Noah and the flood in the Bible: How could a loving God drown women and children in Noah’s flood?

How could a loving God drown women and children in a global flood… that’s a question that atheists and those attempting to deconstruct their faith often ask when trying to reconcile Christianity’s claims of a loving God with the story of Noah in the Bible. It’s a question that you need to know how to answer. I mean, it does seem kind of harsh when you think about it doesn’t it?

Well, I can guarantee you that God is a God of love, and that His actions in the Old Testament, even in the story of Noah and the global flood, were actions that are ultimately rooted in love and compassion. If you’re wondering how I can correlate drowning the whole world with acts of love then keep reading as I share three points to explain exactly that. Whether you’re an atheist, or a lifelong Christian, I am confident some of the ideas shared here you have never encountered before.

In this series, I’m attempting to explain some of the most difficult questions posed to me by some of my friends who began deconstructing their faith as they encountered some difficult stories in the Old Testament that they didn’t know how to process. The question I’m addressing in this article is, “How could a loving God drown women and children in a global flood?” I’m going to answer that question with 3 points. Alright, let’s jump in with point number 1.

1. The flood was a rescue mission to save mankind from extinction

I know this probably sounds crazy with just a surface level reading of the story of Noah’s Ark. You’re probably thinking, “Chris did you read the story? God drowned the whole earth. He didn’t rescue it!” And while I agree that there was definitely judgement taking place through the flood (I’ll get to that in my second point), I believe that God’s ultimate motivation for drowning the world, was to save, not destroy humanity’s future. Let’s take a look at 1 Peter 3:19-20 (KJV):

“By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

1 Peter 3:19-20 (KJV)

Saved by water, not from water

So this scripture references Noah and his family and says that they were saved by water. You’d think that it would say that they were saved from water, but that’s not what it says. It says they were saved by water, as in, the water saved them. The New Heart English Bible (NHEB) actually emphasizes this point and says “few, that is, eight souls, were saved by means of water.”

There are some translations that have interpreted this verse to say that they were saved while going through the water, but when you look at the context of the verse I think the more accurate translation is the one chosen by the KJV translators. The word “by” in the Greek is “dia” and can mean “by means of” or “on account of”, and when you read the next verse you see this comparison made:

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us…

1 Peter 3:21 (KJV)

The King James English can be hard to process. In modern day English I would say, “This is a picture of how baptism saves us.” So to paraphrase, the author is saying, in the same way that the water saved Noah, the water of baptism saves us.” But I think the obvious question here is, what did the water save Noah from? We know the Ark saved Noah from the water, but what did the flood waters save Noah from? Let’s dig a little deeper to find out.

What did the flood save Noah from?

If you’ve been through my previous episodes then you’ve already heard me hint at this point. If you haven’t been through my previous episodes then let me quickly fill you in. There are a couple of different ways you can look at the setting for the story of Noah’s Ark depending on how you interpret the beginning of Genesis 6. I’m obviously approaching the story of the flood from the way I understand the story, but you don’t have to believe it like I do. Even if you don’t believe my interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4 then it still doesn’t change the fact the flood was ultimately a rescue mission. Here’s what I mean.

Leading up to this episode I produced a series of 4 episodes providing a Biblical argument that Genesis 6:1-4 records an angelic rebellion in which angels mated and reproduced with human women filling the world with a hybrid half-angel, half-human race. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s why I spent four episodes explaining this concept in detail. I knew that idea was going to sound crazy to people, so I made sure to provide a strong Biblical argument to support my claim. So if you think I’m talking crazy, please go check out my previous episodes before making your final conclusions. Although the concept sounds ludicrous, many of the world’s most brilliant Biblical scholars believe that Genesis 6:1-4 records the story of fallen angels mating with human women to produce a hybrid race.

If that interpretation is correct, then that means that there was a hybrid race population exploding across the earth as human men and women mated either with fallen angels, or with this hybrid race of people. As men and women continued to reproduce with this unnatural offspring, the natural race of humanity would have been disappearing as this new race took over. Whether you believe there was a hybrid race exploding throughout the earth or not, there is one thing we all agree on and that the Bible states in no uncertain terms. That is, mankind had totally turned their back on God and all of civilization was living in open rebellion to God.

Finally the day came when the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.

Genesis 7:1 (TLB)

Please keep in mind that when the flood started when Noah was 600 years old, and I believe Noah had been preaching repentance for at least 120 years leading up to the flood, giving people an opportunity to repent and be saved. I want to look at a portion of scripture that we’ve looked at several times before in this series, but this time I want to focus on a different part of it.

Now a population explosion took place upon the earth. It was at this time that beings from the spirit world looked upon the beautiful earth women and took any they desired to be their wives. Then Jehovah said, “My Spirit must not forever be disgraced in man, wholly evil as he is. I will give him 120 years to mend his ways.”

Genesis 6:1-3 (TLB)

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 Peter 2:5 (KJV)

So we see in these two scriptures that Noah was a preacher of Righteousness and that God gave mankind 120 years to mend their ways. Some other translations of 2 Peter 2:5 say that Noah was the only one who “spoke out” for God. So I believe that during these 120 years that Noah was preaching righteousness and repentance. With all of that in mind, let’s take stock of everything that was going on leading up to the flood.

