Noah's Ark and the Miraculous

Last week, I was riding back from a men's conference on creation with some fellows. As I was making the coffee one morning on the campfire (boil the water in the pot, take it off the heat, scoop in ground up coffee, simmer a spell, add clean, crushed eggshells and all that good stuff), one of the boys asked about Noah's Ark.

After I had the coffee done right, I joined the conversation. One fellow said there must have been a passel of miracles to get everyone through. Was the whole Flood a series of miracles?

Noah's Ark, Pixabay / Jeff Jacobs (modified at PhotoFunia)

Because of uniformitarian science and evolutionism, people have wondered if the Genesis Flood and Noah's Ark are just myths or parables meant to convey spiritual truths. As discussed before, compare biblical accounts with mythology and huge differences are obvious (for example, the Māori myths vs. the creation narrative). Indeed, the Bible is a historical record giving names, times, and other details missing in mythology. God could have made the Ark appear, had all the requisite parties get aboard, and then hold it aloft over raging waters — if it were mythical.

Confusion is not surprising since the Genesis Flood does contain several miraculous events. But Noah was commanded to do several things according to God's detailed instructions. Readers are not given specifics about how certain things were accomplished. That leaves us with a mix. I'll allow that there's some speculation involved, but we can trust the plain reading of the text and learn about God's judgment on sin as well as his mercy in not destroying all of humanity.

One charge directed at creationists is that they are attempting to explain everything in purely naturalistic terms. For example, if Noah built the ark in such a way that the vessel was unsinkable or set up special systems so the animals could feed and take care of themselves, perhaps God is not even in the picture. Such comments might go something like this: “The way I see it, you can’t study Noah’s situation scientifically because the whole thing was one great big miracle.”

The implications are obvious: If miraculous intervention in Noah’s day overruled the laws of physics, then calculations are a waste of time. This means the details of the account would remain vague, impervious to educated guesses or “most likely” scenarios.

To read the rest, sail over to "Was Everything About Noah’s Ark Just a Miracle?" This is a stand-alone article but is also the third of three in-depth articles. They're a bit lengthy, but if you're interested: "Noah’s Ark: Proportions of a Real Vessel" and "Noah’s Ark: The Problem of Violent Waves."