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What's the church's position on the stories of the Old Testament? Is the story of Adam and Eve considered historical fact? What about Noah and the worldwide flood? I ask because these stories seem to contradict what science has discovered about human origins and the geologic history of the Earth.
Answer to Question 510 Much of the Old Testament cannot be proved as historical facts but neither can science claim to have historical facts on the origin of man or the origin of the universe. What science claims are only unproven theories like the Big bang theory and the theory of evolution which would have us believe that humans evolved from the apes. I was asked this question last week and this is part of what I answered:
“If man evolved from the apes, why are there still apes today, why have they not evolved into something closer to man? Man is a psychosomatic being, in other words he is both body and soul. For something to evolve there has to be something already there to evolve from. In the case of the body it was created from dust or according to the theory of evolution it came about over millions of years from organic molecules. The body therefore in both cases had a beginning in something else, but what about the soul. The soul according to the Bible was created from nothing; “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The soul is immortal and therefore cannot evolve except in its relationship to God. From its creation it was created in the image and likeness of God and thus from an evolutionary viewpoint it was already perfect. Man as already mentioned is both body and soul or half body and half soul. Can therefore the one half evolve without the other half? If man is both body and soul then when did the soul come into existence? If as we believe they were created at the same time and if man evolved from the ape then did the “ape-man” have a brain with a below the average intelligence while at the same time having a eternal soul with the intellect and wisdom which God bestowed upon it as part of the “image”? I think this argument clearly shows that man did not evolve from the ape or any of the “Homo family” evolutionists would have us believe.”
But you mention also the Great Flood and this is something that can be verify with historical facts. According to biblical calculations, the Great flood, took place in 3250BC. We have many historical facts and folklore traditions from many nations that thousands of years ago there was a flood that covered the face of the earth. These sources are not always Judaic of Christian in origin. In Cyprus for example we celebrate together with the Feast of Pentecost the Festival of the Cataclysm (Cataclysmos) which means a disastrous flood. It was a pagan festival celebrated in Cyprus before Christian times to ward off another flood. When Cyprus became Christian the pagan feast was replaced with the Christian feast of Pentecost, but it left behind traces of its origin.
In 1850 archaeological digs in Old Nineveh, the Capital of Assyria, brought to light many tablets of Assyrian sphenoidal writing which were taken to London. In 1872 George Smith presented at the Archaeological Museum translations of these writings which referred to the Great Flood. The Daily Telegraph paid him then 100 guineas for the exclusive. Within eight days he produced more writings which also referred to the Flood. After this, there followed Babylonian writings which mention the building of the Ark and a Sumerian version of the Flood. There is no question that Archaeology has unravelled a historical fact and confirms that the Biblical account of the flood is true.
Same member I think there is some misconceptions concerning evolution. Humans didn't evolve directly from modern apes but rather we have a common ancestor 6 million years ago that can be calculated through our genome. Modern anatomical humans have been walking the Earth for at least 200,000 years not the 6000 years the Bible tells us. I've also studied the Flood story extensively and for a flood to have happened exactly as described in the Bible is literally impossible for countless reasons. 1) There is not enough water on Earth to cover all the mountains. 2) Unique animals only found on isolated islands like Australia, Madagascar, the Galapagos etc could never have made the trek to the Middle East and most of them have a very specific diet (eg Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves which only exist in Australia). 3 Noah would have needed 1 year of food supplies for lions, bears, elephants without the food going off. 4 There were human civilisations all across the continents before, during and after the flood that didnt seem affected by a worldwide flood.
Reply The question on whether the flood was local or universal depends on how we interpret the Biblical passages. Interpreted literally it would mean a universal flood covering the whole earth. But the Bible often uses a language that literally means everywhere, but in reality means from many places. For example, in Acts we read: "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." What it really means is that there were Jews in Jerusalem from every nation where Jews lived. In Genesis we read of the famine during the time of Joseph: "And the famine was over all the face of the earth." The famine affected a very large area, probably Africa and the Middle East and maybe parts of Europe, but its very unlikely that it refers to all the continents.
So how should we understand the extent of the flood? The Bible was concerned with two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Seth. Of these descended the family lines of the Cainites and the Sethites. Adam and Eve had many more children, but the Bible remains silent of their family lines and just concentrates on the ancestors of the chosen people of God. Thus the flood is aimed against the two lines stemming from Cain and Seth and not against the whole human race. In the eyes of the author of Genesis these two races were mankind, and especially the line of Seth who was the chosen line for the people of God and the ancestor of the Messiah, the saviour of mankind. But it is logical to say that there were other races from Adams other children who travelled far from Armenia and the Middle East area to places beyond the Mediterranean and Northern Africa. It is possible then that the flood did not cover all the earth but only the lands in which dwelt the descendants of Cain and Seth.
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