God's flood

This week I asked my ladies to inquire of their friends, family and strangers if they thought the biblical account of the flood was true and if it was local or worldwide. One of my gals posted her inquiry on Facebook and one of the responses read:

...its a myth, but IF it were true

it was the greatest mass murder

by a deity or world leader

in the history of mankind.

What do you think about that comment? Let's make a few simple observations first:

• "myth" indicates that this person doesn't believe in a literal view of scripture
• "mass murder" indicates disdain and judgment on God as the author of the flood
• "a deity" indicate that this person doesn't believe in the God of the Bible, but that there are possibly multiple options within the realm of gods
• "a deity" and "world leader" indicates that this person equates the flood to genocides accomplished by historical figures (i.e. Hitler, etc.)

I will have to agree with one point from this person's comment - more people were killed in this one event than ever in the history of the world. Due to the longevity of life before the flood, it is estimated that the population of the world was similar then to what it is today. So we're talking from 7 billion people down to 8. Yeah. Wow.

So, how would you answer an accusation like this? Yes, the facts are true, but is this person's perspective accurate?

Let's say a child goes outside to play on his swing set and sees an anthill on the ground. He marches over and kicks the anthill and ends up killing the ants that were swarming at his feet. Is he a mass murderer? Of course not, but this is NO WHERE NEAR a comparison of who God is and what He did at the flood. First of all, the boy did not make the ants, and second of all, the ants were not rebellious to the boy. So don't accept sing-song parables like this. Let's try to be more accurate.

You see, God created man. This reality completely puts us out of His league. We're not talking about "creating" like having a baby - we are not the creators of our children, as much as we like to claim we are. God is the author and giver of life. We have to use physical properties (I'm trying not to get too specific here) to make a baby (which God actually gave us to use), where God created from nothing. We are NOT in the same ball park as God.

He is God.

We are not.

Therefore, we do not stand in judgment of God.

Secondly, sin has a price. Because He is God, His holiness demands perfection. That's His standard, not ours because...HE IS GOD and WE ARE NOT. Genesis 6:5 tells us that the wickedness of man was great and that EVERY intent and thought of man was ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY.

We cannot even imagine how bad this was because God has built His church in this current world. But imagine if sin ruled? We see some pretty bad stuff right now - imagine if it was the norm? There was no government at the time of Noah - every man did what was right in his own eyes - absolute mayhem, driven by evil. It was so bad that it GRIEVED the heart of God - incredible!

So as the author of life, He had the right to take it away.

We cannot hold God to what our sin-encrusted mind believes is fair. It just doesn't work that way. When we do this, we struggle with:

• a Father offering the life of His Son for another
• a God who demands that a nation be wiped out to make room for His chosen people
• a thief being given salvation on the cross
• a legalistic Pharisee/murder writing a majority of the New Testament

Do you see it? Do you get it?

By faith, we are given glimpses of the heart of God and rather than standing in judgment of Him, we should fall on our faces and ask, Why didn't He just wipe out all of mankind? And then His Word tells us that He didn't do that because He had chosen us from the foundations of the world and loved us so much, that He chose to keep His Word and spare life on earth, all for His own glory.

Now, as to the one who wrote the comment on Facebook - rather than defending the actions of the Creator of the universe, I think I would start with trying to get him to see that God exists...to debate the flood with an atheist is really futile...but remember, God is the One who saves, so don't be discouraged by the persecution that faith in God brings.