu(Cheops) (2589 - 2566 BCE), then through the great flood of Noah (1656 years after Adams creation, approx. 2348 BC ) and the whole society being wiped out...and then back to pyramid building all over again under Unas in 2345, in the fifth dynasty.
Didn't they learn anything from the flood? That God didn't want them building such things and carrying on as usual?
If Noah and his kids populated the whole earth, how did enough of them get back to Egypt to carry on with pyramid building? According to well documented history, the sixth dynasty collapsed from drought, not flood.
The Institute Manual has a whole portion of one lesson dedicated to discussion (and graphics) about the literal size of the ark. As long as the church continues to dwell on physical aspects of the myth, as though they were important facts, the members of the church will (generally) continue to believe and teach it as a literal global event.
The Institute Manual also contains a quote about only needing a centimeter of water covering the highest mountain peaks and another about how it really was quite loving and just of God to murder everybody, including babies and children, because they would have been raised wicked. It even says that the only other way to be saved, if you weren't on the ark, was to be translated. Because "it was not uncommon" for righteous people to be translated back in the olden days.
So, yeah, we're pretty well stuck with this doctrine.
~Those who benefit from the status quo always attribute inequities to the choices of the underdog.~Ann Crittenden ~The Goddess is not separate from the world-She is the world and all things in it.~
I just got back from a trip to Egypt. I was just wondering how Mormons deal with the facts that Egyptian society went from pyramid building for Khufu(Cheops) (2589 - 2566 BCE), then through the great flood of Noah (1656 years after Adams creation, approx. 2348 BC ) and the whole society being wiped out...and then back to pyramid building all over again under Unas in 2345, in the fifth dynasty.
Didn't they learn anything from the flood? That God didn't want them building such things and carrying on as usual?
If Noah and his kids populated the whole earth, how did enough of them get back to Egypt to carry on with pyramid building? According to well documented history, the sixth dynasty collapsed from drought, not flood.
Oh, the pyramids were okay because they were actually temples. The Egyptians carried The Curse when it comes to the priesthood, but they still knew all the correct signs and tokens and had garments and everything! Their king, Pharoah, was actually a pretty good guy. He just had The Curse in his blood. ;-)
Oh, and the timing, well, we can't trust science to tell us how old things are. It's either God protecting our faith or Satan tempting us to reject faith. Depends on who you ask.
~Those who benefit from the status quo always attribute inequities to the choices of the underdog.~Ann Crittenden ~The Goddess is not separate from the world-She is the world and all things in it.~
I just got back from a trip to Egypt. I was just wondering how Mormons deal with the facts that Egyptian society went from pyramid building for Khufu(Cheops) (2589 - 2566 BCE), then through the great flood of Noah (1656 years after Adams creation, approx. 2348 BC ) and the whole society being wiped out...and then back to pyramid building all over again under Unas in 2345, in the fifth dynasty.
Didn't they learn anything from the flood? That God didn't want them building such things and carrying on as usual?
If Noah and his kids populated the whole earth, how did enough of them get back to Egypt to carry on with pyramid building? According to well documented history, the sixth dynasty collapsed from drought, not flood.
Thanks for that!
I never thought of that.
I just added this to the list of reasons the flood never occurred.
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drdrfor wrote: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.
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!
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?
Official LDS doctrine is the standard Christian global flood. Since I don't see any direct revelation on the subject, just allusions to, my opinion is that the Church has simply adopted the standard explaination which is not unreasonable.
My personal opinion is that the hebrew scriptures allow for a local flood with only a slightly different and reasonable translation. In addition, there is plenty of overwhelming scientific evidence against a global flood. So I accept a local flood theory. Catastrophic enough to impress upon the minds of subsequent generations, but still local.