Registered: Jan 2003
Location:
Posts: 191

Shocking News: 60% of US believe Noah story is literally true

I could hardly believe it: in an ABC News PrimeTime Poll, 1011 US adults were asked the following (http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm, background e.g. in http://www.washtimes.com/national/2...13955-2061r.htm)

"I'm going to ask about a few stories in the Bible. [See below.] Do you think that's literally true, meaning it happened that way word-for-word; or do you think it's meant as a lesson, but not to be taken literally?

- The story of Noah and the ark in which it rained for 40 days and nights, the entire world was flooded, and only Noah, his family and the animals on their ark survived."

The answers were:

Literally True 60 %
Not Literally True 33 %
No Opinion 7 %

I really don't understand. Do these 60 % believe we got our brain and our eyes from the Devil, or we got it from God, but are not supposed to use it?

For those who don't remember: according to the Bible, God said "The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high." That's not a hell of a lot of space, no? Specially considering Noah was "to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them." So how did Noah feed the carnivore animals? Did he take extra numbers of herbivore animals, plus of course all plant material needed to feed all the herbivores? Quite a task for a single man, literally.

That is in Genesis 6 but a few lines later in Genesis 7, God orders Noah "Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth." So apparently God's mind had not been made up regarding numbers in the first order, but as far as we know, Noah did not complain about the short-term changes (the flood was only seven days away by then). Noah was already 600 years old at the time according to the bible, which is a lot for a man, taken literally.

So then the rain comes, and "The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet" (given that we can detect minute marks of water that has disappeared ages ago on Mars, undoubtedly we can find ample evidence for such an enormous event on Earth, no.....? No?).

Everything moving on Earth dies (not plants, supposedly, which is good because Noah did not have them on his ark, apart from the food for all the animals). "The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days" - that means you need a LOT of food for all the animals on that rather small ark. However, it takes several more months until Earth is dry and they get off the ark.

Then, according to the Bible, they start multiplying. Noah plants an vineyard, gets drunk and falls asleep naked in his tent. His son Ham sees him and tells his two brothers. After Noah wakes up, he curses Ham's son Canaan (not Ham, which would probably have been slightly more understandable) and says: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." Not really fair, is it? After all, Canaan had done nothing wrong. Anyway, Noah lives on for another 350 years and then dies, cause of death not specified.

So 60% of adult US citizens literally believe this story has taken place on our planet, a few thousand years ago.... I guess some of them must be reading this, so maybe you can explain to me: Just about everything we know about geology, zoology, botany, agriculture, breeding, meteorology, must be wrong if this story is true, it is mutually exclusive with the story of Noah. Do you indeed think all of what we know about Earth is wrong? Science is made by the Devil because it contradicts the Bible? Science in general is ok, unless it happens to contradict the Bible interpreted literally? Please help me out, you 60 % of literal believers in the story of Noah.

Registered: Feb 2004
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The really alarming thing is that this majority of the population can vote for our political leaders, judges and school board members.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

It comes down to FAITH.

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Felipe Garcia
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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

I believe in the literal story of Noah. I don't know whether the entire earth was covered, or just the world around Noah - I haven't decided yet.

But the whole scientific proof thing isn't a big deal to me. It's what I believe in my heart that is important. In every religion, faith makes up the difference between the facts you know and the beliefs you have. No matter how much you know, there are still things that don't make sense. Some day it will all make sense, and the explanation will probably be very simple.

There was an old Star Trek episode where Spock's brain was put somewhere else, and Dr. McKoy was putting the brain back into Spock's head. Dr. McKoy received some extra knowledge (I don't remember from where), and he said, "It is so simple, a child could do this." But when that extra knowledge was taken away, McKoy's "simple" understanding was gone, and the brain replacement surgery seemed overwhelming to him. Like McKoy, once we learn the whole truth, everything will make sense to us in a perfectly logical way.

It's the same in the scientific world on things as fundamental as the age or expansion of the universe. Dark matter? Dark energy? General relativity vs. quantum physics? Particle/matter duality of light? We really don't have a clue as to how the world around us is all put together - we just do the best we can with the knowledge we have.

