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The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories - Religion (5) - Nairaland

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Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 7:46am On May 02, 2015
Radoillo:


The story of Noah is a Mesopotamian myth probably inspired by an actual flooding incident of the Tigris and Euphrates valley due to a general rise in sea level. The Greeks also have a strikingly similar legend.

Most orthodox churches already recognise that the first few chapters of the Bible, from the Creation Story to the Tower of Babel Story, are not accurate historical narratives. Only fundamentalist churches still hold on to a literal interpretation of these early chapters.

The following commentary is actually from one of the Bibles I own. (Note: FROM A BIBLE)

"Noah's story has its source in very old legends. It was put in writing for the first time in the days of King Solomon."

- from Christian Community Bible


I don't understand how one could then say that a story created by people living in Mesopotamia to explain their situations could actually be about ancient Nigerians living in the Lake Chad area.
That bible quote is strange for someone who obviously seeks to promote belief in a God whose existence cannot be proved scientifically. I believe that's why the bible was published. In my view, presence of almost similar myths in widespread communities confirms that they all shared a history once. Which is what this story is about. Am sure you agree with genetic evidence placing all humans In Africa at some point in history.

As for evidence of a great world wide flood;

...twenty-first century geologists are wondering whether "marine flood sedimentation is the key to the past."
Geological strata and their contained marine fossils provide critical evidence that the ocean once covered the continents, even the highest continental areas. Extremely widespread strata blankets argue for an intercontinental or global flood.
The Sauk Sequence extends throughout North America and appears to extend into Europe. The Tippecanoe Sequence also covers much of North America and may well extend into Europe and Africa. There are also intercontinental redbed sequences, intercontinental tuff beds, and coal-bearing strata cycles.
Granular, water-charged sediment flows result in very rapid stratification. Dilute flows produce thick sequences of plane beds, graded beds, and crossbeds by sustained unidirectional flow. Such flows also produce thick sequences of hummocky beds by sustained bidirectional flow.
Concentrated sediment flows produce thick strata sequences by abrupt deposition from liquefied suspension or evenly bedded strata by flow transformation to a tractive current.
These and many other obvious processes are leading many geologists to construct a global flood model for earth history. www.icr.org/geological-strata

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour for ABC News, Robert Ballard, one of the world's best-known underwater archaeologists, talked about his findings. His team is probing the depths of the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey in search of traces of an ancient civilization hidden underwater since the time of Noah.
See photos from her journey HERE
Ballard's track record for finding the impossible is well known. In 1985, using a robotic submersible equipped with remote-controlled cameras, Ballard and his crew hunted down the world's most famous shipwreck, the Titanic.
Now Ballard is using even more advanced robotic technology to travel farther back in time. He is on a marine archeological mission that might support the story of Noah. He said some 12,000 years ago, much of the world was covered in ice.
"Where I live in Connecticut was ice a mile above my house, all the way back to the North Pole, about 15 million kilometers, that's a big ice cube," he said. "But then it started to melt. We're talking about the floods of our living history."
The water from the melting glaciers began to rush toward the world's oceans, Ballard said, causing floods all around the world.
"The questions is, was there a mother of all floods," Ballard said.
According to a controversial theory proposed by two Columbia University scientists, there really was one in the Black Sea region. They believe that the now-salty Black Sea was once an isolated freshwater lake surrounded by farmland, until it was flooded by an enormous wall of water from the rising Mediterranean Sea. The force of the water was two hundred times that of Niagara Falls, sweeping away everything in its path.
Fascinated by the idea, Ballard and his team decided to investigate.
"We went in there to look for the flood," he said. "Not just a slow moving, advancing rise of sea level, but a really big flood that then stayed... The land that went under stayed under."
Four hundred feet below the surface, they unearthed an ancient shoreline, proof to Ballard that a catastrophic event did happen in the Black Sea. By carbon dating shells found along the shoreline, Ballard said he believes they have established a timeline for that catastrophic event, which he estimates happened around 5,000 BC. Some experts believe this was around the time when Noah's flood could have occurred.
abcnews.go.com/Technology/evidence-suggests-biblical-great-flood-noahs-time-happened/story?id=17884533

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Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by OrlandoOwoh(m): 8:50am On May 02, 2015
Nihilist:


Since when did the bible get recognised as a legitimate historical document?
Why then do you doubt the radiocarbon dating of the boat found in Borno without evidence to counter it?

1 Like

Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 9:13am On May 02, 2015
muafrika:

That bible quote is strange for someone who obviously seeks to promote belief in a God whose existence cannot be proved scientifically. I believe that's why the bible was published. In my view, presence of almost similar myths in widespread communities confirms that they all shared a history once. Which is what this story is about. Am sure you agree with genetic evidence placing all humans In Africa at some point in history.

