History to Poobah

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bigwheel
Au contraire my friend...Egypt does have an epic flood legend..in addition
to the following cultures..to name but a few:
1. Greek
2. Hindu
3. Chinese..check out a fellow name Fa-He. Credited with being the founder
of Chinese civilization..is represented as having escaped from a great
Flood..sent because men had rebelled against heaven.
4. England
5. Polynesia
6. Mexico
7. Peru
8. Native America
9. Greenland
10. Babylon-The "Noah" of this story is named Utnapishtim. This narrative
is depicted on a seal recently found at Tell Billa near Nineveh.

POOBAH
The epic of Gilgamesh has been "recently found"? How old are the sources for
this '91 book?

Nonetheless, we can agree then that since the Epic of Gilgamesh is older,
that the Noah story clearly derives from it, and Utnapishtim is the true
sole survivor of the flood. What's that? No? Why not?

As I've said before, this line of argument is dishonest. You don't accept
that the story of Noah is derived from Gilgamesh, you don't accept that
certain Psalms are derived from Egyptian hymns, you don't accept that Hebrew
mythology was influenced by Babylonian mythology, you don't accept that the
Matthew & Luke were plagiarized from Mark & Q, so why in the world should I
accept an argument based on similar descent from you here?

Finally, there are other similar areas that I'm sure you don't accept. There
are stories of pantheons of gods are found throughout the world. Therefore
there must be a multitude of gods. Dragon myths are found throughout the
world. Therefore dragons must exist. Stories of talking animals are found
throughout the world. Therefore talking animals must exist. And on & on.

This is what in logic is called special pleading. It's making an argument
that you wouldn't accept from someone else. It's a fallacy, and so without
evidence to show why stories about the flood are different than stories
about talking animals, such reasoning must be rejected.

bigwheel
An Assyrian Scribe recording the names of ancient kings, remarks of some
them, that they were "after the flood". Ashurbanipal refers to inscriptions
"of the time before the flood".  The Babylonian priest Berosus devoted the
second volume of his history to the ten antedeluvian kings of the Chaldees,
considering that the flood marked the close of the first period of human
history.

(Source: Davis Dictionary of the Bible, John D. Davis, 1973, Royal
Publishers, Nashville, TN 1973, p. 248)

POOBAH
I tell you what, Jeff, I'll be more impressed when you quote from
non-apologetic sources.

Secondly, even if I do accept stories of ancient Sumerian floods, I'm still
left with the Bible being wrong. First, the date for the Sumerian floods
would be well before the time of 2300BC, which leaves a problem with the
Biblical chronology (based on Abraham's lineage, Biblical flood couldn't be
before 2300BC). Why should we accept the Sumerian accounts when they tell us
there was a flood, but not when they tell us when it was, or who survived
it?

Even if I grant you that the flood myths around the world point to a great
Deluge, you must still prove that the Bible's account is the correct one.
How do you plan to do that? To do that you must cast doubt on every one of
the stories you've just quoted, so you would have me both believe them & not
believe them.

So after you get done with the ice cores, Jeff, perhaps you can tell us why
it must be Noah rather than Fa-He or Utnapishtim.

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