Our favorite Old Testament professor is back! Dr. John Walton has written a new book about Noah’s flood, and he comes to some surprising conclusions. Was there really a worldwide deluge, or was it a smaller, local event? Plus, Phil and Skye ask why Christmas is so much bigger than Easter? Did the Pope deny the existence of hell? And did Jesus break into a Pizza Hut?
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Thank you for the podcast. Denis Lamoureux mentions a concern with the flood being local in that in Genesis 8:4, the ark rested on Ararat. According to Wikipedia, its height is 11, 847 ft. This would make the flood much more than local. It’s a very confusing question, and there’s lots to learn.
Having said that, I’m of the opinion with Lamoureux and Peter Enns that the flood was incorporated from much older stories (the Epic of Gilgamesh and Atrahasis, with stories of the dove and raven) to show God’s relationship to man. In contrast to Gilgamesh, the gods don’t kill everyone with a flood because they’re too noisy–it’s in the same vein as Genesis, where man, made in His image, breaks covenant with him. It’s more about relationship between those who know good and evil. Thanks.
I want to start out by saying Christians can certainly dialogue about many non-essential issues and at the end of the day remain brothers/sisters in Christ. So, it is ok that we have a different viewpoint. In fact, I disagreed with several things discussed in this episode. But, the only one I want to comment on was when your guest suggested Ken Hamm try to float his boat.
In fact, the boat of the OT DID float, did it not. Now whether it should be able to float may be open to discussion; but a man should not be able to walk on water or rise from the dead either.
It seems that much of our discussions in Christianity today, in our time of “enlightenment”, surround how we can make the Bible more palatable. Which is not a word I normally associate with Jesus.