Is the Flood Story True? (page 2)

expatbrit

Take one species: the elephant.

An adult elephant eats approximately 150 to 250 pounds of food per day, and requires approximately 80 gallons of fresh water.

That's one species of the 4,629 currently known species of mammals. Needless to say, all those species couldn't even fit aboard the mythical ark, let alone have enough rainwater collected aboard it to keep them alive. Unless of course you believe that all those species evolved from a few in a super-charged form of evolution happening over the past 4000 years.

at's also assuming God forgot the recipe on how to make more just in case they ran out

The great all-purpose thought saver of the biblical literalist. Invoke a completely undemonstrable and unprovable miracle from an undemonstrable and unprovable deity.

Expatbrit

larc

Pomagranite,

Time perion quoted by you and another person is incorrect. According to the Genesis account, they were in the ark for about 11 months.

I have some questions. How many species each of birds, mamaals, marcupials, insects, and reptiles went onto the ark. How much food do you figure was reqired for all these animals to last for about 330 days? How long would it take to gather all this food with primative farm tools? How long would take to cut and trim the wood for the ark using hand tools? Were all animals vegetarians before the flood as the Bible indicates?

After the flood, how did marcupials common to Australia get there? Did they swim there?

JosephAlward

Pom writes: The apologists are ABSOLUTELY wrong. All one has to do is add the first pair of all birdies that were gathered up firstly, then add the latter seven pairs of all birdies that were commanded he take into the ark after the ark was completed, then any one with half a brain (and simple addition 1+7=8) would know that Noah took 8 pairs of all birdkind with him on the Ark.

Doesn't that make more sense with what is written than apologists attempt at trying to add there own verses to scripture?

Sure it does.

Alward: If you believe the birds in Genesis 7 should be added to the ones in Genesis 6, then to be logically consistent you have to treat the animals in Genesis 7 the same way. Thus, using your logic, Noah took 1+7+1=9 pairs of animals on the ark. Who else in the world, besides you, Pom, believes this?

Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"
http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html

pomegranate

>>>Alward: If you believe the birds in Genesis 7 should be added to the ones in Genesis 6, then to be logically consistent you have to treat the animals in Genesis 7 the same way. Thus, using your logic, Noah took 1+7+1=9 pairs of animals on the ark. Who else in the world, besides you, Pom, believes this?<<

What are you talking about?

6:19 You are to bring into the ark TWO of all living creatures, MALE AND FEMALE, to keep them alive with you. 20 TWO of every kind of bird,

One pair of da birdies. Pairs are the male and female.

7:3 and also SEVEN of every kind of bird, male and female,

Seven more pair of da birdies. Pairs are the male and the female.

1+7=8 You gots and extra pair. Where you be gettin that?

larc

Pom,

I asked you several questions. Let's get back to just one of them. How many KINDS of birds were taken into the ark. Today, there are over 100,000 species of birds that can not interbreed. How many were there back then?

FreePeace

Pom,

6:19 You are to bring into the ark TWO of all living creatures, MALE AND FEMALE, to keep them alive with you. 20 TWO of every kind of bird,
One pair of da birdies. Pairs are the male and female.

You say here that "two" equals two individuals.

7:3 and also SEVEN of every kind of bird, male and female,
Seven more pair of da birdies. Pairs are the male and the female.

Now you say "seven" equals 7 "pairs," not 7 individuals.

How can you say this?

JosephAlward

How could it happen that there's so much confusion in the flood story regarding the number of animals and birds Noah was supposed to take with him?

The answer is that there are (at least) two different stories of the flood woven into one seemingly continuous story by an editor who alternated passages from two different authors. One of the stories was written by an author who referred to the deity exclusively as "God," never as "Lord," while the other story was written by an author who exclusively called the deity "Lord," but never "God." I will leave it to the interested reader to confirm this on their own (see, for example, http://members.aol.com/jalw/two_animals_or_seven.html).

The "God" author thought that Noah took two of each kind of animal, while the "Lord" author believed that seven were taken. You will see that in those blocks of text where "God" is the deity, the writer refers to "two," while in those blocks of text where "Lord" is used, there are seven animals.

As further evidence that there are two different authors at work, the readers may notice that the ONLY time the sons of Noah are mentioned is in the passages written by the author who called the deity "GOD." When the LORD author speaks of Noah's family, he never mentions sons.

It is just as easy to show that two or more authors contributed separate--and conflicting--accounts of the creation. I will discuss that in a future post. For a preview of what I will say, readers may go to http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/creationcontradictions.html.

Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"
http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html

pomegranate

>>Time perion quoted by you and another person is incorrect. According to the Genesis account, they were in the ark for about 11 months.<<

Actually I have my dates correct. I never said WHEN they left the ark if you re-read the thread. I said how long before the flood waters subsided. Which was after 150 days.

Gen 7:11
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth,

Gen 8:4
4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

>>I have some questions. How many species each of birds, mamaals, marcupials, insects, and reptiles went onto the ark.<<