Escaping the Cataclysm

by Keith Robinson

  Noah smiled as he related the story. “My friend always did love challenges. When I first approached him with the concept, his initial reaction was to scoff. But once he realized that I was serious, he offered to help. Although I told him the dimensions the Eternal Father gave me, he insisted on constructing various models to determine which ones would work best for a vessel of this size.”

  The Patriarch laughed as he continued the story. “Some of his results were quite comical. One of the models was very long, but shallow. It cracked easily. Another was very deep, which made it quite strong, but it capsized. Then, to keep it from capsizing, he made it extra wide, but then it was too shallow. This would have made the journey very rough for those inside the ship.”

  “What about the dimensions given by God?” Rebecca asked.

  “As you would expect, my friend found that a ship built with those specifications would have the perfect balance between strength, stability and comfort,8” Noah said in triumph. “Despite all of his experiments, he could discover no better proportions.”

  “And the raised prow?” Jerome asked.

  Noah nodded. “It is designed to catch the wind. The tapered protrusion at the end serves to anchor the vessel while the prow catches the wind and turns the ship to face the waves ‘head-on,’ making for a much smoother—and safer—journey.”9

  “I have another question for you,” Jeffrey said, his face expressing no emotions. “Wooden ships are prone to leak. How did you solve that problem?”

  “We devised a system that uses wooden dowels to join together the outer shell of planks to the internal frames,”10 Noah explained. “When the dowels get wet, they swell, causing the ship to get tighter and prevent leaking. The Ark has four layers of planking, each overlapping the others at the seams.”

  “It sounds like the type of mortise and tenon-jointed planks the Greeks used to use four centuries before the Common Era,”11 Jerome added. “Wasn’t the ancient catamaran galley, the Tessarakonteres, around four hundred and twenty feet long?”12

  Jeffrey ignored the question, for at that moment his attention was diverted elsewhere as the group reached the bottom of the ramp and stepped onto the lower deck of the vessel.

  Ham, Ken, ed. The New Answers Book. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2006, p. 145–146.

  Ibid p. 144.

  Woodmorappe, John. Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study. Santee, California: Institute for Creation Research, 2003, p. 26–27.

  Ibid p. 34–35.

  Ibid p. 84.

  Genesis 9:2

  Ibid p. 97–98.

  Lovett, Tim. Noah's Ark: Thinking Outside the Box. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008, p. 32–33.

  Ibid p. 42–45.

  Ibid p. 37.

  Ibid p. 37.

  Ibid p. 38.

  9

  The Ark: Lower Deck

  The tall, twenty-foot ceiling, combined with the open shaft that led up to the windows and observation area above, served to enhance the overall size of the lower deck. Noah led the group in silence, allowing his guests to soak in the sights and sounds. Unlike the floors above, which had two small walkways on each side of the central opening, the middle aisle of this deck consisted of a single, ten-foot-wide walkway. Due to the larger size of the animals housed on this level, the stalls were grouped into large sections, each one stretching fifty feet in length. A ten-foot-wide passage separated each of these sections, allowing Noah and his family access to the outer storage areas along the hull of the ship, as well as access to the animals located on the opposite side of the section. Similar to the middle deck, a storage walkway ran along the hull above some of the shorter stalls near the ramps.

  Hippos, giraffes, oxen, rhinoceroses, elephants, and many other beasts lounged in their small, narrow stalls. They glanced up lazily at the group of humans as they walked by, completely undisturbed by their presence.

  Before Rebecca had passed more than five or six stalls, a truth about the animals on the Ark became clear to her. Shocked by the simplicity of it, and its implications, she smiled broadly.

  “They’re all juveniles!” she proclaimed.

  It quickly became obvious that the others had come to the same conclusion, for they began to look at one another with questioning expressions on their faces.

  “I can’t believe I never thought of it before!” Rebecca said, her gaze still sweeping over the numerous stalls. “It makes so much sense! Why bring full-grown animals onto the Ark? The younger ones would be stronger, take up less space, eat less, drink less, and produce less waste!1 Not to mention the fact that the whole purpose of the surviving animals is to reproduce after the flood.”

