One contention that others have mentioned in regards the story is that the Ark would have required for example at least two blue whales, with supplementary plankton, because the oceans would have become too polluted for the whales to survive.

Christians are welcome but "Self Promotion is not." Looks like you are promoting your site and trying to get hits. What you might want to do is list ONE SINGLE FACT, SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE, and see what the horrible atheists do with it. You know of course that Noah's Ark came from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Sumerian flood myth of Utnapishtim.

It is not a Christian myth but a retold flood story that can be traced back thousands of years before Christianity. Early humans lived by rivers. They did not have running water in their homes. Rivers flood. This is just a fact of nature. It makes perfect sense that flood myths abound.

I got only as far as the first line on the first page, which assumes that since fossils of sea creatures have been found on the highest mountains, thus they were flooded. I hate to pop your balloon, but those mountains were created by continental drifting (plate tectonics), and that the land that was once the bottom of the sea was pushed up to become mountains.

You have the science backwards, and thus your web site is not worth any further investigation. Your scientific ignorance is appalling.

But then again, your web site is not designed for critical examination, it is just there to confirm crap to the already ignorant.

The flood is a myth and we've known that for a hundred years now.

Hey there, Tzep. I don't have time to check your site right now, but will try later. Meanwhile, I just wanted to say hello and welcome. In particular I wanted to address the statement you made about, "Apologies if Christian's aren't particular welcomed here..."

Quite the contrary, good man. We actually enjoy having Christians and any other theistic variants visit us here. *chuckle* It gives everybody a chance to discuss different points of view, and provides an opportunity for everybody to learn and grow. The only way for one to truly expand his/her knowledge is to seek out others with opposing views. If you are constantly around only those who always agree with you, then your pool of knowledge soon becomes stagnant. Therefore, we always enjoy having visitors here who challenge our individual and collective intellect. Besides, at the end of the day, we are all humans just trying to make our lives as good as we can for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. Welcome to the AR, fellow primate.

(Now to go read the other posts.)

Out of all of the blatantly stupid stories in the bible, my opinion is that Noah and the flood is among the most ridiculous and that only complete idiots in the Ken Ham mode could possibly believe it as written. I just looked it up and found that sixty percent of Americans believe in the story of Noah’s ark and a global flood. I'd known this before and it makes me ill that so many people can be this ignorant.

What the OP is doing is feeding into this ignorance.

1. Not enough water in the earths atmosphere to flood the entire planet 20ft above highest peak ( Mt Everest).
2. Fresh water species would have been wiped out.
3. A family of about 2 dozen working on foot and by hand collecting at least 2 of every air breathing species is risible.
4. The same family building a wooden boat by hand to house everything is risible.
5. Catering for the wildly varying nutritional needs of all those species over about a year is risible.
6. Catering for The wildly varying environmental requirements in a wooden boat without power is risible.
7. The flood wood have killed off all the earths vegetation, including rare species indigenous to remote places..
8. There isn't a shred of archaeological evidence for any global flood.
9. The flood myth is almost certainly plagiarised from an earlier Babylonian flood myth, no doubt when early Hebrews lived there and share myths and fables.
10. All supernatural claims are unevidenced, and risible.
11. A family of roughly two dozen couldn't account for the population today, and specifically would be too small a bottle neck for the diversity of current human DNA. This is a scientific fact, which also utterly negates the Adam and Eve myth.

Where did all the water come from?
Where did all the water go?

Noah's Ark 300x50x30. A semicicrcle of circumference 300 units ... a boat ... with the oar at 30 degrees.

On the 17th day of the 2nd month ... and so on.

The numerical data (some of it, there's two stories mixed together) can be used to construct a map.

Well, I was back yesterday, early evening, about 1700hrs, in my time zone (UTC -7), but AR was down. As Roseanna Roseannadanna is fond of saying, "It can happen." Seems the more surgeries I have, the faster I recover from the anesthesia. Sadly, I cannot answer that one question that has become a mind plague of the theists, especially the theists: What happens after death? ;-P
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Old man shouts at clouds: "Wait until Arakish reads this shit posing as scholarship lol. *ducks to avoid splatter and splinters*"

You HAD to spoil the surprise?
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TzephanYahu: Proof of Noah’s Flood?

