Is Noah's Ark story plausible?

Let's look at what Noah was ordered to do:

"Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive." Genesis 7:20

Now, how would it be possible to gather all those animals and make them fit in a 450 feet wide ark? There are hundreds of thousands of different insect species alone. If you consider rhinos, elephants and hippopotamus species, and calculating 2 for each, that's already several tons (over 20 tons at least, with each animal at about a ton or more). That's only 3 animal types and yet alone would put considerable strain on the wooden boat.

Also, how long would it take Noah to gather them all? I'm guessing months, if not years.

What about animals that lived on other continents? How would they get there?

What about food storage? This below is the food requirement for a single day at a typical zoo (which obviously doesn't have all animals):

A ton of hay,
35 pounds of fish,
50 pounds of meat,
100 stalks of celery,
five pounds of red onions,
100 pounds of carrots,
25 pounds of spinach,
15 pounds of kale,
10 pounds of mixed vegetables,
150 pounds of sweet potatoes,
10 heads of cabbage,
48 heads of romaine,
30 ears of corn,
four loaves of wheat bread,
24 eggs,
a pound of yogurt,
40 pounds of bananas,
eight pounds of blueberries,
170 oranges,
500 apples,
36 cantaloupes,
four papayas,
250 rodents (the variety pack),
6000 mealworms,
600 wax worms and
7500 crickets.

How do you conserve literally tons of food for half a year? Vegetables and fruits will rot very rapidly and meat even faster. When that happens disease spread and animals die.

What about water? Mammals can't survive on sea water. Several tons of water would need to be stored along with food.

What about sanitation? Can you imagine the horrible smell and filth of thousands of animals crammed into a single boat?

Finally, if God is so great why can't he just do it all by himself? Why not magically teleport all the animals to a safe high level place and flood the rest of the world?

All of those factors make Noah's story practically impossible. It looks definitely more like a mythical story based on an imaginary tribal patriarch, or at least based on greatly exagerated and fantasized exploits of a real person.

noah is neo is perceval is perseus is jesus

Originally posted by banjoechef
noah is neo is perceval is perseus is jesus

Huh?

huh?

look up those people note the similarities

Originally posted by banjoechef
noah is neo is perceval is perseus is jesus

Hmm, I don't think I have ever heard of the connection that noah is jesus. Interesting.

Supposedly there is plausible evidence that there was at least a great flood. Creatures from the sea found on top of mountain tops and such. And (can't remember the name of the mountain) the Ark is supposedly a couple thousand feet above sea level.

Saw a TV movie on Noah and his gathering of animals, and the keeper of the last 2 Unicorns would not let them go, so they did not make it on the Ark, thus we no longer have Unicorns (that we know of).

It is just a story. I cannot see how it would be at all possible. Everyone forgets the dinosaurs. And the opinion of not being able to put every animal and species in a boat is completly logical. The Bible may reference actualy occurances in history. That isnt one of them. I just watched a show on TLC last night in regards to it though. They were of the mind that the story may have been conceived from actual events of flooding. Which may be true. The movie "Titanic" was based on actual events, but the entire story line behind the movie was fiction. Just my opinion.

[Edited on 11/14/2003 by Seapeople]

Even if it were possible, the boat would sink.

i think it's more about genetics

did he grab up all the millions of different types of bugs too?

every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive." Genesis 7:20


[Edited on 11-14-2003 by sirCyco]

you cannot and should not take a work such as the bible in a literal sense. the word has been far too corrupted/altered over the years.

Seems that there are many things in the Bible that many claimed was not to be taken literally that was scientifically and archeology, etc. has proven to be fact.....
Just do a 'google'.......
As to Noah Ark story.......very plausible.
Many have related this story to the times where many fledgling urbanized towns and cities were built along rivers or in fllod plains. In such, those same 'many' have stipulated that it was because of the common large to huge floodings that led to this 'story'.......
There are many who would argue and stipulate otherwise, since there have been accounts of 'global/world-wide' flood events having been recorded.......
In fact, there are over 500 or is it 600 related stories/legends/myths/etc. dealing with the concept of a 'global/world-wide' flood events.


regards
seekerof

Seems that there are many things in the Bible that many claimed was not to be taken literally that was scientifically and archeology, etc. has proven to be fact.....

Such as?

Many have related this story to the times where many fledgling urbanized towns and cities were built along rivers or in fllod plains. In such, those same 'many' have stipulated that it was because of the common large to huge floodings that led to this 'story'.......
There are many who would argue and stipulate otherwise, since there have been accounts of 'global/world-wide' flood events having been recorded.......
In fact, there are over 500 or is it 600 related stories/legends/myths/etc. dealing with the concept of a 'global/world-wide' flood events.

No one could really dispute that there possibly was a worldwide flood during a certain period in history, but that's not the point. The point is Noah's story taken as it is. It is scientifically implausible. Like I said, it could be based on a real event involving a flood, but with a lot of extra things added to make it look like an heroic legend.


[Edited on 15-11-2003 by Helioform]

The same God that led them to the ark is the same God that quite assuredly calmed them, as in tranquilizer calm, for the ride. Slower meabolism means much less food, less shoveling, etc.

Still, there is no doubt in my mind why the first thing Noah did when he got off was to plant a vineyard for the grapes with which to make wine!
All thattime couped up with the family and a boatload of critters, I'd plan to be drunk for a few weeks afterward!

you cannot and should not take a work such as the bible in a literal sense. the word has been far too corrupted/altered over the years.

Actually the bible you use today (unless you personally translated it to several more languages) has only been translated 2-3 times. There is a standard bible used and it is translated to different language, therefore the work is farely reliable, plus in revelation it threatens anybody who changed the book, but still i think God should have put a spell that keeps it from being changed. I just can't beleive in a God so simple who claims to be complex and there is no evidence in nature, why women and men even have the same number ribs.

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
the same God that quite assuredly calmed them, as in tranquilizer calm, for the ride..

well if he did that why even bother with noah...why not just snap his fingers and have all the animals levitate for awhile until the flood waters receeded...i dont think that sounds any more far fetched than a thousand foot boat filled with 2 of every kind of animal on earth....

You have a point, I can't say why, other than so that Noah would have time to have it all sink into his mind what was happening, to give the unrepentent time to repent, and lastly, because that is the way He wanted to do it! Heck, I don't know! Who do you think I am, God?

lets not forget about all the species that live off of freshwater. he would have needed tanks of water to accomidate thousands of freshwater species. not to mention he would have had to aeriate the water and find more freshwater to replenish the tanks when they evaporated.

Don't forget the water animals. Some species live in freshwater, some is sea. You put a sea in fresh, it dies. You put a fresh in sea, it dies. So you have to have a huge aquarium on the ark for the different fish and sea life.

Then, inbreeding. You have only two of each type, they die off due to inbreeding. Same reason that Adam and Eve is bs for inbreeding would have wiped out humans after the 3-4 generation of inbreeding.

I like the christian answer, it is that way because god wanted it to happen. Reason science didn't work back then is because the all powerful invisable people that lie in the clouds made science not work.

Anyways, if I want any more bullsh*t i'll get a job on a farm.

Why did god, if he is truly omnipotent, need a mere human to do this job for him?

Flood myths are quite prominent among ancient cultures as punishments from the gods, and Noah's is only one among many stories of gods using water to penalize man.

Is the Ark story plausible? Noah lived to be 900 years old. How plausible is that?

Noah was no man.