And since floods of comparable actual magnitude (not poetically enhanced magnitude) do occur naturally there is no need to invoke a supernatural explanation.
you like science, right? All for "repeatability"?
Same "in", same "out"?
How many of those other "
comparable magnitude" floods... spawned 5000 years of
comparably enduring mythology throughout an entire region?
Unique "out" (5K years of mythic memory) implies unique "in" (once in 5K+ year event)
Reportedly. That's the key word. A sceptical view of the matter would consider the significance was added retroactively. Faith provides the assurance that it was forecast, etc.
Thus, we are back to where I started. To attribute supernatural aspects to the flood requires an act of faith. I don't object to people making that attribution on the basis of faith. I do object to attempts to argue there is scientific support for the claim. I'm not sure if that is what you are asserting, but you appear to be.
- There was a unique, once in >>5Kyr event
- at that unique time, a unique individual constructed a unique vessel of some sort, according to the instructions he reported he received from godlike beings in the heavens
- the unique individual with his unique craft then enjoyed unique safety during the subsequent unique flood event
That is quite a chain of remarkably unique events, one contingent on the next -- seemingly like winning the lottery three times in a row
Supra-terrestrial intervention into the sequence of exceedingly improbable events parsimoniously, succinctly explains them all in one fell swoop
---
You know how complex human language is
Noah was a "subject matter expert" in
his own language & his own name
If he says he received meaningful, intelligible, cogent, articulate audio-visual communications from heavenly beings, encoded in his own language, and calling him by his own name, then he -- being an expert fluent speaker of his own tongue & well versed in his own name -- is a credible witness
On questions regarding
his own name, his own language, or (evidently) carpentry, we can trust Noah to be within his own area of familiarity & expertise
this hypothesis does not require "Noah" to have done anything extra-ordinary
himself -- he just "magically" heard his name called one day, received instructions on how to apply his carpentry skills, and (surely awestruck) simply complied with the commands
at no time does this hypothesis "bring Noah to the stand to testify" about matters far beyond his kith & kin, it simply rests on:
- Noah recognized his own name when he heard it
- Noah could understand his own language when he heard it
- Noah was a decent carpenter
Perfectly plausible