If you don't believe the Bible, if you don't accept the Genesis account of Noah's flood, you might want to skip this post. For everyone else, this one's inspired by the soon-to-be-opened Noah's Ark exhibit in Kentucky.
According to Genesis, the flood occurred roughly 1650 years after creation but I've always wondered about the nature of the flood. Was it just a supernatural event that God sent at that time or was it more like a ticking time bomb that God set up at the beginning?
My understanding of scripture is that "In the beginning," God created everything to be perfect and that there was no death. Adam was designed to live forever, provided he remained within God's grace. Some people try to refute the long life spans described in Genesis but I think they fit perfectly with the assumption that Adam's DNA would also have been perfect. It wasn't until after the genetic bottlenecks following the flood and Babel that lifespans rapidly deteriorated to the limits we know today.
However, scripture also teaches us that God knows all; past, present, and future. So, before He created man, He knew man would rebel and He knew that ultimately, He'd end up sending the flood.
So, the point I ponder sometimes is did God create the Earth with the mechanisms that brought about the flood already in place, like a booby trap waiting to be set off when time ran out? Or was the flood an extra-ordinary act where God moved to enact His will?
To Christians, it doesn't really matter because we're still the beneficiaries of God's grace. However, we're instructed to "always be prepared to give an answer" and for the deep-thinking skeptic, I'd imagine this is a tough question. For that reason, I think God understands my curiosity.
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