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| | #REDIRECT[[The Flood]] |
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| ==Criticism==
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| *Modern scientific knowledge regarding the diversity of species, language and evidence of continuous human habitation does not support the Biblical story that a global flood wiped out most life as recently as 4,400 years ago.
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| *Critics claim that LDS scriptures require Mormons to believe in a global flood, and that if LDS doctrine or leaders are fallible in their statements concerning the flood, then they must be wrong about other Church doctrines as well.
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| *If Noah's Flood was not global, how do we account for Joseph Smith's claim that the Garden of Eden was located in Missouri?
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| *Isn't it true that before the flood all the continents were all one land mass, since the Bible says that the earth was "divided in the days of Peleg."
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| ===Source(s) of the criticism===
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| *{{CriticalWork:Southerton:Losing|pages=143, 203}}
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| *Internet message boards
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| ==Response==
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| ===Belief in a global flood within the Church===
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| Although this criticism is directed at the LDS church, it is really directed at anyone who believes in a literal reading of the Old Testament. LDS leaders have in the past taught the concept of a global flood based upon such a reading. Although the idea of the global flood has been used as an example, Church leaders have never stated that a belief in a global flood is ''necessary'' for salvation.
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| {{scripture||Genesis|7|19-23}} reads:
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| :19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
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| :20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
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| :21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
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| :22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
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| :23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
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| A similar reference to the destruction of all flesh from off the earth is found in Latter-day scripture in {{scripture||Moses|8|25-30}}. These passages have long been interpreted to mean that the entire globe was covered by water (although one is left to wonder how "the mountains were covered" by water which was only "fifteen cubits" deep — approximately 23 feet.) The primary reason for this global interpretation is the use of the word "earth." When modern readers see the word "earth," they envision the ''entire planetary sphere''. Dr. Duane E. Jeffery elaborates:
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| :A critical issue in the Flood story in the King James Bible has to do with translations of the Hebrew words ''eretz'' and ''adamah'' as meaning the entire “earth.” What do these terms actually mean? It is widely recognized that Hebrew is a wonderful language for poets, since virtually every word has multiple meanings. But that same characteristic makes it a horrible language for precision. As it turns out, ''eretz'' and ''adamah'' can indeed be a geographical reference akin to what we usually mean by “the earth.” But it is not at all clear that the ancients had the concept of a spherical planet that you and I do. Many scholars argue that the Bible writers thought in terms of a flat earth that was covered by a bowl-shaped firmament into which the windows of heaven were literally cut..." {{ref|jeffery.30}}
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| In fact, the concept of a spherical earth "did not appear in Jewish thought until the fourteenth or fifteenth century."{{ref|jeffery1}} The word "earth," as used in the Bible, simply refers to solid ground or land, as opposed to water (see {{scripture||Genesis|1|10}} — "God called the dry land Earth; and...the waters called he Seas....").
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| The concept of a global flood has become further reinforced within the Church by the fact that modern day prophets and apostles have taught that the flood washed away the earth's wickedness. For example, in 1880 Elder Orson Pratt stated that God "required our globe to be baptized by a flow of waters, and all of its sins were washed away, not one sin remaining."{{ref|pratt1}} Joseph Smith, Jr. taught that Noah was born to save seed of everything when the earth was washed of its wickedness by the flood.{{ref|smith1}} Such wickedness could include ''man's'' wickedness, or it could imply a need for the earth itself to have a type of baptism.
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| ===Are Church members required to believe in a global flood?===
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| The early prophets and apostles taught their beliefs regarding a global flood using the scriptures. Modern scientific knowledge was unavailable to them, and they taught concepts which were in accordance with the popular belief. In modern times a belief in a global flood event, while still widely-held within the Church, does not constitute a critical part of Latter-day Saint theology.{{ref|jeffrey3}}
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| ===How could the Garden of Eden have been in Missouri if the Flood was local?===
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| {{Main|Garden of Eden in Missouri?}}
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| A question related to the scope of the Flood that arises is how the Garden of Eden could possibly have been located in Missouri if Noah's flood was not global, since his posterity appeared in the Old World. If one were making assumptions about a localized flood in Noah's day, one would have to assume that the flood originated wherever Noah was, and that for as long as the ark drifted, extended at least as far as Noah could see. It would be difficult to know where Noah was before the flood, but the length of Noah's journey could be quite far based upon storm conditions and the time afloat.
