Further Thought: A comparison between the mentality and the behav-
ior of the people and the state of the world before the Flood and that of the
people in our days is particularly instructive. To be sure, human wickedness
is not a new phenomenon. Look at the parallels between their time and ours.
“The sins that called for vengeance upon the antediluvian world exist
today. The fear of God is banished from the hearts of men, and His law
is treated with indifference and contempt. The intense worldliness of that
generation is equaled by that of the generation now living. . . . God did not
condemn the antediluvians for eating and drinking. . . . Their sin consisted
in taking these gifts without gratitude to the Giver, and debasing themselves
by indulging appetite without restraint. It was lawful for them to marry.
Marriage was in God’s order; it was one of the first institutions which He
established. He gave special directions concerning this ordinance, clothing
it with sanctity and beauty; but these directions were forgotten, and mar-
riage was perverted and made to minister to passion. A similar condition
of things exists now. That which is lawful in itself is carried to excess. . . .
Fraud and bribery and theft stalk unrebuked in high places and in low. The
issues of the press teem with records of murder. . . . The spirit of anarchy is
permeating all nations, and the outbreaks that from time to time excite the
horror of the world are but indications of the ­pent-up fires of passion and
lawlessness that, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe
and desolation. The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian
world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast
hastening. Even now, in the present century, and in professedly Christian
lands, there are crimes daily perpetrated as black and terrible as those for
which the old-world sinners were destroyed.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs
and Prophets, pp. 101, 102.
Discussion Questions:
 What are the common characteristics of the pre-Flood society
and ours? What do these common characteristics teach us about
God’s grace, that, despite all this, He loves the world and is, still,
seeking to save whom He can?
 Some people argue that Noah’s flood was only a local event.
What is wrong with that idea? If this were true, why would every
local flood (and every rainbow) make God a liar?