[6] More thoughts on Noah’s flood

I have just seen this post: ‘Defending the Flood’ by Matthew2262’s blog.
I have greatly compressed the answers for part of the article.
It is well worth a read and provides answers to these objections:

• It is impossible for one man and his family to build an ark.
  Noah could have paid others to help with the work.
  During his time humans were not so primitive, but instead very capable; forging metal, building cities, and crafting complex musical instruments, also there may have been a ‘Technology lost’ scenario after the flood. ¹ Also see: ‘Could Noah have built the Ark – he was an Ancient engineer’
• The Ark is too large to have been made from wood.
  The ark’s dimensions were built at a 6:1 ratio, which is very similar to modern oceangoing vessels and therefore very sea-worthy.
  Many engineering techniques used in ancient shipbuilding were actually sophisticated and complex, and the Ark was only required to float and not built for speed. ^{2 3 4 5} Also see: ‘How big was Noah’s Ark with facts and figures’
• It is not feasible for every type of animal on the planet to travel to Noah and many had different climate needs.
  A creationist model proposes the continents split during the flood, and therefore they were all locked together in one supercontinent often referred to as Pangea. Thus, making it possible for all land animals to reach Noah by land.
  With one super land mass, it is more likely that animals were more evenly spread than they are now with mostly isolated regions.
• There was not nearly enough time to load all the animals on the ark.
  The variety of animals today was not the same as the variety of animals present pre-flood.
  There are over 200 breeds of dogs today, despite all coming from one common wild dog.
  So only a small percentage of the animals are needed to repopulate and produce the wide variety of animals we observe today. It was also only land-dwelling, air-breathing animals and insects that went on board the ark (since aquatic animals, even amphibians, could survive the flood in very small numbers). ^{6 7 8 9 10 11 12}
  Also see: ‘Do dogs prove evolution and are Bible kinds species?’
• There are millions of animal species in the world… It would therefore be impossible to enclose even a fraction of them on an Ark.
  The dimensions of the ark allow for as much as 145 million cubic feet or 41,000 cubic meters of room inside the ark. Which is the equivalent of 270 or more railroad cars.
  Large animals like elephants or giraffes were most likely taken aboard as infants which would save space as well as food and waste. ^{13 14 15 16}
  Also see: ‘According to their kinds – Genesis and science’
• Where was all the room for the food? What about animals with specific diets?
  The ark was only keeping animals for a short period of time (one year) with the goal only being that of survival.
  There were only thousands of animals on the ark and not millions, it is much more feasible to propose a small group of people caring for them.
  Specialization of animals would have occurred after the flood, so specialized conditions and diets were most likely not an issue.
  Lastly animal hibernation. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “…another mechanism used by some organisms to avoid stressful environmental conditions is that of dormancy, an inactive state accompanied by a lower than normal rate of metabolism- the chemical processes responsible for the activity, nourishment, and growth of an organism- during which an organism conserves the amount of energy available to it and makes few demands on its environment…” ^{17 18 19 20}
• Where did all the (flood) water come from?
  Prior to the flood, the continents had not yet divided, so mountain terrains were not nearly as high as we observe today and the oceans may have been more shallow making it very possible for the water present today to be sufficient to cover the entire globe at one time. ²¹
• How did the Ark survive all the Tsunamis?
  Tsunamis devastate coastlines because the massive amount of energy that drives the tsunami enters shallow waters and has no place to go but upward above the water forming massive waves or surges. However, over deep water, this energy has more room and therefore does not cause hardly any surface disruption. ²²
• Enough oxygen and warmth for the animals?
  Atmospheric pressure is related to the sea level. If the sea level rises, and the ark is floating on the sea, then the passengers on the ark will always experience oxygen levels and temperatures found at sea level, not high mountain tops. ²³
  See the flood timeline from God’s warning to them coming out of the Ark.
• Does Ice Core Evidence contradict the Bible’s flood story?
  It is assumed ice core samples go back a hundred thousand years because it is assumed that the ice sheet formation is very slow and gradual. In 1942, a flight of P-38 fighter planes and B-17 bombers were flying to Greenland when a blizzard forced them to crash land on the ice. The crews were rescued but the planes were left behind. In the 1980’s plans were made to locate these planes with the assumption that ice sheet formation is very slow, and therefore there would only be a few inches of ice on them. Finding the planes was very difficult, however, they were finally located 250 feet (75 meters) below the ice. ²⁴
  See: ‘Do Greenland Ice Cores Show over One Hundred Thousand Years of Annual Layers?’
• Relative Mountain Ages and Erosion: why weren’t the Sierra Nevada eroded as much as the Appalachians during the Flood?
  This ‘problem’ assumes that both mountains were in existence prior to the flood, or created at the exact same time during the flood and should therefore have the same erosion features. However, the plate tectonic movement would have created the Appalachian mountain range first exposing the range to more erosion from the flood than the later-formed Sierra Mountains. ^{25 26}
  See the horror of the Biblical flood.
• A year-long flood should be recognisable in sea bottom cores, but it doesn’t show up?
  No large amounts of terrestrial detritus would be expected to be found in the sea floor because of cataclysmic upwelling of the mantle which lifted the ocean lithosphere, forcing the ocean waters onto the land, which is why there are numerous evidence of sea life remains found on land today. This would also explain the lack of different grain size distribution on the ocean floor, the oxygen isotope ratios and the lack of the remains of a massive extinction in the oceans. ^{27 28}
• Why is there no evidence of a flood in tree ring dating?
  A global flood would have destroyed the vast majority of trees, fossilizing some. The post-flood trees would therefore not have been flood survivors but instead new seed sprouting. So we should not expect to see evidence of a flood in tree rings.
  The problem is the misconception of tree rings going back 10,000 years or more. This is a highly debated subject even in the secular realm. Tree ring records are not perfect records, trees can produce multiple rings in the same year. ^{29 30 31 32}
• There would be so much heat energy it would boil all the water in the ocean.
  The heat released as the “fountains of the deep” opened would create superheated steam to rise from concentrated areas to exceedingly high levels in the atmosphere producing the torrential rainfall. Huge energy released from all this plate activity is actually required to form many geological features found on Earth that cannot be reasonably explained by the uniformitarian low energy, slow and gradual plate movement. ^{33 34 35}
• Cenozoic sediments are post-flood.
  The post-flood environment would be subject to a lot of volcanic activity where large amounts of volcanic ash and debris flows would bury and preserve fossils which would account for the Cenozoic sialic volcanism evidence. Also present in the post-flood environment would be heavy rainfall in the first few years as the oceans continued to release their heat creating massive storm systems. This heavy rainfall would create catastrophic sedimentation despite occurring after the flood. The eroded sediments would (and did) wash into lakes depositing and preserving millions of different fossilized creatures like fish, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, alligators, birds, bats and invertebrates as has been observed in the Green River Formation. ³⁶

