The Deluge in the Light of Modern Science: A DiscourseDenton, William
Religion
The Deluge in the Light of Modern Science: A Discourse
Denton, William
Bible and science; Deluge
Nothing more easy. In all times floods have occurred; some by heavy and
long-continued rains, others by the bursting of lake-barriers or the
irruption of the sea; and wherever traditions of these have been met
with, men with the Bible story in their minds have at once attributed
their origin to the Noachian deluge.
_"But Jesus and the apostles indorse the account of the deluge."_
Granted; but does that transform a fable into a fact? They believed the
story just as our modern theologians believe it; because they were
taught it when they were children, and had not learned better. Jesus
says (Matt. xxv. 37-39), "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be. For, as in the days that were before the
flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the
flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be." If the man had regarded the story as false, he never would
have referred to it in such a manner. And, in this manifestation of
credulity on the part of Jesus, we can see the very false estimate
placed upon him by so large a portion of the people of this country. Let
the truth be spoken, though Jesus and all other idols be overthrown. So
he would say, if alive, or he was not as good and intelligent a man as I
think he was.
By this story the Bible stands or falls as a divine book. It falls, as
we see, and takes its place with all other human fallible productions.
For knowledge, we go to Nature, our universal mother, who gives her
Bible to every soul, and preaches her everlasting gospel to all people.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant
spellings have been retained. Hyphenation has been standardised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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