The Story of the Great Flood

And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  So the LORD said, "I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created - people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." -Genesis 6:6-7

The story of Noah's Ark confounds and confuses me.  It is as if it were pulled from the pages of a book on the stories of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.  It is the antithesis of all I have learned about the Judeo-Christian God.

It starts out talking about the "Nephilim" called "sons of God" who mated with human women and created giants.  What????  Why don't we know more about this?  Why doesn't the bible explain exactly who these Nephilim were and where they came from and why we never hear about them again (except in describing the Anakites in the book of Numbers)? This for sure sounds like a story from Greek mythology.

And then we find that God, the omnipotent, omniscient, eternal and perfect God has made a mistake. What???? And then to rectify his mistake he is going to kill every human and animal on earth. What???? (Such a cute story for nursery themes and children's songs, right?). Can you even imagine the scene?  I'll bet the ark had deep scratches in its hull from terrified people trying to hold on or at least trying to plead with Noah to take their babies.

A question to consider:  If God knows all from the beginning to the end of time; if Christ was there at the creation of the world, God must have already known he would be sending Jesus to save us from sin.  So why the flood?  Were these people beyond even the saving power of Christ?  And if so, wasn't that a huge mistake for our perfect God? Then after the flood, God says (paraphrased), "Well humans will be humans.  They are born evil and will always be evil, so I promise I won't kill them off again."  What????  And Noah?  HE found favor in the sight of the LORD?  Abraham and Moses argued with God when they thought God was being too brutal.  But not Noah.  He was okay with the the total annihilation of every living thing. 

There are stories of a Great Flood in a lot of other ancient literature.  I feel pretty sure there was a devastating flood.  But I'm thinking it probably wasn't the entire world and probably wasn't issued as a death penalty from God.  Honestly, if in order to be a Christian, I had to believe this story to be literally true, I would have to walk away from my faith.  It just doesn't wash with the God I know and love. 

God of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,

Help me if I misunderstand this story. If it is not simply folklore that made its way into the bible, please help me understand your love and grace for all people, even in the worst parts of the story. Amen.