For the rest of this article see Matthew2262’s blog

• Why are most sediments on high ground?
• Radiometric dating is consistent with geological dates.
• How come the sorting of fossils in the fossil record is perfect for evolution?
• How did fossils end up under coral reefs?
• Why are smaller organisms found in the lowest strata?
• Why are footprints sorted in geological layers?
• Why don’t we find human artefacts mixed in with other extinct animals?
• Ecological information is consistent within but not between layers.
• How can surface features like up-right trees, wind-blown dunes, river channels, beaches, animal burrows etc, appear in geological layers far below the surface?
• How does a global flood explain angular unconformities?
• When did granite batholiths form?
• How can a single flood be responsible for such extensively detailed layering?
• The Green River formation in Wyoming contains 20,000,000 annual layers …
• Mature forests layered atop each other–all with upright trunks, in-place roots, and well-developed soil …
• Much limestone is made of the skeletons of zillions of microscopic sea animals. Some deposits are thousands of meters thick. Were all those animals alive when the Flood started?
• How could a flood have deposited chalk?
• How could the Flood deposit layers of solid salt?
• Hermatite Layers … in an oxygen-rich regime would almost certainly be impossible.
• Where did all the organic material in the fossil record come from?
• How do you explain the relative commonness of aquatic fossils?
• How did modern plant species survive?
• How did fish survive the flood?
• How did diseases survive the flood?
• How and why did animals disperse so far from Mt Ararat?
  Why did the Ark come to ground on Mt Ararat?
• All the animals would be inbreeding with each other to propagate the species. This would cause serious genetic problems.
• How did short-lived species survive?
• How could more than a handful of species survive in a devastated habitat?
• How could more than a handful of the predator species on the ark have survived?
• How did the Human Population rebound so fast?
• There should be historical records from various other cultures describing a global flood, not just Genesis.
• Why do other flood myths vary so greatly from the Genesis account?
• The Egyptians (among others) have written records dating well back before 2250 B.C. but there is no sign of this global flood.
• How can a literal interpretation be appropriate if the text is self-contradictory?
• If your style of Biblical interpretation makes you take the Flood literally, then shouldn’t you also believe in a flat and stationary earth?
• Jesus spoke in parables. So why would we think Genesis was not a parable also?
• Why would an omnipotent God use a global flood to kill all of mankind?

