Noah's Ark: Philosophies Of The World Flood

THE WORLDWIDE FLOOD Almost every culture has some story explaining a worldwide flood that happened thousands of years ago. These stories have remarkable similarities between them but have extreme differences as well. The similarities include God, or the god’s flooding the earth to put an end to corruption, and in each story at least one person was saved in order to restore mankind. The differences include, what time period the flood occurred, how long the survivors were at sea, and where they came to rest when the rain ceased. Christianity, Hinduism and the study of the Greek god’s all depict undeniable differences in their philosophies of the world flood. Christianity’s story is Noah’s Ark, Hinduism’s is
The most well known, and commonly taught flood story is found in Christianity’s Holy Bible, the story is known as Noah’s Ark. In Genesis 6 of the Bible, God saw how great mans wickedness had become and decided to put an end to it by flooding the earth of which he created. He saw that Noah was the last righteous man, and spared he and his families lives so that reproduction would be possible after the disaster. God gave Noah the exact dimensions to build a giant ark that would fit Noah’s family, and a pair of each kind of animal. In most cultures interpretations of the flood, the god tells the man to build a boat because that is their only chance of survival, however only in the Bible’s flood narration, God gives specific instructions and dimensions for the boat itself. After Noah had finished building the Ark and each detail was in place, the animals were loaded on and the rain started to fall. Noah was six hundred years old by the time the flood began. The rain fell for an incredible forty days and forty nights, Genesis 7:20 states, “The waters rose and
This story begins when a man named Manu, who was living deep in the jungle, finds a small fish in the river that was begging for help. The man decided to take care of the fish, he put it in a water vessel tending to it as if it was his own child. Soon the fish out grew his vessel so Manu found a large pool that would be suitable for the fish for many years to come. Eventually the fish grew beyond the limits of the pool so he asked Manu to take him to the Ganges River, where he lived for a while longer. The fish once again asked Manu to move him, this time to the Ocean. Since Manu had so kindly cared for this fish, it decided to give him a piece of helpful information, the fish told Manu of a great flood that was soon going to engulf the world. Almost every flood story has some reason for the flood, usually human wickedness, but the Hindu story is an exception. The fish then gave Manu instructions to build an ark and take a long rope, the Seven Sages, and the seeds of all things on board with him. By the time the flood began, the fish had grown horns of which Manu tied the ark onto. The fish towed Manu’s ark through the raging waves for several years, once the water reached the highest mountain in the Himalayas they tied the ark to the mountain peak. Most flood stories include the boat or ark resting upon a