Re: Mediterranean flood

mortongr@flash.net
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 19:24:49 +0000

At 08:26 AM 10/18/1999 -0500, John_R_Zimmer@rush.edu wrote:
>Point of order!
>
>In reply to post by Bob, Glenn said:
>
>>It bothers you that I can't prove my view of how the Bible fits into
>geologic/anthropologic history. Let me point out several important items.
>My view is consistent with all known facts.
>
>A brief comment:
>
>In a recent exchange, I made the point that Glenn's account is
>not consistent with all the known facts, particularly, the existence
>of the nearly identical flood story in Sumerian literature.

Of course my view is consistent with that. Any flood view which postulates
a flood which occurred PRIOR to the split of cultures between the Sumerians
and the Hebrews, could easily be re-told in both cultures. I don't see
what your issue is here. AFterall, the Christians and the Moslems both tell
of Noah's flood and this is quite consistent with the idea that the flood
occurred PRIOR to the split of islamic from Christian culture.

>
>The existence of this story means that the Hebrew (or the Sumerian)
>culture acquired the story by contact or descent. If the Mediterranean
>infill was presented to Moses as a vision, then how did the Sumerian
>story get there? (The Sumerian culture was established long before
>Moses)

I know I said that God could have revealed the data to Moses. I probably
mis-spoke there. As a rule, in FFF, I have never definitively decided
between oral tradition and divine revelation. Occasionally I have stated
that it was a vision of Moses but I would agree with you that it couldn't
have been. It would have had to have been earlier. I have always outlined
two possibilities for the story. First, there is the possibility of oral
tradition which lasted for a long time. The second is divine revelation.
Given my correction here, if this is the only inconsistency that you can
cite, I suggest I have now fixed it. I agree with you that the revelation,
if it occurred, must have occurred prior to the Sumerian/Hebrew split.

And thanks for the correction here. I won't let that happen again.

glenn

Foundation, Fall and Flood
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