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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Some interpret Hebrews 11:7 as saying it had never rained prior to the Flood: "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he co...
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carol Shihadeh
My answer is simple. God created the world, it was a perfect world with no need for manual labor. After the sin of Adam and Eve, there were consequences; man would now have to work the ground to produce crops. God would provide the rain, and man would be responsible for the labor.
Murray Roulstone
Supporter
Something else to consider in this discussion is God's wonderful rainbow that he put in the clouds, as a covenant between God and man. Genesis 9:13-16 makes for interesting reading. "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth". For a rainbow to form, a rainbow needs 2 things to be present: sunlight and water vapour in sufficient quantities, so that the light is able to refract through the water in the clouds, thus forming a rainbow. The point I make is this: Prior to the flood, there was no rainbow, so it stands to reason that there were no clouds! I believe that a very heavy dew may have supplied enough moisture to water all the earth, as required. As a side note, I believe when the sun went behind a cloud for the first time, and when the first peals of thunder were heard for the first time, that utter terror would have gripped the hearts of all those who were not safely locked away in the ark that God had Noah built. So remember, every time you see a rainbow, God is looking at it too, as He remembers the everlasting covenant between Him and us, as we are told in Genesis 9:16!
Thomas K M
The story of the great flood is one of the most studied events. Some people are skeptical that it rained from above on earth before the great deluge. Others are just say that there was rain before the great flood. Both groups use the same verses of scripture as proof of their positions. Genesis 2:6 could reflect the annual flooding of the Nile River every spring and covered the tillable land of Egypt. Water was channeled from the Nile to the crop fields through irrigation to resolve the lack of rainfall needed for plant growth. Whatever be the argument, my opinion is that during the pre flood era, there was no rain from above.(Gen.2:6). There was no visible rain from above and the earth was completely 'air conditioned'. The earth was wet all the time for cultivation. Another argument is that, had it been rained from above or had it been there any minor flood before the deluge, people would have accepted this warning of Noah on the great deluge.
Nils Jansma
Had it ever rained before the Flood in Noah's day? I view this as one of those “opinion” questions and not a salvation issue. (Romans 14:1) From a geologist’s perspective, it had to rain before Noah’s Flood for the sake of the plants. In fact, that is what the Scripture at Genesis 2:4-6 says. This account starts with a one-verse summary of the creation of the “heavens and earth.” Following it, the comment is made to set the stage for the creation of Adam by saying that “no shrub... and no plant of the field had yet sprung up,... no man to work the ground.“. So this Scripture has nothing to say about conditions on earth after the last half of creative Day 3 when the earth produced plants. Long before Adam was created, there is fossilized evidence of rain drops. This shows early on that something like the hydrologic cycle on earth had begun, just as suggested on creative Day 2. (Genesis 1:6) With regard to the theory about the “water canopy” surrounding the earth, there is, in my opinion, one primary obstacle that stands out among many others. In Genesis 1:6-8 we are told that God separated the “water from water” by inserting between them, an “expanse” called “sky.” So, picture in your mind, a vast ocean, a separating space, and then “water” suspended above the “expanse.” With this picture still fresh in your mind, note what God placed in that expanse under the water on creative Day 4. “ And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,... He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:14-18) In other words, the sun, moon, and stars are said to be under the water that was placed above the “expanse” on creative Day 2. I have never heard or read of anyone suggesting the universe is surrounded by the “water canopy” of Day 2. By Day 4, the “water canopy” must have been gone because, apparently, we are seeing the sun, moon, and stars then as we do now.
Kenneth Heck
In Gen 1:11 God called the dry land earth. Earth, according to this definition, isn't the third planet from the sun, but only the dry areas of land which men of the Adamic line could inhabit, beginning with the Garden of Eden. Any land where rain habitually fell at that time was not called earth. We can say that originally the dry land was perfectly dry since no rain fell which could have ultimately caused erosion and destruction of the soil. It is apparent that truly dry land could have existed only in a few places on the planet where, as Gen 2:6 explains, the earth was watered by a mist going up from the earth to support plant life there. So, before the Flood, the biblical earth was an area of land, somewhat like an extensive semi-oasis (within which was the Garden of Eden) where rain had not fallen. After the flood, men began to spread in all directions, and with progress in technology, could live in places they were unable to before. The word 'earth' continued to apply to all areas where men lived, but rainfall became an essential part of life as agriculture and domestication of animals was introduced to feed the expanding population.
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