Yes  the Babylonians were Noah's descendants.  They knew of the flood but evidently did not write it down until after God confused the languages.  When they did they did not get all of the facts right.  

They wrote it down first. Wouldn't they be MORE likely to get it right?

Cassy

>>Flood stories from the Babylonians, Chaldeans and Egyptians predate the OT by many centuries.<<

The events of the flood were recorded in the Bible before there were any of the civilizations you mentioned.  Accurately dating ancient writing is not really reliable.  You are also assuming you have all of the ancient writings. 

>> Much of the Bible, including the flood myth, the creation storys and the resurrection were clearly plagerized from older earlier religious myths.<<

Present your evidence or am I just suppose to take your word for it?

>>Does it bother you at all that there is no credible evidence, or even physical possibility that there was a "world wide" flood within the past 10,000 years?<<

There is credible evidene you just don't accept it. 

>> What have you seen that most every geologist on earth has missed?<<

Not what I have seen.  It is what well qualified geologist have seen.

>>BTW, how many of every animal do you believe Noah took with him in the flood story?<<

Of the clean, he took 14.  Of the unclean he took 2.

k

>>Yes, I have that evidence. The earliest extant writings of the Babylonian creation myth predate the earliest extant writings of Genesis by several hundred years. In fact, they predate the compilation of Genesis reported in the Talmud by about 700 years, and we don't have any extant fragments of Genesis which are anything like that early.<<

How were these writing dated? 

>>What on earth is the relevance of saying there's no evidence of Babylonians before the flood?<<

According to the Bible, Babylon was started by Nimrod after the flood.  Do you have any evidence that it started before the flood?

>> No-one says Genesis was written before the flood...<<

Including me but what is written came from God, not from some Baylonian story teller.

k

>>That's as may be, but the Babylonians actually wrote it down first. <<

Where is your evidence and be sure to include how the date was determined.

k

>>Flood stories from the Babylonians, Chaldeans and Egyptians predate the OT by many centuries.<<

< The events of the flood were recorded in the Bible before there were any of the civilizations you mentioned. .....

Actual historians disagree with you. When do you think "the flood" occured?

< Accurately dating ancient writing is not really reliable. .....

But geology is, large floods leave evidence and there is no evidence of a world wide flood while humans existed.

>> Much of the Bible, including the flood myth, the creation storys and the resurrection were clearly plagerized from older earlier religious myths.<<

Present your evidence or am I just suppose to take your word for it?

My evidence is located in most every library, science department and museum on earth, that confirm that the stories from the biblical authors are very similar to the myths of those older civilizations.

>>Does it bother you at all that there is no credible evidence, or even physical possibility that there was a "world wide" flood within the past 10,000 years?<<

< There is credible evidene you just don't accept it.

Neither to the world's scientists, especially geologists that devote their lives to studying the earth. What is the extent of your study of geology? Many if not most Christians agree and realize that the flood story is a metaphore not meant to be taken literally. Can you cite an accredited university science department that teaches the flood story as fact?

>> What have you seen that most every geologist on earth has missed?<<

< Not what I have seen. It is what well qualified geologist have seen.

There are just a few fundamentalist Christian/scientists trying to justify their preconcieved religious beliefs, none that are taken seriously by the science community.

>>BTW, how many of every animal do you believe Noah took with him in the flood story?<<

< Of the clean, he took 14. Of the unclean he took 2.

But Gen. 6:19 just says two, "Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive."

First off, that many animals and their food would not fit in a boat of that size, and if all current animals came from one spot on earth, there would be physical and DNA evidence, how do you rationalize the lack of this credible evidence for this claim?

>>You really need to talk to professional archeologists...<<

Probably but maybe you need to not take what they say as the evidence.

The fact that Gilgamesh may have been written before Genesis, does not mean the Genesis account was copied from it.  For one thing there are to many differences.    Both accounts were probably originated from the same source---the flood and the account of it  that started with Noah and his family.  Over the years the Babylonians kept embellishing what happened, which is clearly in the myth category. 

>>Dating of Sumerian artifacts is established by where and how deep the tablets were discovered, the archaeological context, the style of pottery, the names of kings mentioned in associated artifacts, and so forth.  <<

How deep the tables were is the same circular reasoning evolutinists use to date fossils---the age of the fossils is detemined by the depth and the age of the solis is detemined by the fossils it contains.

Pottery can only be a very general way of determining age.  When kings reigned may be the most useful but even that is not 100% accurate.  Do you have any specifics of how Gilgamesh was dated?

>>The Torah was written down, according to the chronology given in the Bible, between 1446 and 1406 BCE. LINK.<<

That seems about right but irrelevant

>> (Many scholars believe that the evidence suggests it was actually written down a thousand years later.)<<

Doubtful but still irrelevant.

>>There is little doubt that the Epic of Gilgamesh was written down at a minimum of several hundred years before the Book of Genesis.<<

Probably not but do you have any evidence that the account in Genesis was copied from the Babylonian account. 

k

>>Actual historians disagree with you. When do you think "the flood" occured?<<

I probably misspoke here.  The Epic of Gilgamesh probably  written before the account in Genesis.  However it does not necessarily follow that the accountin Genesis was cop;ied form the Babylonian account.   There really is to many differences. The flood occured about 3500BC.

