Kelli Trujillo Supporter Minister, Mother, Grandmother, Teacher, Musician

The authenticity of the entire Bible has been studied and examined in every way possible by countless scholars in several disciplines (history, linguistics, theology, anthropology, etc...) and conclusive evidence exists to support its genuineness. That being said, the Christian faith requires just that: Faith. So it's completely understandable that you find some parts hard to believe. Both the Old and New Testament contain incredible accounts of miraculous events that are hard to comprehend and imagine without the advantage of seeing them actually unfold before the naked eye.

Regarding your questions about Noah and the animals, here's what Genesis 7:7-10 says,

And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

From these verses it appears that Noah and his family were already inside the ark when the animals came to him, and he ushered them into the ark.

The Bible doesn't tell us that everything reeked of death, but Noah and his family were inside the ark for about one year, which would allow for the process of decay to be so advanced that bodies on the surface of the earth were probably reduced to almost nothing. In addition, many bodies were probably permanently buried in lakes and oceans, and many were fossilized. It's important to remember, also, that the world was not as populated as it is now, and the bodies were most likely spread all over the surface of the entire earth.

One of the reasons why Noah sent the raven on a reconnaissance mission of sorts before he sent the dove was due to the fact that the raven would have had no problem landing on any dead remains, which could have been more recently dead (such as fish or other sea creatures) than bodies that had died at the start of the flood. However, it kept returning to the ark for a time, possibly because it needed to for adequate feeding. His sending out the dove signified that the waters had receded enough for an olive tree to sprout new leaves, hence the olive bough that the dove brought back to Noah. Genesis 8:3-12 recounts this:

The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

The translation process from the original languages that the Bible was written in to our modern day languages is difficult, but again, these translations have been worked on by professionals in their fields in order to relay biblical events and truths to us in the most accurate way possible.

Here's the bottom line: We are instructed to walk by faith. 2 Cor. 5:7 says,

For we live by believing and not by seeing.

October 04 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3

First, it would be wrong to think that Genesis is a science book, therefore we should not look for scientific proofs in it. Second, it is also not a good history book, as it is told from the perspective of one tribe, it is very subjective. 

These are stories with a moral objective. Are the stories true? YES. The appropriate follow up question is not for the scientific or historical details, rather "What is the moral of the story?"

October 03 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Hairy Animals

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2 Timothy 3:16

So, the ENTIRE Bible is the divine Word of God. That includes the Old Testament.

August 31 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report