Sorry this is so long, but you asked for it. This is one area of the Bible I spent 30 years researching, off and on, whenever I could.

Well, while I am about arguing against one of your greatest lynchpins of Christian beliefs, I'll do the same for the other greatest lynchpin: The Exodus That Went Nowhere. No need to thank me since both are right there near the beginning of "The Desert-Dwelling Goat Herder's Guide to the Universe, Life, and Everything." No need to thank me. I am giving it as a free bonus.
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The Noahacian Flood Story
Where is the evidence?

The Noahacian Flood story (Genesis 6 to 9; written circa 450 BCE) is nothing more than the plagiarizing of the ancient Mesopotamian Flood Stories.

Recommended: Aron Ra’s How Aron Ra Disproves Noah's Flood series.

Here is the accounting as I have found:
The Noahacian Flood story was written circa 450 BCE (oldest copy of the Bible in the Dead Sea Scrolls). The Epic of Gilgamesh was written 1600 BCE (1150 years before). The Epic of Atra–Hasis was written 1700 BCE (1250 years before). The Epic of Ziusudra was written 1900 BCE (1450 years before). The Genesis Myth of Eridu was written 2000 BCE (1550 years before).

Hell, even the Greek myths are older than the Bible by about 250 years. The only two flood myths that came after the Bible are the Berossus myth and the Qu’ran. As far as I am concerned, this is definitive proof that the Bible is nothing more a collection of made up fantasy stories, most of which are plagiarized from far older myths and legends.

Flood Myths and When They Were Written and Their Age Compared to "Noah"
Eridu = 2000 BCE (+1550)
Ziusudra = 1900 BCE (+1450)
Atra–Hasis = 1700 BCE (+1250)
Gilgamesh = 1600 BCE (+1150)
Greek Myths = 700 BCE (+250)
Noah = 450 BCE (—)
Berossus = 300 BCE (-150)
Qu’ran = 600 CE (-1050)

And the Qu'ran is the ultimate thief when it comes to plagiarism.

And as one reads through all these myths and applying critical thinking, one can see that all are simply a re–telling of an older myth. Basically, these myths are simply plagiarized. Evidence shows that there was a real flood in the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers circa 2900–3000 BCE.

https://i.imgur.com/XVeGJHJ.png

The one fact that jumped out to me was the “Country” area in which the flood occurred. Notice for the four earliest myths, they all occur in and around Shuruppak, floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. And the flood myths of the currently two largest religions had no country, but did have a destination. I do not know about others, but this seems a bit odd. If you have Google Earth, put these coordinates into the Search box, then click Search. Shuruppak: 31° 46' 23.09" N 45° 30' 21.08" E (31.773° N, 45.506° E).

Additionally, notice that all myths, excepting Noah, have real, true–life causes for a flood. Only the Noah myth has the “fantastical” fountains.

The three Mesopotamian Flood Stories were probably stories about when the flood plain of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was flooded circa 2900 BCE. River flood sediments in the ruins of Shuruppak, Uruk, Kish, etc. have been radiocarbon dated to circa 2900 BCE. Radiocarbon dating is generally limited to dating samples no more than 50,000 years old, as samples older than that have insufficient C–14 to be measurable. Radiocarbon dating has an accuracy rate of ±0.4% at up to 10,000 years. Since that flood occurred about 2900 BCE, that places the flood about 4918 years ago. Well within the 10,000 years. That means the flood occurred within the range of 4899 to 4937 years ago (2900 BCE ±20 years).

There is also empirical evidence that shows that the Persian Gulf originally had a coastline further inland than that of today.