  As she spoke, her gaze settled upon an animal stall further down the row. Jogging up to it, her eyes grew even wider. “There’s a small Triceratops in here!” she exclaimed. Looking as if she were about to spontaneously combust with excitement, she turned to face Mack. “That’s it! That’s the last piece to the puzzle!”

  “What puzzle?” Mack asked.

  “The puzzle about how dinosaurs were still alive during the time of the Mayans,” she said. “If dinosaurs were alive after the flood, then that would mean that they had to have been on the Ark. What I couldn’t figure out, though, was how Noah could have gotten the big ones to fit. But this explains it! They were juveniles!”

  “But there are still too many animals alive in our time for them all to have fit on the Ark,” Jeffrey countered, his tone sounding desperate. “Where are all of the dogs—the coyotes, the dingoes, the stinking poodles? Where are all of the monkeys, or…or the lions and tigers? Yeah, we saw a few, but where are the rest? The answer is: they’re not here! I’ll admit now that the story of Noah’s Ark is based on reality. But, all of these missing animals proves that it couldn’t have been a global flood. It had to have been just local.”

  “Not necessarily,” Jerome said quietly.

  Wheeling around to look at his friend, Jeffrey noticed him staring at another of the cages. “What do you mean?”

  “Look,” Jerome said flatly. Behind him, Noah stood in silence, watching his visitors with intense interest.

  Glancing into the cage, Jeffrey frowned. “It’s a large cat, so what.”

  “Did you see the markings?” Jerome asked. “Have you ever seen a cat that has some stripes, some spots, and some solid colored fur? And over here,” Jerome said, pulling Jeffrey toward another enclosure, “look at this large, horse-like animal. It has reddish brown hair along its back and legs, like a horse, but its stomach is white, with black stripes and its mane is short and black.”

  “So? What are you getting at?” Jeffrey said in frustration.

  “Remember Dr. Wasmundt’s genetics class, Jeffrey,” Jerome stated. “The reason we haven’t seen any other dogs, or monkeys, or lions and tigers, is because each of those animals are descendents of the pairs of animals on this boat.”

  As the truth sank in, Jeffrey began shaking his head in denial. “No. I don’t believe it.”

  “You know I’m right,” Jerome said. “Remember those pictures Dr. Wasmundt showed us of ligers—a hybrid of a male lion and female tiger? Or a zorse? This thing looks like it’s a mixture of zebra and horse. Even though there are hundreds of discovered dinosaurs, you and I both know that you could probably combine a bunch of them into one family. The only reason there are so many to begin with is that everybody and their brother wants a dinosaur named after them. If you take out all the repetition, it’d probably reduce the number of dinosaurs down to about fifty.”2

  “The biblical ‘kind,’” Rebecca said, causing Jerome to turn in her direction, his expression requesting further explanation. “In Genesis, the Bible talks about animals reproducing ‘after their own kind.’ That must be what it means. So, before the flood, there were no lions, tigers, or cheetahs, only this original cat ‘kind,’ which had all of the genetic information for all of the other types. Then, after the flood, they spread across the earth and diversified into the animals that we kno
w today.”3

  “Wait a second,” Mack interjected. “So you’re telling me that those two wolves we met early were the great, great, great grandparents of my mom’s Chihuahua, Tigre?”

  Rebecca nodded with a crooked grin. “It may seem hard to believe, but it’s true. However, many of the breeds we see from our time, like Chihuahuas, are not the result of natural selection, but artificial selection. So, we can blame humans for all of those tiny, yappy dogs.”

  Jerome’s expression suddenly lifted as a new thought occurred to him. “Since Noah didn’t have to take every breed of dog on the Ark, it means that the total number of animals would be greatly reduced. So instead of having to take millions, he only needed… Mack, ask Noah how many animals he brought on the Ark.”

