Why this story matters

(commentary on Genesis 6-9)

(Page 3 of 4)

Practical problems

The first issue concerns the diversity of animal life. Since there wouldn't have been enough time for species like kangaroos and koala bears to evolve after the flood, they must have been present on the Ark. But how did they get there from Australia? How did they cross the water? There are actually Bible teachers who acknowledge this problem and therefore insist that, prior to the flood, kangaroos inhabited the Middle East. What’s the evidence for this? Well, the Bible of course! Since the Bible says the flood was global, kangaroos had to exist in the Middle East at one time. It's circular reasoning at its best. But the problem doesn't stop at kangaroos and koalas. How about polar bears? You can't get around that problem by saying that they must have been present in the Middle East at one time. And how about the sloth of South and Central America? Its top land speed is only a few feet per minute and it sleeps 15-18 hours a day. Travel to the Middle East would have been quite impossible. And then there are the many species of land arthropods of the American rain forest. Without a series of miracles being involved, this problem is insurmountable. The Bible doesn't say anything about Yahweh magically transporting these animals to where Noah was. Clearly the author of Genesis was unaware of the incredible diversity of life throughout the globe.

The next problem is getting all the animals to fit in a boat the size of an aircraft carrier. The attempt by literalists to find a believable way to accomplish this has led to complicated debate about the classification of species. It is therefore beyond the scope of this article. However, there are other problems even more difficult to explain. Take, for example, the issue of food and water. How did Noah collect all the different types of food required for the thousands of different species? Noah wouldn't even have heard of many of the animals before. How did he know what they ate? Many species require particular diets. Koala bears eat exclusively fresh eucalyptus leaves. Snakes only eat live food. Many would require fresh meat. Even a conservative estimate of a lion eating ten pounds of meat a day would require over 7,000 lbs of fresh meat in a year. And that's just a single pair of animals. Where was all this meat stored and how was it kept fresh? Elephants eat over 100 lbs of dried food per day. That’s 73, 000 lbs of food for the year for just the elephants.

Then there’s the problem of excrement and sanitation. Let’s say a single elephant produces around 90 lbs of excrement per day. That’s 65,700 lbs of excrement for the elephants in a year. That's just two animals. There was only one small ventilation hole 18 inches wide around the top, and the ark was divided into three levels: “Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper" (Gen. 6:16 NLT). The excrement and urine would have to be taken from the lower decks to the top deck in containers. How could eight people accomplish this for two of every animal species in the world? And the receptacles would have to be cleaned out with fresh water. The water would come from the same storehouse used to wash and water the animals. The storage space needed for water alone renders the mission virtually impossible. And how would the thousands and thousands of animals get exercise? And, as one of the illustrations demonstrates, we also have the very problematic issue of climate. Different species have adapted to life in extreme climates. Apes could not live in the Arctic and polar bears could not live in tropical regions. Is there one temperature at which all animals can live reasonably comfortably for a whole year? If so, what is that temperature? And no one has adequately explained how 2 millions species of insect were cared for. We know they were there because the Bible tells us so: “They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground” (Gen. 7: 14). The list of logistical problems goes on and on. It's surely a leap of faith to take this as a literal event.

There have been attempts by Christian apologetic institutions to come up with proposals for solving these problems. However, they use phrases like “could” and “perhaps” so often that they are really only speaking to the converted. The most detailed and ambitious attempt is by high school teacher Jan Peczkis, who wrote Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study under the pseudonym of John Woodmorappe. It is impressive in scope and the hard-core faithful will be encouraged, but it is hopelessly unconvincing for the rationally minded.

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