The Resurection of Jesus Christ.

The parallels between the many stories from practically every culture are amazing. They generally agree that: 1) there was some provision made for rescue (an ark, barge, or similar vessel) 2) living things were destroyed by water 3) only a few were saved through divine intervention; 4) the Flood was judgment against the man"s wickedness 5) animals were often saved with the few humans, and birds were often used by the humans to report the end of the Flood 6) the vessel came to rest on a mountaintop, or the people were saved on a mountaintop. The fact that the biblical account of a flood, whether local or global, is shared by so many cultures is added evidence that the Flood was indeed a cataclysmic event as described in Genesis Whether the Flood was restricted to a local but wide area of the earth, or was on a global scale, will continue to be debated. But clearly there was a flood that accomplished God"s purpose. Additionally, an extensive flood is written about in practically every ancient culture. The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic (1900"BC) tells of a Noah-like character named Utnapishtim who was told by Ea, the god of wisdom, to build a ship because a flood was coming. In Asia, Flood stories are found in the folklore of remote tribes on the Indian peninsula, including those of the Kamars, those in Kashmir, and in Assam. In a Chinese tradition, Fah-He escaped from the Flood with his wife, three sons, and three daughters, from whom the entire population of the modern world was descended. In Australia and the Pacific, the Australian aborigines have Flood stories that say that God sent a flood as judgment on man"s wickedness. The Hawaiians say that a long time after the first man, Kumu-Honua, all of mankind became completely wicked. The only righteous man was Nu-u, who was saved from the Flood that inundated the land. God left the rainbow as a token of his forgiveness of Nu-u and his family. In the Americas, Alaskans tell the story that the "father" of their tribe was warned by a vision that a flood would destroy all life on the earth. He built a raft upon which he was able to save his family and all the animals. The Census: I will begin to answer your question that deals with the census in verse 1, We have no evidence that Augustus ever issued a decree resulting in an empire-wide registration (census), though several censuses were conducted during his reign having this effect. Luke may have been merely summarizing the intention of these registrations or referring to a decree that expressed such an intention. Evidence exists that the Romans sometimes took registrations of client kingdoms, as Palestine was at this time, and may even point to the existence of tax rolls in Samaria prior to Herod's death. Herod had fallen out of favor with Augustus toward the end of his life, and Augustus may have pressured Herod to conduct the registration in view of his advanced age and the possibility of Roman acquisition of at least some of Herod's territory upon his death. Verse 2, The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that Quirinius became governor of Syria and instituted a registration in Judea in A.D. 6, too late for a supposed birth of Jesus under Herod the Great (Mt 2:1; Lk 1:5), who probably died in 4 B.C. Luke clearly knew of this registration (Ac 5:37), so that calling the registration of chapter 2 the "first" (in apparent opposition to the later census) strongly suggests he did not have his facts mixed up here. The verse is to be read as either: 1. Dissociating Quirinius from the registration (i.e., this was a former registration, taken before the famous one under Quirinius), or 2. Posting two registrations administered by Quirnius (i.e., this is the registration taken by Quirnius the first time he was governor (or some other administrator) of Syria.) Our knowlege of the relevent historical facts is too incomplete to determine a more definitive solution. Note: Just because it is incomplete doesn't mean it is wrong or should be discredited. Genealogies of Christ: There is evidence that first-century Jews kept genealogical records (for example, Josephus referred to public registers as sources of some of his information). Matthew's genealogy emphasizes Christ's royal lineage, while Luke's focuses on His biological lineage. Luke and Matthew differed considerably in their recording of Jesus' genealogy. Some have suggested that Luke gave Jesus' decent through Mary, but this solution has not been accepted by the majority of scholars. Perhaps Matthew gave the legal line of descent, while Luke gave the physical line of decent (i.e., of Joseph, but not literally of Jesus), both of allowances for adoption, levitate marriages, or transference of inheritance rights from one parallel line to another in the absence of children. Though all harmonizing solutions are conjecural, they demonstrate that the two genealogies are not inherently incompatible. The Flood: Many Geologists and Bible scholars don't believe there was a single universal flood in history yet, acknowledge that there were many devastating local floods in Earth's history. On the other hand, there are geologists and Christian scholars who contend that only a world wide flood could account for the Earth's sedimentary layers of fossils that have been formed. I hope you enjoyed this debate. I love talking about my faith and I wish you nothing but the best. God bless you.