The Great Flood (Genesis 6-9) (2/10)

The idea that an all-powerful, all-knowing God chose to solve humanity’s wickedness with planet-wide genocide feels more like the tantrum of an insecure deity than the act of a just one. Out of potentially millions of people, only eight—Noah and his family—were deemed worthy of survival. Are we to believe that everyone else, including innocent children, was so irredeemably evil?

The treatment of animals highlights the cruelty of the event. Were all the world’s creatures equally deserving of destruction? God’s decision to kill them for humanity’s sins feels arbitrary, as does saving only a few. The flood isn’t a tale of redemption; it’s the story of a cosmic dictator who mismanaged his own creation, couldn’t handle imperfection, and vented his frustrations by wiping the slate clean.

What’s worse – is it was temporary. Humanity went back to the way it was before the flood within just a few generations.