The Silence of Noah

 This is the introduction to an article at Sojourners.  It shines an interesting light on current christianity and its priorities - highlighted in what we argue about.

"Why Was Noah Silent at the End of the World?

Finding the courage to argue with those who claim to speak for God. 

 

 NOAH'S ARK IS a strange children’s story.... I’ve sat on the floors of many church nurseries playing with babies and Noah’s ark toys and questioned its appropriateness. I’ve thought about Noah and his family closing the door and being sealed inside. I’ve thought about them hearing the sound of rain and the people banging desperately on those closed doors. I’ve thought about the cries and the banging becoming quieter and quieter, about the gut-wrenching silence as the voices were swallowed by the sound of rain. 

 

In a recent essay  ...Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg notes that while the Bible calls Noah a “righteous man, blameless in his generation” (Genesis 6:9), the Zohar, a Kabbalistic text that first appeared in 13th century Spain, doesn’t see him so favorably. The author ties him not to the survival of the animals but to the deaths of everyone else. “Noah did not plea for mercy on behalf of the world, and they all perished, because the Holy One ... had told him that he and his children would be saved by the ark” (Zohar 1:67b). Noah’s complicity in the people’s deaths is so bad that, in Isaiah, the floodwaters are named after him: “For this is as the waters of Noah to me; as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth” (Isaiah 54:9, ).....

 I’ve wondered if this story that celebrates obedience immunizes us to the suffering of others—if it teaches us to see suffering as proof of God’s judgment. Just following orders is no excuse. Neither is thinking you are chosen......when presented with the people’s coming destruction, Noah was silent. He built his ark ...Then he packed up his family, inventoried the animals, and let God seal him in. Did he do all that he could?

 Have we?

 The Israelites were spared because Moses risked arguing with God. But most of us church people don’t argue with God. We don’t argue with our theology. We don’t argue with our teachers. Not for the sake of others, at least. (emphasis mine) We’ll argue because the pews are too hard or too soft or because we didn’t like the worship songs. We’ll argue over any number of things that inconvenience us, but we don’t argue about the things that convenience us. The Western church is too convinced of its status—of its chosenness—and so, like Noah, it preaches to the lost but does not argue about the pending judgment. In fact, I dare say that there is a certain frisson of excitement about that judgment, about being on the inside of that door when it finally slams shut, knowing that if people are outside, it’s their own fault."

 https://sojo.net/magazine/february-2022/why-was-noah-silent-end

I have often been bothered by bible stories, especially many that are in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Noah story was one, so I mostly have ignored it. This article names it - what has always stuck in my throat about this story. I didn't read many bible stories to my children because so often I didn't like the message.