Did a Flood really happen?

Question

I been reading up on some history on the great flood from both the Biblical Bible and the Sumerian writings which predates the Biblical version, which both mention a great flood. The story's seem very similar both having birds use and the journey that save a man . What I believe is that maybe back then a devastating flood might have occurred that killed many people but I really cannot see how it would be a world wide flood.....probably a city wide flood. A character known as Gilgamesh goes and meets the survivor of the flood being Utnapishtim. With Gilgamesh having some credibility of been real for his mention as leader and others that have been proven to rule Mesopotamia such as Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish.

If any one knows a little bit more then what I have I would appreciate any information?
and also what is your perspective on the flood, did it really happen?

Answer 1

"A" flood is very likely to have occurred, but a world-wide flood never happened. Likely, the story of the Noachian flood was based on a real local flood that was blown way out of proportion.

Answer 2

Okay, let's set one excuse aside first. "Well, maybe there wasn't a global flood, but that doesn't mean that Noah's flood didn't happen, because it could have been a local flood that was really bad, and..."



Bull$#!+.



The Bible explicitly says the entire world flooded. Trying to somehow frame the event as anything less is to implicitly admit the Bible is lying, so the excuse Noah's Flood wasn't a worldwide event is no excuse at all.



That being said, did a worldwide flood happen approximately 4,000 years ago?



No.



There is absolutely no good evidence to suggest the entire world flooded, and much to suggest nothing of the sort happened.



For one thing, the Earth simply doesn't have enough water to flood by a long shot. It's not that difficult to calculate how much water would be necessary to accomplish what the Bible insists happened (the entire surface of the Earth was covered to at least twenty feet over the peak of the tallest mountain). All you need do is calculate the volume of a hollow sphere with the inner sphere being the diameter of the Earth at sea level, and the outer sphere being the diameter of the Earth plus the height of the tallest mountain. That'll tell you the volume of water necessary, and then all you need do is compare that to the volume of water already in the oceans (without counting the ocean water itself since all of that already sits below sea level). You'll discover the Earth's oceans only hold about a quarter what's necessary to flood the globe.



Beyond that, floods leave very distinct geological evidence behind, and there simply is no singular geological record of a flood having occurred. It's very conspicuous in its absence. The layers in which the geological records are laid down are consistent with a very slow, gradual deposition. The fossil record is consistent with the Theory of Evolution, and while it does record several mass-extinction events, it shows none of the kind Noah's Flood would have caused.



Then there's the problem of people. We've simply been around longer than that. The Egyptian plateau was settled, and a society up and running, by 6,000 BC at the latest. That means the Egyptians have actually had a functioning society for 2,000 years longer than the Bible says the Earth has even been around. Must have been a shocking day for the Egyptians out working the fields and building their early cities when the entire Earth popped into being under their feet. Makes you wonder what the Hell they lived on before it came along.



In any case, their culture has run uninterrupted ever since. Let me say that again: The Egyptian culture has been functioning nonstop for at least the past eight thousand years. If Noah's Flood happened four thousand years ago, shouldn't they have all drowned? Should we not see a period where the cities are suddenly abandoned, where graves went undug and monuments went unbuilt, where historians stopped recording their history? Should we not have seen their population decimated and then rebuilt from the ruins?



The trouble is, we don't. The Egyptians had a fully functioning empire going for nearly 700 years by the time Noah's Flood supposedly happened, complete with cities and temples and a good handful of large pyramids already built, and throughout the time the flood supposedly happened, they went right on building their cities and monuments, and worshiping their gods, and living their daily lives and recording their history without so much as once mentioning the coming of a flood. Not once.



The story of Noah's Flood is a cute story to tell children in Sunday school, but only that. In reality, it never happened.

Answer 3

Yes, it did. That is why there are so many stories about it. The idea that the Flood never happened because there are stories about it is faulty. After the Flood people likely talked about it for many generations. Some of those stories started changing, but they all agree on a worldwide flood.



The flood covered the high hills. Therefore the flood was not local. If the flood was local, then it would have been only in one valley. It would also mean that God lied when he said he would not flood the earth like that again.



Many critics of the Flood don't take the time to read the passages or listen to those who believe it really happened. For example, the Bible doesn't say the Flood was a result of the rain. Neither does it say that the water covered Mt. Everest. Before the Flood Mt. Everest was not like it is today. Even geologists say that it was "pushed up" by tectonic disturbances.

