[jkl123]

The Discovery Channel had a VERY interesting program on a few nights ago about Noah's Ark. It brought up some valid points (IMO) about what might have really happened.

The way we know the story is basically God spoke to Noah to build a boat (ark) and load up his family and 2 of each kind of animal. It then rained for 40 days and 40 nights and it was several more days til they came across dry land. Then God promised to never destroy Earth again with a flood.

Here are some interesting points:
* The size of that the ark would have to be to accomodate that many living creatures would have been impossible to build out of just wood - the seams would absorn water and ultimately burst.
* There are over 30 million creatures on the planet... even if you cut that in half, that would be 15 million. Now times that by 2 and you've got 30 million. If Noah, CONTINUOSLY loaded animals up into the ark, it would take him close to 100 years to do so.
* There is not enough water on Earth to rain for that amount of time and create such a flood. Rain comes from the oceans and there just isn't enough there.
* If it DID rain for that amount of time, there would be so much percipitation in the air that humans would drown just by breathing.
* Interestingly enough, the word "EARTH" in Hebrew also means 'Land'. The world as they knew it back then consisted mostly of the Middle East - most of the other continents were uninhibited at the time. So maybe God did not flood the Earth, but just the area of where Noah lived. Peraps there were torrential downpours that created a sunami-like effect???

Just some points to ponder....

[twinzplus3]

Have you ever pondered it from the perspective that it actually happened in some way shape or form?

[jkl123]

No, actually, I don't believe it did... and yes, I have spent hours pondering that and many other stories of the Bible. I lot of the Bible was told in parables - perhaps this was one of them. I believed SOMETHING happened to some extent, but facts just don't support that it happened as it was written.

[twinzplus3]

I guess I feel like 'fact' is always subject to questioning. There are lots of 'facts' that we end up discovering later weren't really facts at all. . .but theories based on assumptions that were false. Then we posit a new set of facts based on a new set of assumptions and so on. I think it's kind of interesting what we find factual. (Hope that made sense.--I'm getting to sleep to get deep.)

[jkl123]

Oh, I completely agree with youon the whole "what is fact, really" thing. I guess it's more about what makes sense, what is logical, with me.
And yeah, I am getting sleepy, too!! (we need a yawn smiley)

[NikkiLDS]

Here are some interesting points to consider from the assumption that it DID happen:
http://www.drdino.com/articles.php?spec=77

For example, to counter one of the points in the OP:

God told Noah to bring two of each kind (seven of some), not of each species or variety. Noah had only two of the dog kind, which would include the wolves, coyotes, foxes, mutts, etc. The "kind" grouping is probably closer to our modern family division in taxonomy, and would greatly reduce the number of animals on the ark. Animals have diversified into many varieties in the last 4400 years since the Flood. This diversification is not anything similar to great claims that the evolutionists teach. (They teach, "Kelp can turn into Kent," given enough time!

I watched some videos from this guy long ago - he has a lot of really cool ideas, although I don't agree entirely with his religious viewpoints.

[pladecalvo]

Originally Posted by twinzplus3

Have you ever pondered it from the perspective that it actually happened in some way shape or form?

Can you produce any evidence that it occured in any way, shape or form?

[pladecalvo]

Magic required for the flood to be literal


1. Rainfall rates of 30 feet per hour on every square foot of the Earth’s surface for a total of 960 hours (six weeks) non-stop

2. Four men and their wives building a ship larger than any wood ship ever known to exist – one and a half football fields long and as tall as a five story building --and gathering 2.8 million pounds of wood and hewing it into planks

3. All of the Earth’s plants surviving a year of being flooded with salt water and being buried by sedimentation and undergoing erosion, mountain building and continental upheaval

4. Vegetation regeneration atop newly deposited sedimentary rocks (no soil)

5. Animals from entire planet collected by eight people without transportation – including all microscopic animals that could not have been known to the people

6. Animals returned to diverse habitats worldwide by eight people without transportation (including very delicate animals)

7. Evolution of plants and animals more rapid than any ever proposed by science

8. Fresh water fish surviving a year in salt water

9. Continents being shoved apart by water pressure

10. Faulting being caused by water pressure

11. Earth’s mountains being built in a year

12. All sedimentary rocks deposited in a year

13. All major erosional features produced in the same year sediments were deposited

14. One hundred percent survival rate for pairs of animals for one year on ark – and successful repopulation of the Earth by each single pair of animals (when we know that in reality animals whose population declines to a few breeding pairs are very likely to go extinct)

15. Carry aboard the ark enough feed for all animals for a year (including carnivores and herbivores with very specific diets).

16. Environmental requirements being met for all animals with a crew of eight on the ark

17. Furnishing adequate climate control aboard an ark with millions of animals with a single 17.5 inch window

18. Repopulation of the Earth by humans beginning with less than one couple per every two continents

19. People living hundreds of years and producing children at advanced ages

20. Millions of cubic miles of water magically appearing, killing all animals (but magically not killing plants), then magically disappearing

21. Presence of a “water blanket” atmosphere pre-flood (though there were obviously people, animals, plants)

22. Claimed absence of rain pre-flood (even though humans and crops lived at the time)

If a few details were illogical, one might accept the tale as literal by excusing the errant details as mistakes. However, when the entire tale is one colossal illogical claim after another, it is unreasonable to claim that it is literately true.

Perhaps it is time to use the all-purpose “goddidit”?
.

[twinzplus3]

Originally Posted by pladecalvo

Can you produce any evidence that it occured in any way, shape or form?

Nope--I wasn't actually there. Were you?

[pladecalvo]

Originally Posted by twinzplus3

Nope--I wasn't actually there. Were you?

Nope!.....I just rely on the evidence that we have for it not happening.