The great flood proven true?

[Jeehad]

I was asked by a member of this site to start this thread and discuss or compare the stories that exist in the Quran as well as in the Bible. There are three stories that exist in both Holy Books. They are – the story of creation, great Flood and the Exodus. However, if you believe these stories are complete myth, then I do not see the point of you posting here. Simply because we cannot prove whether they really happened or not; technology did not exist to record these events. Therefore, believers of religions can only believe in these stories and we should respect their choice. All we can do is... compare these stories and may be decide which version is more reliable. Please note that this thread is not about "God's existence" or "religion being a myth".

Example- For the sake of argument, we say the Flood did occur. However, which version is more reliable or how did the Flood really occur? So here, we can look at both versions of the same stories and give our views.



The Great Flood: Biblical Narration

If we look at the story of Flood in the Bible in the light of modern knowledge, the story is not unacceptable. Because:

1. The Old Testament mainly speaks of a universal catastrophe (Great Flood).
2. Paragraphs from the Yahvist text do not provide a date for the Flood. Even though another Biblical text - the Sacerdotal text – provides a timeline for the event but such cataclysm could not have been occurred at that time.

The sacerdotal text makes it clear that when the Flood occurred, Noah was 600 years old. According to the genealogies in chapter 5 of Genesis, we know that Noah is said to have been born 1056 years after Adam. Consequently, the Flood would have taken place 1655 years after the creation of Adam. The genealogical table of Abraham moreover, taken from the same text and given in Genesis (11, 10-32), allows us to estimate that Abraham was born 292 years after the Flood. As we know that (according to the Bible) Abraham was alive in roughly 1850 BC, the Flood would therefore be situated in the Twenty-first or Twenty-second century BC. This calculation is in strict keeping with the information in old editions of the Bible, which figures prominently at the head of the Biblical text. This was at a time when the lack of human knowledge on the subject was such that the chronological data contained in the Bible were accepted without question by its readers.

Today, it is impossible to imagine a universal catastrophe that took place in the Twenty-first or Twenty-second century BC, which destroyed life on all the earth's surface (except for the people and animals in the Ark)? By this time, civilization had flourished around the globe. Therefore, it is impossible for a Flood to have been occurred in that time and one cannot imagine Noah traveling the world to find species. How big was the Ark then?



Quranic Narration

The Quran gives a general version that is different from the Biblical version and does not give rise to any criticisms from a historical point of view. It does not provide continuous narration of the Flood. Numerous Quranic chapters talk of the punishment inflicted upon Noah's people. The most complete account of this is chapter 11, verses 25 to 49. Before going into the actual course taken by events, we must consider the Flood as described in the Quran by relating it to the general context of the punishment God inflicted on communities guilty of gravely infringing His Commandments.

This may be seen in chapter 25, verses 35 to 39...

"We (Allah) gave Moses the Scripture and appointed his brother Aaron with him as vizier. We said: Go to the people who have denied Our signs. We destroyed them completely. When the people of Noah denied the Messengers, We drowned them and We made of them a sign for the mankind. (We destroyed the tribes) of Ad and Tamud, the companions of Rass and many generations between them. We warned each of them by examples and We annihilated them completely".

Chapter 7, verses 59 to 93 contains a remainder of the punishments brought upon Noah's people, the Ad, the Tahmud, Lo and Median respectively.


Thus, the Quran presents the cataclysm of the Flood as a punishment specifically intended for Noah's people: this is the first basic difference between the two narrations. The second fundamental difference is that the Quran, in contrast to the Bible, does not date the Flood in time and gives no indication as to the duration of the cataclysm itself. Throughout the Quran, only Noah's people has been connected to the Flood, not the entire world.

The reason why I find Quranic explanation more reliable than the Biblical explanation...

1. The Biblical story has two versions and the erroneous timeline simply makes it even more unreliable.
2. It is impossible to imagine Noah collecting species from the entire world and putting them on Ark. It's an unimaginable task even for a Prophet since Noah could not show miracles. But if we look at the Quranic narration, it is possible that Noah only collected species from the area he lived in since only his people were punished.



http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/index.html

[Hagethuriel]

1. Read the Mesopotamian epic about the great flood Marduk and Tiamat . Enkis saves humanity by sending his son Marduk . This is pre-semetic .

"The Creation Epic" describes how Marduk kills Tiamet the Goddess of Chaos because ... Their ancestors continue this way of life until the great flood when ...
www.antiessays.com/free-essays/623.html

Discussion about Tiamet. in the Above Top Secret website discussion forum ... Tiamat was the dragon that Marduk slayed which in turn created the earth. ...
www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread88767/pg1

Christ Memorial Temple - Why Biblical Archaeology? One of the younger gods, Marduk, finally overthrew Tiamet, ... A Babylonian tablet contains a flood story. The hero Ut-napishtim was saved in a ship with ...
www.cmtemple.org/articles/BiblicalArchaeology.html

