Noah & The Flood

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“… could [Noah] have put all the animals on the boat?”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/construction-begins-on-real-life-noahs-ark-54098/print.html

[ASND simply asks, “That depends on how many ‘all‘ was, doesn’t it?” Much of this page is devoted to answering that question.]

[BTW, a representative of the anti-Christian group Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) was quoted in that story: “Noah didn’t get government help when he built the first ark, and the fundamentalist ministry behind the Kentucky replica shouldn’t either.” ASND would ask, “Since AUSCS adamantly, publicly and religiously promotes the fundamentals of secular humanism, why are they not also a ‘fundamentalist ministry‘?” ]

[Hmm…]

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How Wide? How Deep? :

Did the flood of Noah cover the entire earth?

“Psalm 104… speaks of the third day of creation, of God transforming the [Earth] from a world of water without continents or islands to world of continents, islands, and oceans. In verse 9 of that Psalm it is established that never again will water cover the whole face of the earth… Additionally, in three other Psalms, in Job 38, and in Proverbs, God speaks of creating permanent barriers to the waters once the continents are in place, ruling out the possibility that Noah’s flood covered the whole planet… [Young Earth Creationists — YECs] often point to Genesis 7:11 and the verses that follow where the text speaks of [all] the ‘high mountains‘ being covered [with flood waters]… Yet in biblical Hebrew, the vocabulary is relatively [limited, and the] word for ‘mountains‘ is equivalent to ‘hills‘ or ‘mounds‘. The word ‘high‘ could also mean ‘elevated‘… that the water covered all the ‘elevated hills‘ that were visible to Noah from his position atop the ark. The Hebrew word used in Genesis 8 for ‘earth‘ [also] cannot be used accurately to refer to the entire surface of the planet… [T]he clincher is what you see in Genesis 8:5-9 when the floodwaters are receding and Noah releases a dove… From the dove’s perspective, water covered ‘the whole face of the Earth‘, the [exact] same phrase used earlier in Genesis 7 where it speaks of waters covering the ‘mountains‘… [But s]ince the dove could not have seen the entire Earth, the word being used [for ‘earth‘] must be referring to what [could have] be seen by the observer [i.e. the dove]… [Also, t]he phrase… ‘the entire face of the earth‘ needs to be understood in the context of the observer [who could not possibly have seen the entire face of the earth].“

https://www.christianpost.com/news/did-the-flood-of-noah-cover-the-entire-earth-hugh-ross-on-what-the-bible-says.html

and…

How much of Earth’s surface was inundated by Noah’s flood?

“A quick reading of the English text of Genesis 6-9 gives readers… the impression of a global event. However, scientific evidence to the contrary seems clear and compelling. This evidence includes the lack of sufficient quantities of water and the ark’s inadequacy to hold every land-dwelling species on Earth… Physical scientists can calculate that Earth contains only 22% of the water required to cover every mountain on the planet… Some interpreters have postulated radical geologic changes over the entire Earth during the Genesis flood year as a way to reduce the required quantity of water. However, such monumental rates of plate tectonics and erosion defy all geologic evidence collected over the last 200 years. Additionally, the ark could never have withstood the catastrophic forces generated. The geologic history of Earth is well understood based upon observable tectonic processes, constantly improving radiometric dating techniques, and thousands of deep core samples taken over the entire globe. Geology research findings do not support a global flood interpretation. On the other hand, a regional flood interpretation can be tested and verified. Following rigorous rules of biblical exegesis… a thoughtful reader finds that a global flood interpretation is neither as obvious nor as consistent as a superficial reading may suggest. Given a commitment to the veracity of both the Genesis text and the scientific record, a plausible scenario begins to emerge [for a universal — with respect to humanity — but regional — with respect to geography — flood]… Throughout the Old Testament, God’s judgment against sin is shown to be limited by the impact and extent of human wickedness. Usually it falls upon the sinners themselves, their children for several generations, birds and mammals used in their agricultural pursuits, their material possessions, and in extreme cases, their agricultural lands. If human life had not yet spread beyond Mesopotamia, God would have no reason to destroy those distant regions and the animal life there… Assuming the Earth’s entire human population lived on the Mesopotamian Plain at that time, a flood that reached 200 to 300 meters deep would have destroyed all humanity on the land. The geographical extent of such a flood would have included areas that today belong to Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Syria…

