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A Flood of Truth - Part 3 – Stability in Rough Seas
Episode 107 – A Flood of Truth Part 3 – Stability in Rough Seas
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script/Notes:
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ... And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
The Book of Genesis, chapter 7, verses 6 through 10, English Standard Version
In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. ... In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out.
The Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verses 13 and 14, English Standard Version
********
VK: Hello. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K here in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. Today we’re continuing our series on Noah and the ark - one of the best known of all the Bible stories. It’s a story that’s so well-known that even small children know about it. It’s a story that has spawned not only movies and television shows but also inspired an untold number of depictions in every format from stuffed animals to ceramic dinnerware. RD, what made you decide you wanted to revisit a story which is so well known that even people who don’t identify as being Christians can at least give you the broad outlines of the story?
RD: The widespread awareness of the story of Noah and the ark is both a curse and blessing. It’s a blessing because the story may draw people to the Bible and that’s a good thing. But it’s a curse because so many of the artistic depictions we see of the story in home goods or art pieces, especially the ones created for children, result in the genuine story of God’s grace being transformed into something that more closely resembles a fairy tale. And this has been especially true of some of Hollywood’s retelling of the story where so-called artistic liberty is used to add elements, characters, or events that have nothing to do with the Biblical original. So, if people haven’t studied the original and authentic story in the Bible what happens is there’s a sort of fictional version that gets embedded in the popular consciousness. This demeans the historicity of the original and unfortunately reduces the inspiration and relevance the original story actually contains.
VK: And that, of course, is one of the reasons Anchored by Truth is doing this discussion series on the story and it’s also the reason we produced a humor series about it. We call these humor series Life Lessons with a Laugh. We use them to encourage people to go back to the Bible and especially to think about details within the various Bible stories that often escape everyday notice. We think today’s Life Lesson may point out a couple of details in Noah’s story that people sometimes gloss over but are really important. So, let’s get started with episode 3 of the Life Lessons we can learn from the story of Noah and the ark.
---- NOAH 3 – Big Enough
VK: Ok. That piece had some truly amazing parts. First, is how many different variants you can manage to come up with for Jerry and Noah’s names. Second, was the information about the actual cargo capacity of the ark. I’m sure some people would wonder where those numbers came from.
RD: The capacity estimate for the ark that I used in the Life Lesson can be found in the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties written by Gleason L. Archer who was a truly gifted Biblical scholar and theologian. He would often go back to the original Hebrew or Greek documents when he was trying to resolve a difficulty with a particular passage. One of the things I like about his encyclopedia is that he provides his analytical process to the reader instead of just making pronouncements. So, a reader can review the evidence he’s relying upon not just get his conclusion. I’d highly recommend his encyclopedia for anyone who has a serious interest in studying the Bible more deeply.
VK: So, when you were talking about how various scenes from the story appear in popular culture, one of the things you were thinking about is the cartoonish versions of the drawings of the ark that show a bunch of animals all stuffed into a slightly-stylish boat more suited for a bathtub than a Biblical flood, right?
RD: Right. As we have been discussing it has become commonplace in our day and time to regard the story of Noah and a worldwide flood as either just an allegorical tale or an outright myth. Especially in popular culture Noah’s story is rarely regarded as actual history but that’s exactly how the Bible treats it. One of the ways that we can demonstrate that the story of Noah is literal history is to show how the various details contained in the Bible account are entirely reasonable in light of science and history. But before we get into the discussion of the evidence that supports the authenticity and historicity of the Biblical account we need to make sure that we know a little bit about the use of evidence as it applies to historical events.
VK: You’re thinking about the fact that many people don’t have a clear distinction about how evidence used for purposes of verifying historical events has to be kept in an appropriate perspective. Historical verification is not the same thing as operational verification. We have to be careful about the use of terms here. Some people might say that science can’t prove or disprove history and while that’s true in a strict, narrow sense it is not true that science or other relevant disciplines can’t shed important light on the reliability of historical accounts.