Yes, some religious beliefs seem to contraduct our scientific understanding. But that's ok. We just keep studying, learning (and praying), do the best we can to learn the whole truth.

By the way, science isn't "of the devil" like you propose. Science is learning the truth about the world created for us. The pursuit of truth is good.

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Registered: Jan 2003
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Posts: 191

quote:

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Originally posted by Felipe
It comes down to FAITH.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

quote:

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Originally posted by Zekep
The really alarming thing is that this majority of the population can vote for our political leaders, judges and school board members.

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Registered: Jan 2003
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Posts: 191

quote:

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Originally posted by heberman
I believe in the literal story of Noah. I don't know whether the entire earth was covered, or just the world around Noah - I haven't decided yet.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

quote:

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Originally posted by clulup
You are trying quote contradictions in science that don't exist. There's no contradiction in dark matter and no "relativity vs. quantum physics".

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Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 3

I'll tell you what I don't believe to be true at all.

History has used the Curse of Caanan to religiously justify the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans.
The Story goes that Ham (Hebrew for black or hot) is of the "African" Race. Shem his brother is of the Semitic race, and Japeth is of the Caucasian race. Now I say race in the sense of different facial features and hair textures.... etc. You get the drift right...
So when Ham see's Noah naked and Noah curses Caanan, this was used to say that all African peoples were now meant to be slaves, and thus justification for the slave trade.

NOW we know that the garden of Eden started from the land in between the Pishon and Gishon Rivers (Blue and Right Nile, right smack in present day Eithopia) and science has proven that Africa as we know it is the cradle of civillization.......

SO how in the world did three different races of people spring from one man and one woman who were of the same race and living somehwere around the vicinity of present day Eithopia-Egypt-Middle Eastern area. *Note the Middle East region of the world used to all be apart of Africa until the Suez Canal was built, then during World War I War Correspondents started to refer to the area across form the Canal (Israel, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, Lebonan, Syria....etc as the Middle East)
Hogwosh, genetically impossible..... and foolish I say....

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location:
Posts: 17

Re: Shocking News: 60% of US believe Noah story is literally true

quote:

---

Originally posted by clulup
I could hardly believe it: in an ABC News PrimeTime Poll, 1011 US adults were asked the following (http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm, background e.g. in http://www.washtimes.com/national/2...13955-2061r.htm)

"I'm going to ask about a few stories in the Bible. [See below.] Do you think that's literally true, meaning it happened that way word-for-word; or do you think it's meant as a lesson, but not to be taken literally?

- The story of Noah and the ark in which it rained for 40 days and nights, the entire world was flooded, and only Noah, his family and the animals on their ark survived."

The answers were:

Literally True 60 %
Not Literally True 33 %
No Opinion 7 %

I really don't understand. Do these 60 % believe we got our brain and our eyes from the Devil, or we got it from God, but are not supposed to use it?

For those who don't remember: according to the Bible, God said "The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high." That's not a hell of a lot of space, no? Specially considering Noah was "to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them." So how did Noah feed the carnivore animals? Did he take extra numbers of herbivore animals, plus of course all plant material needed to feed all the herbivores? Quite a task for a single man, literally.

That is in Genesis 6 but a few lines later in Genesis 7, God orders Noah "Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth." So apparently God's mind had not been made up regarding numbers in the first order, but as far as we know, Noah did not complain about the short-term changes (the flood was only seven days away by then). Noah was already 600 years old at the time according to the bible, which is a lot for a man, taken literally.

So then the rain comes, and "The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet" (given that we can detect minute marks of water that has disappeared ages ago on Mars, undoubtedly we can find ample evidence for such an enormous event on Earth, no.....? No?).

Everything moving on Earth dies (not plants, supposedly, which is good because Noah did not have them on his ark, apart from the food for all the animals). "The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days" - that means you need a LOT of food for all the animals on that rather small ark. However, it takes several more months until Earth is dry and they get off the ark.

