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?

● Lack of sanitation and hygiene would've been unbearable on the ark. They would've produced over six times the weight of the ark in waste! Ships are required to have intricate plumbing and sanitation systems, all of which are far past Noah's time. Ventilation would've been nonexistent, and it would've been impossible to keep the temperature and light levels at exactly what each species needs.

For an even longer, more extensive overview of all the problems with this idea, check out my sources chapter, especially "The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark" by Robert A. Moore.

2.) A flood of such immense magnitude would've destroyed all plant and sea life that creationists say survived the Flood without climbing onto the ark. To deposit the amount of sediment needed for creationists to explain why the Earth has so many layers and fossils, the floodwaters would've been composed of a boiling hot sludge of mud, rock, volcanic ash, boulders, tree trunks, and more. There is no way plants and sea life would live through that, especially not for hundreds of days. And then to think that when this boiling sludge receded, all the sea life went right back to where they needed to be...and all the plants went back to business as usual...that's impossible. Unless God intervened, in which case, why didn't he just intervene to save everything? Or just not flood the Earth at all?

3.) The fossil record shows no sign of a worldwide flood; in fact, it looks exactly as we would expect it to if the Earth were millions of years old. The layers of the Earth's crust paint us a beautiful picture of life on Earth: in each layer or strata, there are fossils from a certain time period. The deeper and older the layer, the older the fossil. But if a worldwide flood really happened and killed all life on Earth, we would expect to see fossils from humans, animals, plants, and dinosaurs all in the same layer, deposited from the floodwaters. Of course, this is something we do not see.

4.) To build the ark, Noah would've needed naval architectural knowledge that was not discovered until thousands of years later, as well as many slaves. There is no evidence, before or after the period when Noah supposedly lived, of boats anywhere near the size of the ark. If God had passed down such knowledge (and it is stated that Noah and his sons lived for hundreds of years after the Flood), why is there no evidence of this shipbuilding knowledge being passed down through the generations? Not only that, but for Noah's family to build the ship by themselves, without help from tradesmen or slaves, it would've taken them over 80 years. At that point, the other parts of the ship would've rotted. To add insult to injury, it is impossible to build a ship the size of the ark out of wood without it caving in on itself and leaking water everywhere.

5.) Noah and his family, a crew of eight people, could not have done all of the tasks required of them during the voyage. Not only would they have to feed, water, and nurture over four million animals by themselves every day, but the boat would need constant maintenance. Wooden boats are prone to leaks, rot, breakage, and splintering, especially when tossed around in a storm and flood of such magnitude. And as said in the point above, such a huge wooden ark would've let in massive amounts of water and fallen apart in rough waters.

Even more problems arise with the descent of the ark and the redistribution of life all around the planet:

● The ark supposedly landed on Mount Ararat, which was active during that time, so the crew on the ark would have suffered through eruptions, hot lava, earthquakes, and more, all after battling hundreds of excruciating days at sea.

● When the animals were finally released from the ark, the ground would have been covered in lava, mud, boulders, trees, and other debris from the flood, impossible for many of them to navigate.

● Millions of animal species would have to travel halfway across the world to return to their natural habitats, all without dying or reproducing on the way (most animal fossils are only found in certain areas of the world, whereas a worldwide flood would've deposited bodies everywhere). Flightless birds would have to swim across oceans to remote islands; kangaroos would have to make it back to Australia; fragile species like the platypus would have to travel across the oceans to North America; polar bears would have to trek back to the Arctic circle; sea creatures would have to be deposited, either by the floodwaters or by Noah and his family, exactly where they needed to be to resume their lives...the list goes on.

As you can see, every aspect of the story of the Flood is impossible, despite what some creationists try to argue. The case for biblical inerrancy sure doesn't look too good, with several falsities already on its record (remember, only one thing in the Bible needs to be shown to be false for biblical inerrancy to be proven wrong, and we have already done that and more). Up next, we will delve into what we know (and what we don't) about the famous biblical patriarchs.