RD: Exactly. Operational science is different from forensic or historical science. Someone who wants to confirm that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit can just put a pot of water on the stove, turn on the heat, and check the temperature at which it boils. A forensic scientist may be able to tell you that a particular gun fired a particular bullet. But the forensic science can’t tell you whether a particular person was holding the gun when it was fired. Even if fingerprints are on the gun it’s possible they picked up the gun before or after. Just because we can confirm at what temperature water boils doesn’t mean we can tell who made the tea. We have to start by recognizing that when we are considering the validity of past events all investigators are can only look at evidence we find it the present and interpret that evidence to see what it might tell us about the past.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that there is a subtle difference between the evidence itself and the interpretation of the evidence. We might all be able to agree on the nature of the evidence but that does not mean that we would all agree on the interpretation of the evidence?
RD: Right. And another thing we need to establish up front is that all investigators, all interpreters of evidence, bring a viewpoint, a lens through which they interpret evidence. I’m hesitant to say they bring a bias because that word can have a negative connotation but we certainly should be aware of our interpretive lens. This is particularly important when it comes to evaluating the historicity of Bible events.
VK: That is a very important point. Today Bible critics may try to criticize – say a geologist – who believes that the earth’s crust provides evidence that a worldwide flood occurred by saying the geologist is a Christian. But that criticism would be no more valid than someone criticizing a non-Christian geologist who doesn’t believe a flood occurred by pointing out that that geologist isn’t a Christian. It’s no more fair to say that a Christian geologist can’t interpret geological evidence fairly than to say that a non-Christian geologist can’t.
RD: Precisely. Particularly when it comes to looking at events recounted in the Bible our culture has developed a tendency to look more critically at opinions offered by scientists who identify as Christians than those who don’t. But this is unwarranted and unfair. It is fair to be aware of the lens through which each may view evidence but it is absolutely incorrect to believe that a non-Christian scientist doesn’t bring just as much of an interpretive lens as the Christian.
VK: That is a very important point. Today Bible critics may try to criticize – say a geologist – who believes that the earth’s crust provides evidence that a worldwide flood occurred by saying the geologist is a Christian. But that criticism would be no more valid than someone criticizing a non-Christian geologist who doesn’t believe a flood occurred by pointing out that that geologist isn’t a Christian. It’s no more fair to say that a Christian geologist can’t interpret geological evidence fairly than to say that a non-Christian geologist can’t. So, we need to keep those points in mind as we move forward toward our examination of the evidence that supports the historicity of the Bible flood account. Where do you want to start?
RD: Let’s take a look at the various areas that are obviously involved in the story. By doing that, we can start to see the broad outlines of the evidence that is pertinent to the determination of the story’s historicity. There are at least four major areas where we ought to be able to find some validation of a worldwide flood from which a group of humans and animals were saved on a giant boat.
VK: What are those four areas?
RD: The origin and after effects of the flood itself, the ark, the animals, and the anthropological and genetic implications that are inherent in the event. By origin I’m obviously thinking about the very basic question of where did all that water come from? By after effects I’m including the paleontological and geological evidence that we should be able to see if the earth was at one time suddenly submerged under water. The questions about the ark and the animals are pretty self-evident.
VK: I think the first three areas you mentioned are pretty obvious. Most people would understand that those are areas where we should see evidence of a catastrophic flood. But what do you mean by the anthropological and genetic implications?
RD: Let’s remember that the Bible not only treats the story of the Noah flood as literal history but also the story of Adam and Eve as mankind’s first parents. As such, all people on the earth are descended from Adam and Eve. Since there was a period of more than 1,500 years between Adam and Noah the earth’s population had grown to hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions. But when the flood destroyed everyone on earth but Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and his daughters-in-law obviously everyone who has lived since Noah is a direct descendent of just those eight people. In other words, the flood produced a huge bottle neck in the human population. That dramatic change has genetic implications for the world’s population. But also, the flood was obviously was traumatic to those who lived through it. So, for the rest of their lives they would talk about it – to their kids, the grandkids, their great grandkids, etc. The Bible says that Noah lived for 350 years after the end of the flood. That’s more time than the United States has been in existence as a country. He could personally have told the flood story to thousands of people who would have repeated, in whole or in part, accurately or inaccurately, what he said. So, in one of our episodes we’re going to take a look at what I call the “story of the story.”
