In The Book of Genesis we are presented with the story of Creation, the Flood and the destruction of Sodom. As usual with stories retold in the Bible there are deeper ramifications within the stories than what appears on the surface, particularly with respect to the meaning and relationship between God and man. All of the stories seem to place man in a subservient position to God, or at least man’s will to God’s will. The true meaning in life is to obey the will of God, even when it goes against our own will. Just as we must develop our spiritual side to overcome our physical desires, so, too, we must sublimate our own will to the will of God.
In the Bible, Genesis 6:3, we see that God has a superior power over man, but man also is invested with the will to choose whether or not he will obey the will of God. He may choose to do good, which is obeying the will of God, or he is just as free to do evil, in which case he is not choosing to connect with God, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh” (Bible Genesis 6:3). Just as man must overcome his physical desires and develop his spiritual side, so he must overcome his potential to commit evil and instead choose to do good (which is obeying the will of God). Only when the will of man chooses to obey the will of God can man experience a positive interaction with God.
However, even though God “repenteth” that he made man because of the evil in man’s heart, he bestows clemency upon Noah because Noah is a man who has behaved justly according to the will of God. In this way, Noah is spared the destruction of life from the flood God unleashes upon the world, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Bible Genesis 6:8, 6:9). The flesh of man, or his inability to overcome the physical, has cor...