Specifically, were you taught that God deliberately caused the Deluge, or that He merely foresaw that a worldwide catastrophe was coming, warned Noah, and told Noah to warn others (a warning nobody heated)?
I ask this question because I had a conversation yesterday with someone who was always given the relatively sanitized version as a child. Only as an adult, taking non-devotional religious classes in college, did she realize the genocidal implications of the myth?
So I ask again? If you were raised Christian and regularly attended Sunday school or other such religious education/indoctrination, were you taught that Noah’s Flood was an act of God deliberately exterminating most of the human race, or that He, through Noah, attempted to save humanity from a disaster He had not caused (and mysteriously could not avert), only to be frustrated by human intransigence?
I was raised Church of Christ (very conservative, fundamentalist sect that considers itself the “one true church”). I was taught that God was mightily peeved with peoples’ wickedness, and wanted to destroy them all – except for Noah and his family, who were the only righteous ones. So he sent the flood to wipe the entire world population (sinful humans and all the critters that weren’t on the ark) out.
The Church of Christ takes this story quite literally!
This is the first I’ve heard that “sanitized” version, and it flies in the face of what most churches think about God: Things don’t just happen without God at least permitting them to happen.
Then again, I also wasn’t taught that the Flood was literal truth.
^^^ This. Methodist upbringing here, not particularly BiblePoundy. But it’s what the book says and stuff.
I always thought God had one fuck of a temper tantrum problem and needed to learn patience with the critters that he created, and if he can’t do any better than “Aww to hell with it, throw it all down the drain”, he oughta step down and let the snake try his hand at it or something.
I was raised Roman Catholic. I was certainly taught that God intentionally decided to exterminate most of the human race.
Genesis is pretty clear:
There is nothing in Genesis about God warning other people, or having Noah warn them. Noah’s neighbors are frequently portrayed as mocking him, but there is no mention in Genesis of any other people other than Noah’s family, other than the fact that they were corrupt and prone to violence. (So God decided to deal with them in the most violent way possible.)
I was taught that God was so fed up with the evil of humanity that he wanted to wipe them out and start anew. However, there was one human who was good and was raising good children, so God wanted to use him as the new start of the human race.
So option 1 is right in that he wanted to exterminate the evil humans. However, he did not want to get rid of humans altogether. Option 2 is right in that God wanted to save humanity through Noah, and was in fact frustrated with with everyone else’s stubborn desire to be evil.
However, it seems that your option 2 is supposed to mean that God didn’t cause the Flood. I’ve never heard of that, and I don’t see how such could be supported by Scripture. So I shall vote option 1.
That said, I have heard the idea that Noah was supposed to tell everyone, and they refused to listen. I’ve seen that in many dramatized versions, mixed in with Noah being ridiculed for making a boat on dry land in the first place.
Are you gonna tell him that, yerself?
Seriously, that is what I always thought. I never really took the creation or flood story at face value. However, plenty of my peers did, or at least seemed to.
Really, the rainbow story of God saying he would never do it again doesn’t work with this sanitized version. I grew up Methodist, Presbyterian and catholic and while the whole God is a dick who tried to destroy humanity is kind of skipped over to get to the saving animals part.
Generally, old testament god was a giant dick from the start. Which is kind of the point to experience god being a dick even to himself and then realizing he shouldn’t be such a dick.
I always understood that the Flood was intentional and not just God acting as a meteorologist for Noah.
That said, I also spent zero time worrying about the theological implications and more time thinking that painting in the Children’s Bible of all the animals getting loaded was pretty neat. Not quite up there with Satan tempting Jesus but at least as good as Adam & Eve getting the boot. And, lame as Bible-themed toys are, at least the Ark set probably had lions and elephants.
I feel my last paragraph (added on edit) was not as clear as it could have been.
While I’ve never heard of anyone saying that God was not responsible for the flood, I have heard the idea that Noah was not necessarily supposed to be the only one saved. I’ve seen many dramatizations where Noah preaches and tries to get other people to get on the boat with him, and they stubbornly refuse, instead making fun of him.
I could see that as a bit sanitized, as it gives everyone else a chance that they refused. But still the Flood itself was something God made happen to punish the wicked. The only difference is whether they had a chance to save themselves once God told Noah about the flood.
I wonder if this is what that other person was actually told, and they added the idea that God didn’t even actually cause the Flood because it sounded reasonable to them based on what they knew.
And I still pretty much believe it- though I believe the Deluge was regional & destroyed the corrupt & violent Nephilim Civilization, which may have spread throughout Eurasia & North Africa. By Nephilim, I don’t mean demon/alien/human hybrids- I mean “fallen Adamites who used their superior gifts to domineer & corrupt the surrounding tribes”. And while I believe the family of Noah were the core survivors, they may have actually had converts & other people outside what I call the Nephilim Empire could well have survived outside of the Deluge’s boundaries.
When I asked what she had specifically been taught, my friend said that she had inquired in Sunday school classes whether God intentionally caused the flood, only to be told thatt no, He merely foretold it. I don’t think her church encouraged parishioners to read the Bible on their own.
I was taught that the flood was definitely intentional. Humans were universally evil and God was just going to wash his hands of everything but realized that Noah was actually decent, so he decided to spare him. Animals two by two, blah, blah, they saw a dove with a branch, blah blah, God promises never to flood the world again. And somehow Jesus dying for our sins is tied into it.
Raised Roman Catholic, east coast US, Catholic school from mid-1960s through high school. Taught the story with a deliberate flood to wipe out the infidels. Also eventually taught that most of the Old Testament was allegory and not literal; earth is billions of years old; humans evolved from learlier lower life forms; humans and apes had a common ancestor.
Figured out much later that the OT god had to be more hardcore than competing gods for PR purposes.
I’ve seen depictions like that but it never really conflicted with my idea that God only really intended Noah to be saved. The whole point is that everyone else was a bunch of jackasses who thought God was a joke and Noah was the only good guy in town. So Noah tries to invite them ('cause he’s a good guy), they tell him to piss off and then they drown. Sort of like the Egyptian priests and Pharaoh being unmoved by plague after plague when you’d think someone might have said “Man, these frogs suck; let’s kick these guys out before it gets worse”.
I don’t think/know that Noah made a real attempt to invite people onboard (per the scripture) since I think the Bible says God just told Noah “I’m saving you and your family”.
NB the flood story was ripped off of earlier mythology wherein it is more or less said, depending on the version, that a god like En-Lil wished to wipe everybody out.
