If God knows our sinful nature, why did He destroy the earth and promise never to do it again?

Sincerely,
Strong Swimmer

Dear Strong Swimmer,

God made the promise never to flood the earth again because He had a different plan in mind.  Instead of leaving every man to do what was right in his own eyes until things got completely and totally depraved (as was the case before the flood – Gen 6:5-6)… He used one man to bring hope to all men.

After the Great Flood, God called Abraham to be His servant and the father of a great nation (Gen 12:1-2).  God made a promise to Abraham that through Abraham’s seed, all mankind would be blessed (Gen 22:18).  Jesus is the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16).  After the Great Flood, God put into motion His plan to offer salvation to all mankind through Jesus Christ.  That road began with Abraham, and when the proper time came… Jesus was born (Gal 4:4).

1. Why did Noah choose seven clean and two unclean animals?
2. What is the difference between clean and unclean animals?

I need the Scriptures, too.

Sincerely,
A Boatload of Questions

Dear A Boatload of Questions,

Giving the Scriptures is our specialty!  In fact, if we don’t give you the Scriptures, you should reject anything we say.

Noah chose seven clean animals and two unclean animals because God told him to (Gen 7:2)… but God probably told him to do it because clean animals were used for animal sacrifices.  That is really the definition of a clean animal – a ‘clean’ animal is an animal that is approved for either:

• Consumption as food (Deu 14:4-20)
• Use as a sacrifice to God (Leviticus 4-8 outlines some of the many sacrifices made to God, and all of them use only clean animals.)

Since Noah made sacrifices to God as soon as the ark landed (Gen 8:20), it was necessary that he have more than just two.  Two animals are enough for repopulation but not enough for animal sacrifices.

Were there dinosaurs during Noah's time?

Sincerely,
Question-o-saurus

Dear Question-o-saurus,

We have every reason to believe that there were dinosaurs during Noah’s time… and that Noah put them on the ark along with the other animals.  Noah was told by God to put two of every kind of animal on the ark (Gen 6:19-20).  This would have included the dinosaurs.  Noah probably put young, smaller dinosaurs on the ark considering they would fit better, and they would be better prepared to live long lives and repopulate after the Flood.

Another reason that it is likely dinosaurs lived during Noah’s time is all the dinosaur fossils we find.  Most of the fossils that are found today were created by the cataclysmic flood of Noah’s day.  Ever wonder why there are so many fossils?  Millions of dead creatures were covered in dirt, water, and lava when the Flood happened.

And last, but not least, dinosaurs are spoken of in the book of Job – which was written after the flood of Noah’s day.  Job talks about two creatures: the Behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and Leviathan (Job 41:1-34) that both match the description of dinosaurs perfectly.  Since Job lived after the Flood, it means that dinosaurs were still alive after Noah’s time.

I am an African American; I say this because I recently took a history class and found out that Christianity was used as one of the means of not only imposing slavery, but justifying it.  As someone who was brought up in the church, this has really disturbed me.  So I went to the Bible and began reading the laws of slavery in Leviticus 25, and there was also a particular verse in Colossians 3:22 which implies that slavery was not condoned by God but not frowned upon either.  Funny enough, all of my years being in the church, I have never heard any of these passages mentioned... I have two questions:

Where does God stand when it comes to slavery?  How come it is not allowed anymore if the Bible does not discourage it?

Sincerely,
Loosing Faith

Dear Loosing Faith,

Unfortunately, many horrendous things have been done in the name of Christ… but that doesn’t make them right.  God does address slavery in the Bible.  He makes it clear that it is better when people are free; freedom is what God desires for all men (1 Cor 7:21).  However, God also deals with how people can live in a world where slavery does exist… hence, verses like Col 3:22.  Slavery was, and is, a reality in many parts of the world, a reality that doesn’t go away once people become christians.  How a slave should behave toward their master is a down-to-earth, practical, moral question for many, many people.  The fact that we Americans don’t have to deal with such dilemmas anymore is a blessing indeed.

What does 490 days and 70 weeks mean in the Bible, and does it relate to today?

Sincerely,
Delving Into Daniel

Dear Delving Into Daniel,

The seventy weeks of Dan 9:24 (also known as 'the 490 days') are symbolic weeks, not literal (much of the language in the book of Daniel is symbolic).  In order to understand what the seventy weeks represent, we need to have a little context.  At this time, the nation of Israel was in captivity, and the city of Jerusalem lay in ruins.  God had promised that He would bring Israel back from Babylonian captivity after seventy years (Jer 25:11-12).  Daniel knew that those seventy years of captivity were almost finished, and he had just finished praying that God would begin to return Israel (Dan 9:20) to the holy mountain of Jerusalem.  After this prayer, the angel Gabriel came and told Daniel that his prayer had been heard and that God had more details to tell him about Israel’s future (Dan 9:22-23).

These figurative seventy weeks represent the time from the restoration of Israel to the day when Jesus (referred to as the Most Holy One) came to die for mankind’s sins (Dan 9:24).  During that time, Jerusalem would be rebuilt even through troublesome times (Dan 9:25).  God revealed to Daniel the future of Israel and the coming of Jesus Christ.  So, yes, the seventy weeks relate to us today because Christ died for our sins… but, no, they don’t refer to any future events.