The world is filled with myths and tall tales. It is part of human nature to explain the unexplainable with quaint stories and legends. However, it is quite another thing when those stories and myths come to be taken as fact. One popular story that is taken as fact is the story of "The Great Flood" and Noah. Literalists say the story is true. In fact, their is a claim that Noah's ark has been found! Right or wrong--who knows? Nevertheless, here is a just a partial listing of great floods in other parts of the world. They all contain a similar flow--god is upset, punished those who offend, some escape in a craft of some type, they repopulate the world. I have left out pieces of the stories, but you can easily see where they lead. In addition, most of these stories existed before the story of Noah was ever written. More than likely, bits and pieces were borrowed from each other as proximity and cultures emerged.

Greek:

Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains.

Roman:

Jupiter, angered at the evil ways of humanity, resolved to destroy it. He was about to set the earth to burning, but considered that that might set heaven itself afire, so he decided to flood the earth instead.

Egypt:

People have become rebellious. Atum said he will destroy all he made and return the earth to the Primordial Water which was its original state. Atum will remain, in the form of a serpent, with Osiris.

Assyrian:

The gods, led by Enlil, agreed to cleanse the earth of an overpopulated humanity, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea in a dream. He and some craftsmen built a large boat (one acre in area, seven decks) in a week. He then loaded it with his family, the craftsmen, and "the seed of all living creatures."

Sumerian:

The gods had decided to destroy mankind. The god Enlil warned the priest-king Ziusudra ("Long of Life") of the coming flood by speaking to a wall while Ziusudra listened at the side. He was instructed to build a great ship and carry beasts and birds upon it.

Zoroastrian:

"After Ahura Mazda has warned Yima that destruction in the form of winter, frost, and floods, subsequent to the melting of the snow, are threatening the sinful world, he proceeds to instruct him to build a vara, 'fortress or estate,' in which specimens of small and large cattle, human beings, dogs, birds, red flaming fires, plants and foodstuffs will have to be deposited in pairs."

Yoruba (southwest Nigeria):

A god, Ifa, tired of living on earth and went to dwell in the firmament with Obatala. Without his assistance, mankind couldn't interpret the desires of the gods, and one god, Olokun, in a fit of rage, destroyed nearly everybody in a great flood.

Kamar (Raipur District, Central India):

A boy and girl were born to the first man and woman. God sent a deluge to destroy a jackal which had angered him. The man and woman heard it coming, so they shut their children in a hollow piece of wood with provisions to last until the flood subsides. The deluge came, and everything on earth was drowned. After twelve years, God created two birds and sent them to see if the jackal had been drowned.

Assam:

A flood once covered the whole world and drowned everyone except for one couple, who climbed up a tree on the highest peak of the Leng hill. In the morning, they discovered that they had been changed into a tiger and tigress. Seeing the sad state of the world, Pathian, the creator, sent a man and a woman from a cave on the hill. But as they emerged from the cave, they were terrified by the sight of the tigers. They prayed to the Creator for strength and killed the beasts. After that, they lived happily and repopulated the world.

China:

The Supreme Sovereign ordered the water god Gong Gong to create a flood as punishment and warning for human misbehavior. Gong Gong extended the flood for 22 years, and people had to live in high mountain caves and in trees, fighting with wild animals for scarce resources.

Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal):

Some time after their creation, men grew disobedient. In anger, Puluga, the Creator, sent a flood which covered the whole land, except perhaps Saddle Peak where Puluga himself resided. Of all creatures, the only survivors were two men and two women who had the fortune to be in a canoe when the flood came.

Skokomish (Washington):

The Great Spirit, angry with the wickedness of people and animals, decided to rid the earth of all but the good animals, one good man, and his family. . . . Then the Great Spirit caused many days of rain, flooding up to the snow line of Takhoma (Mount Ranier). After all the bad people and animals were drowned, the Great Spirit stopped the rain, the waters slowly dropped, and the good people and animals climbed down.

Tarascan (northern Michoacan, Mexico):

When the great flood came, God built a house. Everyone tried to crowd into it; those who failed were drowned. The house floated on the waters for twenty days . . .

Trique (Oaxaca, southern Mexico):

Nexquiriac sent down a great flood to punish mankind for its very wicked ways. He instructed one good man to make a large box and to preserve himself in it, along with many animals and seeds of certain plants. When the flood was almost over, Nexquiriac told the man not to come out, but to bury the box, along with himself, until the face of the earth had been burned. After that was done, the man emerged and repopulated the earth.

I came across these stories doing a bit of research on myth and religion. I thought they all were related and it led me to look a bit deeper just to see how far I could trace these stories and it I had to quit because they are literally too numerous to list. I am also looking into creation stories and I have the same thing.

Ra




;)

Hey Ra,

as you know (for we've discussed is before) there are many Creation stories...I look forward to reading your research on that...This posting was infomative as well...

i shall return to read more responses...

I've been researching the Bible and its creation stories and others and comparing them other stories that existed prior to its writing. My purpose is not to discredit the Bible, but to bring some sense of reality to a group I regularly debate. Although some would like to claim biblical inerrancy, it isn't possible with a literal reading.

My thoughts on this matter come from a long background of trying to fit the stories with reality. It doesn't take long to realize that if we take what is written in any version of the Bible as literally true--that we are going to run into problems. The reasons are myriad as the Bible is an edited collection, rather than a single piece of literature. In addition, although we have names attached to the Bible, no one knows who wrote it which complicates matters even more.