  Turning to Noah, who was waiting patiently for his guests to finish their conversation, Mack relayed the question. Once he received the answer, he turned back to his friends, a look of astonishment on his face. “Only 15,352.”4

  Silence settled over the group as they considered the number. Even the stoic Goliath, who had previously been impatient to finish the tour, had been listening intently to the conversation and was surprised by the low number.

  “But…that’s impossible,” Jeffrey muttered.

  “No, it’s not, Jeffrey,” Rebecca replied. “Think about it, many of the animals in the world are small. I would venture to guess that more than 85 percent of all of the animals on this ship are smaller than a sheep.5 Also, Noah wouldn’t have to take any marine animals on the Ark. And although the Bible says that he took seven pairs of each kind of ‘clean’ animals with him—which are those that have a divided hoof and chew the cud6, such as sheep, cattle, and deer—there are really only about twenty animals or so that fall into that category.”7

  No one spoke for several moments. Finally, Noah broke the stillness. “Your surprise at what you have seen on the Ark leads me to believe that the world in the future is very different. It appears that I have given you much to discuss and ponder. I have learned that deep thinking is done best when one has a full stomach. So, I recommend we move to the living quarters and partake in a meal.”

  The mere mention of food caused Rebecca’s stomach to rumble, reminding her that she had not eaten in many hours. Thanking their host for his generosity, Rebecca, Mack, and Goliath followed him as he headed toward the elevator. Jerome put a hand on Jeffrey’s shoulder as the others moved further away.

  “Are you okay, man?” Jerome asked, concern etched on his face.

  “Yeah,” Jeffrey said dispassionately. “It’s just…just so hard to believe. All of those years, I mocked the very idea of Noah’s Ark. But to see all of this,” he said, looking around him, “it…it makes the story so…so real.”

  “I know,” Jerome agreed. “I certainly never learned any of this in church. They always taught the story with those cheesy flannel-graphs, and this tiny little Ark picture.”

  Jeffrey grinned, despite his serious demeanor. After a moment, he looked straight at Jerome, his eyes reflecting his inner conflict. “Jerome, do you…do you really think…?”

  His best friend shrugged. “I don’t know, man. A few days ago, before this whole trip began, I was convinced of what I believed. Now, after all we’ve seen…I just don’t know. We’ve always prided ourselves on ‘letting the evidence speak for itself, no matter where it takes you.’ Well, I hate to say it, but Rebecca’s explanations are starting to make better sense of the evidence than…than what we’ve always believed.”

  When Jeffrey didn’t respond, Jerome put his arm around his friend and began leading him toward the elevator. “C’mon. Let’s go get some food.”

  Once Jeffrey and Jerome reached the elevator, Noah flipped the lever that sent the platform rising toward the middle deck. Once there, he led the group around the central shaft and toward the rear of the ship. Unlike the bow, the center aisle did not lead directly to the ramps that led between decks, but rather ended at a wall that stretched nearly the entire width of the ship. Two doors were set into the sixty-foot wall, each opening out onto the twin walkways that straddled the central shaft that led up to the midday above.

  The door on the right opened as the group approached it. Noah’s wife stood in the doorway and greeted them, her expression warm and inviting. “Japheth said you were on your way back,” she said, then kissed her husband on the cheek.

  Taking her hand, Noah turned to face his guests. “Friends, this is my wife, Eema.” Each of the visitors offered a word of greeting, then followed Noah and his family through the doorway and into the living quarters.

  They entered a square room that was thirty feet on a side. A ceramic stove sat between two beautifully-crafted rosewood tables along the north wall between the two doors that led out onto the walkways. The central portion of the room had no ceiling. As Rebecca looked up through the ten-foot-wide rectangular opening, she could see that the midday was open above them, revealing the clear, night sky, resplendent with stars. Green tendrils from some of the plants in the garden above the room draped through the opening, adding life to the dark amber support beams of the roof. Three doors were spaced evenly on both the eastern and western walls, and a single, solitary door was set into the eastern edge of the south wall. Judging by the layout, Rebecca guessed that the six doors led to bedrooms or storage rooms, while the door on the south wall led to the ramps in the stern of the ship.