MesopotamianDEM

Genesis 8:9 records that the dove sent out by Noah could find no place to set her feet ‘because there was water over all the surface of the earth.’ Yet four verses prior, in Genesis 8:5 , the text says that the flood waters had receded enough so that for Noah the ‘tops of the mountains became visible.’ Correct interpretation here depends on establishing the dove’s frame of reference. Likewise, the phrase ‘under the entire heavens‘ in Genesis 7:19 must be interpreted from Noah’s perspective in Mesopotamia, not from a modern global perspective.”

http://www.reasons.org/articles/noah%E2%80%99s-flood-a-bird%E2%80%99s-eye-view

and…

“[T]he flood of Noah was universal but not global. By universal, I mean that the entire human race and all of the nephesh (soulish) animals associated with humans were wiped out by the flood except for those humans and animals that were on board Noah’s ark. [T]he Bible itself eliminates the possibility of a global flood… [but] not all of the answers [to this question] are in Genesis… [For example,] In 2 Peter 2:5 [the apostle Peter] writes that the ‘world of the ungodly‘ was flooded. Here, Peter implies a distinction between the whole of planet Earth and that part of Earth inhabited by ungodly human beings. He does this again in 2 Peter 3:6 where he refers to the world that was deluged and destroyed as cosmos tote, which literally means ‘the world at the time the event occurred.’ By attaching the adjective tote to cosmos, Peter implies that the world of Noah is not the same as the world of the Roman Empire… Perhaps the strongest biblical constraints on the extent of Noah’s flood are in the creation texts in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs that address the third day creation event of God forming the continental landmasses. For example, Psalm 104:6–8 reads: ‘You covered it [the earth] with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.‘ (NIV) The following verse asserts: ‘You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.‘ Similarly, Job 38:8–10 , in describing the events of creation days one and three, states that God established ‘fixed limits’ and permanent ‘doors and bars‘ to prevent the seas from covering the whole of Earth’s surface. Even in the Genesis 6–8 narrative of Noah’s flood, there is strong evidence that the flood was not global in extent. Genesis 7:22 uses the Hebrew word haraba in reference to the land that was flooded. Unlike the Hebrew words eres and adama, haraba’s definitions constrain it from ever applying to the entirety of Earth’s surface.”

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2016/11/02/does-the-bible-say-noah-s-flood-was-global-or-universal

and…

Evidence From the Bible — Not Just Science — That the Genesis Flood Was Both Local AND Universal

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/evidence-from-the-bible-not-just-science-says-the-genesis-flood-was-local/

and…

Exploring the Extent of the Flood

http://www.reasons.org/articles/exploring-the-extent-of-the-flood-part-one

http://www.reasons.org/articles/exploring-the-extent-of-the-flood-what-the-bible-says-part-two

http://www.reasons.org/articles/exploring-the-extent-of-the-flood-part-three

and…

The Biblical Foundation for RTB’s Flood Model

http://www.reasons.org/articles/biblical-foundation-for-rtb%E2%80%99s-flood-model

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Did Radiation Levels Change during Noah’s Flood?
The Bible says “no”.

https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/tnrtb/2014/08/05/q-a-did-radiation-levels-change-during-noah’s-flood

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What about peer-reviewed scientific discoveries?

“[Scientific] findings are consistent with the biblical record. Scripture [records] a significant time difference between the common female ancestor of all women, Eve, and the common male ancestor of all men, Noah.”

http://www.reasons.org/articles/y-chromosome-reveals-evolutionary-limits

and…

“Montgomery is convinced any [biblical] flood must have been, at best, a regional event, perhaps a catastrophic deluge in Mesopotamia.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120814135153.htm

and…

Does human genetic evidence support Noah’s flood?

http://www.reasons.org/videos/does-human-genetic-evidence-support-noah-s-flood

and…

Research Studies Shed Light on the Garden and the Flood

http://www.reasons.org/articles/research-studies-shed-light-on-the-garden-and-the-flood

and…

Real Life “Atlantis” Lends Genesis Support