What animals were really on Noahs Ark?

“But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Genesis 6:18-22 (NIV) - But I will establish my covenant wi | YouVersion
 
I do not regard the story of Noah's ark to be factual. I see it as an allegory, a tale told long ago and handed down from one generation to another for centuries until one day it was written down. Science can rip it apart in 10 seconds flat but it is not meant to be a scientific account.

Likewise, it is not an historical account of the destruction of the world. It is a warning to mankind about the consequences of sinfulness. That is something we should think about - greed, corruption, cruelty, selfishness...

The warning is that the earth could be destroyed by fire - global warming and global wars should make us ponder the message of the story of Noah's ark. Right now, both environments and civilisations are in peril because of the sins of mankind. Have we forgotten what "mutually assured self-destruction" refers to?

Science fiction stories often tell of scenarios where the Earth has become so uninhabitable that just a few human beings are selected to escape into space to begin again. Just like Noah, his family and everything else that would be needed to survive the journey, including live animals and plants.

Should we just dismiss these stories, or should we take a good hard look at ourselves, and contemplate our lifestyles before it is too late?
 
“Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal…”

To make sure there is enough clean animals to sacrifice to god, both on the Ark and immediately after the the Ark settles on land? That seems like potentially for a lot of animal killing. Seems a bit unnecessary to me. I wonder how long it took.

"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar."

Alternatively, the whole account could be an imaginative or theological story. logistically it seems to raise a lot of unanswered questions.
 
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If this is where this Forum is headed, I'm done. Next it will be how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Since we seem to be getting into asking questions I have one: how many religious zealots does it take to destroy a wonderful forum?
 
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LadyEmeraude said:
What is said in the Bible?

open topic for discussion. Other things may be discussed also.
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Some estimates put the number of land vertebrate species on earth at around 36,000 to 38,000 (excluding insects and marine life). If the “seven pairs” is applied to clean animals in Genesis 7, that would suggest just over half a million animals, before considering any distinction between clean and unclean species.

Then there is birds to add to the mix, roughly 11,000 species, which on the same logic could add another ~150,000 individuals.

Thats a significant number of animals. I can't help wondering how much food would be involved sheer volume of food. And then there’s the obvious but often overlooked point of, whatever goes in must come out.
 
Llynn said:
If this is where this Forum is headed, I'm done. Next it will be how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Since we seem to be getting into asking questions I have one: how many religious zealots does it take to destroy a wonderful forum?
Click to expand...
I don’t think there’s any intention here to “destroy” the forum or turn it into anything negative.

The original question was about what the text in Genesis actually describes, which actually isn't much, and how that relates to common interpretations. It naturally leads to questions of scale and meaning, depending on whether people read it literally, symbolically, or somewhere in between. It seems to me that the title, and OP, was deliberately kept open so all could give their thoughts.

We don’t all have to approach it the same way, or else whats the point of a discussion forum, but it doesn’t need to become personal either.

I wonder, are you inferring that the direction of some other threads will eventually be where this one ends up.
 
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Llynn said:
If this is where this Forum is headed, I'm done. Next it will be how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Since we seem to be getting into asking questions I have one: how many religious zealots does it take to destroy a wonderful forum?
Click to expand...
It would be nice if not all Christians were lumped into being bad people just because they are having a discussion. We aren't threatening to leave because there's so many unbelievers here. This is just exhausting dealing with all the BS some days. Don't know why I bother with anyone online or IRL anymore.
 
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