Map of the Ubaid Dynasty

More recent evidence shows that the cities of Ur and Eridu may have been port cities. However, no evidence has been found to indicate such. Perhaps the great flood events washed such evidence out to sea? Or, completely buried it? Thanks to the many, many floods over the last 3000 to 5000 years, the sediments deposited by those floods has pushed the shoreline of the Persian Gulf back some 230 kilometers (143 miles). That alone is indicative of some past massive flood events. The layer in question, dated to circa 2900 BCE, was 3.35 meters thick (11 feet) found in a 20 meter deep test shaft (The Flood).

If it were not for the series of dams and irrigation projects on the upper Euphrates and Tigris Rivers basins, and the irrigation in the “Floodplain,” then the floodplain would still occasionally flood today, sometimes on a biblical scale as it did almost 5000 years ago. Even the climate in southern Anatolia area was different than today. About 4 to 8 thousand years ago, the southern Anatolia area was wetter. Proof is in the sediment layers in northern Syria and Iraq, and southeastern Turkey have shown this to be true. Southern Anatolia includes the northern regions of Iraq and Syria AND southeastern Turkey. Many ruins that are over 5000 years old have been found completely buried under fluvial sediments in the area marked “Floodplain” in the image below. There has even been some found in the areas surrounding the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in the “Dams Project Areas.”

Google Earth Pro Hash-Up Map Showing Euphrates and Tigris Rivers Area

Since there is evidence of a catastrophic flood in the “Floodplain” area circa 2900 BCE, it is my contention that all three Epics are stories about this event. In fact, the Epic of Ziusudra specifically states, “then the flood swept over,” sounding exactly like a river flash flooding that swept over the area. Have you ever seen a river flood? How about a flash flood? I mean in “real” life, not on TV (although some do cover it rather well). However, like any story of the “Fish That Got Away,” the retelling is embellished until it literally becomes a falsely assumed global event.

On the stone tablet WB–82, the line following the mentioning of Ziusudra reads: “...then the flood swept over.” The next line after the break in the tablet reads: “After the flood swept over, kingship descended from heaven; the kingship was in Kish.” The city of Kish flourished in the Early Dynastic period soon after an archaeologically attested river flood in Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq) and various other Sumerian cities. This flood has been radiocarbon dated to circa 2900 BCE. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (circa 3100–3000 BCE) was discovered immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum.

Finally, guess who was supposed to have been traveling through this region about 200 years after the Epic of Gilgamesh was written? Yep, Abram. The same guy who stole the Laws of Hammurabi and later became Abraham. That is if he existed at all.

How do you explain the fact that there were empires (Egypt, Hittite, Assyria, Persia, Hurria, Kittim, Macedonia, Akkadia, Elam, etc., etc.) that existed BEFORE the Biblical Flood and existed in the same state AFTER the Biblical Flood? And with absolutely NO written records of any kind of flood ever happening, except in Babylonian myths (the Epics of Ziusudra, Atra–Hasis, and Gilgamesh)? You would think that something so cataclysmic as a “global flood” would have been written down by all those other empires (Egypt, Hittite, Assyria, Persia, Hurria, Kittim, Macedonia, Akkadia, Elam, etc., etc.).

Since Ziusudra was the son of Suruppak, then king of Shuruppak and the Sumerians, Ziusudra became the king in the city of Kish, which flourished under his rule. Furthermore, Ziusudra being a king from Shuruppak is supported by the Gilgamesh XI tablet, Line 23, making reference to Utnapishtim (Akkadian translation of the Sumerian name Ziusudra) with the epithet “man of Shuruppak.”

My theory is that Ziusudra was actually on an expedition, envoy mission, whatever. While he was gone for an extended length of time, the flood occurred wiping out the entire “floodplain” area. When returning, Ziusudra was viewed by the survivors as the “kingship descended from heaven; the kingship was in Kish.” And since the city of Kish probably fared through the destruction the best, that was where Ziusudra established the new Sumerian capital.

C’mon people. All you have to do is to think critically and do some fairly easy research. If able, then travel and look at the artifacts as I have done. I could continue, but this alone is proof the Bible was plagiarized from far older myths and legends. Plagiarize one story, you plagiarize them all.

