What a tsunami looks like

[Swatopluk]

Cynics say that the devil was just a clever marketing ploy by G#D

[Aggie]

I tend to think it's the other way around, at least the versions that are pitched in fire-and-brimstone, with-us-or-against-us demoni denominations.

I was listening to a Catholic channel on satellite radio and there was an ad spot for something or other describing Jesus as history's greatest salesman, and openly advocating using a commercial sales approach to proselytization, which IMHO amounts to gaming human weaknesses to sell you something you don't need.

[Swatopluk]

Jesus was not so much of a fire and brimstone guy. John of Patmos (possibly in connection with certain mushrooms) seems to be the main culprit there. And Jesus (at least, if we believe the reports) did not take speeking fees.

[Aggie]

Paul seems to have been the salesman in the early church (once he got over putting Christians to death and all). 

[Griffin NoName]

:TOPIC DRIFT:

[Swatopluk]

Tsunamis should not be a sign of he End Times. G#d assured Noah that there would be no second flood.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

But he had no issue wiping out Sodom & Gomorrah so a mini-flood is fine... 

[Swatopluk]

That was fire from heaven not water from below.
Admittedly I did not specify the contents of the flood (an my Hebrew is too limited to check the original text)

[Griffin NoName]

Tsunamis sweep in and then recede, ie. they do not leave huge lakes behind halfway or more up mountains. Therefore they probably don't count compared to Noah's flood. 

[Swatopluk]

Depends on the size. Some scholars believe that Noah's flood was actually a tsunami (several to be precise) caused by a comet hitting the Earth in several parts after passing too close to the sun. Rule of thumb: wave as high as sea is deep at point of impact. There are several geological findings that support the theory. Not that it proves 'Noah' but that such an event has taken place within the timeframe even Young Earth Creationists can swallow.

[Griffin NoName]

Well my source reference was a picture I was shown when a child. Noah's Ark was resting on an ocean half way up a mountain. I've not seen this from a Tsunami. But, it depends if one believes everything one is told as a child and only what one has seen oneself so of course the comet theory may hold water.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Depends on the size. Some scholars believe that Noah's flood was actually a tsunami (several to be precise) caused by a comet hitting the Earth in several parts after passing too close to the sun. Rule of thumb: wave as high as sea is deep at point of impact. There are several geological findings that support the theory. Not that it proves 'Noah' but that such an event has taken place within the timeframe even Young Earth Creationists can swallow.

I always attributed the Noachian Legends (there are many such) to the filling of the Black Sea.

It's about the right frame.  And it apparently filled up all at once, in the past (more or less-- that much water would have taken days, months or even years to sluice past the opening).

If you could imagine someone retreating to higher ground, say a low hill, but experiencing the water continuing to rise... and rise...

... but the Black Sea was a freshwater lake of considerable size, before the influx of water from the Mediterranean Sea, so there would've been boats, ships, etc on that lake.  And survivors to Tell The Tale of the Great Flooding.

Probably started with an enterprising farmer, who's daughter had married a fisherman... and the fisherman and the farmer (likely at the prodding of the women-- who tend more towards practical-smarts anyway) loaded up the farmer's livestock onto the little boat, along with all the family... and the dog too. (gotta bring the doggies... right DD?)

And they weathered the water's rise, eventually making landfall at the new, farther-out shoreline.  Of course, the descendants Told The Tale Of Survival (just like that-- in caps).   Each re-telling added to the size of the boat, and the scope of the rescued animals....

What else?  Telling Stories is what humans do, after all.

[Griffin NoName]

Was Noah near the Black Sea?

[Swatopluk]

There is a book by an Austrian professor of geology about the comet theory. He and his wife checked flood myths from around the world. What he found was that a distinction has to be made between those that refer to local floods (like the Greek Deukalion and Pyrrha tale), those that are influenced by the Mesopotamian (and consequently biblical) accounts and independent ones that refer to a global flood but without taints of Noah. The most remarkable finding is that the event seems to have happened at the time of the equinox and that cultures on the Northern and Southern hemisphere consistently point to either the spring or autumn equinox (which would not be the case, if the tale came from one location and spread worldwide). Also most non-biblical stories include other details that hint at an impact event like boiling rain blood-red and biting (= nitric acid), earthquakes, firestorms, something (like a fiery mountain) dropping from above into the sea etc. There are also hints at rampant mutations in the aftermath (consequence of the depleted ozone layer?).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

One explanation I heard is that the Sumerian tale talks about a flooding of the Euphrates that takes Ziusudra to an island in the gulf (possibly Bahrain). Still, if we ignore that detail, lots of local "floods" were bound to happen during the transition from the last glaciation maximum to our current warm state, as many glaciers melted enough water to raise the sea level and cause events like the one in the black sea in many other places (albeit perhaps at a smaller scale).