Answer 4

"Did a Flood really happen?"



Like a global flood? There really isn't a lot of evidence for that.



Now, there is a ridiculous amount of evidence of a local flood, some 6,000 years ago. It most certainly destroyed much of Mesopotamia, and the end result was the Black Sea. (That's probably how it was created).



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_theory



It's reasonable to assume that a disastrous flood happened, that would have seemed like the entire world.



"With Gilgamesh having some credibility of been real for his mention as leader and others that have been proven to rule Mesopotamia such as Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish."



Interesting. His Genesis counterpart, Noah, has evidence of his existence as well. Hayk, who was his great-grandson, is the patriarch of the Armenian people. While legend must be seperated from fact, the man certainly existed and was very influential in the area. In fact, Armenia is actually called "Hayastan", which means the "Land of Hayk". Genesis says Noah landed on the mountains of Ararat, which are in Armenia.



There is credibility to the belief that Noah actually existed.

Answer 5

Take a look at what is happening today with the mass melting of the poles, the increase in the water table and the increasing violence of the weather. These things have happened before and seem to be cyclic as the planet rebalances and cleanses itself.

You're right many cultures refer to a vast prehistoric flood that destroyed the old world, many are related to the civilisation known as Atlantis, which is refered to by Plato and many ancient writers. I think it likely that some kind of catastrophe did occur wiping away much of this earlier culture, it would explain why so much of it was lost leaving the survivors to begin again at a primitive level.

If our culture suffered a similiar fate, the same thing would probably happen.Things like TV, air flight, spaceships, computers and transplant surgery would soon become legends and myths, to be dismissed by sceptics who had never lived through them in the way we breezily dismiss the idea of dimensional travel, telepathy and anti gravity flight systems - all of which are attributed to Atlantis.

So yes to the flood story, but it's not the whole story.

Answer 6

It is quite possible that a catastrophic flood did take place in the Mesopotamian region which was at the time 'the world' for Sumerians, Babylonians and Israelites. I would suggest that the flood did happen to the 'known world' at the time, but not the world as we know it now.



It is just as likely that a random asteroid hit the earth, causing a chain reaction of global weather changes that wiped out all the dinosaurs.



There is much evidence for a great flood of the Mesopotamian region, and it is likely that different stories refer to the same event.

Answer 7

Many tales and fables in modern religions come from older stories. Just because the Bible has a flood and Gilgamesh also tells of a flood doesn't mean that the two are correlative evidence that a flood actually happened.

Answer 8

Get used to it, there are more than just a couple of instances where biblical stories mimicked almost word for word earlier stories by other people.



And to answer the overall question - no, there is no evidence of a worldwide flood. More then likely, the flood spoke of in the bible was localized, but in their narrow view of the "world" they felt that the flood spanned it completely.

Answer 9

definite it occurred. in spite of the undeniable fact that it exchange into the 2nd flood reported interior the Bible. the 1st worldwide flood is being defined as protecting the Earth at an incredible intensity on the 1st day of introduction in Genesis. it is the flood that drowned the final prehistoric era of dinosaurs and alter into the commencing up of the 1st present day era of evolution. Noah's flood occurred some years later and is the place the extremely a lot of water got here from that John West says weathered the Sphinx in Egypt and not wind and sand. The Sphinx and the large Pyramids spent a quick quantity of time on the sea floor. The date of 2304 B.C. ought to okay be an precise guess.

Answer 10

Lots of local floods happened, which could certainly look like the end of the world to the local population involved.



A global flood which would cover the tallest mountain is just physically impossible.

Answer 11

Biblical flood was not covering the whole earth. Because it is impossible to cause a flood in just 40 days that can submerge even Everest.

Answer 12

I'm sure that huge floods occurred, but keep in mind that those primitive people believed that the world was everything within a 500 mile radius.

Answer 13

the flood referred to in the bible only refers to the known world, which could have been a region or state

Answer 14

a big and sudden rise in the black sea levels might be the historical inspiration to the middle eastern flood myth

Answer 15

probably



there is no other explanation why every people from every nation (even those far removed from areas susceptable to floods) have flood legends



it can't be just a "coincidence"



google: flood legends

Answer 16

For the people in New Orleans, Katrina WAS global!

Answer 17

You got to be retarded to believe in the Noah incident.