Does Genesis Teach a Worldwide Flood

[Sevenbak]

My official position on this matter matches the church's official position. I have no official position.

The Church has no official position? Since when?

FLOOD AT NOAH

[mfbukowski]

The Church has no official position? Since when?

FLOOD AT NOAH

[Sevenbak]

"This was the baptism of the earth and symbolized a cleansing"

I was not an actual cleansing- it symbolized one.

An important distinction. But of course we know that the bible dictionary has that disclaimer which says it is not doctrinal.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bd/contents

Sorry, but you are wrong on this. This isn't the Bible Dictionary, it is the "Guide to the Scriptures", and is most definitely doctrine of the Church. It's spelled out clearly.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/contents

"This alphabetical listing of gospel topics defines selected doctrines, principles, people, and places found in the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. It also provides key scriptural references for you to study for each topic and can help you in your individual and family study of the scriptures. It can help you answer questions about the gospel, study topics in the scriptures, prepare talks and lessons, and increase your knowledge and testimony of the gospel."

The church officially teaches a global flood, there is no getting past this.

On a side note, if baptism was just symbolic, then we wouldn't require every hair to be immersed and have double witnesses when we do the ordinance.

[Mansquatch]

Interesting. Where has the Church said that it has no "Official Position" on the subject?

So far as I have ever found, nowhere. Which would lead me to conclude that they don't have one.

If it was important enough they would have an official declaration that the scientific research in the area is moot; or on the other side (if they choose it) that the scriptures must be read while remembering the fact that they were written thousands of years ago 'according to [the] knowledge' of the author. Maybe they can follow it up declaring that the world has corners as is often written in scriptures. Then after that, they can add flood trivia to the temple recommend questions.

I will also cite FAIR as claiming that the church has no position. http://en.fairmormon.org/Global_or_local_Flood#The_Church_does_not_take_an_official_position_on_this_issue

[cinepro]

So far as I have ever found, nowhere. Which would lead me to conclude that they don't have one.

If it was important enough they would have an official declaration that the scientific research in the area is moot; or on the other side (if they choose it) that the scriptures must be read while remembering the fact that they were written thousands of years ago 'according to [the] knowledge' of the author. Maybe they can follow it up declaring that the world has corners as is often written in scriptures. Then after that, they can add flood trivia to the temple recommend questions.

I will also cite FAIR as claiming that the church has no position. http://en.fairmormon.org/Global_or_local_Flood#The_Church_does_not_take_an_official_position_on_this_issue

I'm already going 12 rounds in this thread, so we should probably continue this over there if you have anything to add.

But I will point out (for the benefit of those who are new to the argument that "there's no Official Declaration") that the "Official Declaration" argument doesn't apply to the Global Flood theory because Official Declarations only appear when there is debate, confusion or change on an issue. And the Church has been consistent on this issue (with no debate), since 1830.

As for statements about the scientific evidence, the Church did publish this interesting article which addresses the issue:

The Gospel and the Scientific View: How Earth Came to Be

The worldwide flood of Noah

[cinepro]

But as long as you're going by what FAIR says, they quote the following:

"Here we must have in mind

[thesometimesaint]

cinepro:

Your link is nothing more than an appeal to the god of the gaps.

Anytime anyone says something that is demonstrably wrong or impossible. I would suggest that we might want amend what is demonstrably wrong or impossible. Otherwise we should throwout all modern math and science and go with Pi being equal to exactly three.

[Mansquatch]

I suppose they could release some sort of statement, but it would possibly be the first time such a statement has been released regarding a subject for which there has already been consistent teachings for 180 years (with multiple clear, unambiguous references freely available in Church publications).

The church taught very clearly that blacks had the "curse of Cain" and were "less valiant" than white people in heaven for 130 years but then new information came to light that prompted Bruce McConkie to say, "Forget everything I have said, or what...Brigham Young...or whomsoever has said...that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world." The "curse of Cain" thing was an old protestant belief that came to the church with the protestant converts. It was taught for a very long time, but apparently now we should 'forget' it. That tells me that it was unimportant and obviously came from 'limited understanding'.

But surely by now we have complete, unlimited understanding of all things.

The Church has a huge, easily searchable website. Why would anyone need to go to the FAIR web site to find out if the Church has an official position on something? Wouldn't that be like asking a used car dealer about Fords instead of calling Ford directly?

I cite FAIR because they often have letters from the church about such matters. Unfortunately they did not provide such a letter but I assume they have a reason for believing there is no official position. Since the church does not have a page listing its official positions on matters of geology and FAIR has some reason for listing this as 'no official position' it is more like I am asking the used car dealer about a car that was never made or possibly made once in a letter to them that they don't display in their showroom.

So........flood trivia for recommends???