Looking at Noah’s life he was very obedient, but after all the struggles, hard work and faith in what God had said he had a small moment of inconsistency.

References and credits – open in new tabs:

All references are from Matthew’s blog:

1. “CIVL 1101- History of Concrete,” Department of Civil Engineering University of Memphis ↩

2. Filby, F.A., (1970) The Flood Reconsidered: A Review of Evidences of Geology, Archaeology, Ancient Literature and the Bible, Pickering and Inglis Limited. London England, pp. 93. ↩

3. Morris, H.M., (1971) “The Ark of Noah,” Creation Research Society Quarterly, 8(2): pp. 144. ↩

4. Hong, S.W., (1994) “Safety Investigation of Noah’s Ark in a Seaway,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, 8(1): pp. 26-36. ↩

5. Lovett, T., (2010) “What Did Noah’s Ark Look Like?” as written in Ken Ham’s The New Answers Book 3, pp. 24. ↩

6. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 1, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 133. ↩

7. Ham, K., & Lovett, T., (2006) “Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?” as written in Ken Ham’s The New Answers Book 1, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 129. ↩

8. Marsh, F.L., (1947) Evolution, Creation and Science, Review and Herald Publishing Association: Washington D.C., pp. 351 ↩

9. Mayr, E., (1969) Principals of Systematic Zoology, McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York, NY, pp. 12. ↩

10. Jones, A.J., (1973) “Boundaries of the min: an analysis of the Mosaic lists of clean and unclean animals,” Creation Research Society Quarterly, 9(2): pp. 123. ↩

11. Woodmorappe, J., (2003) Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute for Creation Research: Santee, CA. ↩

12. Ham, K., & Lovett, T., (2006) “Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?” as written in Ken Ham’s The New Answers Book 1, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 129. ↩

13. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 1, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 135. ↩

14. Woodmorappe, J., (2003) Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute for Creation Research: Santee, CA. pp. 16.[18] Snelling, A., (2009)  ↩

15. Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 1, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 137. ↩

16. Woodmorappe, J., (2003) Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute for Creation Research: Santee, CA. pp. 21 and 98. ↩

17. Woodmorappe, J., (2010) “How Could Noah Fit the Animals on the Ark and Care for Them?” as written in Ken Ham’s The New Answers Book 3, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 53. ↩

18. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, (1985) Macropedia, Vol. 14, 670, article on “Dormancy.” ↩

19. Ransome, R., (1990) The Natural History of Hibernating Bats, Christopher Helm: London England, pp. 81. ↩

20. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 1, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 152. ↩

21. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 697-698. ↩

22. “Tsunamis: Killer Waves,” environment.nationalgeographic.com Lovett, T., (2010) “What Did Noah’s Ark Look Like?” as written in Ken Ham’s The New Answers Book 3, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 27. ↩

23. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 1, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 145. ↩

24. Wieland, C., “The Lost Squadron,” creation.com  ↩

25. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 723. ↩

26. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 695. ↩

27. Vail, P. R. & Mitchum, Jr. R. M., (1979) “Global Cycles of Relative Changes of Sea Level from Seismic Stratigraphy,” American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 29, pp. 469-472. ↩

28. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 699. ↩

29. Batten, D., “Tree Ring Dating (Dendrochronology),” creation.com  ↩

30. Yamaguchi, D.K., (1986) “Interpretation of cross-correlation between tree ring series,” Tree Ring Bulletin, 46:47-54.  ↩

31. Woodmorappe, J., (January 2009) “Biblical Chronology and the 8,000 Year-Long Bristlecone Pine Tree-Ring Chronology,” Answers in Genesis  ↩

32. Batten, D., “Tree Ring Dating (Dendrochronology),” creation.com  ↩

33. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 703. ↩

34. Wise, K.P. & Austin, S.A., (1999) “Gigantic Megaclast within the Kingston Peak Formation (Upper Precambrian, Pahrump Group), South-Eastern California; Evidence for Basin Margin Collapse,” Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 31: pp. 455. ↩

35. Snelling, A., (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Vol. 2, Institute of Creation Research: Dallas, TX, pp. 705.  ↩

36. Perry, F.V., DePaolo, D.J. & Baldridge W.S., (1991) “Isotopic Evidence for a Decline in Crustal Contributions to Caldera-Forming Rhyolites of the Western United States During the Middle to Late Cenozoic,” Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 23 (7): A441. ↩