Actual reproduction of the Ark?
Picture by: NY Times/Dallas Abbott
The Fenambosy chevron, one of four near the tip of Madagascar, is 600 feet high and three miles from the ocean -- was this area flooded?
Anyone reading GodolHador's site (or its spin-off) should have been convinced that there is no scientific proof whatsoever that backs up the biblical flood story.
To fit Judaism to Modern Science, XGH postulated that the Flood (and the creation story in general) is a myth/moshol, and there are enough serious rabbanim to back up the idea that one can still be an Orthodox, Torah observant Jew, and adhere to this opinion.
But...look what appears in the NY Times!
The New York Times writes that according to a group of scientists and researchers, a large meteorite hit the earth 4800 years ago in the Indian ocean and caused a tsunami in India 13 times as big as the one two years ago.
From the end of the article:
Would the same hold for some bloggers and their myth/moshels?
hat-tip; JoeSettler.
To fit Judaism to Modern Science, XGH postulated that the Flood (and the creation story in general) is a myth/moshol, and there are enough serious rabbanim to back up the idea that one can still be an Orthodox, Torah observant Jew, and adhere to this opinion.
But...look what appears in the NY Times!
The New York Times writes that according to a group of scientists and researchers, a large meteorite hit the earth 4800 years ago in the Indian ocean and caused a tsunami in India 13 times as big as the one two years ago.
On close inspection, the chevron deposits contain deep ocean microfossils that are fused with a medley of metals typically formed by cosmic impacts. And all of them point in the same direction — toward the middle of the Indian Ocean where a newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface.It could have wiped out 25% of the world’s population, the scientists posit.
From the end of the article:
“Dr. Masse analyzed 175 flood myths from around the world, and tried to relate them to known and accurately dated natural events like solar eclipses and volcanic eruptions. Among other evidence, he said, 14 flood myths specifically mention a full solar eclipse, which could have been the one that occurred in May 2807 B.C.
Half the myths talk of a torrential downpour, Dr. Masse said. A third talk of a tsunami. Worldwide they describe hurricane force winds and darkness during the storm. All of these could come from a mega-tsunami.”
“I've long argued that the traditional commentators are falliable, in part, because they didn't have the benefit of archeology, linguistics, comparitive religion, and other academic disciplines.”
Would the same hold for some bloggers and their myth/moshels?
hat-tip; JoeSettler.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
12 comments:
My first inclination was like yours - bona fide flood evidence! My second was, the specific retelling of the flood story still must be relegated to myth.
Like Iyov - there may have been a person named Iyov, but the stories told about him are most likely a later homily.
You're misrepresenting my opinion. I said there was never a global flood, there were plenty of local floods, however that's not really the story of Noach. Plus of course the entire narrative that the story of Noach is embedded into is impossible anyway. But this indian flood (if real) could certainly be the basis for the Noach myth.
XGH
Another possible basis of flood mythology is the opening of the Bosporus straights, about 6000 years ago. Prior to that, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake, with a surface level several hundred feet lower than today.
It's estimated that, once the Bosporus opened, the Black Sea reached its current level within a matter of weeks to months. This was accompanied, of course, by catastropic flooding in the coastal regions.
Personally, I have no doubt that the prevelance of flood myths points to some cataclysm in or near the Mid East, 4 to 6000 years ago. The people it affected would certainly have assumed it was universal!
Like always, my money is with the one who calls himself Jameel.
(Is that a good thing?!)
BTW - hope it went well.
I had you beat by 2 hours: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2006/11/anyone-seen-flood.html
You should see what's going on at DovBear's place.
Just checked in to GadolHador and he is no more!
I love your ark! A ragtail group of misfits that created man and animalkind. Is that OG drilling holes?
great ark
In Great Neck we were taught that the ice in the "ice age" went as far as Great Neck South!
For those less acquainted with Long Island, you can say to the north shore.
No matter what this flood theory proposes, it still does not match what the literal text of the Torah says. This theory suggests a quarter of the human race perished. The Torah says the fatality rate was over 99 percent--everyone except Noah and his family.
Michael, why should anyone have thought the Black Sea flood was universal? Anyone who did escape would have done so by fleeing to an adjacent area that had not been flooded, and the lack of destruction there as well as the testimony of the local inhabitants would've made it clear that it hadn't been flooded.
As for me, like the Monkees sang so eloquently, 'I'm a believer!'
"No matter what this flood theory proposes, it still does not match what the literal text of the Torah says. This theory suggests a quarter of the human race perished. The Torah says the fatality rate was over 99 percent--everyone except Noah and his family."
it might be enough for the torah, which always talks about a specific region, not the whole world (e.g. not the new world). also chazal talk about the borders of the flood being yam ukinus, this doesn't imply a model of the flood reaching the whole world as we know it today.
Actually the Medrash mentions a major flood before the Mabul during the time of Enosh.
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