(Some of this is paraphrased from Sheldon.) And here is my conclusion: Why should I even believe in a God who is so ruthless it feels it must destroy ALL of its children? If your God is truly omnipotent, why is it such a bungling incompetent creator? The Bible certainly confirms such a deity. A deity that screwed up its creation so badly it had to flood the entire planet, killing everything to start over from scratch. This makes me wonder, as Sheldon put it, since your God is omnipotent, why did it need such a clumsy and retarded method to begin again, when it could have simply willed a new existence without using genocidal floods and the unnecessary suffering? And, as asked earlier, “Where is the evidence?”

Basically, as far as I am concerned, ALL religions are nothing more than lies created by megalomaniacal psychotic sociopaths with hopes of enslaving the entire human species.
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The Exodus That Went Nowhere

The Exodus story is completely false. Hereafter, I shall use the term “Hebrew” to mean Hebrews, Jews, Israelites, etc.

In the many, many decades of archaeological exploration, there has been NOT one piece of evidence ever found to prove anything in Exodus. Even Rabbi David J. Wolpe, the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple, announced: “The truth is that virtually every modern archaeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with so very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.”

It NEVER happened. How long were the Hebrews supposedly enslaved in Egypt? Four hundred thirty years? Inconceivable! If they had been in Egypt for 430 years, then words from each language would have had words exchange into each others’ language during such a long period of time. In other words, the Hebrew language would be half Egyptian, and vice versa. However, neither language has any words that are even close to the other language in their language. Perhaps the only exception is “Moses” which is a bastardized version of the Egyptian names like Ahmose, Thutmose, Amosis, etc. Most scholars have quietly concluded that the epic of Moses never happened, and even Jewish clerics are raising questions. Others think it combines myth, cultural memories, and a very few kernels of real truth.

Proof of this language hybridization is in American English. American English is the most "hybridized" language on Earth. How long has America existed, including the Colonial Period? About 400 years? Actually, 411 to be more exact (1607 to 2018). Yet look at how many words in American English are direct integration into American English from other languages, especially Spanish. Ever heard the term Spanglish? I think it was an Adam Sandler movie... One good example is the term for “goodbye.” There is goodbye, ciao (msp?), adios, arrive deutsche (msp?), bon voyage, etc. Far too many other examples for me to even attempt to list only a few. Something like language infusion and hybridization is inevitable even if the two groups co–exist for only 40 years, one–tenth what the Hebrews supposedly spent in Egypt.

However, there is absolutely no evidence of any Hebrew word in Egyptian, or any Egyptian word in Hebrew. And to say that the two kept themselves that separated while living together is bollocks. A huge pile of horse hoowhee. Additionally, the ONLY source of the enslavement in Egypt is only found in that Hebrew book of faerie tales known as the Bible. There is absolutely no other evidence of the Hebrews spending 430 years in Egypt. Since the Exodus Story never happened and the 430 years enslavement never happened, that means Moses never existed. There was no exodus from Egypt. There was no 40 years of being lost in the desert. And the best proof the Hebrews were never in Egypt is the fact that they never mentioned the Pharaoh’s name during the time of the exodus. They do not mention his name because they never knew his name since they were never in Egypt.

Many, many decades of archaeological excavations attempting to prove the biblical account of the Exodus true, archaeologists have found no conclusive evidence that the Hebrews were ever in Egypt. They were never enslaved. They never wandered about on the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years. They never conquered the land of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. The prevalent view has now become that almost all of Joshua’s famous military campaigns just never did occur. Archaeologists have uncovered ash layers and other signs of destruction at the relevant time at ONLY ONE of the many battlegrounds mentioned in the Bible. Excepting Jericho, there has been ABSOLUTELY NO archaeological evidence of any of the cities/towns mentioned in the book of Joshua. NONE. Joshua never existed.

There has not been one shred of evidence discovered in the Sinai Desert that a large number of Jews had wandered for 40 years. Of course, that may not be such a big deal. It is a desert, is it not? Sandstorms probably just buried all the evidence. The more you get to thinking about this story of 600,000 Hebrew men (not including women and children), however, the more the lack of evidence was actually a fairly damning difficulty. According to the book of Exodus {12:37} The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, in addition to children. It only lists the number of men, then says there were children also, but not how many. And it never even mentions women. Talk about misogyny.