>>But geology is, large floods leave evidence and there is no evidence of a world wide flood while humans existed.<<

First of all, after almost 3500 years the evidence may have been destroyed.  When sea shells are found on mountains, how do y ou think they got there?  Second, there are some geologisit who say there is evidence.  If y ou would like to read what they say and dispute it, try "The Genesis Flood" by  John Whitcomb and Henry Morris.  I know that  they are not geologists but they do present some evidence and John Morris has probably looked at it as extensively as anyone who claims it is not evidence.

>>My evidence is located in most every library, science department and museum on earth, that confirm that the stories from the biblical authors are very similar to the myths of those older civilizations.<<

What is the evidence that there was no flood.  Something very similar does not make all of the stories a myth also. 

>>What is the extent of your study of geology?<<

Probably the same as yours.

>> Many if not most Christians agree and realize that the flood story is a metaphore not meant to be taken literally. <<

That is a possibility.  The problem is takeing majority to detemine truth.  We both know that is not a valid way to do it.

>>Can you cite an accredited university science department that teaches the flood story as fact?<<

Can you name an accredited university that would hire a creationists to teach geology?  I believe the school at the ICR was accredited in California.  I am not sure it was a university.

>>There are just a few fundamentalist Christian/scientists trying to justify their preconcieved religious beliefs, none that are taken seriously by the science community.<<

The irrelgious scientists are also trying to justify their preconceived  religious thoughts, which go far beyond the flood.  To say no evidence supports their idea, even if it was true, does not necessarily validate there was no flood.  As I said, after 3500 years the evidence may have been destroyed.  If you can prove there never was any evidence then  you have something to hang your hat  on.

>>But Gen. 6:19 just says two, "Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive."<<

Try Gen 7:2-3

>>First off, that many animals and their food would not fit in a boat of that size,<<

Maybe you are right.  What was the cubic capacity of the ark and wht was the average size of the animalss?

>> and if all current animals came from one spot on earth, there would be physical and DNA evidence, how do you rationalize the lack of this credible evidence for this claim?<<

I do not accept your claim as credible.   What does  where an animal came from have to do with DNA?  What physical evidence are your referring to?

k

Probably but maybe you need to not take what they say as the evidence.

I'm not taking what they say as the evidence. I'm taking what they say as the most likely valid interpretation of the evidence.  The evidence is the layers, the potsherds, the names, and all the other archaeological minutia in which I am not trained and they are.

If you think I should completely ignore the findings of trained experts in their field, then I don't see why I should pay any attention to doctors, theologians, engineers, astronomers, electricians or plumbers, either. Might as well just ask the first guy I see on the street and accept his opinion on, well, everything. <wry>

The fact that Gilgamesh may have been written before Genesis, does not mean the Genesis account was copied from it. 

I don't recall explicitly taking that position, actually. Although given the fact that the Israelites would almost certainly have had contact with Sumerian culture, legends, and stories, I can't see how they'd be ignorant of it, either.  Especially after the exile in Babylon.

For one thing there are to many differences.    Both accounts were probably originated from the same source---the flood and the account of it  that started with Noah and his family.  Over the years the Babylonians kept embellishing what happened, which is clearly in the myth category. 

And yet the Bible version, which was written down hundreds of years later, was not? Pull the other one; it has bells on. <grin>  In my own experience, the more years a story is told (without being written down, that is), the more embellishments it picks up, until the final story bears little resemblance to the actual events.  The closer an account is written to the actual event, the more weight most historians will give it.  For example, your account of the signing of the Magna Carta would have considerably less authority than an account written by the son of an eyewitness, even if the story was orally passed down in your family about how an ancestor was there.

How deep the tables were is the same circular reasoning evolutinists use to date fossils---the age of the fossils is detemined by the depth and the age of the solis is detemined by the fossils it contains.

You have a better way to determine it? Then you should be a professor of archaeology....

Pottery can only be a very general way of determining age.  When kings reigned may be the most useful but even that is not 100% accurate.  Do you have any specifics of how Gilgamesh was dated?

I have found references to many books on the Epic of Gilgamesh, but I don't find that specific information on the web. You'd have to read some books.

>>The Torah was written down, according to the chronology given in the Bible, between 1446 and 1406 BCE. LINK.<<

That seems about right but irrelevant

How is it irrelevant, when the whole point is dates? If we were talking about, oh, say, what Noah had for breakfast, then it would be irrelevant...

>> (Many scholars believe that the evidence suggests it was actually written down a thousand years later.)<<

Doubtful but still irrelevant.

Again, since we're specifically discussing dates, I don't see how a dating controversy is irrelevant.

>>There is little doubt that the Epic of Gilgamesh was written down at a minimum of several hundred years before the Book of Genesis.<<

Probably not but do you have any evidence that the account in Genesis was copied from the Babylonian account.