Take a clue from Noah: Don't miss the boat

Last week, I wrote a column about the California ruling to unravel marriage and what history has to say about it.

As I pointed out in the piece, my May 15 Faith2Action radio program with Rabbi Aryeh Spero discussed the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish rabbinical writings 1,000 years before Christ, stating that there was only one other time in history (besides now) when homosexual "marriage contracts" were issued. That only time was: "during the days of Noah."

I pointed out in the column that if this is true, the California ruling seems to relate directly to another verse found in Matthew 24:37: "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

I don't spend a lot of time reading the rantings of those who hate us and our beliefs, but I stumbled across another name-calling site that turns from the truth by way of personal attack. The bottom line is, they claim: "There was no global flood," and say it was a "myth" that is contradicted by "all the geological evidence." As long as they are reading my stuff, I thought now might be a good chance to respond.

I understand; if you went to government school as I did, that's probably what you were taught, too. I remember being told that the flood was a myth because an account of it appeared in civilizations all over the world. They asserted that the tale of an ark with animals and the flood was such a cool, dramatic story, everyone must have copied one another.

For example, Australian aborigines who were rather isolated and not known for their Christian beliefs, have an account of a flood. Their account was that that man had done something terribly wrong, and the flood came as a judgment from "the gods." But there was this boat, where a man and his three sons put the animals in it and were saved. The flood was a judgment because of sin, and so a man with three sons – just like Noah had – built a boat.

In Babylon, the story is also remarkably similar, but the dimensions of the boat in that tale was a cube – seven stories high. Now, I'm not exactly a nautical expert, but it seems to me that that a cube isn't the best design for a floating vessel. It's a similar story, but with a wacked-out boat. Think about it. Could it be that everyone wrote about the flood because … there really was one? And there really was a man with three sons in a boat that contained all the animals? Could it be that it really was built with the sea-worthy dimensions that are recorded in the Bible, and it landed on Mt. Ararat as the Bible said it did?

And what about the fossil record? If the account of Genesis is true, and the flood really happened, the fossil record would be very explicit and predictable. Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, explains it this way: If there were a great flood, you would expect the fossil record to reveal "billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth." What we find in the fossil record is, "billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth." What do you know?

So if the earth was flooded like the Bible said it was, maybe the rest of what it says is true, too. And if 4,000 out of 5,000 prophesies have already occurred exactly as the Bible predicted they would, you might want to pay attention to the rest.

The Bible made more than 300 prophesies about the coming Messiah. Here are just a few:

2. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2 – Luke 2:4),

3. Proceeded by a forerunner (Mal. 3:1 – Luke 7:24, 27)

4. To minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1,2 – Matt 4:13-16)

5. Rejected by the Jews (Isaiah 53:3 – John 1:11)

6. Triumphal entry on a donkey (Zech 9:9 – Mark 11:7)

7. Betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12 – Matt. 26:14)

8. Accused by false witnesses (Psalms 35:11 – Mark 14:57)

9. Spat on and struck (Is. 50:6 – Matt 26:67)

10. Pierced through hands and feet (Zech. 12:10 – Luke 23:35)

11. Soldiers gambled for his clothes (Psalms 22:17,18 – Matt. 27:35)

12. None of his bones were broken (Psalms 34:20 – John 19:32, 33, 36)

13. His side was pierced (Zech 12:10 – John 19:34)

14. He was buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9 – Matt. 27:57-60)

15. To be resurrected (Psalms 16:10 and Ps. 49:15 – Mark 16:6)

One man fulfilled every single one of them – and 285 more. His name is Jesus Christ. Coincidence you say? Well, just what are the odds of such coincidences? For Christ to have fulfilled just eight of those prophesies, here's a picture of what scientists have explained as the odds: Cover the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep and put a red "X" on just one of them. Blindfold someone and then give them one chance to pick it. That's the odds of fulfilling just eight prophesies. And Christ fulfilled more than 300 of them.

If all the other prophesies came true, then I don't know about you, but I'm going to expect more of the same when it comes to the ones that are remaining.