Noah's Flood Hypothesis May Not Hold Water

RPI ^ | June 14, 2002 | Jun Abrajano

[SerpentDove]

>>Surely one who claims to know Gods mind is arrogant indeed.<<

If we were to claim to know God's mind merely from our own speculation, I would agree. But I believe God has revealed his mind (in a limited sense) to man through the prophets, through His Word, and finally in the person of his only Son who was His Son from birth, Jesus Christ, who dies, was buried, and was resurrected from the dead.

I am not being contentious with you, I am just sharing what I believe the teachings of God's Word are, as I understand them.

[Risky Schemer]

I'm not much for postulating or "explaining" the hows and whys of Biblical accounts, but I saw a documentary on asteroid collisions and the effects (I think it was mainly about the Shoemakers of Shoemaker-Levy comet fame). One of the things mentioned was that a mountain-sized asteroid striking an ocean would launch not only massive tidal waves, but would put unimaginable, countless tons of water, as vapor, into the atmosphere, which would immediately begin to be shed as rain over the earth, for untold days.

Such speculation got me thinking about Noah's flood, and the possibility that a massive asteroid impact put the vapor in the air, the shock wave broke up "the fountains of the deep", and the earth was knocked off its axis, and "seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter" -- the seasons -- began.

[stuartcr]

I always wondered how did the animals that were not indigenous to the area get transported to where Noah was?

[Junior]

The flood lasted a year. The rain lasted 40 days and 40 nights. The olive branch part of the story is specifically there to show the flood was not universal.

[Taiwan Bocks]

"I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God."

Amen

[OldDominion]

Frankly, it's embarrassing to see adults seriously entertain the notion of a worldwide flood as a historical fact.

Not embarrassing at all. You assume the earth had the same characteristics before the flood as after. This is clearly could not be the case if one takes the Genesis account at face value, as Jesus Himself did.

[HeadOn]

Of course, you are correct. Sometimes my lack of thought amazes me.

However, God is God, and if He wanted vegetation to live underwater for a year, He could make it happen.

Thanks for the correction.

[gdani]

If Noah's ark is a fable, it is NOT because it the science demands it be.

Right...let's say, for the sake of conversation, that the ark did contain only land-based species.

How would Noah & his helpers keep the animals from fighting & killing each other? It seems like quite a lot to ask an ark full of rhinos, gorillas, ostriches, gila monsters, ocelots, & three-toed sloths to play nicely.

And what about the animals that must have been unknown to that region of the world? And how many tons of food would the ark have to hold, not to mention the diversity of each species' diets? How would they have gotten rid of what must have been tons & tons of waste a day?

Science is unnecessary when common sense will do.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Spot on. A worldwide flood would have resulted in the greatest extinction event in the history of the world. It would have made earlier extinction "events" seem tame.

[john in missouri]

If God wrote the Noah story, and it was only about the Black Sea, why did he say that the whole world was flooded?

Was God just using a literary device?

The Bible was written down by middle-Eastern types. Even here in USA, not every statement is meant to be taken absolutely literally. In the cultures of the middle east, it's more so. For example, one ME ruler might say to another, "If you do such-and-such, I'm going to raise up an army of a million men and come and kick your backside" -- when *both* already know that there's no way on earth the speaker could come up with a million men.

500,000 man army = p*$$ed.

Million man army = REALLY p*$$ed.

Compare:

USA: "Million Man March."

John 21: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written."

[EggsAckley]

The word '40' is a mistranslation and should in fact be 'many,' not 40.

I, too remember this fact. There are many, many times that the number 40 is used, and this merely meant "many." And, no I can't quote where I've seen it; it is so prevalent that I can't even think of all the places I've read it.

I guess MY "faith" just doesn't allow me to discard scientific facts and stick simply to a document written by humans many years ago. Science is NOT a threat to religion. Those who see it as a threat are missing out on a lot of valuable information. I believe and follow what the Bible instructs as to "does and don'ts" but some of the historical timelines are awfully weak and easily proven to be skewed. JMHO, of course.

Flame away.....I gotta go anyway.

[gcruse]

 if you will be with Christ when you die, then death is better than life.

So, abortion is okay?  It circumvents
the chance of sinning and going to hell.

[HeadOn]

Yes, you are correct. I was asleep at the wheel again.

But, please see my post #47 to Old Dominion.

[OldDominion]

The olive branch part of the story is specifically there to show the flood was not universal.

I am assuming you trust the words of Jesus when He stated, (Luke 17:26-27) "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all." (NIV)

Surely you must see that a local flood could not "kill them all" if it was local in nature? Right? Certainly a local flood could not cover the highest mountains. Correct?

[AmusedBystander]

Where did the water come from and where did it go?

[TWRepublican]

God said it, it happened, Dr. Dumbell kiss my grits.

[Dominic Harr]

Just a thought:

Couldn't DNA testing of animals prove/disprove the theory that, say, all elephants are descended from a single pair just a few thousand years ago?

Am I wrong?

[Junior]

Assuming for the moment that the Noah story is factual as written (and I am not going to say it is, as there is far too much evidence against its being so), the population of the Earth would have been small and living relatively close to one another (after all, why should humanity have spread itself thin?). A relatively small flood could have done the dirty deed and still not have been universal. It would go far toward explaining the relative smallness of the Ark in regards to the number of species on the planet and the geographical distribution of some of those species (three-toed sloths, anyone?).

[HeadOn]

So, abortion is okay? It circumvents the chance of sinning and going to hell.

Come on - you know that's not what I'm saying. Man is specifically forbidden to take innocent lives. You are, however, correct, in that I believe those aborted children are in Heaven ahead of us.