Anyway, that is still a lot of Hebrews wandering around in this desert, and it seems extremely unlikely, bordering on virtually impossible, for this many people (1½ to 3 million) to leave absolutely no trace. Especially when traces have been found for much, much smaller groups (some only a few hundred) of people which predated the Exodus in that same desert.

And here is a very excellent point made by Thunderf00t in one of his videos (have long since forgotten which one). I am repeating it here from memory. Thus, if you see the video and I did not copy it exactly, then blame my Alzheimer’s. How many Hebrews were there? The Bible only states that there were six hundred thousand men… And that does not include the women and children. Here is a measurement of the route about which I am going to speak:

Hebrew Marching Path

See the measurement of 631.6 miles? I know I screwed up and forgot to switch to kilometers, but that is a fairly easy conversion: 1,016.46 kilometers. Or, 1,016,460 meters. Now let’s assume that each man will occupy at least 1 meter of space if they were to walk in single file. I use 1 meter so each man will not step on the heels of the man in front of him while walking, hopefully. That would be a line 600,000 meters long. And that does NOT include the women and children. If we assume there are as many women as men (current world average is 52% female, 48% male), then the line gets to be 1,200,000 meters long. The path I traced which goes from Cairo all the way to the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula, then up the other side of the Sinai to Amman Jordan, then across the Jordan River to Jerusalem. If we subtract (1,200,000 – 1,016,460) that would leave 183,540 men and women still waiting to leave the Cairo area. And we still have NOT included the children! Think about it! And the path I chose was as long as possible without having it just completely leave the area and head on over to Baghdad. Or over to China.

Reiteration: There is absolutely NO evidence whatsoever that the Hebrews were ever enslaved in Egypt. In fact, it is very unlikely that if it did happen that the Hebrews would have been numerous enough for there to have been 600,000 men (not including women and children). Yes, there is the story contained within the Bible itself, but that is not even vaguely a historical source. No matter how hard you dig, you will find absolutely NO evidence any Hebrews were ever in Egypt. There is not even any evidence whatsoever in all of Egypt that the Hebrews even existed until almost 600 years (c. 800 BCE) after Moses supposedly died, circa 1400 BCE (biblical scholars). The oldest artifact I have ever found in all of Egypt’s antiquities that mentions “Hebrews” is dated to about 800 BCE. As said, 600 years after the Exodus.

About the same time that the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) was supposedly written, there is evidence that there were widespread plagues through the empires of Egypt, the land of Canaan (modern day Israel), Lebanon, Mesopotamia, the Hittite Empire, and all between circa 1446 to 1431 BCE. Fifteen years worth of plagues. Damn. And here is a good question for you Absolutists: If the Exodus supposedly happened circa 1440 to 1400 BCE, why was it not written about until about a thousand years later? The oldest copy of Exodus is in the Dead Sea Scrolls which are dated to only circa 450 BCE.

Levant Plagues Area (1446 to 1431 BCE)

The map above shows the extents of the plagues for which I could find evidence for having occurred (circa 1446 to 1431 BCE). Exodus supposedly occurred circa 1440 to 1400 BCE (at the same time the Pentateuch was supposedly written). Below shows a map of the Levant circa 1500 to 1400 BCE. It shows the sphere of influence held by the three major kingdoms during that time: Egypt, Hittite, and Assyria. There is hard empirical evidence which shows that the below is very highly probable. Meaning that at the time of the story of the Exodus, Egypt was in control of the area of the Land of Canaan (basically Israel). Thus, when the plagues hit the area of the Levant, the three major empires pulled out of that area, only further spreading the plagues into their core regions.

Levant Spheres of Influence (1500–1400 BCE)

For clarification yellow is Egypt, magenta is Assyria, and cyan is Hittite.