The world leading up to the flood

We just read in Genesis 6:1 that there was a population explosion taking place as the Sons of God mated with the daughters of man. So obviously the babies being born as a result of these ungodly unions were hybrid beings. While this was going on, the world of mankind had rejected God entirely as they embraced this demonic coexistence with fallen angels. Extra biblical writings tell us that society had completely devolved into an abhorrent mess obsessed with everything twisted and tormented, including murder, human sacrifice, rape, bestiality and experimenting with the mixing of animal species. If the extra-biblical texts are accurate then the fallen angels helped humanity successfully cross breed different animal species together leaving a mutilated animal kingdom to fill the earth. That is why the animal kingdom also needed to be cleansed by the flood.

Things got so bad, and God remained so patient, that literally every righteous person died or was murdered until Noah was literally the only righteous man left. It doesn’t even tell us that Noah’s family was righteous. I think it’s possible they were just saved for Noah’s sake and because they were of a pure blood line to restart the human population. Keep in mind, extra Biblical texts tell us that people were trying to murder Noah and his family. God waited until the absolute last second to send the flood. We think our world seems pretty dark sometimes, but can you imagine being literally the very last Christian on earth while the rest of society wants to murder you. The level of depravity that the world had fallen to is honestly beyond anything we can imagine.

What if Noah had died?

Let’s follow this story to its logical conclusion. What if Noah would have died? What if God had held back the flood and Noah would have been murdered, and the only people left in the world were murderous rapists and half-man, half angel hybrids? Well, for one, people would have continued breeding with the fallen angels and hybrid beings until the only family lines left in the earth were these mixed hybrid lines effectively eliminating humanity from the face of the earth.

Satan wanted this to happen because he had already been told by God in Genesis 3 that it would be the seed of a woman that would bring his defeat. We know that this was accomplished by Jesus the Christ coming as a human as the son of Mary. Satan wanted to wipe out the seed of woman before it could bring his demise. It was Adam and Eve, humanity, that had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus welcoming evil into the world.

Thus, Jesus had to come as a human, the seed of a woman, to redeem humanity and the world. If humanity had been wiped out because God delayed sending the flood, then Jesus would not have had a human line to come through, and all of creation would have been doomed for all eternity. Even so, God waited until the absolute last moment, until there was literally only one righteous man left to send the flood, and even then he allowed Noah to preach repentance for 120 years and provided the Ark as a way of escape for anyone who would turn from their wicked ways.

Were there any children left when the flood came?

Now, I’m going to do some speculating here, and read in between the lines of the things we know. I think it’s possible one of the reasons that God waited so long to send the flood is because he was waiting until there were no more human babies left. We know that Noah was the last righteous man on earth, and he was 600 years old. So we know that society as a whole had turned away from God a long time ago. We also know that there was a population explosion when the fallen angels started mating with human women.

So it’s very possible that the pure human population had already dwindled to the point that by the time Noah was 600 years old that there were only hybrid babies being born. For the righteous population to have dwindled to literally one man, it is very possible that the last of the human babies had been born many years earlier and had already grown old enough to consciously choose righteousness or evil, and unfortunately we see that they all chose evil. That would explain how it was possible that ALL of humanity only thought evil all the time as this passage reveals:

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:4-5 (KJV)

It appears to me that human innocence was gone. I personally believe that is because the innocence of children was gone, as there were no children left.

The last thing I want to say on this point, is that even if you don’t believe in the angel view of Genesis 6, and you don’t believe that there was a hybrid race taking over the earth, the fact still remains that God had to preserve a family line through the last righteous man alive in order to provide a safe family for the Christ to be born into as a vulnerable baby. That was the plan through which all of us were to be redeemed. So, either way you look at it, while the flood did bring judgment, it was also a rescue mission to save the future of humanity.

2. God would be evil himself if He didn’t judge evil

One of the questions that atheists or those questioning their faith often ask is, “If God is a good God then why doesn’t He intervene to stop all of the evil happening in the world?” This is perplexing to me, because these people blame God for being unloving for not intervening to stop the spread of evil in the earth, but then when God does intervene to stop the spread of evil in the earth they accuse Him of being a monster for doing so! For example, the Canaanites were a people group known for burning their own children alive as sacrifices to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:31). Later accounts describe children being placed in the red-hot bronze hands of an idol heated by fire.

Rape and murder were rampant in their culture, and they had their targets set on wiping out God’s people. So God intervenes and empowers Israel to take out their armies and political power, thus stopping the spread of evil in the earth, and now people call God mean and harsh for using Israel to stop them! Or in this case, God sends the flood to stop the evil that was taking over the world, and God gets labelled mean for doing so.

I do want to make it clear that the flood wasn’t just about the hybrid species, but it was about judging the evil humans who had welcomed and perpetuated this evil into the world. Humans had the authority over the world, and the kingdom of darkness couldn’t have done anything in it without the consent and aid of the humans who were supposed to be caretakers of the earth. The Bible makes it clear that God was judging man, not a hybrid species with the flood, and all of mankind that died in the flood was thoroughly and totally evil and deserving of judgement.