But back to my original purpose. It seems that this literalism stressed by fundamentalists has an adverse affect on Christinaity itself and within itself. So far, the effects have been slow as other Christians distance themselves from the fundamentalists. However, holding up anything as infallable places it under higher scrutiny and as the scrutiny intensifies, the infallability starts to breakdown in the face of common sense and rationality.

Bishop Shelby Spong, thinks these fundamentalists are doing a disservice to Christianity by trying to make what is known to be false be true--such as the sun revolving around the earth--it is not true, but a literalist must take it as such because to accept one part as erroneous means that another part is erroneous as well. So, they hold fast and become "flat earth" believers in essence even though they know the difference. According to Bishop Spong, this is what causes the damage. The refusal to acknowledge reality.

I don't plan on going that far. All I am doing is searching for stories about virgin births, end of the world floods, adam and eve strories, resurrection stories and everlasting life stories that correspond to those found in the Bible. So far, the reseach has ben interesting, but not exciting. It is mostly a ourney that confirms what I all ready know. I'll try to keep you up to date on this slow topic--but it is of interest to me.

I am surprised somewhat, that others don't look into their religions beyond what is passed on as dogma. It would seem that such an important part of ones life would require examination. It would seem like one would want to know what lies behind the stories and myths. Anyway, I'll keep on.

Ra



:)

Ra,

Very good points here but i would like to express my opinion on your last statement. I feel the reason that most do not research further into their belief system is because of their faith that what they read is real, factual and true. It becomes a place of "taboo" for them if they read further into what is there to find out what is written. They fear that what they have understood to be true for so long may have been interpretted wrong by the one who preaches/teaches it to them from the pulpit. I find it a disservice to the congregation when the members are more educated than the pastor. Let me clarify that statement. I feel that anyone who pastors/evangelizes/teaches in a church setting should have an upper level degree or seminary training. While seminary is not the finality of training, it is a strong foundation which will help them to research the word better. Then they should teach their congregations how to look further into the scripture to strengthen their understanding. BUT, too many churches are stuck with listening to the word and not finding out for themselves what the word is saying. There should be an interdepenecy on the church leaders; Depend on them to teach the word as well as guide the mebers into a deeper understanding. Then the members should take time out to find out more for themsleves.

What most of the columnist here, (Amun-Ra, AAACOOLDRE, KEMETSRY, dnommo, and others) have basically done in exegete scripture. For those who do not know the meaning of this word. they have taken the scripture and research the history and life situations of the era in which the text was written to find a a deeper understanding of the word. I feel this is a benefit for anyone who is a believer because it will help them solidify their foundation and build their understanding of why certain passages in the Old Testement does not fit into this era in which we live. A true student of the word will truly know the meaning behind the scripture they quote and apply it to thier lives in such a way that it can do nothing more but effect the lives of others around them...

But, i digress...too many would rather quote scripture and play along with the theatrics of religion (not Christianity alone) then embrace the discipline of theology, soterology, pneumology or Christology.

indeed ya right MR.D

I fear that most take everything on face value--I don't think the church has been very good at prompting its members to look further than the scriptures--on the other hand, I don't think there's that many out there that care about such minutia asides from the few here and there--that makes us weird or something--I've just never been one to take things at face value, especially because someonbe told me so--many times I have searched and found that they were right, but just as often I've fouynd that they were wrong.

I am a skeptic from Jump Street. It is enough to doubt simply because that is what I do. Iin fact, I will argue a point from the other side just to keep the argument going because I am always skeptical of even my own motives. I see what I do and what I say, but is that me? And, who cares besides me?

Still, you know I love coming to the page in an manner that isn't along the status quo. It helps keep me sharp and learn things from people like you and others who have opened my eyes to new things.

Ra

:)

research is good, information is good, but if the information does not work for you/us in our continual elevation as a people, then of what use is it? it becomes wasted, and poisonous.

imvho, the church doesn't care, if you're talking about the black church. long as the tithing is healthy and the pews full, pastors're gonna continue preaching to emotionalism rather than teaching to intellectual soulism, as they should be. things are changing in some places, i hear, and that's good. but its coming too slow.

if you can connect christianity with islam and judaism, and then connect those to zorastrianism, druidism and hellenism, you can prove that all of these religions had common themes, which not only points toward the validity of your original statment, but also may point back to some original monism of thought and spiritual practice; an original tower of babel, as it were ... one, world-spanning religious/spiritual system.

However, it is one of those things that few people will ever grasp because it requires leaving our comfort zones and most people don't like to do that even if it warrants a look.

Ra

;)

:) and again i say, amen-ra.

I've been finishing up a book. I still stop past and read, but I rarely comment--but I am coming back now that I have time--I didn't realize a non-fiction book required so much--I think I'll stick to fiction or poetry--Gilgamesh--that is the one that started it all for the Bible--I'll be checking you out soon--talk to ya--Ra

:D

the mayans said one of the 5 ages of hue-mankind ended by flood as well, altho' i'm sure both of the mexican sources you mentioned are related to theirs, somehow ...

By the way--I finished my book "Black and Not Baptist" and it is available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobleand other places. I didn't ask Destree to advertise it because it is controversial. It is about black nonbelief in the United States--Ra You can see the new book at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-2862214-9427248. It isn't something for the weak of heart because it challanges Christian belief and behavior in the black community.


the mayans said one of the 5 ages of hue-mankind ended by flood as well, altho' i'm sure both of the mexican sources you mentioned are related to theirs, somehow ...