I read what you said and redacted much of your words in order to bring your attention to the abovementioned to see if I interpret correctly on one point: Are ypu saying that the flood did not happen?
The absurdity of an historical interpretation the flood story in of Genesis was written of at least as the first half of the third century, and proof of the ridiculousness of such an interpretation rapidly grew as more and more kinds of animals were discovered. Through the 19th century, the fossil record revealed that vast numbers of huge animal once roamed the earth but had become extinct. During the 20th century and now even in the early part of the 21st century, fossils of more kinds of animals have been discovered—all of which had to have been represented aboard the ark for us to have the genetic diversity that has become extinct and the genetic diversity that he still have on the earth.
Young earth creationist organizations are all too aware of these incontrovertible facts, but young earth creationism is a multibillion dollar enterprise and young earth propaganda brings in big—really big!—bucks.
In his booklet,
The Genesis Flood, Fact or Fiction?, Tas Walker agrees with John Woodmorappe’s teaching that the word “kind” in Genesis (Hebrew, מִין) refers to what we now call a genus, as in “the cat kind, the horse kind, and the cow kind.” But, of course, this is nothing but young earth creationist mumbo jumbo because, for example, the “cat kind” is not a genus, but a family (Felidae) comprised of 14 genera. Furthermore, Woodmorappe and Walker claim that all modern animals in the cat kind “descended” from one “parent kind.” But—what do they mean by the word, “descended”? They mean a biological process known by everyone else as “evolution”!
About 10.8 million years ago, the cat family began to split off into 8 Lineages consisting of 2 subfamilies, 14 genera, and 41 species. (Kitchener et al. 2017. (
A revised taxonomy of the Felidae). The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group.) The relationship of these groups to each other and the relative time of their splitting off has been learned and very well documented by comparing DNA sequences of all 41 species of cats. The actual time of the splitting off is learned from fossil records which young earth creationist believe to be radically misinterpreted.
Leopards (Panthera pardus) and ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are phenotypically similar to each other, but genotypically dissimilar to each other. This is called convergent evolution and is due to the two genetically very different species having adapted to similar environments. Leopards belong to the Panthera Lineage that includes the leopards and six other species, but ocelots belong to the Leopardus lineage that includes the ocelots and seven other species. Both of these lineages descended (evolved) from the same Felid ancestor rather than one of them from the other. Therefore, it would have been absolutely necessary for one pair of cats (cats are ‘unclean animals—Leviticus 11)) from
both lineages to have been aboard the ark. Moreover, as has been proven from DNA sequences, all seven of the species in the Panthera Lineage descended (evolved) independently from each other, and therefore, it would have been absolutely necessary for a pair of cats from
all seven of the species in the Panthera Lineage to have been aboard the ark. Furthermore, the same would have been true of the other seven lineages and
all of their species—for a total of not just 2, but 82 cats!
All 41 species of cats are carnivores, and none of them hibernate. All 41 species of cats spray their very caustic urine all over everything that they wish to claim as their own. A male lion in captivity requires 8 pounds of food per day—that is 2,920 pounds of food that a male lion on board the ark would have needed to eat during its stay on board the ark—and its mate would have required 2,190 pounds of food. The total food requirement for the 82 cats would have been approximately 90,000 pounds of meat—90,000 pounds of meat that would have to have been fed to the cats by Noah and his family. And we are still talking about just the cats! And we have not yet gotten to their excrement!
We have today several hundred thousands of genetically discreet populations of animals that would necessarily have been aboard the ark 4,368 years ago, and during that time, thousands of genetically discreet populations of animals have become extinct, but would necessarily have been aboard the ark. DNA sequences do not lie, but Tas Walker makes a habit of it!
The purpose of the research was not to prove the theory of evolution or disprove the Bible; the purpose of the research was to get accurate data that will assist biologists in the protection of the biodiversity of the cat family and the other populations of wild animals—the very purpose of the ark!