As for evidence of a great world wide flood;




abcnews.go.com/Technology/evidence-suggests-biblical-great-flood-noahs-time-happened/story?id=17884533

There was a prehistoric rise in sea level which led to flooding of several places, yes. No one disputes that. The Noah account was inspired by that prehistoric event, probably. As well as the Greek story of Deucalion. But the Noah account and the Deucalion story in themselves are legends. We are not descended from a family of 8 that stepped off a boat some 6 -7000 years ago.

And accepting that humanity originated in Africa implies that you do not accept the Biblical creation story as exactly accurate.
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Ihuomadinihu: 10:53am On May 02, 2015
Well,i don't know what to make out of this cos i've seen numerous articles about this topic. But i am more interested in the connection between Nigeria and India. In recent studies, Elamite language,Sumerian and Dravidian languages are said to be very related to Niger congo languages. And we have some of the oldest out of Africa people in India. It could mean that people in South Asia came from Africa in pre history. A version of Tamil(india) language is spoken in Cameroon right now.
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by lampardizik(m): 10:58am On May 02, 2015
Its amazing how ppl reason...God is wonderful
Anyway where ever and how ever u got to that conclusion is ok at least u used ur brain and it is after all your opinion...kudos
Don't stop using ur brain no matter what u are told
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 11:21am On May 02, 2015
Radoillo:


There was a prehistoric rise in sea level which led to flooding of several places, yes. No one disputes that. The Noah account was inspired by that prehistoric event, probably. As well as the Greek story of Deucalion. But the Noah account and the Deucalion story in themselves are legends. We are not descended from a family of 8 that stepped off a boat some 6 -7000 years ago.

And accepting that humanity originated in Africa implies that you do not accept the Biblical creation story as exactly accurate.
I really see no contradiction with the bible here. The Bible is not specific as to the location of the garden of Eden

2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis

I find this section inspirational for my Early man lived in Africa hypothesis;
2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis

Mount Ararat, where Noah's ship reportedly docked is not specified. But there are a few pointers to the exact location. First, a previous poster has pointed out, it would seem that a lot of African wildlife seem to have escaped a catastrophe that seem to have wiped out most of the world animal species especially in other continents. Animals like mammoths, dinosaur, etc disappeared rather suddenly. Coincidence?

The flood Account does not specify a location. But I assume it must have been higher above the sea level compared to most other places. Note how the account describes how the waters receded. A wind that suddenly and drastically reduced the wide world water cover must have been some wind. One that qualifies a label of a notable climatic change.

8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. Genesis

8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying.8:16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

If you believe in the existence of a genetic mitochondrial Eve and a founding haplogroup for humanity, then we are saying the same thing. My theory just has the Identity, name and family history of the founding ancestor of the existing humanity. And reason.

Now here was a continent endowed with good weather, precious minerals (the earliest mining sites have been found in Africa) and fertile land. Why live in some less attractive, ice age cold, or unattractively dry, mineral deficient habitat when you are the last family on the face of the earth?
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 12:09pm On May 02, 2015
muafrika:

I really see no contradiction with the bible here. The Bible is not specific as to the location of the garden of Eden

2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis

I find this section inspirational for my Early man lived in Africa hypothesis;
2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis

Mount Ararat, where Noah's ship reportedly docked is not specified. But there are a few pointers to the exact location. First, a previous poster has pointed out, it would seem that a lot of African wildlife seem to have escaped a catastrophe that seem to have wiped out most of the world animal species especially in other continents. Animals like mammoths, dinosaur, etc disappeared rather suddenly. Coincidence?

The flood Account does not specify a location. But I assume it must have been higher above the sea level compared to most other places. Note how the account describes how the waters receded. A wind that suddenly and drastically reduced the wide world water cover must have been some wind. One that qualifies a label of a notable climatic change.

8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. Genesis

8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying.8:16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

If you believe in the existence of a genetic mitochondrial Eve and a founding haplogroup for humanity, then we are saying the same thing. My theory just has the Identity, name and family history of the founding ancestor of the existing humanity. And reason.

Now here was a continent endowed with good weather, precious minerals (the earliest mining sites have been found in Africa) and fertile land. Why live in some less attractive, ice age cold, or unattractively dry, mineral deficient habitat when you are the last family on the face of the earth?

The Bible mentions 4 rivers that ran through the garden. Two of them - Tigris and Euphrates - are positively known. They are in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This suggests looking for the location of Eden in the Middle East, rather than Africa.

The other two rivers are not known for certain, since there are no known rivers today with the names Pishon and Gihon. But it is logical that they had to be not too far away from the other two known rivers, if they actually flowed through the same garden.

