Discussion of Sources of our Different Opinions
Our group easily recognizes that people have different opinions on a whole array of things. Some of those differences are matters of true and false, right and wrong. And these kinds of differences do divide us. Such divisions occur in matters of faith too. Before we can agree or disagree with anyone, however, we have to understand that concrete other. At the same time, followers of Christ are challenged, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) In this quote, who concretely, in your very own life, are the “one another?” And what does it mean to love the other? How does studying the bible, Genesis in this concrete setting, help us to love one another? Some questions for you to mull over.
Review of Session Thirteen
Two questions were raised in our session thirteen that I wanted to comment on. Heber wondered what the animals did to deserve the punishment of the flood. As I seem to say all the time, any question we can ask makes assumptions. If you assume that the biblical account of Noah and the Flood was an historical event, then his question raises even more questions. But if you assume that the biblical account has a meaning for our life, then that meaning in part is contained in the account as a whole. And that is how I understand the account and would invite you to read Gen. 9: 9-10 for a clue to the answer to Heber’s question. What do you think?
The second question came from Carol who wanted to know the size of the ark with the inference of how much space did these animals have. This question led me to do two things. First I decided during the previous week to take seriously what would it mean to flood the earth to a height of 15 ft above the highest mountain and cover the entire planet over a period of 40 days. Carrying out a bit of math, if the flood actually occurred as narrated, the amount of rain that would have fallen would have literally filled the entire Pacific Ocean from its present basin to its present sea level once every four days or ten times.
I then wondered how many animals are we talking about and how much space would they have had on the ark. Keep in mind that I wanted to simply get some general idea not a scientific position. Today we don’t how many species exist but of the ones that we do know, there are 1.7 million species. Since at least two of each specie were recorded in the account that would amount to 3.4 million individual creature. How much space would all of those creatures plus the 8 human beings and enough provisions to last more than 40 days have in the ark with its dimensions? After assuming an average size for each creature and doing some rough calculations, I was left with a fraction of a cubic ft. for each creature. I present this to show just a few of issues that I encountered when I took seriously a literal interpretation of this biblical account.. This all seems to me to take us far from the wonder, beauty, and challenge that this story has for. Read what we discussed in this session to learn more.
The Great Flood / Part 1 – Gen. 7: 6 – 24. You can read http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/7
As the group, so too you should pay attention to yourself as you read or listen to this passage. Carol was quick to point out that Noah didn’t say anything. You might want to focus on her observation not just in this section but in the entire story. What does it mean that Noah doesn’t talk? She also pointed out that we know the names of the four men in the story but none of the women. As you reflect on this observation, it would be very important to realize that the culture in which the story was told was a patriarchal one. For me this fact reveals how God takes us as we are and then by the time of Christ reminds us that in Christ we are neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free.
Dan was fascinated in the account that Noah was 600 years old. He wondered whether it was factual or part of the culture of the times? He then shared how a Jewish friend added that Noah had planted the seeds that 125 years later were to be the trees that Noah harvested to build the ark. Such additions are meant to enliven our appreciation of the story. The danger in our times of such additions occur when the listener things that this addition is part of the account, it is not. Rather it is part of our human nature to embellish a story to drive home a point which is how I would take what Dan shared. But how would you?
Ken pointed out that people of every generation attempt to explain what happens in their lives. He sees that as what is going on in this account. We have as part of our world scientific understandings that help us to explain what is going on and the biblical people did not. An observation I added was one of the affects of our scientific and historical developments is how they change how we view the whole of our world. We make distinctions that early peoples were not able to make. Ken offered the example of a volcanic irruption. We know what causes that and are not inclined to think of it being caused by the “gods” as might have been the case in more primitive times.
Tim wondered what the meaning of verse 11b might be. Once again this section of the account reveals the cosmology of the ancient people who imagined the world quite differently than we do. Google ancient Hebrew cosmology to view how the world was imaged by them and then compare it to the words in this verse.
As part of our ongoing discussion there is a certain ambiguity to the word “world.” I would ask you to reflect on a couple of facts from a biblical perspective. The world is good, natural catastrophes occur, we do despicable things. As Christians we believe that Christ is the Savior of the world. To Rise to the Level of our Times means to understand the complexities of our world, to discern the direction of our change, to promote the change that is development, and to turn the change that is decline into the change that is development. It would be a mistake, in my opinion, to think that all Christians would or should agree. I don’t think they every did nor do I think that, short of the next life, they every will. What the challenge is is not to be divided by what we disagree on! Is that within our reach? Your thoughts?
What remains for next week is to complete the story which ends with Covenant with Noah. The key to these past few weeks is quite simple, a Covenant, that is the meaning of the biblical account of Noah and the Flood. To miss that is to miss everything.
Your thoughts are encouraged and welcomed.