Noah's Ark

Presentation Notes

How many have been to the ark encounter?

Overview of discussion topics.

Overview of size

300 long, 50 wide, 30 high. Different cubit lengths. “Hebrew long cubit”

510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high

[slide - Andy’s]

Proportions - from an engineering perspective, perfect

“Noah’s Ark was the focus of a major 1993 scientific study headed by Dr. Seon Hong at the world-class ship research center KRISO, based in Daejeon, South Korea. Dr. Hong’s team compared twelve hulls of different proportions to discover which design was most practical. No hull shape was found to significantly outperform the 4,300-year-old biblical design. In fact, the Ark’s careful balance is easily lost if the proportions are modified, rendering the vessel either unstable, prone to fracture, or dangerously uncomfortable.

The research team found that the proportions of Noah’s Ark carefully balanced the conflicting demands of stability (resistance to capsizing), comfort (“seakeeping”), and strength. In fact, the Ark has the same proportions as a modern cargo ship.

[slide - tankers]

Just to show the similar dimensions. Around the size of the smallest tanker, which is still quite large, which we will see.
The study also confirmed that the Ark could handle waves as high as 100 ft (30 m)”
Not a creationist

Looks round but quite square

[slide - cross section]

This is kind of a compromise between the usual shape of a sea vessel and the traditional box shape.

How did they fit all the animals?

• [slide - approach]
• Discuss size of ark and what it looked like from outside
• When walking inside, my immediate impression was that you could definitely fit 2 of every kind in this.
• Do not need all species.
  • “Kinds”
  • No exact parallel with modern taxonomy
  • [slide -taxonomy]
  • Sometimes, the kind may be at the species level, as in modern humans, or at the genus level or sometimes at the family level. It should be rare that the kind is at the level of the order or class.
  • [slide - bears]
• AE estimates About 6,700 total animals, or around 3,300 kinds
  • Includes dinosaurs
    • Who thinks there were dinosaurs on the ark, or have even considered that?
    • It is the position of basically all young-earth creationists that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time.
    • Since the flood seems to be the first and only global catastrophic event in earth’s history, it makes sense that dinosaurs would have still been alive at this time.
    • Since Noah was commanded to take 2 of every kind of land-dwelling animal, it makes sense.
  • This seems to be a perfectly logical reason to place dinosaurs on the ark. Suffice it to say that if you allow for the idea that dinosaurs might not have been on the ark, it means there would have been far fewer animals.
  • How could they have fit all of the dinosaur kinds and other large animals, such as elephants, rhinoceros, etc. on the ark?
    • One explanations is that they would have had young representatives of each kind, especially the larger ones.
    • Carnivorous
      • Tortoises
      • Crocodiles -
      • There’s even been a lion that would not eat meat
  • How could they care for that many animals?

This brings us the potential architecture and technology of the ark and what life on the ark would have been like.

• Most of what you find at the ark encounter is speculation, but it is interesting to think about.
  • One key point is that God could have miraculously provided for Noah’s family and the animals in certain ways,
  • It isn’t absolutely necessary to appeal to miracles
  • Show that there were practical solutions to many of the atheistic objections to Noah’s ark.
• Life on the ark.
• How long were they on the ark?
• What kind of challenges do you think there would have been living on the ark?
• Caring for animals. Full time job.
  • Feeding
  • Removing waste
  • exercise
  • ect.?
  • One potential solution is that many of the animals could have went into hibernation, or brumation (which what many reptiles do during the cold, dark months of the year)

Architecture and technology

• • One key point is that while God could have miraculously
• Biblical description
  • Size dimensions.
  • 3 stories
  • door and a window
• The Ark Encounter has a lot of individual pens, although some might have had common areas.
  • cleverly designed for waste to funnel into central locations,
  • hoppers for feed,

[video clips - 3 -4:50, 5:50 - 8:55]

• Could have had areas to allow the animals to walk around, perhaps on a rotation.
• Food was likely stored in jars and would have taken up a significant area of the ark,

Encounter itself

7 C’s of history, as it pertains to salvation. Creationist apologetics, evidence for the flood, animatronics, petting zoo, plans for much more, near the creation museum. Ken Hamm, answers in Genesis.