The Bible says Gihon flows round Cush. This has sometimes been interpreted to mean Ethiopia. But folks forget that 'Cush' in Hebrew can be an ambiguous term that sometimes actually refer to a Mesopotamia people - the Kassites or the people of Kish.

Some archaeologists (Juris Zarins and David Rohl, for example) believe they have identified them (Pishon and Gihon) in the general area of the middle east. Their arguments are reasonable. If you can find them, do read/watch them. I watched a documentary on Zarins' findings on (I think, not sure) PBS last year. Pretty interesting.

The garden of Eden is most probably an allusion to the land of Sumer, which was very well-watered and exceedingly fertile. 'Eden', in fact, probably derives from the Sumerian word 'Edin', meaning 'a fertile plain'.

You cannot reconcile the Out-of-Africa theory of human origin with the Out-of-Eden theory (which is actually an Out-of-the-Middle-East theory) unless you want to turn a blind eye to certain details that just do not fit.

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Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 2:04pm On May 02, 2015
I will look for those archaeological findings. I think ive seen one such documentary. They may be right. But from a biblical point of view at creation, The continents were not split. Not until the days of peleg, so the middle East was not a sole entity as it is. No Red Sea or Gulf of Eden.

10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided ; and his brother's name was Joktan. Genesis

The only contradiction I see with science would be time. May be.

The Out of Africa theory in this instant would be associated with Noah rather than Adam, reason being that the current earths population would stem out of Noah. The rest of the earths polulation and most animals should have perished in the flood. Geological and other evidence refering to period Between 12,000 - 5000 years ago is where my interest lies, the period that some of the drastic climatic changes and corresponding human migrations have been noted, and which fits into the biblical account.
@Radoillo
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 3:28pm On May 02, 2015
Smithsonian magazine, Zarins article
Am not sure He's serious about it being the biblical garden of Eden. First, the location is at the drainage of the four rivers as opposed to the source.

The map;

[img]ldolphin.org/eden/fig2.gif[/img]


There are two crucial if approximate dates in reconstruction. The first is about 30,000 B.C., with the transition from Neanderthal to modern Man. This, some anthropologists believe, took place along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas and in Iraq. At that time the Great Ice Age still held most of Eurasia in its grip, and it caused the sea levels to fall by 400 feet so that what is now the Persian Gulf was dry land, all the way to the Strait of Hormuz. It was irrigated not only by the still-existing Tigris and Euphrates but also by the Gihon, the Pison and their tributaries from the Arabian peninsula and from Iran. It seems reasonable that technologically primitive but modern Mm, in his endless search for food, would have located the considerable natural paradise that presented itself in the area where the Gulf now lies.
But Eden wasn't born then. That came, Zarins believes, about 6000 B.C. In between 30,000 and 6000 B.C., the climate varied. From 15,000 B.C., rainfall diminished drastically. Faced with increasing aridity, the Paleolithic population retreated, some as far as the area known to us as the "Fertile Crescent" (north along the Tigris and Euphrates, westward toward the moist Mediterranean coast, south to the Nile), and also eastward to the Indus River valley. Others, perhaps wearied by the long trek, made do with the more austere conditions of central Arabia and continued foraging as best they could.

Then, at about 6000 to 5000 B.C., following a long arid stretch, came a period called the Neolithic Wet Phase when rains returned to the Gulf region. The reaches of eastern and northeastern Saudi Arabia and southwestern Iran became green and fertile again. Foraging populations came back to where the four rivers now ran full, and there was rainfall on the intervening plains. Animal bones indicate that in this period Arabia had abundant game. Thousands of stone tools suggest intensive, if seasonal, human occupation around now dry lakes and rivers. These tools are found even in the Rub al-Khali or Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. And so about 6000 to 5000 B.C. the land was again a paradise on Earth, provided by a bountiful nature-God---and admirably suited to the foraging life.

ldolphin.org/eden/

Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by logica(m): 1:32pm On May 03, 2015
It is more than theory. It is known that the period of desertification in Egypt resulting in the Sahara correspond with the time of the Biblical Joseph. Unsurprisingly, the stories of Joseph speak of famine in the land and storage of food etc.
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Nobody: 2:19pm On May 03, 2015
logica:
It is more than theory. It is known that the period of desertification in Egypt resulting in the Sahara correspond with the time of the Biblical Joseph. Unsurprisingly, the stories of Joseph speak of famine in the land and storage of food etc.
Thumbs up¡¡¡¡
Re: The Period Of Wet Sahara Connected To Genesis? Theories by Ewucanbeer: 11:12am On Aug 25, 2018
The Bible Genesis is only 6000 years old, how come the boat is 8000 years old and neanderthals are 40,000 years old.

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