James the Persian
Dreptcredincios Crestin
Katzpur said:I think it was true from the perspective of those who experienced it. I'm sure it seemed to them as if the whole earth were covered by water. As far as whether Noah collected two of every kind of animal in the world, that too is probably relative. I'd say it was entirely possible that Noah did take animals aboard the ark, but that it's pretty unlikely he actually rounded up two of every species in existence at that time. Maybe he collected two of all of the animals he was familiar with. I don't know, and it doesn't really matter a whole lot to me. To me it's a story about obedience and trust.
I pretty much agree with Kat (though might I point out that it's not just two of every kind, it's only two for unclean animals, seven of each clean). Whether it's literally true or allegorical would make no difference to my faith at all - there's tons of the Bible that shouldn't be taken literally, and that's not just my position but one you can trace back to the early Church Fathers without dificulty. In my opinion, the storyu as we receive it in the OT is the result of oral transmission of the tale for centuries before it was written down and the typical accretions and exaggerations that tends to create. That doesn't mean that the kernel of the story is not true and nor does it alter its message. The 'dilemma' of the OP (if one bit is not literally true how do we know what's true and false?) only exists for a sola scripturalist in any case. For the 100s of millions of us whose churches actually pre-date the Reformation, and some who don't, this is not an issue at all.
James