The Ark Myth
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Transcript of The Ark Myth
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The Ark MythologyPhilosophy and Skepticism
BRENT SILBYUnlimited (UPT)
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It rained for forty days and forty nights
Did this reallyhappen?
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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 problemswith this story.
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Noahs Ark!
Did it really happen? What is the evidence?
1. It is written in the bible
2. Remains of fish species buried at top of mountains
3. Discovery of remains of Noahs ark
Not a good source of information, since it is not verifiable
Other explanationse.g. the discovery of tectonic platemovement
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Discovery of remains of Noahs ark
Pictures taken on a mountain
near Mt Ararat
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Discovery of remains of Noahs ark
Heres another one on the very next mountain
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Discovery of remains of Noahs 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.
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Lets 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?
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A kiwi can walk about 1 meter every 2 secondsThe 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.
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Heres 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 kiwi31,000,000 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
T
hats without sleeping, without stopping to eat, without havingto climb mountains
But wait! Kiwi cant swim !
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Is is reasonable to suggest that a pair of Kiwi walked non-stop for
359 days
to get to Noahs Ark?
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People may respond by saying that the flood didnt cover the
whole world, just the discoveredworld--the mediterranean
But then we are interpreting the bible, not taking it literally.
If we are allowed to make interpretations, couldnt we say that
the flood only happened in Noahs country?
Or Noahs city?
Or in his neighborhood?
But then it wouldnt be so miraculous!
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Lets assume that the story is supposed to be taken literally.
We are Philosophers, so we can think rationally about thesituation.
In groups, discuss Noahs Ark and identify some other problems
with the story.
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How big was the Ark?
Doesnt look very big in the pictures. Lets 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 landanimal species.
Recent estimates indicate around 4 million mammal species
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How big was the Ark?
Lets 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.
Thats 1000 square kilometers
A BIG BOAT INDEED!
And he hasnt loaded any food yet!!!
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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.
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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.
Thats about a 75 sheep for one lion.
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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.
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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?
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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 andTonnes of C R A P !
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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.
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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.
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So, what does this all mean?
Noahs 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.
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Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY
www.def-logic.com
Produced at UPT
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.unlimited.school.nz