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In order to even entertain the possibility of a worldwide flood, one has to bypass all laws of physics, exit the realm of science, and enter into the realm of the miraculous, which many believers are willing to do.
1. Building the Ark
Wood is not the best material for shipbuilding. It is not enough that a ship be built to hold together; it must also be sturdy enough that the changing stresses don't open gaps in its hull. Wood is simply not strong enough to prevent separation between the joints, especially in the heavy seas that the Ark would have encountered. The longest wooden ships in modern seas are about 300 feet, and these require reinforcing with iron straps and leak so badly they must be constantly pumped. The ark was 450 feet long [ Gen. 6:15]. Could an ark that size be made seaworthy?
2. Gathering the Animals
Bringing all kinds of animals together in the vicinity of the ark presents significant problems.
Could animals have traveled from elsewhere? If the animals traveled from other parts of the world, many of them would have faced extreme difficulties.
-Some, like sloths and penguins, can't travel overland very well at all.
-Some, like koalas and many insects, require a special diet. How did they bring it along?
-Some cave-dwelling arthropods can't survive in less than 100% relative humidity.
-Some, like dodos, must have lived on islands. If they didn't, they would have been easy prey for other animals. When mainland species like rats or pigs are introduced to islands, they drive many indigenous species to extinction. Those species would not have been able to survive such competition if they lived where mainland species could get at them before the Flood.
Could animals have all lived near Noah? Some creationists suggest that the animals need not have traveled far to reach the Ark; a moderate climate could have made it possible for all of them to live nearby all along. However, this proposal makes matters even worse. The last point above would have applied not only to island species, but to almost all species. Competition between species would have driven most of them to extinction.
There is a reason why Gila monsters, yaks, and quetzals don't all live together in a temperate climate. They can't survive there, at least not for long without special care. Organisms have preferred environments outside of which they are at a deadly disadvantage. Most extinctions are caused by destroying the organisms' preferred environments. The creationists who propose all the species living together in a uniform climate are effectively proposing the destruction of all environments but one. Not many species could have survived that.
How was the Ark loaded? Getting all the animals aboard the Ark presents logistical problems which, while not impossible, are highly impractical. Noah had only seven days to load the Ark ( Gen. 7:4-10). If only 15764 animals were aboard the Ark (see section 3), one animal must have been loaded every 38 seconds, without letup. Since there were likely more animals to load, the time pressures would have been even worse.
3. Fitting the Animals Aboard
To determine how much space is required for animals, we must first determine what is a kind, how many kinds were aboard the ark, and how big they were.
What is a kind? Creationists themselves can't decide on an answer to this question; they propose criteria ranging from species to order, and I have even seen an entire kingdom (bacteria) suggested as a single kind. Woodmorappe (p. 5-7) compromises by using genus as a kind. However, on the ark "kind" must have meant something closer to species for three reasons:
For purposes of naming animals, the people who live among them distinguish between them (that is, give them different names) at roughly the species level. [Gould, 1980]
The Biblical "kind," according to most interpretations, implies reproductive separateness. On the ark, the purpose of gathering different kinds was to preserve them by later reproduction. Species, by definition, is the level at which animals are reproductively distinct.
The Flood, according to models, was fairly recent. There simply wouldn't have been time enough to accumulate the number of mutations necessary for the diversity of species we see within many genera today.
What kinds were aboard the ark? Woodmorappe and Whitcomb & Morris arbitrarily exclude all animals except mammals, birds, and reptiles. However, many other animals, particularly land arthropods, must also have been on the ark for two reasons:
- The Bible says so. Gen. 7:8 puts on the ark all creatures that move along the ground, with no further qualifications. Lev. 11:42 includes arthropods (creatures that "walk on many feet") in such a category.
-They couldn't survive outside. Gen. 7:21-23 says every land creature not aboard the ark perished. And indeed, not one insect species in a thousand could survive for half a year on the vegetation mats proposed by some creationists. Most other land arthropods, snails, slugs, earthworms, etc. would also have to be on the ark to survive.
Were dinosaurs and other extinct animals on the ark? According to the Bible, Noah took samples of all animals alive at the time of the Flood. If, as creationists claim, all fossil-bearing strata were deposited by the Flood, then all the animals which became fossils were alive then. Therefore all extinct land animals had representatives aboard the ark.
It is also worth pointing out that the number of extinct species is undoubtedly greater than the number of known extinct species. New genera of dinosaurs have been discovered at a nearly constant rate for more than a century, and there's no indication that the rate of discovery will fall off in the near future.
Were the animals aboard the ark mature? Woodmorappe gets his animals to fit only by taking juvenile pairs of everything weighing more than 22 lbs. as an adult. However, it is more likely that Noah would have brought adults aboard:
The Bible (Gen. 7:2) speaks of "the male and his mate," indicating that the animals were at sexual maturity.
Many animals require the care of adults to teach them behaviors they need for survival. If brought aboard as juveniles, these animals wouldn't have survived.
