Is the story of Noah's arc metaphorical?

Question

literal? possible? proven true?

Answer 1

None of the above. They are a reflection of old oral traditions filtered through the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. They probably were originally inspired by a severe local flood or tsunami.

The number of species to load is the least of the story's problems. The availability of species is another (e.g. where in the Mid-East do you find polar bears or kangaroos). A much bigger problem, literally, is the amount of water need to cover the entire earth up to and including the peak of Mount Everest.

Even that problem pales in comparison to the killer issue. We have written records from Egyptian dynasties before and after the alleged time of the flood and none of them mention being drowned.

Answer 2

The story of Noah and the Ark are completely true.
Although some do not give credence to the Bible and try their
very best to discredit it, that doesn't mean that it is not true.

Below is a quote from Jesus Christ:

“Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be." -Matthew 24:36-39

Now, although some also do not think that Jesus was real, ever lived or walked the earth there is a great amount of evidence that he did.

Ask yourself: Could a person who never lived have affected human history so remarkably? The reference work The Historians’ History of the World observed: “The historical result of [Jesus’] activities was more momentous, even from a strictly secular standpoint, than the deeds of any other character of history. A new era, recognised by the chief civilisations of the world, dates from his birth.”

Yes, think about it. Even calendars today are based on the year that Jesus was thought to have been born. “Dates before that year are listed as B.C., or before Christ,” explains The World Book Encyclopedia. “Dates after that year are listed as A.D., or anno Domini (in the year of our Lord).”

Critics, nevertheless, point out that all that we really know about Jesus is found in the Bible. No other contemporary records concerning him exist, they say. Even H. G. Wells wrote: “The old Roman historians ignored Jesus entirely; he left no impress on the historical records of his time.” But is this true?

Although references to Jesus Christ by early secular historians are meager, such references do exist. Cornelius Tacitus, a respected first-century Roman historian, wrote: “The name [Christian] is derived from Christ, whom the procurator Pontius Pilate had executed in the reign of Tiberius.” Suetonius and Pliny the Younger, other Roman writers of the time, also referred to Christ. In addition, Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, wrote of James, whom he identified as “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.”

The New Encyclopædia Britannica thus concludes: “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.”

To sum up..........Jesus lived, walked the earth and commented about Noah. He also filled over 300 prophecies that were written about him in the Holy Scriptures.

He also always spoke the truth and actually died because, besides other things, he exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day..........His words written in the Bible continue to do do the same for those who are seeking religious truth for our day.

Also, since he made reference to Noah as a real person and the historic event of the cataclysmic flood and the survival of Noah and his family we can be assured that it is both true and factual.

As well you can research in several other cultures the story of Noah and the Ark. Although some of the details are slightly different the theme of survival in a boat of very few humans that were given divine warning runs throughout them all.

Thanks for the great question!!!

Answer 3

Possible, literal and true.
There is alot more to the story than most think, though. Bare with me, and I'll tell ya why:
Noah was a preacher. He preached against a people called "nephillim", also known as "geba", which means "giants". They were a people of large stature.
God had decreed that each of us comes thru this earth age one time, born into flesh, to decide who they would follow: satan or Christ.
At the time of Noah, Angels by order of satan, left their habitation, and came to earth as supernatural beings, not thru flesh - and married human women. You can read of them in Jude (the only chapter). When you read the Noah account, you'll note it says they were giving and taking in marriage right up until Noah went into the Ark - well, thats who they were giving and taking in marriage to. Anyway, Noah not only preached against them, but he would certainly not allow his daughters to participate;
thats who they were mainly after - Noahs girls.
Why? Because this was satan's second attempt in this flesh age, to pollute the pure line that womb-to-womb, would come the Christ.
These marriages were resulting in children born - these geba. The flood was to kill off this hybrid population. The flood of Noah was extremely important for this reason.
It was literal, the war between Christ and satan has been going on since before Adam and Eve, and will continue until Christ returns and puts a final end to it. And, He will.

