Originally posted by Craigbythesea:
• The ark as literally described in Genesis was much too small because the amount of water that it would be capable of displacing would weigh less that the animals on board making it impossible for the ark to float.
Craig, you make a lot of assumptions and present them as incontrovertible facts. In order to do your calculations you must have supplied the nonexistent statistics for the age, weight, size, and count of the animals on board. While I am sure you used what you consider reasonable, educated guesses that does not change that assumption from guesses into facts.
• The floor space on the ark was too small to hold any more than a tiny fraction of the cages that would be necessary to keep the animals in place (and from eating each other).
You assume that the animals would need to be separated by space hogging structures to prevent them from devouring each other. That would be the same assumption necessary to prevent the lions from devouring Daniel, or the need for a flame resistant suit for Shadrach, or the need for a cage that will prevent the lion from lying down with the lamb at some point.
• The amount of food required for the animals would weigh nearly as much as the animals and would require a vast amount of storage space.
Again, you must guess, however reasonable, about the size and number of animals based on what you consider necessary to accomplish the same thing manually.
• Many of the animals aboard the ark would have required specific FRESH fruits, vegetables, leaves, grass, bark, roots, etc.
Reasonable guesses.
• Most of the genetically discrete populations of fish (including many VERY large fish) would have to be taken aboard the ark and kept in tanks of water that met their very specific water chemistry needs in order to survive.
Gee, my mistake, I forgot that fish needed to be rescued from being surrounded and submerged in WATER.
• The weight of the water on the earth would have crushed to death any of the land plants that did not drown in the water.
There are no verses which give this specific information (weight of the water) to complete your equations.
• After 150 days when the water abated, there would be no vegetation on the earth for the herbivores to eat, and no meat for the carnivores to eat, therefore a vast mount of food would necessarily have been kept on the ark to sustain the animals AFTER the flood.
“no vegetation”, “no meat”, “vast mount of food”, all of these are supplied by you NOT evidence.
• Many of the herbivores would have had very specific dietary needs, including fresh fruits and berries that are produced only on MATURE plants. Therefore these mature plants would necessarily have been kept and maintained on the ark and subsequently planted in the ground after the flood.
“would have had very specific dietary needs” – Do you mean that they HAVE, in a natural setting today, very specific needs?
• The Animals could not all be released at once or in the same place because they would eat each other.
Adam was confronted with the same problem when he named them all. I sure hope he had his degree in zoology so he would know not to have little bunny rabbits and them mean old snakes come by at the same time. (Facetious to make a point)
• Collecting the animals from all over the earth would have been a physical impossibility no less impossible than Santa Clause delivering presents to every boy and girl on the night before Christmas. The polar bears and penguins, not to mention all of the unique kinds of animals in Australia, would have posed a few special difficulties.
“physical impossibility no less impossible”. Totally agree, without God’s supernatural intervention this natural event most certainly would not have happened.
• After the flood, the animals could not be returned to their original habitat because all habitats would have been destroyed by the flood.
True, they would have gone on to new habitats. They would have been able to get there the same way they got to the ark in the first place. God brought them to the ark and He could take them from the ark.
• Many of the necessary habitats would take 50 years or more to be reestablished and their reestablishment would have required the effort of many thousands of persons.
It did not take the efforts of many thousands of person to prepare a place for them in Eden.
• Until all the necessary habitats could be reestablished, the animals requiring these habitats would have to be kept and cared for by Noah and his family.
Well, he had 350 years of life left to conduct followup care. (Of course, 950 years old is a scientific impossibility as we understand geriatrics nowadays.)
• There was not enough water to cover the entire earth, and even if there was, where did it go after the flood.
There wasn’t? How much water was there? How high were the mountains and hills then? How deep were the depressions in the earth? Hey, if you let me supply the numbers I can come out with any answer you want. (Facetiousness, again)
• If the reported sightings of the Ark are correct, the Ark came to rest on a VERY high mountain on VERY rugged terrain from which the vast majority of the animals would not have been able descend.
If they aren’t it didn’t.
As I have stated before, just because it is scientifically impossible does not in any way effect the statement that it did happen. I would, as you have, found the whole story beyond credulous if I were presented with the task of preparing for such an event. Why, the logistics alone would require an army just to come up with a rough draft of anything remotely resembling a plausible plan.
Are you basing your interpretation of Gen. 6-8 upon the facts, or upon something else?
Right back attcha.