The last point does not apply to all animals. However, the animals don't need parental care tend to be animals that mature quickly, and thus would be close to adult size after a year of growth anyway.
How many clean animals were on the ark? The Bible says either seven or fourteen (it's ambiguous) of each kind of clean animal was aboard. It defines clean animals essentially as ruminants, a suborder which includes about 69 recent genera, 192 recent species [Wilson & Reeder, 1993], and probably a comparable number of extinct genera and species. That is a small percentage of the total number of species, but ruminants are among the largest mammals, so their bulk is significant.
Text When the Bible says that the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished, it means exactly what it says.
originally posted by: Seede
a reply to: BlackManINC
Text When the Bible says that the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished, it means exactly what it says.
I agree with your premise and perhaps it is a matter of how I interpret the translation in the KJV bible. My reading the 2nd chapter of Genesis Is that I read that chapter as though it were in chronological order. If it was translated and presented in chronological order then we must also look at the entirety of all scriptures and realize that created and made may have two distinct meanings. God created the earth but out of the earth He made a man and out of the man He made a woman.
Regardless of how I look at this I had to read in context and assume that this 2nd chapter was in time order of producing. If I am correct or if the author of Genesis is correct then God still produced ,made,created. How do we intrepret word change or word value? The following is from my KJV bible ---
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made
Then
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Then
Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Then
Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Then
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Now I realize that there are other accounts in Genesis that can be used in a different order than what Genesis two reads but then who determines the entirety of the scriptures. God created the universe in the first era (generation) of producing but are we still producing from that creation? In other words did God's Word create with a force and that force is still expanding? Your opinion?
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. - Romans 4:17
Text It doesn't say he created a garden, he merely planted one. The grass, the soil the garden of Eden was made from was already created on the third day.
originally posted by: Seede
Once again I agree with almost all that you have taught but there remains this unsettled philosophy of create and made. I well understand that you make a car out of existing materials and that it is not created with added substances. But then let me try to understand why this same philosophy cannot apply today as it did in this creation.
Not trying to be contentious but only to understand. You have said that The garden was not created but was made from the material which was already created.
“It doesn't say he created a garden, he merely planted one. The grass, the soil the garden of Eden was made from was already created on the third day.”
That was my key question to you before. Is there a difference between made and created? The reason I ask is this. The universe was created and the heavenly bodies were then placed in the universe.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Could it be argued that this also applies to the universe as it does to the garden? The entirety of this is the question of word play. This is why I did ask the question as to whether the word “made” and the word “create” are two different meanings. It may seem insignificant to some but can lead to other interpretations.
An example would be --- If the garden were to be planted from existing creation and not created (as you have postulated) then does that also apply to the tree of knowledge and the tree of life? Or were the trees of knowledge and life created apart from the creation of the rest of the garden and planted as a different substance? As you can see it can then lead into another paper of theology.
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens - Genesis 2: 4
originally posted by: Seede
Leading back to the expanding universe also brings about this very same theological understanding. The universe was created and the heavenly bodies then made and placed. I assume the heavenly bodies (as far as science can determine) conform to the same creative substances as does all creation. Now the same question is asked. Are the heavenly bodies made or created? Does this also apply the same as the planting of the garden? The bible says that God made the heavenly bodies and then placed them in the universe. This seems to me as the very same garden philosophy. If God makes more heavenly bodies and places them in the universe then could the universe simply expand (as a balloon) to allow for more heavenly bodies. The reason I say this is that we see stars die and be born. Is that creation?
originally posted by: Seede
Also we see Adam created and Eve made from Adam. Was Eve created or made? By the same token we see Adam created and mankind made or procreated. Are the present life forms being created today or are they made from the existing creations? What are your opinions?
Now I apply that same reasoning to life forms. The material is existing and God makes (from that material) more life forms. By this philosophy is it possible that evolution is nothing more than continued producing from existing substance? The same as the garden philosophy.
It seems to me that all of this hinges upon our understanding of the seventh day of rest. Are we still in this seventh day? The bible says that God rested on the seventh day but does not say that He rested thereafter. This can be assumed that the seventh day is now past. The bible does not say that God ceased to make or create after the seventh day. We know that He created New Jerusalem which is the kingdom of heaven after He created this universe. By this I assume that the seventh day has passed and that God could continue to make (produce) from His creation. Your opinions?
Text All living beings were created from the material that God spoke into existence on the first day. Adam was formed from the dirt we stand on, and God simply took the preexisting material, the DNA already present in Adams rib to create Eve.
originally posted by: Seede
a reply to: [post=18275514]BlackManINC[/post
Text All living beings were created from the material that God spoke into existence on the first day. Adam was formed from the dirt we stand on, and God simply took the preexisting material, the DNA already present in Adams rib to create Eve.
I think we got side tracked in this conversation but for the sake of any arguments I will keep silent. One last question I should ask is as follows.
In your opinion is the spirit a creation at each birth?