Where Then, Is Hope?

“There is a great effort on the part of so-called modernists to change religious beliefs and teachings of the past to conform to modern thought and critical research. They de-emphasize the teachings of the Bible by modern critical methods and deny the scripture is inspired. The modernist teaches that Christ is not the Son of God. The modernist denies the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice by which all men may be saved.“…“Can we say there was no Garden of Eden or an Adam and Eve? Because modernists now declare the story of the flood is unreasonable and impossible, should we disbelieve the account of Noah and the flood as related in the Old Testament?

“Let us examine what the Master said when the disciples came to him as he sat on the Mount of Olives. They asked him to tell them of the time of his coming and of the end of the world. Jesus answered:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, "And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:36-39.)

“In this statement the Master confirmed the story of the flood without modernizing it. Can we accept some of the statements of the Lord as being true and at the same time reject others as being false?

“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him and they discussed the matter of the death of her brother and the resurrection. "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." (John 11:25)

“Both of these statements, the one regarding Noah and the fact of the flood and the one in which he declared himself to be the resurrection and the life, were made by the Lord. How can we believe one and not the other? How can we modernize the story of the flood or refer to it as a myth and yet cling to the truth of the other?” 

(Howard W. Hunter, “Where, Then, Is Hope?” )