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| One "limited flood" explanation that has been proposed for this is that Noah built his ark and either went down the Mississippi River valley, or that he built the ark on the East Coast of the North American continent. Another line of thought is that the placement of the Garden on the North American continent was more of a symbolic act intended to "sacralize" the land—thus providing it with its own "sacred history" similar to that of the Old World. The truth is, however, that the Biblical description of the location of the Garden of Eden does ''not'' match up with existing Old World geography, any more than it does with New World geography. {{ref|barney1}} (For a more in-depth treatment of this subject, see Kevin Barney, [http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/07/was-the-garden-of-eden-really-in-missouri Was the Garden of Eden Really in Missouri?] and the wiki article [[Garden of Eden in Missouri?]]).
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| ===Doesn't the Bible say that the continents were divided immediately after the Flood?===
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| At least a few leaders of the Church have been of this view. Prominently, prior to becoming president of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith wrote that
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| :in the beginning all of the land surface was in one place as it was in the days of Peleg, ({{b||Genesis|10|25}}.) that the earth was divided. Some Bible commentators have concluded that this division was one concerning the migrations of the inhabitants of the earth between them, but this is not the case. While this is but a very brief statement, yet it speaks of a most important event. The dividing of the earth was not an act of division by the inhabitants of the earth by tribes and peoples, but a breaking asunder of the continents, thus dividing the land surface and creating the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere.{{ref|jfs1}}
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| John Taylor also expressed similar views, albeit more briefly.{{ref|taylor1}} It is perhaps important to note that then-Elder Smith wrote that "By looking at a wall map of the world, you will discover how the land surface along the northern and southern coast of the American Hemisphere and Europe and Africa has the appearance of having been together at one time."{{ref|jfs2}} Elder Smith was writing between 1953 and 1966; modern continental drift theory was only beginning to gain acceptance during this period (even by 1977, a geology textbook would note that "a poll of geologists now would probably show a substantial majority who favor the idea of drift," while also providing a substantial critique of the theory.{{ref|geobook1}})
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| It is difficult to know, then, if Elder Smith would have revised his view of the implication that continents "fit," jigsaw-puzzle-like, into each other had he been aware of some of the later evidence. He was certainly humble enough to renounce other views which he had expressed which contradicted later scientific advances.
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| A few scriptures, then, refer to the earth being ''divided'':
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| :{{s||Genesis|10|13}} and {{s|1|Chronicles|1|19}}: And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan.
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| :{{s||DC|133|24}}: And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided.
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| The verses in Genesis and 1 Chronicles are describing the descendants of Shem. LDS scholar Hugh Nibley viewed Genesis 10:25 (which says that in the days of Peleg "the earth was divided") as meaning "the earth was divided among the children of Noah." There is no serious biblical scholarship that reads these verses as implying a rapid drift of the continents—partly because such an idea would have been utterly foreign to writers in that time period. Some members have preferred to take the reading of Elder Smith as described above. Neither represents an official position of the Church, as President J. Rueben Clark taught:
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| :Here we must have in mind--must know--that only the President of the Church, the Presiding High Priest, is sustained as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator for the Church, and he alone has the right to receive revelations for the Church, either new or amendatory, or to give authoritative interpretations of scriptures that shall be binding on the Church....
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| :When any man, except the President of the Church, undertakes to proclaim one unsettled doctrine, as among two or more doctrines in dispute, as the settled doctrine of the Church, we may know that he is not "moved upon by the Holy Ghost," unless he is acting under the direction and by the authority of the President.
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| :Of these things we may have a confident assurance without chance for doubt or quibbling.{{ref|clark1}}
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| ==Conclusion==
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| Like other Christians, Latter-day Saints hold different views on the issue of whether Noah's flood was local or global. Members of any given LDS congregation may have of a variety of points of view, and many have no firm opinion one way or the other.
