OT Questions - The Flood

Below are questions concerning Bible difficulties from one of my oldest friends of high school.  This all began from a facebook post concerning Islam.

Click Here for FB Post!

I felt it would be a good exercise to go through and really dig into each of these.  If for no other reason than to satisfy my own thoughts on these issues.

The root of the issue is what is claimed as a violent portrayal of a wicked God in the Old Testament texts versus Yeshua of the New Testament.  These Bible difficulties are not new topics... they've been brought up by many before.  

Let's dig in and see what we come up with.

"His will" being the merciless slaughter of innocent children and pregnant women in the flood?

The flood narrative is the response of a Holy God onto a world whose wickedness had become total and violent - every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil continually.

As far as the children... born and unborn, they're God's children (before they're our children) and I'm 100% confident that God dealt with them in a righteous and Holy manner.

Though they may not have had adult moral agency, the text doesn't say how they were handled other than God judged the entire generation. Sure - these issues can be hard - I don't have a direct answer to satisfy every emotional response. The Bible does not always give us a detailed answer that resolves an emotional objection and I won't put words in His mouth. Yahweh does not answer to me - I answer to Yahweh.

While not many details are given, Yeshua possibly went to these flood victims. We're not told for what specific purpose, but they were not "mercilessly slaughtered" and then forgotten about:

[1 Peter 3:18–20] “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared…”

I will state that I trust my Holy Father in every action, and His judgment in righteousness. We don't know how He handled the children, so don't read into the text. If they died in the flood - so be it. I can rest assured that He handled the situation correctly... there's absolutely zero chance of me seeing it as a "merciless slaughter" and that is a complete mischaracterization of the God of the Bible.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

We're closing in on those days now... look at the world around us.