What do you want? Should the judge have abandoned justice and let evil run unmitigated bringing the extinction of the human race? Picture a courtroom where a mass murderer is standing trial, all the evidence is there to prove his guilt, he even pleads guilty, and the Judge just lets him off scot-free! What would you think of that Judge? You would think he was an evil judge who doesn’t care about the well being of the community.

A father with two sons

I want you to imagine for a moment that you have two sons. You heartbreakingly get the news that one of your sons has become a demented serial killer and that the authorities are on the hunt for him. One day you walk into your home to find your murderous son holding down your innocent son with a knife raised above his head just seconds away from plunging it into your innocent son’s body. There’s no time to cross the room to get to them. The only way you could stop him in time is by pulling out your gun and shooting the murderous son before he plunges the knife into your other son. What do you do?

I believe this is very much the situation God was in during Noah’s day. God’s creation had heartbreakingly turned on itself and eroded into such an evil state that the last righteous man on earth, the last man whom the future of humanity could be secured through, was at risk. The “evil sons” were on the brink of murdering the “innocent sons.”

We don’t judge a police officer who takes out an armed gunman holding innocent hostages, in fact we call them heroes, so why do we call God a monster for doing the same thing? If God had not intervened to stop the spread of evil, not only would he have been an evil judge for choosing injustice, but you and I wouldn’t be here today. He literally saved our lives when He sent the flood.

3. God provided a way of escape, but people chose not to take it

Let’s take a look at another translation of 1 Peter 3:19-20 (ABPE):

“And he preached to those souls who were held in Sheol, These who from the first were not convinced in the days of Noah when the long-suffering of God commanded that there would be an ark, upon the hope of their repentance, and only eight souls entered it and were kept alive by water.”

1 Peter 3:19-20 (ABPE)

The ark that could save these people from the flood was there the whole time. Along with a preacher of righteousness to share the way of escape with them. Now, I don’t know what Noah was preaching, but I do know that he was preaching, and that God had given humanity 120 years to mend their ways. I also believe that if anyone would have repented that they would have had a place on the ark, because the flood was to judge guilty people, not innocent ones.

I think God knew that no one was going to repent, or otherwise He would have had Noah build a lot more boats, but the point is that every person had the choice. It was their decision to reject God’s spokesperson on the earth, who was probably very famous for building the ark. I’ve visited a life size replica of the ark, and it’s not something you can miss. You can see it from a long way off.

It’s massive, and I’m sure that Noah had plenty of opportunities to warn others as they questioned him about why he was building an ark. The patience of God, to wait 120 years, waiting until the very last possible moment to give people a chance to repent is evidence of His mercy and grace. Those people didn’t deserve a second chance, much less 120 years worth of second chances. I want you to see the desperation of God in this.

He was so desperate to see mankind come back to Him that he waited until every last possible opportunity to repent had been absolutely exhausted. This is the nature of God and His son Yeshua. We see this nature over and over again throughout scripture, from Jesus embracing the famous betrayal kiss from Judas, to God delaying the judgement of the Canaanites, and we still witness God’s longsuffering and patience today.

Why doesn’t God just reveal Himself?

Sometimes I hear people say things like, “How could a loving God stay invisible and then judge me for not following the orders of someone I’ve never met. If God wants me to believe in Him then He should at least reveal himself.” …He did reveal himself. He literally sent His only begotten son to be born through a miraculous birth who then grew up to perform miracles to the masses validating himself.

He raised people from the dead and became the most famous person in the world while stating clearly that He was the way of Salvation, and He even raised Himself from the dead, appearing to many afterwards, again proving Himself. He even ensured that there would be disciples to continue telling the truth of who He was until He returned. He could not have made it any more blatantly obvious for you. If anyone chooses to ignore the mountain of evidence that came from Him revealing Himself to the world, then that is not on Him. Anyways, that topic is actually going to be getting its own episode in this series, so I’ll move on.

Let the lion out of the cage

My heart behind producing this series is just to help people see the truth of God’s character. In particular, my friends who have been doubting their faith. The world is constantly trying to assassinate God’s character. Not that God needs my defense. A lion doesn’t need protection, just open the cage right. I’m just trying to let the truth out of the cage.

I think many times Christians haphazardly shrug off some of these difficult questions and tell people to just have faith, because they honestly don’t know the answers themselves, but I don’t think these are questions that God wants us to just sweep under the rug. God has revealed Himself and His character through His word, and I want people to know our God is not mean. He’s not a monster. He loves you more than you could ever possibly imagine. If you’re having doubts or questions, then I want to get the book I’m writing on these topics into your hands.

If you can’t afford to buy it then I’ll give it to you for free. At the very least please finish this entire series here on isgodmean.com. I believe it will provide a different perspective and allow you to make more informed decisions. There are some free study materials you can download as well, so be sure to check it out, and don’t forget to join the mailing list so that you never miss a thing. God bless you guys.