Aethists, what do you think of the Noah's Ark story?

Question

I understand that many of you don't believe in god, spirits, the bible, etc but historically there's proof of a big flood from other ancient cultures in the world, including the Native American cultures. So do you believe there could've been a Noah that saved a lot of animals and his family from a giant flood by building an ark and letting them reside there?

Answer 1

There is lots of proof that there was a big flood. Take for example ancient civilizations building cities on the tops of mountains, with fossils of ocean life littered about. The Egyptians have a wooden ship buried under the desert...
It's possible something like Noah happened, but what is most likely is that there was a big flood, and religions needed a reason why "god" decided to do it, and some kind of saintly person to fit the role of savior. It's a good story, probably based on some kind of fact, but still a story all the same.

Answer 2

There is evidence of other floods happening in other areas of the world at some point, but first, there's no evidence that those floods all happened simultaneously, and there's no evidence that ANY flood covered the entire Earth,
And the scriptures say that Noah took at least two of every species on board with him. (Some he had to take more than two.) There's no way he could have fit millions of different species onto a boat, unless that boat was about the size of the U.S.
No, I don't believe there was a Noah.
The most I would concede as a possibility is that maybe there was a man who lived back then, probably a farmer, and there was a big flood in his region. He got all his own animals and family out, and they survived, and the story got told around like gossip, until he had sort of reached a hero-like status. Then it just took off from there.

Answer 3

OTHER cultures and religions also have a story about this great big flood and the Noah flood supposedly destroyed everyone else and everything on planet earth but the 2 x 2's that were on the ark...how is this possible again that other cultures and religions also have accounts of some big flood? Were not all other living things destroyed in Noah's biblical flood? Seems like there must have been some high ground somewhere.....

Answer 4

It is possible that there was a flood in the area of Iraq, where the myth comes from. It was not a worldwide flood.

It was in Iraq. And we don't even know if that happened, but it is possible.

Regardless, the story of Noah is not a Christian one. It was a pagan story, about the worship of a sun god, and it predates the Hebrew texts of the "Noah" version by thousands of years. The complete story is called "The Epic Of Gilgamesh".

This is a known fact.

Therefore, if you don't believe the stories of pagan gods, then you should not believe the story of Noah is factual. If anything, you can do the typical Christian backpeddle, and call it a "parable". (Which is really quite humorous, as the story of Noah was taught by Christian churches as being factual until this rather embarrassing bit of history slipped out)

That should start you in the right direction for the stories that come afterwards also.

BTW - You can get a copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh in any bookstore. This is not some supersecret atheist agenda. It is a fact. And even biblical scholars admit that.

Answer 5

What is an Aethist?

So, what proof, perhaps you can give a more substantial evidence.

Since there are more than 1 million species of animals, if Noah were to build an Ark which can hold 2 of each specie, and each specie takes only 1 Sq Meter of living space, he would need an ark that is 2 million Sq Meter big, which is pretty hard to miss since it would be the size of 2 Hong Kong or one Mauritius.

Answer 6

Maybe there was a local but large flood some millennia ago that was subsequently written about and mythologized, but no, all the animals of the world weren't saved by a few dudes who carried elephants and brachiosaurs and 100s of thousands of animal species on a boat. Do any religious people have even a clue how many species of mammals there are? Scroll this link:

http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/MSW3.txt

Anyone who has ever kept an exotic animal or plant would know the ark story is bull.

Floods are caused by weather and geological events.

Answer 7

No, there's no evidence of a worldwide flood.
Other than that, the idea that an old man would build a boat and put 2 of every single animal on earth inside it is so far beyond belief that it's almost funny to hear people take it seriously.
Did you know that some Christians actually believe that it never rained before the flood in this myth?

Answer 8

I'm not sure who aethists are, but as an atheist, the Noah story is a whopper of a tail. Do you have any idea how many different species their are on this plant? Research has suggested only 10% of the worlds species have been identafied to date. (That is several million species and only 10% of what is here). How the heck do you think Noah could have put all this on a boat?

Answer 9

There is strong evidence for major regional (not global) floods at the end of the Ice Age. As the beginnings of agriculture coincided, any man who saved a pair of domesticated animals just by getting them onto floating debris would have been a great hero. The tale could be magnified on retelling.

Answer 10

Its hard to tell. If many different cultures have a similar story then maybe there is some truth to it. however, it is kind of hard to believe that there was a boat big enough for

1)enough room for two of each animal
2)enough food for the animals and the people and the ship
3)and that the water from the rain didnt get on the boat(either that or they had to constantly take the water off.)