The Ark Mythology

Philosophy and Skepticism

BRENT SILBY
Unlimited (UPT)
It rained for forty days and forty nights…

Did this really happen?

The story of Noah and his Ark takes a primary place in
Christian mythology. It is part of the old testament.

In this session, you will be skeptical and work out the problems
with this story.
Noah’s Ark!

Did it really happen? What is the evidence?

1. It is written in the bible

Not a good source of information, since it is not verifiable

2. Remains of fish species buried at top of mountains

Other explanations…e.g. the discovery of tectonic plate
movement

3. Discovery of remains of Noah’s ark

Discovery of remains of Noah’s ark

Pictures taken on a mountain

near Mt Ararat
Discovery of remains of Noah’s ark

Here’s another one on the very next mountain

Discovery of remains of Noah’s ark

How can there be two ark-shaped remains on two mountains?

Which one is the real ark?

If there are two of these shapes right next door to each other,
maybe neither are Arks.

Perhaps these types of shapes are geological features common

on mountain terrains.
Let’s look at this rationally

The story tells us that two of every species was put on board
the ark.

This includes the Kiwi

This also includes the Australian Duck Billed Platypus

Is it possible for two kiwis to be on the Ark?

A kiwi can walk about 1 meter every 2 seconds
The distance from New Zealand to the Ark is 15,500 kilometers

In groups, work out how long it would take the kiwi to walk to the
Ark.
Here’s how you work it out:

If a Kiwi can walk 1 meter every 2 seconds and 15,500k is the

same as 15,500,000 meters, then it would take a kiwi
31,000,000 seconds to get from New Zealand to the Ark.
31,000,000 / 60 = 516,666 minutes

516,666 / 60 = 8611 hours

8611 / 24 = 359 days

That’s without sleeping, without stopping to eat, without having

to climb mountains…

But wait! Kiwi can’t swim !

Is is reasonable to suggest that a pair of Kiwi walked non-stop for

359 days

to get to Noah’s Ark?

People may respond by saying that the flood didn’t cover the
whole world, just the discovered world--the mediterranean

But then we are interpreting the bible, not taking it literally.

If we are allowed to make interpretations, couldn’t we say that
the flood only happened in Noah’s country?

Or Noah’s city?

Or in his neighborhood?

But then it wouldn’t be so miraculous!

Let’s assume that the story is supposed to be taken literally.

We are Philosophers, so we can think rationally about the

situation.

In groups, discuss Noah’s Ark and identify some other problems

with the story.
How big was the Ark?

Doesn’t look very big in the pictures. Let’s work out how big it
would need to be to carry two of every species on Earth.

Scientists have catalogued around 2 million species. That sounds

like a lot, but there are many yet to be catalogued.

Scientists believe there may be up to 100 million species on Earth.

This includes sea life.

Since Noah did not have to take sea life, we will focus on land
animal species.

Recent estimates indicate around 4 million mammal species

How big was the Ark?

Let’s be conservative and suppose there are 1 million animal

species on Earth. That would mean 2 million animals on the ark.

If each animal needs (on average) half a square meter of space

(many are small), that would mean the ark would need to be
1 million square meters in size.

That’s 1000 square kilometers

A BIG BOAT INDEED!

And he hasn’t loaded any food yet!!!

How big was the Ark?

How much wood would it take to build a boat that size?

How did he do that by himself?

Some calculations claim it would take him about 1000 years to

build the boat without the help of an army.
What did the animals eat?

What did all the carnivorous animals eat?

Did Noah load extra sheep and cattle to feed the tigers, lions,
panthas, leopards, dogs, wolves, foxes, etc?

An average lion eats 75 pounds of meat in one sitting, so for

100 days, Noah would need to bring an additional 7500 pounds
of meat per lion.

That’s about a 75 sheep for one lion.

What did the animals eat?

What did all the plant eaters consume?

An elephant eats about 200 pounds of food per day, and drinks
about 50 gallons of water. So for 100 days, to feed just one
elephant, Noah would need to bring 20,000 pounds of plants, and
5,000 gallons of water.

You can see that there is a major problem here. The Ark would
need to be the size of a country to feed all the animals.
What did the animals eat?

What did the 4,000 species of termite eat?

They eat wood. Did Noah bring extra wood, or just let them
munch away at the Ark?

Did the Koala from Australia bring its own supply of gum leaves?
Or did Noah have to go to Australia to collect this specialty food?

Did the Panda bring its own bamboo shoots? Or did Noah go to
China to get supplies for this fussy animal?
How did Noah dispose of the waste?

You feed animals, and they make waste. Lots of waste!

It would have stunk on that boat, because these animals would

make

Tonnes and Tonnes and Tonnes of C R A P !

Where did the water come from?

Perhaps a vapor canopy?

(Water up in atmosphere)

But that much water in the atmosphere would raise air pressure,
and raise oxygen and nitrogen levels to toxic level

That much water in atmosphere would block too much sunlight,

And make Earth uninhabitable.
A global flood would leave evidence

The Sierra Nevadas should have eroded, but they do not seem
to have been

No evidence of flood in ice cores. These have been dated to

40,000 years, and no layer of sediment has been found which
corresponds to a worldwide flood.

A mass flood would float the polar caps and break them up. They
would not regrow within 4000 years. Yet, there they are.

Ancient trees rings have been analyzed. They go back 10,000

years and show no evidence of a world-wide catastrophe.
So, what does this all mean?

Noah’s flood is a myth. All myths grow from stories that were
passed down by word of mouth.

There may have been some event that began the legend, but
it was certainly not a world-wide flood.

For the rest of this session, discuss how such a story may have
started.
Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY
www.def-logic.com

Produced at UPT
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.unlimited.school.nz