Answer 4

surely, after Noah drank somewhat too lots, one in each and every of Noah's sons no longer purely tried to, yet did "get it on" with Noah's spouse, (no longer with Noah) and so dedicated a form of incest together with his own mom. Their offspring bore a curse, as a effect. This "uncovering thy father's nakedness" replaced right into a Hebreic term that surely talked relating to the father's spouse, who replaced into seen the father's nakedness (and no person else's). many human beings get puzzled whilst they fail to song this rely extra, from the e book of Genesis the place it got here approximately, to the e book of Leviticus, the place it and different offenses like it, are extra completely defined and defined. The bible is the unvarnished tale of sinful humanity and of God's divine plan for our redemption, and ideal reconciliation. don't get positioned off via it. there is a lot of worse stuff nevertheless happening in as we communicate's worldwide.

Answer 5

It has been completely proven false. I heard on the Discovery channel that Noah would have had to load 10,000 species of animals per second for 100 years in order to get them all in the arc. Thats not even talking about there is not enough water on the planet to cover the entire earths surface and so on.

Answer 6

A real worldwide flood?
Some have alleged that Noah’s Flood was nothing more than a localised event. But if this were true, Noah and his family could have moved to higher ground to escape. Also, animals outside the flooded area would not be in danger. Since there have been many serious floods in earth history, if the Flood was only local, this is akin to accusing God of lying when He promised to never again send such a flood.

Since it was global, it is no surprise that civilizations across the globe have Flood stories with many common features.
Genesis is written as a simple, but factual, account of history. Secular archaeologists have, more than once, had to ‘eat their words’ as it were when discoveries have shown the Bible’s record of history to be accurate, not mythical. Today, there are even Christians prepared to distort the Bible’s plain record of a globe-covering Flood (where even the birds had to be taken on board, for example), to make it seem as if it had only covered a local region. These sometimes join with unbelievers in ridiculing the idea of a global Flood, on the basis that the Ark could not have carried all the creatures, for instance. But such objections have now overwhelmingly been shown to be without foundation.
The record in the earth :
Is the evidence of the rocks more consistent with slow processes over billions of years, or with the biblical Flood and its aftermath? If the Bible is right, we would expect to find sedimentary layers (rock laid down by water) all over the earth. These rocks would contain the remains of many kinds of creatures. Where there are similar types alive today, these fossils would be basically the same as their living representatives. In other words, bats would still look like bats, turtles like turtles, etc., with no evolutionary changes. This is exactly what is found.

In addition, many animals living before the Flood would have died out—marine creatures possibly during the Flood, land creatures during the succeeding centuries. Thus one would predict that many creatures would be found in the fossil record that looked quite unrelated to anything on earth today. This is what we do find—for example, the pterosaurs, (flying reptiles), as well as the dinosaurs and many other extinct types.

Many of the fossils would show creatures dying in distorted positions as they were buried suddenly and unexpectedly. This is precisely what we do find. We also find billions of fish beautifully preserved, sometimes over vast areas, with their fins and even sometimes scales intact—sometimes even still in the act of swallowing another fish. Dead fish, even if there are no predators to eat them, fall apart in water after a few weeks at most, even if the water is perfectly sterile and oxygen-free. The evidence that these were rapidly buried, with rapid hardening, has even persuaded many evolutionist geologists to change their mind about slow processes.

While it is not possible for science to prove or disprove anything about the past (which cannot be repeated nor directly observed) there is obviously a great deal of evidence consistent with the Flood described in the Bible. And many of the allegedly ‘impossible’ problems of Flood geology now have sound answers.

Answer 7

It would be logical that 'all species devoloped from an original ancestor of that species'

Sound familiar? That's one of the many concepts of evolution.

I just don't believe that we came from apes, personally.

Jesus said those stories were true, AND gave a good metaphorical meaning behind them.

You can read that in Matthew 12, 19, and 24

Answer 8

I believe it is both. I see the flood represented in other parts of Scripture like in baptism, hell, and even Heaven. In baptism our sins are forgiven and the evil is cleansed away, our sin no longer has the power to send us to hell. The flood is much like hell also, a blanket overwhelming manifestation of Gods wrath and his judgment on sinners. Noah and his family being saved from the flood and starting a new life is representative of Heaven.

Answer 9

It is literal. However, the popular interpretations are impossible. A localized flood is very probable.

Answer 10

It's already proven true.

The Ark was found on Mount Ararat in Turkey many years ago.