  Once the door was closed behind them, the sounds of the animals became muted, with the exception of the chirps and squawks of the birds that filtered down through the ceiling. Flowers spanning every color of the rainbow brightened the room, and a circular rug of bright red, purple, and gold covered the center of the floor. Several delicately-embroidered cylindrical cushions were placed on the rug in a circle. Shelves with railings designed to hold their contents firmly lined the empty spaces of the walls, each filled with clay and ceramic pots of all shapes and sizes. A number of large wooden chests and storage boxes were fixed to the floor along the southern wall.

  Although the visitors noticed all of these details of their surroundings, their sense of smell by far demanded most of their attention. The moment they entered the room, the heavenly aroma of freshly-baked bread infiltrated their olfactory receptors and banished the pungent stench of the animals from their minds. The wonderful smell drew their eyes to the two tables, which, they now saw, were laden with an assortment of fruit, lentils, beans, rice, bread, cheese, and nuts. Noah’s three sons and their wives were busy about the room, making the final preparations for the meal.

  “Ohhhh, that smells soooo good,” Mack said, his eyes resting hungrily on the food laid out before them. After surveying the offered choices, he leaned over to Rebecca and whispered. “Not that I’m complaining, but where’s the steak? I would love something I could really sink my teeth into. Do you think these guys are vegetarians?”

  “You forget what Noah told us earlier about the meat-eaters,” Rebecca responded. “In the beginning, God gave every kind of seed-bearing plant and every fruit with seed in it as food to both beast and man. It wasn’t until after the Flood that God told Noah that it was acceptable to eat meat.8 So I hate to break it to you, but don’t expect any steak anytime soon.”

  “Oh well. ‘Beggars can’t be choosers,’ they always say,” he replied. “Then again, if their fruit is anywhere near as good as the ones we tasted on our way here, then bring it on!”

  Eema strode up to them, a bowl of water in each hand and two towels draped over her shoulder. “Please, wash,” she said, handing the bowls and towels to Rebecca and Mack. Once they had finished their preparations, Noah encouraged his guests to sit in front of the cushions on the rug as Eema and the other women placed the food in the center of their circle. When all was ready, Noah offered a prayer of thanksgiving, and the meal began.

  Just as Mack took his first bite of bread, he suddenly paused, a strange expression on his face.

  Leaning over toward him, Rebecca whispered, “What’s wro
ng?”

  “It just dawned on me. Noah’s wife’s name is Eema,” Mack replied.

  “So, what’s so strange about that?” she asked.

  “Eema, in Hebrew, means ‘mother,’” he said.

  Woodmorappe, John. Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study. Santee, California: Institute for Creation Research, 2003, p. 64.

  Ham, Ken, ed. The New Answers Book 3. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009, p. 42–43.

  Ibid p. 39–48.

  Woodmorappe, John. Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study. Santee, California: Institute for Creation Research, 2003, p. 3–13.

  Ibid p. 13.

  Deuteronomy 14:6

  Woodmorappe, John. Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study. Santee, California: Institute for Creation Research, 2003, p. 8–10.

  Genesis 9:3

  10

  Ancient Documents

  As Eema and the other women cleared away the last remnants of the meal, Noah reclined against his cushion as he addressed his guests. “Now, tell me more about what brings you here. And please start from the beginning so that my wife and the other women may hear the whole tale.”

  After Mack had relayed Noah’s request to the rest of the visitors, Rebecca cleared her throat and began relating their story. “We are travelers from your future—from a time over four thousand years from now. We uncovered a pyramid-shaped…vessel…that was buried in a chamber under a desert,” Rebecca paused momentarily to allow Mack time to finish his translation. “In addition to the pyramid, we also found two books that explained how to complete construction of the vessel, as well as two dead bodies. Both were…were human shaped, but with animal-like features. And one was twelve feet tall.”

  At this last statement, Noah and his family exchanged curious, and disturbed, glances with each other. Noting their concern, Rebecca asked, “What is it?”