Not in God’s Name 3 The Flood
Human freedom was not working out very well. The first murder was only a premonition of what was to come. God saw that ‘the inclination of the human heart was only evil continually’ and God was ‘sorry that she had made humankind and it grieved her to her heart.’ (Genesis 5:5-6) God knows it doesn’t have to be this way. Humans can make different choices. We are not governed by fate or predestination, or our genetic make-up or our early childhood. Over time we have used all these factors as excuses for our behaviours and all these factors play a role but we make free individual choices and they are not always for the common good. Human freedom without governance leads to destruction. The story of the flood and its conclusion where God promises never again to destroy the earth in spite of our human sinfulness (Genesis 8:20-22) is an affirmation of our human freedom. We rarely read the next part of the story.
photo by Karson (unsplash)
Genesis 10
describes how the descendants of Noah became the nations of the earth, each
with their own lands, their own languages, their own families (cultures) and
ways of making a living. No longer were they individuals all fighting for their
own piece of the pie; they were distinct nations, organized, governed in their
own lands with their own languages.
Presumably they were all living happily.
So what happened next?
I acknowledge the ideas of Jonathan Sacks in his book
“Not in God’s Name”
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment. I will reply soon.