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No, everyone died.

Didn't you see the movie? Big rock guys helped.

No but I do believe in the Gilgamesh flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

I believe the story and it was God who called the animals two by two so all Noah had to do was let them in.

freshman year of college, wish I paid more attention.

Not going to be the one that said it did not happen.

if you believe in a God that spoke and the world leaped into existence, if you believe that God can literally bring people back from the dead, and you believe that God operates outside of time and space and human understanding, then believing in a boat that held a bunch of animals is a ridiculously simple task...

My comment was meant for the OP.


Pff. People seriously believing in this tale =

People have always been afraid of drowning, so the story of a major flood has been around for years in different civilizations. It did not originate in the Bible.

I like a good story.

fixed that for ya.

A guy builds a boat because the voice in his head told him to??? Today, this guy would be heavily medicated.

Do you think it was all inclusive, or drinks were extra?

...as do Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs!
Guess I've been to heaven and back (and paid the bill several times too).

Pascal's Wager - not a good bet......

Robert,
My belief in God is not based on "fear of consequence of not believing".
It is based on faith.
There have been things that have happened in my life that if not for "Divine Intervention", I would be dead in my grave.
I realize that there are those who would just chalk this up to fate or me just being lucky, but as you stated . . .
"To each his own".

you should hear about some of the other childish stuff I believe in...

the mouths of hungry lions being miraculously shut...

Men surviving being thrown into giant pits of fire...

people going happily to their deaths, being sawed in two, rip to pieces, forfeiting life and children - and all with great joy...

but if you ask me, you picked the wrong event to mock...

Most "childish" of all, I believe that God Himself came to this earth in the flesh of a human, was murdered by the very people he came to save, and (here's the worst part) that man - God - lives again, despite having died a very real death.... as powerful as death is - it will conquer even you someday mr roso - but as powerful as it is, it doesn't have a finger on God...

Childish, crazy, call it what you want, I live by this, so much so that I should be pitied by all men if what the Word of God says isn't true...

Back in the early 70's, doctors found an orange sized tumor in my Grandmother. Plans were made to have it removed.

Prayer networks were started. Their Church held her in prayer, Church leaflets were sent out asking for prayer, the local religious radio station asked for prayer & word of mouth spread.

When the doctors opened her up to remove the tumor, the tumor was gone. It had completely disappeared.

I believe in the power of prayer & I believe in the Heavenly Father & His Son, Jesus Christ, The Lord.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Pretty much sums up my views very well.

Always had a hard time with it. Parents were super into their religion, I never recall buying into it. Not for lack of trying either. I did, but wasn't satisfied with the answers to my questions. Wound up dropping out of high school (parents refused to sign enrollment when I tried to go to public school) and getting booted from my parent's home over it. I didn't drop out because I didn't want an education. On the contrary, I got my GED and started college. I didn't want the constant arguments and detentions that arose from my "unfaithful questions" I wanted an education.

I have no problem with religion and personal beliefs in general. My issue arises from when the beliefs turn you into a jackhole.

I quoted from a non-Christian source just for you Victor... not that it will change your mind... this isn't your objection, just a side show...


Noah’s Ark would have floated even with two of every animal in the world packed inside, scientists have calculated.
Although researchers are unsure if all the creatures could have squeezed into the huge boat, they are confident it would have handled the weight of 70,000 creatures without sinking.
A group of master’s students from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Leicester University studied the exact dimensions of the Ark, set out in Genesis 6:13-22.
According to The Bible, God instructed Noah to build a boat which was 300 cubits long 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high – recommending gopher wood for the enormous lifeboat.
The students averaged out the Egyptian and Hebrew cubit measurement to come up with 48.2cm, making the Ark around 144 metres long – about 100 metres shorter than Ark Royal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10740451/Noahs-Ark-would-have-floated...even-with-70000-animals.html

Myself, I believe that each of us comes to know God in their own way. So, it would be proper to respect the believes of others even when you don't share them.

That said, some fundamentalists paint themselves in a corner by insisting on their literal interpretation of scripture. Some even assert that there is no interpretation. And since culture often teaches by allegory and metaphor, sometimes the lesson is lost in favor of believing the tale.

We all agree that the Greeks used myths to teach and that they were often stories of the Gods. I think it is reasonable to assume that the Abrahamic religions did the same thing.

The story of Noah teaches a number of things, and they shouln't be lost in an argument over what a 600 year old man can do with gopher wood......

Fantastic stories get people's attention and if you want to communicate a message, tell a compelling story. If the message gets across, the details of the story are not important.

It's a parable, "Straighten up or I'll save the good ones and kill off every last one of you."

True, but in actuality, they are winners of the Unlucky Lottery.

I went and read that study, I'm actually impressed. It isn't going to sway me to believe in noah's ark (there are way more problems than just the weight)... but I'm impressed that the weight looks somewhat feasible by those calculations.

This is the problem... Essentially these students doing the study determined that the theoretical ark has a max weight capacity of 50.54x10^6kg. That's a lot of weight... but there are a lot of animals on the planet. To determine if that weight would be sufficient for two of each animal, they fell back to some christian book by Whitcomb "genesis flood", where he claims the average weight of all animals on the planet is the weight of a sheep. This theoretical ark can hold 2.15 x10^6 sheep... which is sufficient. IF the average animal is the weight of this sheep.

So, they claim that this 2.15 x10^6 number is enough for all species, AND that the average species weight is that of a sheep... I cannot find any data online to support this (and I have no desire to purchse this Genesis Flood book to check this guy's math)...

But there's a bigger problem. There are an estimated 2x10^6 to 30x10^6 species of insects on the planet... this suggests that we would need to hold more that 2.15x10^6 different species, let alone half that number to make sure you have 2 of each.

Anyway, I think it's an interesting mathematical exercise, but without seeing the numbers this whitcomb used to claim the average animal is sheep-sized.... it actually fails to go all the way to showing us anything.

No, and just be clear, the dead infant was the a winner of the unlucky. The parents just suffered the loss.

I must say, it's a little tough to decipher your response, but do you seriously think I would be pleased to see children die? When I said, "True" I was agreeing with your statement,"Some people, some, really like this vision of God." I'm not "some people"

I think we are all are created with free will, some chose an evil path and others do not. Followers of either path can be a winner in the unlucky lottery. For example the unfortunate woman driving with no other cars nearby through the Boston (Big Dig) tunnel at the exact moment the ceiling collapsed and killed her. People want to understand the why so they go to all sorts of effort to blame something, evil, sinners, an inferior religion and even God. The unlucky lottery by the way, connected to the willful acts of other humans.