>Let's look at your "raging river moving 5 mph" hypothesis. Gen. 8:3:
>"And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the
>end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." So from the
>flood's crest it took 150 days to drain into the Persian Gulf. The
>city farthest north to feel the flood's impact might have been Ninevah
>(There was no flood layer dating to 2900 BC at that site, so the flood
>might not have extended that far.) Ninevah was located roughly 400
>miles from where the gulf reached 5,000 years ago. If it took 150 days
>for the water at Ninevah to reach the gulf it would travel at the
>average speed of 11/100's of a mile per hour (400 divided by 150 X 24).
>That's 587 feet per hour or less than 10 feet per minute. That's not
>exactly a snail's pace, but a healthy turtle would have no difficulty
>keeping up.
It has occurreed to me on a number of occasions that Noah probably had
little or no ability to look out of the ark during the flood. Yes, there
was a window or hatch, but I imagine he would have had to keep it shut
during the initial stages of the flood. Suppose the flood was deep enough
to move the ark, but not deep enough to keep in from frequently hanging up
on high spots on the bottom. Perhaps it was even dragging on the bottom
most of the time. This would rather grossly modify Glenn's estimates of
how far it would have moved in a year. I know: the text talks about the
water covering the mountains to a depth of (was it 15) cubits. It it
covered the mountains as a lake covers an object, then this wouldn't hold
up. But suppose the intent of the text is to say that the water _running
down the mountains_ attained a depth of 15 cubits? IOW a 15 cubit deep
wall of water was seen -- possibly only once during the flood -- descending
the siees of the mountains. That's a very different image.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
1346 W. Fairview Lane
Rochester, MI 48306
(810) 652 4148