Tehom in Hebrew, is etymologically related to Tiamat, the personified primeval ocean that was defeated by Marduk. Tiamet can be found in the Babylonian ...
www.usbible.com/Creation/AlienGods.htm
CETUS THE SEA MONSTER
long after the Flood. In the story of Marduk. 6. and the dragon, Tiamet, we. find the oldest reference to the story of Perseus and Andromeda. Tiamet ...
www.geocentricity.com/constellations/cetus.pdf
Either there really was a big flood (human beings probably didn't witness it, but found evidence ... and the stories often echo that of Marduk and Tiamet. ...
community.livejournal.com/thecosmicdance/42247.html?mode=reply
Can anyone tell me about the TIAMET legend in the ancient Middle East? ... MARDUK chopped up TIAMAT'S corpse and used it to create all the bits of the World ...
www.endwend.info/details6934.php
The SPHINX Group -- Cross-disciplinary Timeline
("Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event

2. I think the wood found at Mount Ararat in Turkey is intriguing .
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html

[DH]

The great flood stories from the Bible and Qur'an are predated by a basic narrative that goes back to one of the earliest written human accounts -- the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh.  There have been several variations of the theme as Hagethruiel has pointed out.

http://gilgamesh.psnc.pl/

http://www.religioustolerance.org/noah_com.htm

I've studied the Hebrew Scriptures in both Hebrew and Greek.  The Hebrews were into good stories to make a point (parable/metaphor), not necessarily stories that were literally true.  That's why there are two conflicting creation stories side by side in Genesis 1 & 2, and also two different Noah stories that have been woven unevenly together.  As far as the Qur'an goes, thus far nothing has convinced me that it's anything more than a creative re-worked version of the Bible.   But that's just my opinion.  I'm always open to convincing arguments to the contrary.  DH

[Jeehad]

The great flood stories from the Bible and Qur'an are predated by a basic narrative that goes back to one of the earliest written human accounts -- the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh.  There have been several variations of the theme as Hagethruiel has pointed out.

http://gilgamesh.psnc.pl/

http://www.religioustolerance.org/noah_com.htm

I've studied the Hebrew Scriptures in both Hebrew and Greek.  The Hebrews were into good stories to make a point (parable/metaphor), not necessarily stories that were literally true.  That's why there are two conflicting creation stories side by side in Genesis 1 & 2, and also two different Noah stories that have been woven unevenly together.  As far as the Qur'an goes, thus far nothing has convinced me that it's anything more than a creative re-worked version of the Bible.   But that's just my opinion.  I'm always open to convincing arguments to the contrary.  DH

HeHe Read your links again there not reference to the Quran at all but the biblical Hebrew accounts which is a TOTALLY false version of the story of Noah. We as muslims believe that tehre is truth in the bible and even the sumarian beliefs but man corrupted the words of the prophets which descended upon that region itself. The worlds religions were all stepping stones unto the final and perfect way of life given in the Holy Quran, Islam so therefore the similarities between the great flood and the sumarian accounts of it is nothing significant. The significant part of this thread is there was a flood as described in both scriptures and an ark was actually found 400 miles from the site which adds unto the significance. This actually really isn't story telling but its FACT considering everything was archaeologically proven.

[DH]

HeHe Read your links again there not reference to the Quran at all but the biblical Hebrew accounts which is a TOTALLY false version of the story of Noah. We as muslims believe that tehre is truth in the bible and even the sumarian beliefs but man corrupted the words of the prophets which descended upon that region itself. The worlds religions were all stepping stones unto the final and perfect way of life given in the Holy Quran, Islam so therefore the similarities between the great flood and the sumarian accounts of it is nothing significant. The significant part of this thread is there was a flood as described in both scriptures and an ark was actually found 400 miles from the site which adds unto the significance. This actually really isn't story telling but its FACT considering everything was archaeologically proven.

My point is that the stories of Noah in the Bible and the Qur'an are both spins on ancient myths.

And if the ark has been found and all of this is archaelogically proven, where is the evidence?  Can we see it with our own eyes?  Why hasn't this made world-wide headlines?

I'm not trying to be difficult, my friend, just curious.  DH

[Jeehad]

Its okay my dearest brother I enjoy speaking with you upon these matters. First of all,

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/03/13/satellite.noahs.ark/index.html

It made top line news for quiet a bit of time and archaeologists are still doing excavations on the site.They linked the sediments of the boat to the ones which are of the "great flood" depicted in the Quran and Bible. It cannot be an ancient myth anymore considering it has been proven true. The ancient myths are a totally different twist to the story line as well although similar which is reasonable considering news would get altered  at such a distant time. I think that ancient peoples would obviously know about such an event, but later on the Quran depicts the events as it is and as archaeologists today have described and looked into it. the whole point of this is to show you the historical truths within such scriptures.

[DH]

Thanks for the response.  I'm still a bit skeptical, but I do try to leave room for an open mind.  DH

[Jeehad]

HeHe an Open mind is a good start anyways Of course it is a skeptical matter but the whole point is alot of these semetic stories which were passed down from the generation which witnessed the events correspond well with history, oviously there are errors with the biblical versions or narrations of alot of the stories but the Quranic version is something which corresponds perfectly with science and history which is why people are turning to the submission of Gods will.




http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/perfection_index.html

http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/perfection_index.html

http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/predictions_index.html