Apologetics Tidbit #2

Okay, this time I am not delving so much into science.  Instead, lets look at history and mythology.  Why?  Well, first of all, nearly every culture on earth has a flood myth, which lends credence to the idea that there was a cataclysmic flood.  Otherwise, there would be no reason to believe that only Moses knew about it.  The fact that every culture has a flood story means that it is in the collective consciousness of nearly every culture, which means that it probably happened.  Now, to differentiate between some of them, the Hebrew version is the only one that seems plausible.  The most common example to refute the Bible is the Gilgamesh epic.  A couple problems, though.  First, Gilgamesh was told to build a boat that would dwarf the ark in only seven days.  Also, it took only seven days to flood the earth, and another seven to dry.  Another problem is that the boat shape of Gilgamesh’s ark was a giant box.  It wouldn’t last long in a real flood, as there would be no steering and it would not glide in the water.  It would have been capsized at some point.  Noah’s ark was a far superior design, and the time period was long enough that a horrible cataclysmic flood would not be impossible under that time frame.

God and mercy

God had every reason in the world to kill every airbreather on earth.  Mankind had decided, not unlike today, that they would rather be their own gods than to worship the true God.  God found only one man on all the earth that loved Him, and He saved him and his family from destruction.  God had every reason in the world to destroy humanity completely, but because of the faithfulness of one man, he did not.  He saved him, his family, and all the animals of the world.

A common refrain today is that God is different from the way he was in the Old Testament.  There are enough episodes of His mercy to humankind and His steadfast love even in the face of rejection in the Tanakh that prove otherwise.  To be faithful to lovingly preserve His creation for the sake of one man is evidence enough of His mercy.