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Noble Savage, or Savage Monster?


                Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. (Genesis 6:11-13)

             Sometimes, people as how a "good, loving God" could destroy a people or even a world. The first problem with this is that it's illogical. It's a reductionist false dichotomy. It says that God can either be good and loving, or He can destroy. He can't do both, especially at the same time. The second problem with this is that it is often presented deceptively. The picture such people tend to give is that the people selected for destruction were some sort of noble savage. OK, they might have had a couple moral foibles, but generally speaking, they were just like us, but without technology.
            The reality as described in Scripture doesn't quite fit that story. First, the world is described as corrupt and filled with violence. Secondly, the people are described as corrupt and responsible for the violence found in the world. The idea of the noble savage is a 17th Century romantic bit of fiction that became a myth. Equally mythic is the notion that because it happened a long time ago, there was no technology. Our world moved from an agrarian society to what we have today in less than 200 years. The Flood took place about 1500 years after creation. That is quite enough time for a great deal of technology to have been developed. I'm not claiming that it did. I'm saying it could have. Of course, after the Flood, it and the evidence of it were all gone.
               From what the Scripture says, it is likely that the world was trashed. I believe it was in such bad condition that life could not continue. The people didn't have a few little foibles. Picture Syria, Flint, MI, Ferguson, MO,  and the worst areas of Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, DC all together, and on steroids. God's choice was either to wipe everything out that didn't get on the ark, or allow everything to be wiped out, period.          
             Why does any of this matter? First, it matters because those presenting the "innocent noble savage" story are standing in Satan's shoes, telling lies about the Word of God. Secondly, it matters because it lays aside the sort of temporal arrogance that has existed since the Renaissance, that somehow we are better than the ages that went before us. Thirdly, it is a reminder that when people make claims about Scripture, we need to go back and look at what it actually says. 

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 In the Sky
Mars at opposition (biggest and brightest)
On the Calendar
Trinity Sunday
Birthday of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Richard Wagner

 

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