M82A1

To start, I would just like to ask the Christians that are reading this to look at it seriously, and from a scientific standpoint.

"Noah's Ark" - Dimensions: 450 feet long (135 meters), 75 feet wide (22.5 meters), and 45 feet high (13.5 meters). It would have had an interior space equivilent to 522 railroad boxcars.

Now, the species:

Land mammals: 4,400.

Reptiles: 4,600.

Insects: 750,000.

Total: 759,000.

But wait! Noah was supposed to take two of each animal!

Land mammals: 8,800.

Reptiles: 9,200.

Insects: 1,500,000.

Total: 1,518,000.

Now, I know what you're thinking... that number looks way too big! It's actually small (I didn't count birds - I couldn't get an accurate number)...

Maybe we're forgetting that "God" told Noah to take 7 of each "un-clean" animal! I'm not even going to try adding that up.

Now, let's talk about food.

(I think I got this part from talkorigins)

The ark floated around for 375 days, according to the Bible.

Let's say that a bear is a "clean" animal, so there should be two of them on the Ark. Let us also say that each bear eats 3 chickens per day...

*adding the numbers...*

That's 2,250 chickens just for two bears! Now, how much chicken feed would that take? Bah, nevermind.

Let us not forget the noble Koala. Each day a Koala eats 2.5 pounds of eucalyptus leaves (I'm not guessing, it's true). Two Koalas for 375 days...

*adding the numbers...*

1,875 lbs of eucalyptus leaves! How did Noah keep 1,875 pounds of eucalyptus leaves fresh for 375 days?

Please answer these questions without saying something stupid like: "Gawd did it." Or: "Gawd kept them fed!"

Also, please tell me why "God" would make two Mammals that lay eggs? Why two?

bleubird

This has been done many times.
Save your fingers.


bleu

PhilVaz

<< To start, I would just like to ask the Christians that are reading this to look at it seriously, and from a scientific standpoint. >>

I'm Catholic Christian, barely hanging on in here, I've looked at it seriously from a scientific standpoint, and conclude the flood was local. But unlike most on these forums, I believe Noah did exist (he took what animals he had on the ark, etc), along with Jesus and Peter who refer to him.

Phil P

usaaok

Lol. Whatever turns your crank.

Jackalope

Sigh. I should've saved off the rebuttal George posted on TheologyWeb the last time someone tried to come up with an engineering study of Noah's Ark. My husband has a degree in naval architechture and wrote a long piece on just why a wooden ship that size was a damn stupid idea. Worse, it's a wooden barge. Should've saved the whole thing to repost every time someone starts in on this.

Sparrow

I must have been reading too fast. At first I thought you were suggesting that Jesus and Peter were on the ark with Noah! A more careful reading shows that's not what you meant.

How would you say that a local instead of global flood has affected your theology? Do you believe in an old Earth? Evolution?

Sven

Or was it Utnapishtim?

Celsus

Oh boy, the Theology Web thread is a classic. Here's the thread you posted your husband's reply in, and here was the ensuing hoo-ha at TWeb.

Joel

Lucretius

Regarding the "brick" shape mentioned

From the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Sensei Meela

The literal interpretation is a scientific impossibility, which is why literalists always add "...and then something magic happened..." to the account. The more rational Christian or Jew recognizes it as a myth, or perhaps a legend borne of a real-life "great flood" in the Bosporus region roughly 7kya.