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| − | ==Question: Are Church members required to believe in a global flood?==
| + | #REDIRECT[[The Flood]] |
| − | ===Members should study the scriptures from the perspective of the prophets who wrote details regarding the flood and compare them to scientific understanding.===
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| − | More information on this is presented in [https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_Why_does_the_Church_teach_that_the_flood_was_a_global_event%3F#Question:_Why_does_the_Church_teach_that_the_flood_was_a_global_event.3F/ this article].
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| − | ===Typically, references to the Flood are presented in the context of teaching some Gospel principle===
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| − | The early prophets and apostles frequently taught their beliefs regarding a global flood using the scriptures. In modern times a belief in a universal, global flood event continues to be widely-held within the Church. A search for the full term "global flood" on the official Church website (www.lds.org) produces only a single reference in the January 1998 ''Ensign'', although there are a number of references in other articles to the Flood being of a global nature even up to the present time. (see: [[/Statements|Statements by General Authorities related to the Flood]]) Typically, references to the Flood are presented in the context of teaching some Gospel principle. One recent article in the ''Ensign'', written by BYU professor Donald W. Parry, clearly and directly indicates his opinion that the flood was global in nature.
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | Still other people accept parts of the Flood story, acknowledging that there may have been a local, charismatic preacher, such as Noah, and a localized flood that covered only a specific area of the world, such as the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers or perhaps even the whole of Mesopotamia. Yet these people do not believe in a worldwide or global flood. Both of these groups—those who totally deny the historicity of Noah and the Flood and those who accept parts of the story—are persuaded in their disbelief by the way they interpret modern science. They rely upon geological considerations and theories that postulate it would be impossible for a flood to cover earth’s highest mountains, that the geologic evidence (primarily in the fields of stratigraphy and sedimentation) does not indicate a worldwide flood occurred any time during the earth’s existence.
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| − | There is a third group of people—those who accept the literal message of the Bible regarding Noah, the ark, and the Deluge. Latter-day Saints belong to this group. In spite of the world’s arguments against the historicity of the Flood, and despite the supposed lack of geologic evidence, we Latter-day Saints believe that Noah was an actual man, a prophet of God, who preached repentance and raised a voice of warning, built an ark, gathered his family and a host of animals onto the ark, and floated safely away as waters covered the entire earth. We are assured that these events actually occurred by the multiple testimonies of God’s prophets. <ref>Donald W. Parry, “The Flood and the Tower of Babel,” ''Ensign'', Jan 1998, 35. {{link|url=https://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/01/the-flood-and-the-tower-of-babel?lang=eng}}</ref>
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | ===Knowing the exact nature of the flood does not constitute a critical part of Latter-day Saint theology===
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| − | Knowing the exact nature of the flood does not constitute a critical part of Latter-day Saint theology.<ref>{{Sunstone | author=Duane E. Jeffery | article=Noah’s Flood: Modern Scholarship and Mormon Traditions|num=134|date=October 2004|start=31|end=32 }}</ref> Duane E. Jeffrey notes that ideas of a global flood may have resulted from a widespread local problem. A current hypothesis that has been gaining ground since 1998 with regards to the biblical account specifically is that a significant local (to Noah) flooding event occurred in the area now occupied by the Black Sea. Evidence has been discovered which has led a number of researchers to believe that the Black Sea area was once occupied by a completely isolated freshwater lake at a much lower level than the ocean. The theory is that the sea level rose and eventually broke through the Bosporus shelf, resulting in a rapid flooding event which would have wiped out all life living along the shores of the lake <ref> (see p. 34). Whether this is the source for the Genesis flood remains conjecture.</ref>
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| − | </onlyinclude>
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| − | {{endnotes sources}}
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| − | <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->
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| − | [[en:Question: Are Church members required to believe in a global flood?]]
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| − | [[es:Pregunta: ¿Debe un miembro de la Iglesia creen que la inundación era global?]]
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| − | [[pt:Pergunta: Os membros da Igreja são obrigados a acreditar em um dilúvio global?]]
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| − | [[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
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| − | [[Category:MormonThink]]
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