The Story of Noah's Ark Cannot Reasonably be Accepted as True

Many thanks to my partner, for the last presentation. I do not see, nestled among all of the rebuttals, any compelling evidence that would support the claim that the story of Noah’s Ark is literal, actual historical fact. Without this evidence, I am left with little to rebut during this round, and may instead focus on expanding and defending my premise. (My premise: that a rational and sane adult, who has never heard the Noah’s Ark tale should be expected to think that it is a fantasy.) There is very little that has been presented that would require a Hindu, Sheik or atheist to admit the truth of Noah’s Ark, and much that would require disbelief. In order to move quickly, I will make my argument by presenting questions that I think must come up as next generation students learn this “history” in science class. Questions that Students in Creation Science Class Should Ask About the Flood: Q: How deep was the flood? The bible clearly states that the flood covered the entire surface of the earth, and specifically states that the waters covered even the high mountains. The highest mountain is Mount Everest, which rises about 36,000 feet above sea level. Therefore, the bible states that the flood must have been at least 36,000 feet deep. Q: Parasites There are hundreds of species of very dangerous parasites, many of which may kill their hosts. How were these animals brought into the Ark as god commanded (in pairs of two, or seven)? If Noah disobeyed god, please explain why he did so. Did Noah and his family have genital lice, scabies, tapeworms, lung flukes, Guinea worms, head lice, and dysentery? Q: Colonizing Insects It is impossible to simply pick up two (or seven) ants, and set them on the ground hundreds of miles from their colonies – and expect them to survive. This is because these animals require “divisions of labor,” with some specializing in food gathering, burrowing, habitat defense, reproduction, care for larvae, etc. In order to bring in enough ants, bees, termites, and other colony-forming species, Noah must have violated god’s clear command to bring them into the Ark in male/female pairs, or in groups of seven. Q: Symbiotic Partnerships Many flowering and fruiting plants cannot survive without a high level of dependence on healthy populations of certain animals. For example, many plants require animals for seed distribution, pollination, and pest control. How did these plants survive – with all of the animals that they depend on for survival on Mount Ararat? How did the Venus Fly Trap species find and share the two flies? Q: Salt Water / Freshwater Animals As any owner of a saltwater aquarium will quickly tell you, saltwater fish require very precise levels of dissolved minerals in their water. If this salinity drops or rises even a small amount, the entire aquarium full of expensive fish will die almost instantly. The floodwater was said to cover the “high mountains” which means about 36,000 feet of additional water depth was added to the salty sea water. If this water was saltwater, how did it not kill all of the freshwater fish? If it was freshwater, how did it not kill all ocean life? Could Noah have fit two or seven 90 foot long blue whales into the Ark, fed them and disposed of all of their waste? Is it likely that they would have fit into a boat that was only 300 feet long? Sharks must keep swimming, or they will suffocate. This requires them to have massive tanks to maintain these animals in captivity. How did Noah keep the massive whale sharks alive on a boat that was only 300 feet long? Q: Altitude Humans cannot survive at the summit of Mount Everest without modern equipment, such as respirators, winter wear, and medications. Neither can salamanders. The bible clearly claims that the flood covered even Mount Everest… how did coral reefs, which were now at crushing depths of water, survive? How did tropical tree frogs survive at the freezing altitudes of Mount Everest? How did all the creatures in the Ark breathe at 30,000 feet without respirators? Q: Water The story tells of a planet earth that was essentially a water-world, with a small rocky core at its center. There was a watery surface about 36,000 feet deep. After about 150 days, or a year, all of this water had disappeared. Where did it go? The water level on earth would have been higher than most clouds, and cloud not have evaporated into them. The oceans were underneath about 30,000 feet of additional ocean, and so the water could not have “flowed into the sea.” It also could not have frozen, because the upper portions of the water would have extended into the freezing upper atmosphere – and formed a frozen “ground,” making evaporation impossible. Q: Plant Life If Noah did not bring all ocean life into the Ark, the floodwaters would have crushed or poisoned them all to death. However, this is also true of all plant life. If Noah did not bring redwood trees into the Ark, they would have been destroyed by the crushing weight of 30,000 feet of floodwater, starved out by the black sea-bottom that California would have become. The same is true for Bermuda grass and sunflowers. How did the plants survive at the bottom of the 36,000 foot deep new ocean? Q: Dinosaurs The bible is clear in its timeline from creation to the flood – and it is unreasonable to assume that it might be wrong by hundreds of millions of years and still be accurate. It stands to reason, therefore, that Noah might have included dinosaurs on the Ark. This is so silly that I cannot even bring myself to seriously raise the subject. II Rebuttals and Criticisms Section I feel that my new arguments have addressed almost all of the challenges raised in the last presentation. By way of criticism, I note the near total absence of any solid evidence that this story is true, and the many grammar and spelling errors. With that, there are a number of topics that I wish to address: Breeding/Eating It is clear that the story does not describe a situation where predatory animals, such as foxes, hawks, squid, anteaters, dogs and hyenas would have had a large enough hunting population to sustain them. It is also clear that a single family can breed within itself at a high enough rate to account for the millions of humans that we know to have existed during this time period. Male/Female It may be the case that Noah had good reasons to violate god’s will, and bring varying numbers of hermaphroditic species and female-only species into the Ark. But, why would Noah disobey god? Flesh Species Only? It is not relevant that Noah was not commanded to bring these “non flesh” creatures into the Ark – what is relevant is that they must have all been destroyed if the story is true. Like the giant squid, which cannot survive wide ranges of saline fluctuations in its habitat, or the sunflowers that cannot survive for a year with no sunlight at the bottom of the sea, there is no way that these creatures could have survived the flood. Civilizational Records: I argue, facetiously, that the flood failed to “make headlines” in the world wide press at the time. We know that the civilizations of Ur and Sumaria, as well as Egypt all existed prior to the flood. That these civilizations left written records that do not mention widespread destruction, while requires that we recording mundane matters such as taxation and royal edicts, is sufficient to prove that the flood did not happen. Therefore, my argument, as of this round remains: There are obvious reasons why we atheists should not believe that the flood happened. Members of other religions, that do not include the Noah’s Ark story, are also reasonable in concluding that it did not happen as it was described in the bible. This tale may have sounded reasonable to an Iron Age nomadic tribe with no modern understanding of zoology, cosmology, meteorology, marine biology and other scientific concepts. But modern science has few compelling reasons to accept it as literally true any longer.