I submit that this was simply the illiterate Hebrews (originally Assyrians) creating a ludicrous and ridiculous story to account for what had happened at that time. They reversed the story of the plagues making them seem to be God’s judgment against Egypt for not releasing the Hebrews from enslavement (when it was actually the Egyptians which did an exodus from the Levant). Did you know that the word “Hebrew” did not come into existence until circa 1000 BCE (400 years after the plagues AND the supposed writing of the Pentateuch) from the Aramaic language which originated with the Assyrians inside the Assyrian Empire at that time? I also say that the Hebrews were Assyrians that had a religious schism and migrated to the Land of Canaan due to these plagues. When they arrived in the Land Canaan, they were also witness to the Egyptians leaving the area. This schism was what led to the preposterous beliefs system and faerie tales of a God named Jealous, giving the Hebrews the Land of Canaan. Basically, Exodus, as written in the Bible, actually happened in the exact reverse. Arriving in the Land of Canaan, the Hebrews saw the perfect opportunity to steal this land since their only true opposition in the Egyptians had left the area to fend for itself under a plague. This is what led to the many, many ethnic genocidal cleansings of the entire region of Canaan. Which in the end, completely failed because the Hebrews lost too many men. Nothing says love like, “Our God says he hates you, and that you must die.”

Of course, if the Hebrews did have 600,000 men, then just the Hebrew men alone out–numbered all men, women, and children in the entire Land of Canaan which are believed to have been about 435,000 to 550,000 total. If the Hebrews could not completely conquer the Land of Canaan, that means although they may have won a tactical victory, they still had their asses handed to them. Thus, they lost too many men to conquer the Land of Canaan due to their inability to fight. Proof there was no god on their side. Think about it. The Hebrews had 600,000 men against 550,000 men, women, AND children. Even using optimistic math, that 550,000 total population would mean about 180,000 men. The Hebrews had the men out–numbered at least 3 to 1, and still lost their asses. Damn. Just proves the Hebrews were the biggest wussies to ever exist.

Searching for answers is what it is to be human, instead of a robot, being force fed the data. Although none are required to believe, I did actually start those 30 years of research with the full intention to prove the Bible was correct. I wanted to understand scientifically how so many people could believe in something that had absolutely no evidence. However, all of the research I have ever done has done nothing but lead to the fact that EVERYTHING in the Bible is false. And I wasted 30 years proving the Bible is a lie when I could have done something more useful.

The supposedly historical events written about in the Bible are nothing more than plagiarisms of far older myths and legends. And some of those myths and legends are thousands of years older than the Bible. Or, they are complete fantasies about what never truly happened. Do your own research.

Additionally, there are many books, far too numerous to list here about legitimate scientific research into the veracity of the Bible. I had wasted my time for decades. It is just that I have not been able to prove anything in the Bible. And I have grown weary of researching this. I would rather write about how I have wasted my life on that damned lying, irrelevant, and obsolete Bronze Age text, than doing the research for you Religious Absolutists. And why it you Religious Absolutists cannot research anything other than other "christian" written books? Why can't you research everything like I did?
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Some Additional Interesting Information

Author's Note: I neglected to mention in the previous posting of this data, but it was hashed together from the Great Wiki ond other sources, and summarized by me as below. I competely apologize for this error and am completely ashamed I made no attempt at such correction until now. I know. "Time Out" for one day in the Christian Hell... ***tree slumps upper boughs as slumps off to punishment and hoping can survive***

BTW: The frist artifact listed below (Merneptah Stele) I have seen in person. Further, all the below artifacts had a date range. I chose the date that makes the artifact oldest within those date ranges. Thus, making anything Hebrew/Israel as old as possible. Just so you Christians would not cry foul, I actually ceeded in favor for your cause. Honestly, and this is a Ripley's Believe It or Not, and I could care less which you do, I honestly spent 30 years researching (during vacations) trying to prove the Bible historically correct. Reason: I wanted to know from a scientific point of view why someone would put so much faith into something that has never been proven correct.