VK: Well, that’s obviously more than we have to time to get into today. But I think we can at least get started. Since we introduced the idea of the ark’s size in our humor piece, are there other features about the Bible’s description of the ark itself that help tell us that the Bible story is historically reliable?
RD: Absolutely. Let’s get back not just to ark’s overall size but to the actual dimensions that Bible says that God gave to Noah and what Noah was to do with the roof.
VK: In Genesis 6:15 and 16 God told Noah, “The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around.”
RD: So, one of the things we see immediately is that the ark’s dimensions give us important information about the ark’s stability. The ark’s dimensions as given in the Bible use the classic 6-to-1 ratio that is a staple of modern naval architecture. “In general, the safety of a ship in a seaway is related to three major safety parameters—structural safety, overturning stability, and seakeeping quality. Good structural safety ensures the hull against damage caused mainly by wave loads. Enough overturning stability is required to prevent the ship from capsizing due to the heeling moment caused by winds and waves. Good seakeeping quality is essential for the effectiveness and safety of the personnel and cargo on board.” (Consult the article at answersingenesis.com about testing the ark’s stability in a seaway) The dimensions that are given in the Bible produce a vessel that is extremely stable in an ocean-going environment and scale model tests in wave tanks suggest that the ark could endure wave heights more than 100 feet high without capsizing.
VK: Those tests were done in the early 1990’s in Korea Research Institute of Ships and Engineering’s (KRISO’s) large towing tank, with a wave generating system in order to validate the theoretical analysis. And in the written notes that accompany the podcast version of this show we’ve put links to a couple of good articles available through the internet on this subject. But in addition to the ark’s basic dimensions the part of Noah leaving a one cubit opening below the roof line also is important, isn’t it?
RD: Yes. It’s pretty obvious that opening would have been important for ventilation as well, of course, for giving the passengers some light from outside during the day. But it would also have been important for another reason that’s not so obvious. With a boat as large as the ark carrying the load of animals that it did, the heat load being produced within the boat would have been considerable. By leaving an opening right below the roof all that internal heat would have had a way to escape which would have not only been important for comfort but also for safety.
VK: So, again, what we see is that the Bible story makes perfect sense when we compare how the story stacks up against real-world considerations. The details we are given about the ark produce a boat that is not only seaworthy but one that has a high degree of stability in rough seas. And even the detail we are given about leaving an opening large enough to allow heat to escape but not so large it would have endangered the boat makes sense with what we know about the ark’s purpose and performance.
RD: Exactly. One final reminder for today. As we move through our discussions about Noah and the flood what we are trying to do is provide the listeners with a framework from which they can continue their own investigations. There are a lot of good, Biblically grounded websites that can provide far more information than we have time to cover in these shows. One of my favorite is creation.com which is the website for Creation Ministries International. I would also highly recommend listeners get a copy of Dr. Jonathan Sarfati’s commentary on the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis called The Genesis Account. Dr. Sarfati not only provides a linguistic and theological discussion of those chapters but he provides a thorough scientific discussion that effectively supports the validity of Biblical account of creation.
VK: Sounds intriguing and interesting – and it sounds to me like a good time for a prayer. Today's prayer comes from the book Purposeful Prayers: Seeking to Pray Like Jesus. It’s a prayer for Christian missionaries some of whom carry the good news of Jesus all around the world – we should all be missionaries to our families and neighbors.
---- PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES.
We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New International Version)
Psalm 119 verse 160, New International Version
The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 verse 36 through 39, New International Version
https://creation.com/rainbows-and-the-flood
https://creation.com/topics/global-flood
https://activechristianity.org/6-unbelievably-good-reasons-to-read-your-bible
https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/safety-investigation-of-noahs-ark-in-a-seaway/
https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a007.html
Safety investigation of Noah's Ark in a seaway - creation.com
https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/geologic-evidences-for-the-genesis-flood/
https://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-biblical-type-floods-real-absolutely-enormous
https://considerthegospel.org/2014/03/28/the-noah-controversy-could-that-flood-have-happened/
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/there-evidence-flood-was-global
View all episodes
By R.D.Fierro
5
11 ratings
Episode 107 – A Flood of Truth Part 3 – Stability in Rough Seas
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script/Notes:
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ... And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
The Book of Genesis, chapter 7, verses 6 through 10, English Standard Version
In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. ... In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out.
The Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verses 13 and 14, English Standard Version
********
VK: Hello. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K here in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. Today we’re continuing our series on Noah and the ark - one of the best known of all the Bible stories. It’s a story that’s so well-known that even small children know about it. It’s a story that has spawned not only movies and television shows but also inspired an untold number of depictions in every format from stuffed animals to ceramic dinnerware. RD, what made you decide you wanted to revisit a story which is so well known that even people who don’t identify as being Christians can at least give you the broad outlines of the story?
RD: The widespread awareness of the story of Noah and the ark is both a curse and blessing. It’s a blessing because the story may draw people to the Bible and that’s a good thing. But it’s a curse because so many of the artistic depictions we see of the story in home goods or art pieces, especially the ones created for children, result in the genuine story of God’s grace being transformed into something that more closely resembles a fairy tale. And this has been especially true of some of Hollywood’s retelling of the story where so-called artistic liberty is used to add elements, characters, or events that have nothing to do with the Biblical original. So, if people haven’t studied the original and authentic story in the Bible what happens is there’s a sort of fictional version that gets embedded in the popular consciousness. This demeans the historicity of the original and unfortunately reduces the inspiration and relevance the original story actually contains.
VK: And that, of course, is one of the reasons Anchored by Truth is doing this discussion series on the story and it’s also the reason we produced a humor series about it. We call these humor series Life Lessons with a Laugh. We use them to encourage people to go back to the Bible and especially to think about details within the various Bible stories that often escape everyday notice. We think today’s Life Lesson may point out a couple of details in Noah’s story that people sometimes gloss over but are really important. So, let’s get started with episode 3 of the Life Lessons we can learn from the story of Noah and the ark.
---- NOAH 3 – Big Enough
VK: Ok. That piece had some truly amazing parts. First, is how many different variants you can manage to come up with for Jerry and Noah’s names. Second, was the information about the actual cargo capacity of the ark. I’m sure some people would wonder where those numbers came from.
RD: The capacity estimate for the ark that I used in the Life Lesson can be found in the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties written by Gleason L. Archer who was a truly gifted Biblical scholar and theologian. He would often go back to the original Hebrew or Greek documents when he was trying to resolve a difficulty with a particular passage. One of the things I like about his encyclopedia is that he provides his analytical process to the reader instead of just making pronouncements. So, a reader can review the evidence he’s relying upon not just get his conclusion. I’d highly recommend his encyclopedia for anyone who has a serious interest in studying the Bible more deeply.
VK: So, when you were talking about how various scenes from the story appear in popular culture, one of the things you were thinking about is the cartoonish versions of the drawings of the ark that show a bunch of animals all stuffed into a slightly-stylish boat more suited for a bathtub than a Biblical flood, right?
RD: Right. As we have been discussing it has become commonplace in our day and time to regard the story of Noah and a worldwide flood as either just an allegorical tale or an outright myth. Especially in popular culture Noah’s story is rarely regarded as actual history but that’s exactly how the Bible treats it. One of the ways that we can demonstrate that the story of Noah is literal history is to show how the various details contained in the Bible account are entirely reasonable in light of science and history. But before we get into the discussion of the evidence that supports the authenticity and historicity of the Biblical account we need to make sure that we know a little bit about the use of evidence as it applies to historical events.
VK: You’re thinking about the fact that many people don’t have a clear distinction about how evidence used for purposes of verifying historical events has to be kept in an appropriate perspective. Historical verification is not the same thing as operational verification. We have to be careful about the use of terms here. Some people might say that science can’t prove or disprove history and while that’s true in a strict, narrow sense it is not true that science or other relevant disciplines can’t shed important light on the reliability of historical accounts.
