Conditions Before the Flood

The sins that called for vengeance upon the pre-Flood world exist today. The fear of God is banished from human hearts. His law is treated with indifference and contempt. “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:38, 39). God did not condemn the pre-Flood generation for eating and drinking. He had given the fruits of the earth to meet their physical wants. Their sin was in taking these gifts without gratitude to the Giver, indulging appetite without restraint. It was lawful to marry. He gave special directions concerning this relationship, clothing it with holiness and beauty, but marriage was perverted and made to serve passion.BOE 39.6