@LeeWoofenden Good stuff. I asked a question on main to allow you to make this argument in a more visible forum.

@LeeWoofenden Still then you would say they're real people that came from other real people that came from Noah, who stepped out of an ark?

@ThaddeusB Hmm. I'm not sure I'd call it "evidence," but I suppose the fact that the names in the genealogies of Genesis 10 are the names of nations and tribes could be seen as "evidence."

@LCIII They were real people, but they were whole races and cultures of people, not individuals. I do not believe there was any individual named Noah, who stepped out of an ark. I do not believe there was any literal world-covering flood, or even region-covering flood, nor do I believe that a man named Noah built an ark to ride out the flood. I believe that these stories are wholly symbolic, and were never even intended by their original tellers to refer to literal individuals and events.

@LeeWoofenden "evidence" it just my go to way to say "how is this argument made", don't read too much into the wording

What you already wrote in chat would be a pretty solid answer - of course if you have anything to add to that, that would be even better

@LeeWoofenden Not really, the whole of Genesis is about the individuals who founded the nations seen in the rest of the OT.

@LeeWoofenden What are they symbolic of?

@curiousdannii That is your interpretation and opinion, and it is the interpretation and opinion of many traditional Christians. I just happen to disagree with it. We know that the names in Genesis 10 are the names of nations and tribes, because they are used that way many times throughout the OT scriptures. Stating that they are also individuals is a supposition.

@curiousdannii For that, I would suggest a reading of Swedenborg's Secrets of Heaven on the subject. But in general, they represent successive and varying stages of the development of human culture--especially human spiritual culture. The various branches represent different directions that the various races an cultures of humanity went spiritually, which is also the basis for our national and cultural differences.

This is all on the level of what Swedenborg calls the "internal historical sense" of the Bible, by which he means the spiritual meaning as it relates to the spiritual course and development of humankind as a whole, and of whole cultures of human beings.

There are also distinct levels of meaning that relate to the "regeneration," or spiritual rebirth of individual human beings, and that relate to the "glorification," or inner life of the Lord (Jesus Christ) while on earth--which is the meaning the New Testament occasionally refers to when it says that the Scriptures testify of Jesus.

@ThaddeusB Here you go: