Last night, our local news station, THV11, published
a story entitled "Kentucky ark builder wants to take rainbow back", from an article written by Scott Wartman of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Apparently Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis and builder of a life-sized Noah's Ark replica in Kentucky thinks Christians need to "take the rainbow back". He believes that the rainbow should symbolize God's covenant with Noah, not "freedom, love, pride of the LGBT movement". "Sadly, people ignore what God intended the rainbow to represent and proudly wave rainbow-colored flags in defiance of God's command and design for marriage", said Ken Ham. I found this to be an interesting debate, and wanted to write a little about it - from a historical background, a Biblical background, and a scientific background.
First, let's talk about the easiest way to examine this topic: the scientific view. Light is made up of a spectrum of 7 colors. I’m sure we all remember our old friend Roy G. Biv who taught us the colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. If you remember from science class, when white light hit a prism you could easily notice the colors coming out the other side. In a rainbow, raindrops will act as a prism. Light hits a rainbow, which reflects off the side and exits the raindrop broken into a visible spectrum of colors. The angle for each color is different, so you will observe a circular rim formed across the sky or a “rainbow”.
I'm sure many of you remember the story of Noah's Ark. It is one we are taught from even the earliest of Sunday school classes. The story occurs in Genesis chapters 6 through 9. Basically, Noah is warned that there will be a flood coming and he is told to build the Ark. God gives him the exact dimensions and he builds the Ark from “gopher” wood. Some believe it is build from “qanim”, however. Noah takes his wife, his three sons and their wives on the Ark as well as two of every living thing, and seven pairs of every “clean” creature and bird along with food for their voyage. Whether or not you believe this is a worldwide flood or a local flood depends on your interpretation of Genesis, but the Biblical story says that the floodgates of heaven opened and it rained for 40 days and water covered the highest mountains, flooding the world. Eventually, the waters subsided and God made a covenant with Noah by using a rainbow after the storm as a reminder that he would never destroy the Earth again with water. Genesis 9:17 says, "
So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."
To be historically accurate, it is important that we mention the epic of Gilgamesh. The Pentateuch, or first five scrolls of the Old Testament, are believed to have been written, at the earliest, around 1400 BCE. The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, dates back to 2100 BCE. To be historically accurate, this means this tale came 700 years before our Christian story of Noah and the flood. What is interesting about this, is that the Epic of Gilgamesh also has a flood story, which is quite similar. Tablet 11 recounts this flood. The dimensions are given, a family goes onboard along with all the “animals of the field” and then a flood comes. After the flood is where things get interesting. A rainbow is given as a promise that the goddess Ishtar will never forget the great flood. “
Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jewelled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people.”
You may not know this man, but you know what he is carrying. This is Gilbert Baker, the man behind the pride flag. On June 25th, 1978 at San Francisco Pride, the first rainbow flags were raised. The original 8 colored flag had different meanings for each color. Hot pink stood for sexuality, red stood for life, orange stood for healing, yellow stood for sunlight, green stood for nature, turquoise stood for magic and art, blue stood for serenity and harmony, and violet stood for spirit. The rainbow flag is now commonly used by the LGBT community.
Now, what does all this mean? Numerous things. First of all, from a historical perspective, the Epic of Gilgamesh was written before the Christian account of Noah's flood in the Old Testament by 700 years. So, if anything, the Sumerians have more claim to the rainbow than we Christians do. Second, nobody can really claim ownership of a rainbow. It is a scientific phenomenon that means different things to different people. The idea of "taking back the rainbow" is a silly one, as nobody can own a rainbow. It stems from the "Christian Persecution Complex" that some people suffer from: a believe that Christians are persecuted in America, which is factual inaccurate and without any basis in logic or rational thought. Since I was a kid, I've attended church on Sundays, prayed before meals, read my Bible, and worshipped as I saw fit and no one has ever stopped me. The notion that we are persecuted is just loony. Third, if the LGBT community wants to use the rainbow, that's just fine. If Ken Ham wants to light his ark with a rainbow, that's fine. Whoever wants to use the rainbow: use it. It's a beautiful symbol that has existed since there has been rain in the sky as early as 4.4 billion years ago.
Arguments like this are silly in nature, but it is often important to look at the facts. And when we look at the facts we truly can see how silly these arguments are. I hope people can move forward and focus less on things like this on more on the needs of their fellow man. That is the true nature of the Bible, not worrying about who owns the rainbow, but worrying about loving, supporting and helping others.
