A Defense of the Flood - Part 1

A God of Judgement

God promises to judge sin.

A God of Grace

God saves a remnant, which allows for the Messiah.

The Details . .

God is sending a worldwide flood.

Noah is to build an ark:

Gopher wood

Covered with pitch

450ft long

75ft wide

45ft high

Roof/skylight

One door on the side

3 decks

Noah is to fill the ark:

Him, his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives

Two of every living thing, according to its kind

Every sort of food that is eaten

Answering Critics . . .

Moses stole the story.

Gilgamesh Epic

There are thousands of flood legends throughout the world.

A wooden structure that large would not survive the flood.

How could you fit all of the animals on the boat?

The carrying capacity wold be the equivalent of about 370 semi-trailers/trucks loaded to the legal maximum.

A semi-truck can haul 37 1,200-pound slaughter steers, 90 500-pound feeder calves, 180 250-pound hogs, or 300 125-pound sheep.

Conservative estimates put the number of animals on the ark around 16,000.

How did plants and insects survive?

Driftwood

Tangled vegetation

Pumice

Seeds

How did saltwater and freshwater fish survive?

Fish can survive a range of salinities if they have a chance to acclimatize gradually.

Freshwater is less dense than saltwater, so can float on top.

Many fish kinds have both saltwater and freshwater varieties. This suggest that tolerance for a particular degree of salinity is a specialization within the kind.

How did Noah have enough food for the animals?

God told Noah to take all of the food requirements for the animals.

Dried and salted meat could work for the carnivores.

An Example to Follow:

And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.