Warmup 12/9/15 Objective Tonight’s Homework Do you think Noah's ark really happened? Why or why not? Objective Tonight’s Homework To see if Noah's ark could be literal or not Study for the test tomorrow

Noah’s Ark: Literal or Myth? Today we’re going to investigate Noah’s ark. There are a lot of non-Christian people out there who think we’re stupid for believing that the story is real. Come on… how could you get all those animals on the ark? Wouldn’t you run out of space? Where would the food go? Here’s the thing though. Science can’t prove anything right. It can only disprove. (Remember falsifiability?) So as Christians, all we have to do is come up with just one way that this could have actually, reasonably happened. If that one way is reasonable, science can’t say it didn’t happen.

Notes: The Flood There are a number of different ideas and opinions about the Flood, both within Christianity and between Christians and non-Christians. We’re going to investigate the following: - Was the Flood a literal, real story or is it just a metaphor about faith and God’s love? - If it was real, did it flood the whole Earth, or just a part of it? - Is there any evidence of the Ark or this story?

Notes: The Flood Was the Flood a literal, real story or is it just a metaphor about faith and God’s love? We have a number of pieces of evidence to support that the flood was a real event that occurred likely around 3,500 B.C. 1) All written records of continuous civilization start after this point. 2) Geological evidence allows for the idea of a global flood for shaping certain features. 3) A number of major river deltas are around 5,000 years old, supporting the idea that major rivers reset after the flood.

Notes: The Flood So while the message of the Flood is important, if we want to be able to give alternate explanations for evolution, the Flood needs to be literal.

Notes: The Flood If it was real, did it flood the whole Earth, or just a part of it? Some Christians believe in a localized Flood around the Black Sea. There is geology evidence for a big flood there around the right time. This flood would have wiped out ancient Mesopotamia. They claim that in Genesis 6, when the Bible says “world”, that the Hebrew word can be translated as “known world”. Thus, God wasn’t destroying the whole planet, just the civilized world.

Notes: The Flood Some Christians believe the Flood covered the entire world. What Biblical evidence do they have? Genesis 6:7 “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.” How could God destroy all mankind if he’s only wiping out a local area? Unless all of mankind is in that one area. A little iffy! Genesis 7:20 “The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than 20 feet.” This is telling us that the highest points of ground were 20 feet underwater. If the highest parts were underwater, so was everything else!

Notes: The Flood Is there any evidence of the Ark or this story? For the story, yes. For the Ark, no. There are other stories of a great flood that coincide with the Biblical account. The Biblical story is thought to be the oldest, so this gives some credence to the thought that SOME big flood had to happen. The Bible says the Ark came to rest on the “mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). Even knowing the location, we’ve never found any physical evidence for the Ark. It probably rotted away long, long ago.

Notes: The Flood One last thing to note. After the Flood, God told people to spread out, but they didn’t. Everyone migrated to an area near where Turkey and Iran meet. So what? The different languages of the world can be divided into multiple families (Like Indo-European, or Sino-Asiatic). It’s hard to trace all these languages back super-far, but a lot of evidence suggests most of these families coming from about the same area as where people went after the Flood. And built the Tower of Babel! Hmmm… worth thinking about.

Exit Question Why wouldn't Noah need 2 of literally every animal? a) Because there are many animals that live in the ocean b) Because it’s possible some of the animals could have been pregnant. c) Because some animal species could have diversified after the Flood d) All of the above e) None of the above