Noah and the Ark

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Bowas

Maybe Noah dropped animals off here and there before he stopped on the My Ararat.

Now, I am convinced that vBulletin and IE8 refresh at funny rates. I know I didn't see this post by Bowas until I had closed out and then returned just now! - sorry dude, you make a fine point.

But to this we must add some sort of navigational and propulsion system to the ark.

The stars are good enough for dead reckoning - but the stars of the Southern Hemisphere are not visible to the Northern Hemisphere. We'd have to add some sort of means by which Noah had visited and become familiar enough with the Southern stars to navigate - and he'd have to have knowledge of just exactly where the various land masses were going to end up.

Dropping penguins off at South Africa and expecting them to populate Antarctica isn't feasible. He'd have to get within at least a few miles of the Antarctic Islands.

Seeing Antarctica and South Africa as a joined land mass that slowly parted ways over the eons while their various penguin populations evolved in geographic isolation makes more sense.

And, unloading the monotremes and almost all of the marsupials in Australia while dropping off a few marsupials in South Africa seems to be the kind of thing that would warrant a mention in Holy Writ. Just the existence of those places seems to have escaped Noah's attention altogether. Besides, why did he even bother dropping off the marsupials in South America? They were headed for extinction as soon as the Isthmus of Panama formed and the placental mammals of North America migrated south.

Noah would have not only wasted a couple years of sea voyage (time that he didn't have), but he would have wasted the marsupial wolf and the saber toothed marsupial predators. It's more reasonable to see these animals evolving in geographic isolation and then succumbing to the advancing tide of placental mammals like the dire wolf and the various wild cats.

There would have been lengthy overland journeys as well. The various species of freshwater shrimp would have had to be replanted in all of the potholes and lakes throughout North America and the rest of the world - all the while being careful not to mix up the African species with the North American ones and the Asian species, etc. One can only imagine the ark being filled with carefully labeled goldfish bowls and maps of where to find the correct continent and once on that continent - where to find the correct body of fresh water.

[NotforSale]

I'm a little surprised no one has brought this up. Moses, who is the presumed author of Genesis, lived in Egypt and Pharaoh’s household for 40 years. He was apparently engrained by this culture and their ideals, which would include any religious beliefs of that Nation.

Is it a valid observation, that stories such as a Great Flood were told to Moses by the Egyptian forefathers and that Biblical writings contain such stories because the writer had been influenced by the myths of that time?

History reveals that Egypt did have belief in a Great Flood, with very similar connections to our Biblical account.

I think this needs consideration, especially since the story of Noah and the Ark is an impossible feat.

[notofworks]

I've just read through this thread and I am SO EXCITED!!! This is amazing!!! Pelathias, you have built my faith!

I struggle intensely with much of the Old Testament, but my faith in Jesus has never wavered. But Pel, you are a gift to the movement of Jesus Christ!! We need more people who are equipped with the knowledge to answer the misgivings of those who doubts, rather than just shouting, "Just believe God's Word."

This is one of, if not the best threads I've ever read! This makes AFF worth it all! Thanks NotforSale and Pelathias! Amazing!!

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

I'm a little surprised no one has brought this up. Moses, who is the presumed author of Genesis, lived in Egypt and Pharaoh’s household for 40 years. He was apparently engrained by this culture and their ideals, which would include any religious beliefs of that Nation.

Is it a valid observation, that stories such as a Great Flood were told to Moses by the Egyptian forefathers and that Biblical writings contain such stories because the writer had been influenced by the myths of that time?

History reveals that Egypt did have belief in a Great Flood, with very similar connections to our Biblical account.

I think this needs consideration, especially since the story of Noah and the Ark is an impossible feat.

Referring to the Epic of Gilgamesh?

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

I'm a little surprised no one has brought this up. Moses, who is the presumed author of Genesis, lived in Egypt and Pharaoh’s household for 40 years. He was apparently engrained by this culture and their ideals, which would include any religious beliefs of that Nation.

Is it a valid observation, that stories such as a Great Flood were told to Moses by the Egyptian forefathers and that Biblical writings contain such stories because the writer had been influenced by the myths of that time?

History reveals that Egypt did have belief in a Great Flood, with very similar connections to our Biblical account.

I think this needs consideration, especially since the story of Noah and the Ark is an impossible feat.

From what I have heard most Semitic cultures had a flood story. In fact I think one reason why some believe in the flood so much and even a universal flood is they find flood stories in various spread out cultures. Though I don't know why that would prove a universal flood

[Praxeas]

Noah's animal taxi?

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

From what I have heard most Semitic cultures had a flood story. In fact I think one reason why some believe in the flood so much and even a universal flood is they find flood stories in various spread out cultures. Though I don't know why that would prove a universal flood

Floods ARE universal in the sense that they happen almost everywhere occasionally.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

Floods ARE universal in the sense that they happen almost everywhere occasionally.

having fun?

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

having fun?

Oh yes. Doing yard work all morning and afternoon. Sunny and about 72 degrees outside with only the slightest hint of a breeze.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

From what I have heard most Semitic cultures had a flood story. In fact I think one reason why some believe in the flood so much and even a universal flood is they find flood stories in various spread out cultures. Though I don't know why that would prove a universal flood

It's often been said that the stories of floods found all around the world don't point to a "Universal Flood" but rather they point out the fact that floods are universal.

Human beings have observed the effects of floods in every part of the globe - with each event being a "local flood."

Ancient civilizations all developed in river valleys. The Nile, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huang Ho are the sites of the oldest civilizations - and they were all prone to devastating floods. Modern projects like the Aswan Dam on the Nile and the Three Gorges Project in China have altered the effects of their respective rivers so that the old bane of floods has been largely mitigated, but with trade offs such as loss of fertilizing sediments and severe erosion at the river mouths.

According the US Army Corps of Engineers, there are now 40,000 dams in the Mississippi/Missouri River Basin. This system has prevented many floods upstream, but it has left New Orleans and Louisiana even more vulnerable due to the loss of buffering wetlands (swamps). The Aztec were said to have originated as a people in the Gulf of Mexico area - their legends describe pelicans, storks and other wading bird as living in their original homeland so many associate these stories with the Mississippian mound building civilization.

And then there's Ballard's claims of a Black Sea basin flood. We also have evidence of several similar floods in the Mediterranean basin.