Then, according to the Bible, they start multiplying. Noah plants an vineyard, gets drunk and falls asleep naked in his tent. His son Ham sees him and tells his two brothers. After Noah wakes up, he curses Ham's son Canaan (not Ham, which would probably have been slightly more understandable) and says: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." Not really fair, is it? After all, Canaan had done nothing wrong. Anyway, Noah lives on for another 350 years and then dies, cause of death not specified.

So 60% of adult US citizens literally believe this story has taken place on our planet, a few thousand years ago.... I guess some of them must be reading this, so maybe you can explain to me: Just about everything we know about geology, zoology, botany, agriculture, breeding, meteorology, must be wrong if this story is true, it is mutually exclusive with the story of Noah. Do you indeed think all of what we know about Earth is wrong? Science is made by the Devil because it contradicts the Bible? Science in general is ok, unless it happens to contradict the Bible interpreted literally? Please help me out, you 60 % of literal believers in the story of Noah.

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Registered: Nov 2003
Location:
Posts: 2

The reason why poeple argue this point is because there are poeple like Bush that push THEIR idea of morality on others. If Bush had the power he would force his religion down everyone's throat. The difference between him and an islamic extremist terrorist is that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth unlike some who have no hope no future.

Registered: Dec 2003
Location:
Posts: 17

But wasting time arguing and trying to convince each other is taking away the thing that matters most, our lives !

There is so much to experience in life other than debating the age of Noah and how many animals were on the Ark.

Politics and Religion can bring out the worst in people.

We need to be constructive, create friendships, share information, help each other out, and not get buried in our diffferences.

Registered: Jan 2003
Location:
Posts: 191

quote:

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Originally posted by jfmcdowell357
The Story goes that Ham (Hebrew for black or hot) is of the "African" Race. Shem his brother is of the Semitic race, and Japeth is of the Caucasian race [...] So when Ham see's Noah naked and Noah curses Caanan, this was used to say that all African peoples were now meant to be slaves, and thus justification for the slave trade. ...

NOW we know that the garden of Eden started from the land in between the Pishon and Gishon Rivers (Blue and Right Nile, right smack in present day Eithopia) and science has proven that Africa as we know it is the cradle of civillization.......

Hogwosh, genetically impossible..... and foolish I say....

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Registered: Jan 2003
Location:
Posts: 191

Re: Re: Shocking News: 60% of US believe Noah story is literally true

quote:

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Originally posted by dlbrummels
Funny the most brilliant scientist in the world believes in GOD !

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Registered: Jan 2003
Location:
Posts: 191

quote:

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Originally posted by heberman
There are lots of things about the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, which don't make sense to me.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Re: Re: Shocking News: 60% of US believe Noah story is literally true

quote:

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Originally posted by clulup
And that would be who?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

quote:

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Originally posted by jfmcdowell357
I'll tell you what I don't believe to be true at all. History has used the Curse of Caanan to religiously justify the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

quote:

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Originally posted by Lakers0340
The reason why poeple argue this point is because there are poeple like Bush that push THEIR idea of morality on others. If Bush had the power he would force his religion down everyone's throat. The difference between him and an islamic extremist terrorist is that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth unlike some who have no hope no future.

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Dang Bush! All of my problems are his fault!

Equating President Bush to a terrorist is just stupid. Terrorists kill innocent people. Bush helped stop Saddam from creating more mass graves full of hundreds of thousands of people. Go tell the countless dead Iraqi people, including women and children shot and buried with their hands tied and blindfolded, about what a bad guy Bush is.

Let's see: a guy straps a bomb to himself, gets on a bus and blows up dozens of people; or drives a plane into a building killing thousands. Then there is Bush fighting back trying to protect the world from terrorists and homocidal dictators. Yeah, some comparison.

If you don't like Bush's politics, decision to go to war, etc. - fine. People can argue in good faith about that. But comparing him to a terrorist is ridiculous. You sound like one of the extremist mobs we see chanting, "Death to America!" Crazy.

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