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| A belief in either a global or local flood is not a requirement for Latter-day Saints; traditionally, many earlier members and leaders endorsed the global flood views common in society and Christendom generally. The accumulation of additional scientific information have led some to conclude that a local flood — one limited to the area in which Noah lived — is the best explanation of the available data. People of either view, or neither, can be members in good standing.
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| ==Endnotes==
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| #{{note|jeffery1}}{{Sunstone | author=Duane E. Jeffery | article=Noah’s Flood: Modern Scholarship and Mormon Traditions|num=134|date=October 2004|start=30|end=}}
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| #{{note|jeffery1}}{{Sunstone | author=Duane E. Jeffery | article=Noah’s Flood: Modern Scholarship and Mormon Traditions|num=134|date=October 2004|start=27|end=45 }}
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| #{{note|pratt1}} {{JoD21_1 |author=Orson Pratt|title=The Earth's Baptism In Water|date=1 Aug. 1880|start=323}}
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| #{{note|smith1}} History of the Church 1:283; Evening and Morning Star, August 1832;
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| #{{note|jeffery2}}{{Sunstone | author=Duane E. Jeffery | article=Noah’s Flood: Modern Scholarship and Mormon Traditions|num=134|date=October 2004|start=31|end=32 }} Jeffrey notes that ideas of a global flood may have resulted from a widespread local problem. A current hypothesis that has been gaining ground since 1998 is that a significant flooding event occurred in the area now occupied by the Black Sea. Evidence has been discovered which has led a number of researchers to believe that the Black Sea area was once occupied by a completely isolated freshwater lake at a much lower level than the ocean. The theory is that the sea level rose and eventually broke through the Bosporus shelf, resulting in a rapid flooding event which would have wiped out all life living along the shores of the lake (see p. 34). Whether this is the source for the Genesis flood remains conjecture.
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| #{{note|barney1}}Kevin Barney, [http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/07/was-the-garden-of-eden-really-in-missouri Was the Garden of Eden Really in Missouri?], ''By Common Consent'', July 4, 2007.
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| #{{note|jfs1}} {{AnswersGospelQuestions1|vol=5|start=73}}
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| #{{note|taylor1}} John Taylor, ''Government of God'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1852), 110.
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| #{{note|jfs2}}{{AnswersGospelQuestions1|vol=5|start=73}} For essentially the same argument, see also 4:22; ''Church History and Modern Revelation'' (1947), 2:35; and ''Man: His Origin and Destiny'' (1954), 385, 421–422. Note that these sources are all even earlier, and likewise predate modern continental drift data and theory. President David O. McKay was clear on multiple occasions that the latter volume represented only President Smith's personal opinions, and were not Church doctrine (see [[Primary_sources/Evolution/David_O_McKay_1957|here]] and [[Primary_sources/Evolution/McKay_Letter_1959|here]]).
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| #{{note|geobook1}} Richard A. Davis, ''Principles of Oceanography'', 2nd edition, (Addison-Wesley, 1977), ISBN 0201014645. For more on continental drift theory's history and development, see ''wikipedia.org'' {{link|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift}}.
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| #{{note|clark1}} J. Rueben Clark, Jr. "When Are the Writings or Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Scripture?" Address to Seminary and Institute Teachers, BYU (7 July 1954); reproduced in ''Church News'' (31 July 1954); also reprinted in ''Dialogue'' 12/2 (Summer 1979): 68–81.
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| ==Further reading==
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| ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| {{EvolutionWiki}}
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| ===FAIR web site===
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| {{EvolutionFAIR}}
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| ===Videos===
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| {{Video:Meldrum:Stephens:2003:Children of Lehi}}
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| {{Video:Ostler:2005:Fallacy}}
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| ===External links===
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| {{EvolutionLinks}}
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| ===Printed material===
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| {{EvolutionPrint}}
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| [[es:El Diluvio, Local o Universal]]
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| {{Suggestions}}
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