How did Noah get Polar Bears Penguins and other animals from different climate zones that he didn't even know existed to his ark?

Answer 1

Though many believe The Bible is allegorical, others believe it is literal truth. I will answer it from that standpoint of those who accept it as literal truth. "True believers" are not all offended at this kind of question. They recognize that belief in a literally true Genesis does take faith. The Bible's answer does not give a lot of details. It simply says, "Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures...came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah." (NIV) According to this, Noah did not have to go get them; they simply came. How God effected that the Bible does not say. While the question is not to be skoffed at, it does have a couple of flaws. It begs the question on two points. While it is possible that Noah did not know of polar bears, penguines, and their home climates, there is nothing in the Bible that proves he was unaware of a multitude of species and climates. Secondly, it assumes that the different climate zones that exist today also existed before the Flood. In our experience and observation, polar bears and penguines do not live in tropical climates alongside toucans and monkeys. Just because we have not seen something does not mean it is impossible, just that it does not fit with what we can currently verify by direct observation. The Bible does not say what the climate was where the ark was built. Earth climates might have been arranged much as they are today, but they also may have been quite different. Noah might not have known about polar bears and penguines, but then again they might have been local species. All the Bible says is that they all came and Noah put them on the ark as he was commanded. How they came, how far they travelled, how long it took, and similar questions are not answered. Belief in a literally true Genesis does take faith in a very powerful God. To reject Genesis because of arguments like "God can't" or "God wouldn't" is to do so on the basis of a "God" confined to a straw box. Such a "straw God" has no real relation to what God really is. Here are answers from similar and opposing viewpoints: * Some believe the Noah's Ark story is only believed by those whose religion stipulates that you aren't allowed to ask such questions. == == * One of the problems with taking the Bible in its most literal sense is that problems arise such as the one the question points out. When read as a history of man and men's beliefs, it might be easier to accept the story of Noah as a loose retelling of what might have been an actual event. There are indications in the fossil records of many large floods in the past. A witness or decendant of a witness might have used one of those flood stories as a backdrop for a cautionary tale of God's wrath at man's disobedience. == == * The bible never says that Noah actually performed the act of gathering. In fact, it implies that the animals gathered themselves. It is quite possible that two of each of the animals actually walked, in a zombie-like trance, from whatever region of the world that they lived in, and filed themselves into the ark, and all Noah really did was peform the act of building. Noah may have made different climate zones within the ark for the animals to live. See the Related Links for "How Did All the Animals Fit on Noah's Ark?" to the left for an answer. This link discusses many of the common objections relating to the ark.

One assumption which perhaps needs to be questioned is that of climate. We do know that it probably was quite different prior to the flood, as exampled by the finding of plant species from more temperate regions buried in Antarctic ice. The climate may have been more uniform throughout the planet and it has also been suggested that the atmospheric pressure was higher as well. Thus, these species may not have had to travel quite so far.