Why did Noah's descendents forsake God so quickly?

No, I'm not getting confused, in Genesis 9.

quote:

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22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

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23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

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"Covered the nakedness of" is a Jewish euphemism.

No it isn't. "Uncover the nakedness of" is a Jewish euphemism. (See Leviticus 18 and 20).The meaning of the verse in Genesis 9 is plain. Ham saw his father in a naked drunken stupor, and Shem and Japheth covered him up. It says: "And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." There's no way you can interpret that as meaning that they "got jiggy" with him. They took a garment and covered him up without even looking at him.

All the places you listed have one thing in common, they are all either on coasts or have major rivers. These types of areas are subject to floods. Couple a severe winter in the mountains where a major river has its source with a tsunami. Where are are the mountain peoples. Ifyour flood covered mountains , that would be a unique occurance and these peoples would have had stories of it. What good is a flood story in a place that normally has floods. The story would have some merit if in a floodless area.

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There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969Since Evolution is only ~90% correct it should be thrown out and replaced by Creation which has even a lower % of correctness. W T Young, 2008

I really can't be bothered to argue the point.

I have to agree with bluescat48. Your case would be better served if you could find a civilization not near a river or an ocean that was never near a river or ocean that has a flood story.

A wise decision. Though you might manage to muster the effort to thank me for setting you right. It would be nice if that happened now and then.

That would involve me thinking you were right rather than simply not caring about how anyone choses to interpret a passage from ancient mythology.

But that's the point. If not everyone is going to forsake the worship of God, then there should be some mention of the God of Abraham somewhere else in the world, anywhere else. But the God of Abraham is uniquely Middle Eastern in that beyond the Middle East, there has never been a belief in God.We would expect mention of the Abrahamic God somewhere outside the Middle East if humanity began again after the flood with eight people who were fervent believers in God. Remember, Noah and his family were unique among the rest of the world prior to the flood because of their faith. That's why God choose to save them. So you would expect Noah and his family to make sure their descendants held to those beliefs. So there should have been some people out there who held similar beliefs as the Hebrews, shouldn't there? Yet consider that for at least a generation a great majority of the Hebrews were able to keep to their faith under the whips of Pharaoh. Doesn't it seem contradictory to say that they lost faith so quickly in one instance while in another instance they kept to their faith so strongly?

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, "We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts..." - Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole

Hi Izanagi, Where do you find they were fervent believers in God? Noah was unique. The Bible does not say anything about the other 7.Gen 6:8 tells us Noah found grace in the eyes of God.Gen 6:9 tells us Noah walked with God.No scripture tells us anything about any of the other seven's beliefs. God chose to save them because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Just like many of the posters here who was raised in Church by parents who believed in God are now atheist.You can't make anybody believe anything. There are, they just modified God to suit themselves. After 430 years of captivity which generation are you talking about?I don't find that God was there to set them free because of any faith they had in Him.God was there to set them free because of a covenant He had made with Abraham.So where do you get that they kept to their faith so strongly?In fact about 3 days into their journey they railed upon Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to die. They said we would have been better off if you had just left us alone in Egypt. Exodus 14:12God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

So are you saying that people who witnessed an act of God, i.e. the flooding of the entire world, would probably not be fervent believers of God? Isn't what makes someone a fervent believer in God are the events that happen in a person's life that they attribute to God? Noah says God told him that a flood was coming, that God told him to build an ark in preparation for the flood, built an ark in preparation for the flood, gathered two or seven of each animal in preparation for the flood, after which a flood does occur, and after the flood waters subside they all survive - are you seriously arguing that's not enough to justify a fervent belief in God? Yet Noah goes to his sons after walking with God and says, "Sons we need to build an ark because God told me a flood is coming." Wouldn't you think the fact that their father was right gives a little credence to Noah's sons becoming believers of God? People have believed in God for far less reasons than actually seeing the vengeful power of God. No, people don't believe because there's no objective evidence to give them a reason to believe. There isn't any material evidence for God. But a F*ing global flood is more than enough reason to believe. That's wrath of God territory and something that can't be denied. No, there isn't. Try again. Learn a bit more about the mythologies of other cultures and you'll realize that few religions are monotheistic; in fact, it's argued that the Hebrews were unique in their monotheism. Even worse, creation stories vary to such a large extreme that it can't be argued that any other mythologies had a basis in the Abrahamic God. I'm talking about the generation that still believed someone would come from God to set them free from the bondage of Egypt. Didn't they still believe in God? They railed against Moses, not God. They didn't say, "God, it sucks to be out here so we'll stop believing in you." There's a big difference at being angry at the messenger and being angry at the person who sent the message.Edited by Izanagi, : No reason given.

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole

Hi Izanagi, John chapter 11 tells us of Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days being called forth from the grave by Jesus. Many believed on Jesus but many did not believe even though they saw this dead man come forth from the grave bound hand and foot. The grave clothes removed and him be alive.People have no problem not accepting the truth. They know what they believe and don't care to be bothered by the truth. But to rail against God's man is to rail against God.In Numbers chapter 21 the people spoke against Moses and God and many died as God sent fiery serpents among them.In Numbers chapter 12 Aaron and Miriam spake against Moses and God caused Miriam to become leprous, as white as snow. To be angry with God's messenger is to be angry at God no difference.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

No, that was about whether Jesus was the son of God, not about the existence of God. There's a difference. The Jews knew about Moses and that people could be given supernatural powers by God. That story still proved the power of God, not whether or not Jesus was the Son of God. Whether or not Jesus was the Son of God is a different issue than whether or not God real. I'm sorry, but on another thread someone made the very clear distinction that railing against God's man is railing against a man, not God. If you say one thing, and another fundamentalist Christian says another, who am I to believe? Once again, a fundamentalist Christian did make the distinction. I think it was Calypsis4. You fundamentalists should better coordinate your beliefs to be in sync.

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole

there is evidence that even the driest places on earth were once flooded with water. We have deserts in australia too and you know what we find there?seashells! The Pinnacles in the Western Australian desert is one such example. The Pinnacle Desert

that is not quite truethe accounts in the bible show that many of the isrealites in egypt did not believe that Moses had been sent to rescue them. They even tried to stone him at one pointimmediately after being taken out of Egypt, they began to condemn Moses for leading them out to the wilderness 'in order to die'and when Moses went up into the mountain to recieve Gods laws, many decided to make a golden calf and began to worship it and say that it was the golden calf that saved them from Egypt.So they were not a nation of faithful adherents. They were infact rebellious and stubborn and continually transgressed the laws given them by God. They were making allegiences with foreign nations and were led into false worship by the nations around them. Some of the kings of Isreal even introduced pagan worship including human sacrifice. They were far from faithful as a whole.

Yet they still believed in God. That's the point. The Hebrews weren't worshipping the Egyptian gods. They didn't make up some new religion. However they may have turned their back on God, they still believed in him. God worship as a whole did not die out. There were always some group that believed in God. Worship of God continued to survive. And that's what we should find in other cultures around the world if everyone was descended from Moses and his sons - traces that the worship of a monotheistic God existed elsewhere. But we don't find that, do we?

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole