Why I Am No Longer Christian

#5b: The Flood Didn't Happen, Part 2

So, what exactly are the biggest problems with the myth of the Flood and Noah's ark? Some wonderful thought-provoking articles on the impossibility of the flood are listed in my sources chapter. Here are just a few of the points they make:

1.) All living animals and plants could not have fit onto the ark or replenished the Earth after the Flood. Creationists try to make it possible by saying that all the animals were restricted to certain "kinds" instead of species, each with enough genetic data to show the genetic diversity we see today, but this is biologically impossible. The same applies to the humans who rode the ark; they could not have led to the genetic diversity we see today in humanity. Not to mention that the creationist use of the term "kind" does not fit within any concrete biological definition, sometimes referring to biological family, other times order, and sometimes even phylum. To add insult to injury, there is no fossil evidence of any of these super-animals that show enough genetic variation to replenish the Earth. So Noah would've had to fit two of every species onto the ark, a feat of massive proportions.

There are so many problems with the idea of all of the animals fitting onto the ark and being able to replenish the Earth after the flood that it is laughable. Major issues include but are not limited to:

● The smallest possible number of animals Noah would have had to fit on the ark is almost four million, so each animal would get less than 0.3 cubic feet. That is not enough room for any animal or human to inhabit, much less for hundreds of days at sea. For all of those animals to get onto the ark in one day, anywhere from two to forty animals would have to get on the ark every second! Not to mention that most animals require special care during transport and when living in general. Some need trees to climb, others need running water, others need to bathe regularly, some need a wet environment and others need a very dry environment...the list goes on. To cater to all of those needs and have enough time and space to do so is physically impossible.

● Many animals cannot reproduce or live outside of large groups of their own species, so even ignoring inbreeding and other genetic problems, a single male and female of each species would not be able to guarantee the continuation of their species.

● What about the species where there are more than two sexes or only one sex? What would Noah do, since it would be impossible to gather a male and female of every animal? How could he distinguish the sexes of the species where the sexes can only be told apart by veterinarians or detailed hormone analysis? What about species that switch sexes throughout their lives? What if he brought aboard an animal that was infertile or didn't have chemistry with its partner?

● Even given very conservative estimates, the ark would've been so heavy with all the animals and food and water storage that it would have immediately sunk like a rock, laying all of God's plans to waste.

● How did Noah get animals from places other than where he and his family lived? Did polar bears, leopards, kangaroos, tortoises, giraffes, monkeys, mountain lions, sloths, etc. travel thousands of miles across land and ocean through conditions that they physically could not survive in order to reach the ark, and if so, how?

● If Noah and his family had to save all species, that would include parasites and bacteria that cause diseases, some of which can only live in certain species of hosts. So, all of the animals on the ark, humans included, would have to have been sick with parasites and bacteria for the entire trip!

● There is no way that Noah and his family, even working sixteen hours a day, could possibly feed all of the animals and keep them from starving or dying of dehydration. Where would they get all of the specialized food that many species eat, including meat for the carnivores, bamboo for the pandas, and Eucalyptus leaves for koalas? How did the food not spoil or rot? Where did they manage to store all of this food and water?