RD: Exactly. Operational science is different from forensic or historical science. Someone who wants to confirm that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit can just put a pot of water on the stove, turn on the heat, and check the temperature at which it boils. A forensic scientist may be able to tell you that a particular gun fired a particular bullet. But the forensic science can’t tell you whether a particular person was holding the gun when it was fired. Even if fingerprints are on the gun it’s possible they picked up the gun before or after. Just because we can confirm at what temperature water boils doesn’t mean we can tell who made the tea. We have to start by recognizing that when we are considering the validity of past events all investigators are can only look at evidence we find it the present and interpret that evidence to see what it might tell us about the past.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that there is a subtle difference between the evidence itself and the interpretation of the evidence. We might all be able to agree on the nature of the evidence but that does not mean that we would all agree on the interpretation of the evidence?
RD: Right. And another thing we need to establish up front is that all investigators, all interpreters of evidence, bring a viewpoint, a lens through which they interpret evidence. I’m hesitant to say they bring a bias because that word can have a negative connotation but we certainly should be aware of our interpretive lens. This is particularly important when it comes to evaluating the historicity of Bible events.
VK: That is a very important point. Today Bible critics may try to criticize – say a geologist – who believes that the earth’s crust provides evidence that a worldwide flood occurred by saying the geologist is a Christian. But that criticism would be no more valid than someone criticizing a non-Christian geologist who doesn’t believe a flood occurred by pointing out that that geologist isn’t a Christian. It’s no more fair to say that a Christian geologist can’t interpret geological evidence fairly than to say that a non-Christian geologist can’t.
RD: Precisely. Particularly when it comes to looking at events recounted in the Bible our culture has developed a tendency to look more critically at opinions offered by scientists who identify as Christians than those who don’t. But this is unwarranted and unfair. It is fair to be aware of the lens through which each may view evidence but it is absolutely incorrect to believe that a non-Christian scientist doesn’t bring just as much of an interpretive lens as the Christian.
VK: That is a very important point. Today Bible critics may try to criticize – say a geologist – who believes that the earth’s crust provides evidence that a worldwide flood occurred by saying the geologist is a Christian. But that criticism would be no more valid than someone criticizing a non-Christian geologist who doesn’t believe a flood occurred by pointing out that that geologist isn’t a Christian. It’s no more fair to say that a Christian geologist can’t interpret geological evidence fairly than to say that a non-Christian geologist can’t. So, we need to keep those points in mind as we move forward toward our examination of the evidence that supports the historicity of the Bible flood account. Where do you want to start?
RD: Let’s take a look at the various areas that are obviously involved in the story. By doing that, we can start to see the broad outlines of the evidence that is pertinent to the determination of the story’s historicity. There are at least four major areas where we ought to be able to find some validation of a worldwide flood from which a group of humans and animals were saved on a giant boat.
VK: What are those four areas?
RD: The origin and after effects of the flood itself, the ark, the animals, and the anthropological and genetic implications that are inherent in the event. By origin I’m obviously thinking about the very basic question of where did all that water come from? By after effects I’m including the paleontological and geological evidence that we should be able to see if the earth was at one time suddenly submerged under water. The questions about the ark and the animals are pretty self-evident.
VK: I think the first three areas you mentioned are pretty obvious. Most people would understand that those are areas where we should see evidence of a catastrophic flood. But what do you mean by the anthropological and genetic implications?
RD: Let’s remember that the Bible not only treats the story of the Noah flood as literal history but also the story of Adam and Eve as mankind’s first parents. As such, all people on the earth are descended from Adam and Eve. Since there was a period of more than 1,500 years between Adam and Noah the earth’s population had grown to hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions. But when the flood destroyed everyone on earth but Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and his daughters-in-law obviously everyone who has lived since Noah is a direct descendent of just those eight people. In other words, the flood produced a huge bottle neck in the human population. That dramatic change has genetic implications for the world’s population. But also, the flood was obviously was traumatic to those who lived through it. So, for the rest of their lives they would talk about it – to their kids, the grandkids, their great grandkids, etc. The Bible says that Noah lived for 350 years after the end of the flood. That’s more time than the United States has been in existence as a country. He could personally have told the flood story to thousands of people who would have repeated, in whole or in part, accurately or inaccurately, what he said. So, in one of our episodes we’re going to take a look at what I call the “story of the story.”
