@ Adam - "PS you "like" the story of God wiping out BILLIONS of people, just so eight could survive? Hmmm...."
That's your characterization of the account. That's not what I believe pal- but you don't really want to know what I believe you just want to tell us about your deep study of Hebrew scholars right?
True, but you seemingly are forgetting that everyone here kinda already KNOWS why it appeals to others, since we at one time actually BELIEVED it, too (at some point in our lives, whether when small children or as grandparents on their death beds). We know how it made US feel, and unless you think your psychology is SOOOO much different from the rest of the silly mass of humanity, then we can guess that your reasons are similar to ours. I mean, that's the entire basis on which the study of human psychology is built.
And you reinforce that point here:
@ Tiktaalik - You are also taking the statement that I like a story and leaping to conclusions about what I personally believe, in total ignorance.But you do have cool sunglasses on so that's a plus.
Nope, not "TOTAL ignorance" (as explained above).
Paradoxically, that statement gives supportive confirmation as to WHY the story makes you feel good, just like it did for us: the story appeals to one's personal sense of narcissism, where the story is DESIGNED to appeal to those who project themselves into the story to identify with Noah, the ONE righteous man who beat the long-shot odds of surviving, the one-out-of-a-billion who was favored by God as the WINNER to be hand-picked to survive.
You "like" the story for the same reason most of us did: it made us feel "special", warm and fuzzy inside, telling us that we too could beat the odds, if only we take the right steps to "keep Jehovah Happy", by preaching salvation (and as an aside, read my article on 2nd Peter and Noah: he didn't preach to anyone; the claim that Noah preached is another deception used to control people, since the book of Genesis points to the exact OPPOSITE, where God hand-picked him as the winner BEFORE even telling him a flood was to be held; the game was "rigged").
So think about it for a minute:
ALL readers of the account are told that THEY TOO can be the ones who beat the odds, when how can EVERYONE beat the odds? It's not far off from the famous carnie call, "Everyone's a winna!" which cannot possibly be true: how can EVERYONE win if NO ONE loses?
Christians rationalize that away by saying that all the Worldies are the LOSERS, the fools who don't get to survive on the Ark/Armageddon. Yeah, sure: THE REST of the World are the dumb ones, the ones who can't figure it all out, but the JWs are the "lucky ones" who are the smart boys, the one who don't fall for the oldest scam in the book even when they're reading it in Genesis.
That same appeal to one's sense of being "special" and the exceptions to the rule also explains why people buy megaball lottery tickets, despite the astronomical odds of actually winning (the odds are literally lower than being struck by lightning on a day when there's not a cloud in the sky). So why do people buy a lottery ticket? If they DO understand the odds (and not many have actually taken a statistics course, hence why it's often said that the lottery is the only tax people willingly stand in line to PAY) they enjoy the fantasy for a day or two, fantasizing what they're going to do IF they win, despite the incredible odds AGAINST winning. Hey, that's not a problem with me: if they're not diverting $ from from their kid's mouths to buy tickets and understand they're likely only buying a day-dream, then more power to them.
The PROBLEM is that OTHER PEOPLE will exploit their inability to discriminate between fantasy and reality in order to control them like puppets: perhaps you've heard of groups like the JW's? Their methods RELY, are BUILT UPON, those who WANT to believe in the Bible.
Reality doesn't care what we WISH it be: people once believed the Earth was flat, but the Earth didn't BECOME flat to accommodate their beliefs.
Hey, it's your life and you can dig as deeply into your beliefs and question them just as much as the next guy as you like, but ONLY if you're willing to do: no one can (or SHOULD) FORCE you to do so, or do the thinking for you, since harboring delusions is everyone's right.
However, it seems rather questionable for you to ask others to question THEIR beliefs about the JWs with the hidden-camera videos, recorded calls, etc. when you're seemingly not even willing to question your OWN beliefs in the plain light of day?
Jesus and ancient men clearly were aware of the power of denial, noting how people are easily able to see splinters in other people's eyes while not even seeing the rafter in their OWN. His deeper point may have been how the presence of objects in their eye actually makes it much HARDER to perceive, which in turn biases one's perceptions; that's actually a well-known tendency of human nature which has been confirmed by scientific studies, called 'confirmation bias', seeing what we WANT to see, rather than what is.
But like I say, it's no skin off my nose WHAT you believe; I'm just to help others to identify flaws in their thinking in order for them to liberate themselves from cults (where not all cults are JWs, and not all chains are placed on them by the WT, where some people place the shackles on themselves).
Regards,
Adam