This is more argument from ignorance. We don’t know the exact mechanisms God (via Noah) used to care for the animals. Perhaps God made the animals hibernate as some have suggested. Of course the animals were probably adolescent and needed less food/room than a full grown adult. And we STILL don’t know exactly how many animals we’re talking about.
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This is more argument from ignorance.
Also, your Bible says 2 of every kind of animal, so if your Bible is to be taken literally, it is exactly the number of species times 2.
"And we STILL don’t know exactly how many animals we’re talking about"
Yes, we do. It's ZERO. Because it is a myth. It never happened. It's just a bunch of folks writing down a story passed orally down the generations of a particularly nasty flood in that part of the world. The story changed over time in the telling to be incorporated in the local myth structure. Other cultures in the area at the time had similar tales.
Well, taking the average of the estimates for known species (average being around 17-18 million)...
You still believe that there was a boat capable of holding 34-36 million animals?
Cause, well, wow.
I'd like to build me a house of gopher wood, it seems to be a very solid and flexible type of wood with an incredible ability to withstand the forces of nature and to turn methane gas into pure air.
Would really come in handy here in hurricane ridden Florida... Where can I find it?
This is more argument from ignorance.
You, sir/madam, have done irrepairable damage to my irony meter. I can no longer afford to purchase these by the gross. Please post your address, so that we may all send you our receipts for immediate reimbursement.
You have every right to be a moron, but that right ends at our property.
Oh, and the ark? More bullshit.
We don’t know the exact mechanisms God (via Noah) used to care for the animals. Perhaps God made the animals hibernate as some have suggested.
Ok, let's look at this problem from a different angle. Since all of the plant life on Earth was (supposedly) submerged for more than 40 days, all of it would have been killed off due to lack of sunlight and rot caused by excessive water. Where did the new flora come from and what did the herbivores aboard the Ark eat until it reappeared?
Assume that there were just one million species of plants and animals existing at the time. Two of each species (don't even count the mention of seven of each in another part of Genesis) nets you two million individual organisms to fit in a boat barely the size of a modern destroyer. Add the eight adults, provisons for the animals and crew, special arrangements for those animals and plants who cannot survive in a standard environment present in a cramped and overloaded boat.
Now, what was that about ignorance?
Damn the old testament for giving the world this shit. It just opened the door for stupid crap like this--"well it happened a while ago, and science isn't really real, so let's just assume goddidit." Yeah, that makes a whole ton of sense...
How did they care for the animals? Were there adolescent animals? Did they hibernate? How are they going to find out the answers to these unknowns? Does anyone really care? These people want equal time in science classrooms?
And we STILL don't know exactly where we'd be today if western civilization hadn't lost nearly 1000 years to Christian dogma.
"We don't know" "Perhaps God" "the animals were probably" "we STILL don’t know exactly how many animals we’re talking about."
Yes, argument from ignorance.
Don't adolescent animals, that is, animals that are almost full sized but still growing, need at least as much food as adults? Growing increases their nutritional requirements.
"And we STILL don’t know exactly how many animals we’re talking about."
Presumably every species that is currently alive plus all the ones that have gone extinct since the purported event since, after all, you boneheads don't "believe" in evolution.
"This is more argument from ignorance."
Hey, pick me Pick ME! - I know exactly how many -
exactly a big fat zee-roh! (Lilith beat me to it)
"Adolescent animals" makes it more believable? Have you ever seen a teenager eat?
@ Headache,
@Pedantic Twit
image
Will that do?
Two every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal (or was it the other way around?). Anyway, that's a whole lotta animals. More than you could fit on any boat today, at least. And with that one tiny window, they would've all suffocated to death.
Other possibilities:
-The animals were babies.
-God kept every non-human aboard in a state of suspended animation.
-It's an embellishment of a man's attempts to save local wildlife from a devastating flood that affected all areas then occupied by humans. The 40 days and 40 nights, global flooding, and bringing aboard EVERY kind of land animal on earth, were all added later.
-Same as above, only the man actually attempted to save only his family and household pets.
-Same as above, only the boat was also an embellishment. Oops!
The problems with the flood story are so numerous, only an idiot would fail to see them.
So, the 3 little pigs story is true too. Just because we don't know how God made pigs talk or made them capable of building houses or made a wolf able to exhale powerfully enough to collapse said houses, that doesn't mean the story isn't true, right?
Maybe god sent space ships with animal feed to help with the food shortage on the boat.
Maybe god showed Noah the fish and loaves trick?
May be the whole book has about as much facts as an episode of the smurfs.
Every species of animal in existence, times two, plus Noah's family. This is a slightly low estimate, since more than two of the clean animals were taken.
That's way more than could possibly fit into the ark (and I think measurements have been suggested somewhere), even if they were all motionless, hibernating adolescents.
When you think about it, it would be logical for there to be WAY more animals than two of every modern day species- because with only two released into the wild, loads would go extinct, and therefore not be accounted for today.
ps. What would all the carnivores eat once they got off onto dry land?
pps. Argument from ignorance indeed.
Let's see:
-or-
2. The story of Noah is literally true. Every animal on the earth 'knew' to go to the ark. The animals hibernated so they did not have to eat. The water came from a water canopy above earth that cannot be detected. Fresh water fish could swim in the flood. The cannibals did not eat the herbavores. God provided for the animals. Blah, blah, blah.
Looks like I have to play the Occam's Razor card on this one.......but what's the point.
First of all, if the saltwater fish were stuck in freshwater, they'd die. I'm not going to ask how Noah could have kept the animals alive, as that's already been answered. But I will ask how he could fit every single species. The bible gives the dimensions of the ark. Try an experiment. Put two of every species on a boat that size. Try it. I think you'll have a lot of fun with the giant squids, blue whales, rhinos, hippos, and elephants.
@Beeblebrox:
Obviously, the herbivores temporarily turned carnivore and ate the dinosaurs, duh.
And secretly, with no mention in the book, Noah's drunk ass had enough foresite to pick up some seed packs from the local farmer's market to reseed the planet.
And we STILL don’t know exactly how many animals we’re talking about.
2 of each unclean animal, and 7 of each clean. That means a lot, bucko.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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