VK: Well, that’s obviously more than we have to time to get into today. But I think we can at least get started. Since we introduced the idea of the ark’s size in our humor piece, are there other features about the Bible’s description of the ark itself that help tell us that the Bible story is historically reliable?
RD: Absolutely. Let’s get back not just to ark’s overall size but to the actual dimensions that Bible says that God gave to Noah and what Noah was to do with the roof.
VK: In Genesis 6:15 and 16 God told Noah, “The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around.”
RD: So, one of the things we see immediately is that the ark’s dimensions give us important information about the ark’s stability. The ark’s dimensions as given in the Bible use the classic 6-to-1 ratio that is a staple of modern naval architecture. “In general, the safety of a ship in a seaway is related to three major safety parameters—structural safety, overturning stability, and seakeeping quality. Good structural safety ensures the hull against damage caused mainly by wave loads. Enough overturning stability is required to prevent the ship from capsizing due to the heeling moment caused by winds and waves. Good seakeeping quality is essential for the effectiveness and safety of the personnel and cargo on board.” (Consult the article at answersingenesis.com about testing the ark’s stability in a seaway) The dimensions that are given in the Bible produce a vessel that is extremely stable in an ocean-going environment and scale model tests in wave tanks suggest that the ark could endure wave heights more than 100 feet high without capsizing.
VK: Those tests were done in the early 1990’s in Korea Research Institute of Ships and Engineering’s (KRISO’s) large towing tank, with a wave generating system in order to validate the theoretical analysis. And in the written notes that accompany the podcast version of this show we’ve put links to a couple of good articles available through the internet on this subject. But in addition to the ark’s basic dimensions the part of Noah leaving a one cubit opening below the roof line also is important, isn’t it?
RD: Yes. It’s pretty obvious that opening would have been important for ventilation as well, of course, for giving the passengers some light from outside during the day. But it would also have been important for another reason that’s not so obvious. With a boat as large as the ark carrying the load of animals that it did, the heat load being produced within the boat would have been considerable. By leaving an opening right below the roof all that internal heat would have had a way to escape which would have not only been important for comfort but also for safety.
VK: So, again, what we see is that the Bible story makes perfect sense when we compare how the story stacks up against real-world considerations. The details we are given about the ark produce a boat that is not only seaworthy but one that has a high degree of stability in rough seas. And even the detail we are given about leaving an opening large enough to allow heat to escape but not so large it would have endangered the boat makes sense with what we know about the ark’s purpose and performance.
RD: Exactly. One final reminder for today. As we move through our discussions about Noah and the flood what we are trying to do is provide the listeners with a framework from which they can continue their own investigations. There are a lot of good, Biblically grounded websites that can provide far more information than we have time to cover in these shows. One of my favorite is creation.com which is the website for Creation Ministries International. I would also highly recommend listeners get a copy of Dr. Jonathan Sarfati’s commentary on the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis called The Genesis Account. Dr. Sarfati not only provides a linguistic and theological discussion of those chapters but he provides a thorough scientific discussion that effectively supports the validity of Biblical account of creation.
VK: Sounds intriguing and interesting – and it sounds to me like a good time for a prayer. Today's prayer comes from the book Purposeful Prayers: Seeking to Pray Like Jesus. It’s a prayer for Christian missionaries some of whom carry the good news of Jesus all around the world – we should all be missionaries to our families and neighbors.
---- PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES.
We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New International Version)
Psalm 119 verse 160, New International Version
The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 verse 36 through 39, New International Version
https://creation.com/rainbows-and-the-flood
https://creation.com/topics/global-flood
https://activechristianity.org/6-unbelievably-good-reasons-to-read-your-bible
https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/safety-investigation-of-noahs-ark-in-a-seaway/
https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a007.html
Safety investigation of Noah's Ark in a seaway - creation.com
https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/geologic-evidences-for-the-genesis-flood/
https://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-biblical-type-floods-real-absolutely-enormous
https://considerthegospel.org/2014/03/28/the-noah-controversy-could-that-flood-have-happened/
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/there-evidence-flood-was-global