Merneptah Stele; Location: Cairo Museum; Found: 1896, Thebes; Date: circa 1200 BCE; Writing: Egyptian hieroglyphs. Biblical archaeologist translate the set of hieroglyphs on Line 27 as "Israel." Ancient Egyptian archaeologists differ saying the hieroglyphs actually translate as "Jezreel," a city and valley in the Land of Canaan. This also constitutes the only record in Ancient Egyptian that mentions Jezreel/Israel.

I have to admit that I got the dates reversed in my Exodus to Nowhere essay. I am certain I flipped them between this artifact and when the Hebrew people actually came into being and the first mention of them in Egypt. The above artifact does not mention "hebrew" or "israel." It actually mentions "jezreel people," not "israel nation" as the biblical persons would have one believe. However, ALL archaeological evidence proves "hebrew" or "israel" was NEVER in the empire proper of Egypt (near the Nile). They may have been within Egypt's Sphere of Influence in the Levant, but the Hebrews/Israel did come into existence until around 850 to 800 BCE. Six hundred, SIX! hundred years after the dates given by biblical scholars for the Exodus (circa 1440 BCE).

Additionally, if I remember my biblical history correctly, was not Israel (Jacob) before the Exodus? And the Exodus was supposed to have begun in circa 1440 BCE? And this record is over 200 years younger? Moses supposedly died in 1400 BCE (just before the Hebrew Invasion), and later that same year Joshua began his campaign to rape the Land of Canaan? All of this going by what biblical scholars preach...

The next oldest Egyptian Artifact even mentioning anything about Israel is the Mesha Stele, (dated circa 850 BCE), written by the Moabites with reference to "house of David," constituting the earliest mention of a "David." This does not prove Israel was a nation, just there was a house/family with the name of "David" near the Moabites. Also see next two entries.

Saba's Stele (dated circa 800 BCE) details the accounts of an Assyrian army's campaign (see below) in Philistia circa 800 BCE, yet has no mention of any "Hebrew/Israel" nation/people in the Land of Canaan through which they would have had to march to get to Philistia. Strange.

Then there is the Nimrud Slab (dated circa 800 BCE) which details Adad-nirari III's Assyrian conquests of Palastu (Phillistia), Tyre, Sidon, Edom, and Humri. Humri is the Akkadian translation for Hebrew (Israel). The earliest mentioning of Hebrew. I got that date wrong from another document since it stated the word Hebrew did not appear in the Assyrian (Akkadian) language until circa 1000 to 800 BCE. It was kind of right, just gave a broader date range.

Gezer Calendar dated circa 950 BCE is the earliest appearance of Paleo-Aramaic/Hebrew written language.

The walls of the tombs of Ahmose (dated circa 1500 BCE), son of Ebana, sometimes said to be the basis of the Moses myth, and Ahmose Pen Nekhbet (dated circa 1450 BCE) detail the earliest records of Egyptian control of the Land of Canaan. The Bible's depiction of Israel does not allow for Egyptian control over the Land of Canaan.

The Great Hymn to the Aten (dated circa 1400 BCE) is seen to possess strong similarities to Psalm 104 (circa 1440 to 585 BCE (Why such a huge range?)), which may be based on it. Of course, biblical achaeologists and biblical scholars refute this. I could care less. I thought it was interesting.

Ipuwer Papyrus (dated 1850 BCE (400 years before the supposed Exodus)) contains a poem that describes Egypt as afflicted by social anarchy and in a state of chaos. This archaeological evidence does not support the story of the Exodus, and most histories of ancient Israel no longer consider it relevant to the story of Israel's emergence. Nevertheless, the Ipuwer Papyrus is often put forward in popular literature as confirmation of the Biblical account, most notably because of its statement that "the river is blood" which naturally occurs due to iron rich sediments during the disastrous floods of the Nile. Additionally, it states that the social disruption may have actually been caused by the "arrival of Asiatic servants." Asiatic meaning Oriental? Wow.

Khirbet Qeiyafa shrines (oldest dated to circa 860 BCE) are cultic constructs many see as evidence of a "cult in Judah of David" and with features (triglyphs and recessed doors) which may resemble features in descriptions of the Temple of Solomon.

