The Biblical account of the Flood is not historically accurate.

Contention 1Abraham grew up in Mesopotamia. The only way to address this is to actually state that is blatantly wrong. First we must address the fact that there was an Abraham. Again there is no sources other than the bible that confirm this. Second if the bible actually happened to be correct, Abraham was born around 1813 [1] [2] [3]. There is no possible way Abraham was around at the time the epic of Gilgamesh was written. There is a chance he could have lived in a branch of Mesopotamia, because notice ancient Israel was almost in the same time frame, but he was not a part of the culture at the time the flood was first described. At that time Sumerian was still a common tongue. Contention 2Ancient Israel was around 1950 BC.See my sources, trying to place a date on when "Adam and Eve" were said to have existed does not contradict this point. The actual civilization began around 1950, this is a fact [4]. Con is trying to relate adam and eve to the start of the ancient Israelite. This is just pure wrong and fundamentally flawed. Again the only sources to confirm adam and eve are the bible. Con would first have to show the bible is a source of empirical evidence and is historically accurate to use this even as a reference. The fact is there are no other records of Adam and Even existing outside of the bible itself, and even if there were it would certainly not mean that was the start of the ancient Israeli civilization. Contention 3The FloodThe "next date we can use with reliable certainty" is in fact a date that is thought to have been the actual time a flood could have happened. That is not a failure in reading by any means. It states it clearly that "a date we can use with reliable certainty" is 967 BC [5]. `This number is just one in many numbers we see, but is also acknowledged by more than one source. A date that is commonly accepted is around 1000 BC [6]. I do want to note that this is just not the only date given. There are dates from scholars that say the flood happened as early as 10,000 BC to 5,000 BC all the way down to 2,000 BC. This is irrelevant, to the point I made though. The flood would have had to occurred prior to the writing of Gilgamesh which is impossible. Think about this logically, how did a civilization whom noted the novel of Gilgamesh as a "fictional story", not write about an actual global flood occurring. The only way a global flood occurred prior the novel date, would have been if there was recorded evidence. No where outside of the bible do we see this. We only see the flood listed in numerous cultures as a parable and lesson to learn from. Contention 4Epic of Gilgamesh. Pro questions my dates on this, and says the novel was edited around 1300 BC. Again Con is wrong and just blatantly throwing around bad facts. The novel was stabilized around 600 BC , if that was what con was intending to say. AlmostFacts about the novel (a) The author is unknown(b) The exact date is was written was unknown(c) The first begins in roughly 2700 B.C.E. when the historical Gilgamesh ruled in Uruk( this is also what con is hinting at), a city in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest written versions of the story date from roughly 2000 B.C.E( This is the entire novel actually be compiled), but oral versions of the stories both preceded them and continued on. The actual novel was written in segments and even in scripts of cuneiform. Verbal versions of the story go back as early as 2800 BC with written segments going anywhere from 2750 downward. The compilation of the entire novel was done in 2000 BC. Almost any source you sell will acknowledge that the novel was written and compiled between 2750 BC and 2000 BC. [6][7][8][9] [insert countless more sources]Contention 5This makes the timeline something like this, in fact:First date recorded in Old Testament - 3760 BCNoah's flood - (somewhere between) 2300-2100 BCSumerian Flood story (the short version) - 2000-1500 BCThe revelation at Sinai and giving of the Torah - 1280 BC First as I have shown there is no accurate date of the flood. Some accounts have it as early as 10,000 Bc others around 2,000. The Sumerian flood story/ Epic of Gilgamesh was written between 2750 and 2000 BC[6][7[8][9]. Noahs flood is commonly accepted to have happened around 2000 BC - 1000 BC [5] ( this is assuming the bible is an accurate and empirical source which is questionable in itself). The as the only two dates I have mentioned. Again with the flood story being spread verbally and in scripts as early as 2750 BC [6][7][8][9]. Add this to the fact the story of Noah and the flood was believed to occur around 2000 BC - 1000 BC, and you will realize there is no logical way to give credit to the biblical account of the flood within in the bible. With verbal accounts starting around 2750 BC , if there was a global flood it would have had to have happened prior to this date, and it surely would have been recorded as something other than " a fictional story". Even people acknowledge that the ark would have had to have been built around 1500 BC [10]. There is no argument Con can give to even logically explain this. With scholars believing the ark was built around 1500 BC and version of the flood epic verbally being spread as early as 2750-2200 BC, the only logical explanation is to assume the bible adopted a tale the Sumerians described as "fictional". Even if we operate under the assumption that their was a global flood, it would have occurred prior to 2750 BC, and the biblical account would still be false and a fabrication. Contention 6I do not feel the need to go into this much, but con quotes"The ark was the size of 1.5 football fields in length"That is 150 yards or 450 feet if the figure con is using is correct. She then claims there are 16,000 animals on board the ark. This would be including both male and female animals (two of every kind). "Only 15 percent of the animals were the size of a sheep or bigger", is another direct quoteI just want to note some of the animals that were bigger than the size of a sheep. Horses, rhynos, elephants, tigers, lions.[11]According to Con all of these animals would have been aboard the ark. So lets break this down mathematically. 15 percent of 16,000 is 2400. This is animals the size of a sheep of bigger meaning tigers and lions. Rams and sheep are generally around 5 feet or so [12]. So lets assume that 15 percent of animals were only the size of a sheep and not bigger. 5 x 2400.That is 12,000 feet. A football field and a half is 450 feet. A single football field is 300 feet. 12,000/300 = 40. Just in length alone it would take 40 football fields to host 2400 sheep which is 15 percent of the assumed number. This is if every animals was only 5 feet. Elephants alone are 3 x this. Add in the fact there is another 85 percent of animals and the fact that some of the animals in the 15 percent are larger than 5 feet, and some of the animals in the smaller category can vary from 1-5 as well, with a lot being under 1. To even assume this was possible to fit that many animals on the ark, it would take a 20 football field wide, and 20 foot ball field long ark to hold them all in a cramped space. This is squared. It realistically would be bigger, and this is only operating under the assumption that the animals that are larger than a sheep = 15 percent or 5 feet. This is also operating under the assumption was like 5 foot ball fields high and had layers to hold all of these animals. Best case scenario is if the ark had layers, it would be 10 foot ball fields wide 10 long and 10 high at minimum. There is no way to assume this is a coherent argument. Closing Con has failed to show why it is logically possible to believe in a flood. There is no empirical evidence outside of the bible to assume a global flood actually occurred. All of the outside accounts of a global flood are labeled as "fictional" with this being acknowledge as early as 3,000 BC by the Sumerians. Cons time line makes no sense, and they have failed to address the fact a flood would have had to occurred prior to 2750 BC which is when verbal word of the fictional flood began to spread. The time the bible has the flood and when the flood was first brought up as a fictional tale, vary anywhere from 500-1500 years. There is no logical way to believe the biblical account of the flood is true. I have shown this throughout the debate and Con has failed to show that the biblical account of the flood is accurate. [1] http://www.nndb.com...[2] http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com...[3] http://www.sonoma.edu...[4] http://www.thenagain.info...[5] http://creation.com...[6]http://www.clt.astate.edu...[7] George, Andrew R., trans. & edit. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Books, 1999, ISBN 0-14-044919-1[8] http://www.ancient.eu.com...[9] http://eawc.evansville.edu...[10] http://www.bible-truth.org...[11] http://www.historyworld.net...[12] http://www.defenders.org...