Ophel Inscription (dated circa 1100 BCE (300 years after the supposed Hebrew invasion cicra 1400 BCE)) is an inscribed fragment of a ceramic jar found near Jerusalem's Temple Mount by archeologist Eilat Mazar. It is the earliest alphabetical inscription found in Jerusalem written in Proto-Canaanite script. Some scholars believe it to be an inscription of the type of wine that was held in a jar.

Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions (dated circa 850 BCE) are inscriptions in Phoenician script including references to Yahweh. The earliest record of the mention of "yahweh." Still is 550 years after the supposed Hebrew Invasion circa 1400 BCE detailed in the book of Joshua.

Khirbet Beit Lei (dated circa 700 BCE) contains oldest known Hebrew writing of the word "Jerusalem." "I am YHWH thy Lord. I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem" And later, "Absolve us oh merciful God. Absolve us oh YHWH."

After this, artifacts just get younger. I chose the oldest ones found to date. Showing that the Hebrew/Israel nation did come into existence until many centuries after the dates put forth by biblical arhaeologists and biblical scholars.

If biblical scholars got all their dates wrong, then I am damned certain ALL Religious Absolutist scholars got all their dates wrong as well.
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Now, let's tackle your OP.

TzephanYahu: "Hello all,"

Hello. Have you ever looked at this word? Hell! O!

TzephanYahu: "I used to be an Atheist a long time ago, now I'm a Christian."

Sorry to hear you taking that huge leap backwards.

TzephanYahu: "I need your help, if you wouldn't mind..."

I am always willing to help. Whether you accept it or not depends upon you.

TzephanYahu: "I'm working on a website about the Bible for believers and non-believers."

Or is it actually a website that attempts to help atheists become non-atheists? Also see (*) below.

TzephanYahu: "The first article on Noah’s Flood (in the non-believers section) has been published on the site. Whilst I have tried to write it from an non-believer's standpoint, I would appreciate any advice to improve it. Whether you are highly cynical, against Christianity, or indifferent, any feedback would be useful."

Cannot access the article, thus cannot give any feedback. Also see (*) below.

TzephanYahu: "It is worthwhile to get feedback from Christians, but Atheists should be able to give me a totally different view. For example, I may have written something on the site which you find unfairly biased or illogical."

Yes, it is worthwhile to gather feedback from as many sources as you can get.

TzephanYahu: "If you have only a little time, please check it out here: https://faithandtheword.com/idb/mind/real-argument/global-flood/investigation/. If you have more time to read the study from the beginning, please start here: https://faithandtheword.com/idb/mind/"

(*) Cannot access. I used some specialized security scripts we also use on the computers at work. I asked IT guys if I could copies of them for my computers at home. They did not hesitate to give me copies on a flash-key with the stipulation I do not give any copies away. These scripts flag the website as a security risk for some reason. I do not know why. I do get an error code, but I do not know what those error codes are. The IT guys do, but I ain't going to ask them. It is a waste of their time, not to mention mine. If their scripts flag a site, then I ain't gonna visit it. Perhaps you need to use a different server?

TzephanYahu: "Hopefully this does go down like a lead balloon! Apologies if Christian's aren't particular welcomed here but this seems like a reasonable forum."

"Hopefully this does go down like a lead balloon!" Already hoping for a sunken ship? Already has, see (*) above.

Christians, in fact, ANY theists are welcomed to come here and discuss their claims. It is just most do not like the answers they get.

"...this seems like a reasonable forum..." How dare you call me reasonable? Oh, wait... Nevermind...

TzephanYahu: "Anyway, thank you for reading this."

Óchi próvlima (Greek for "Not a problem").

rmfr

@TzephanYahu …..

The others here have far more patience than myself...…. I do not propose to engage in this particular "dance" again...…

however I will not leave you entirely to your ignorance ……. check out this link.....

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html#history

This is an article (copyrighted 1998) which details the problems with trying to apply the Biblical narrative to the real world ……

I doubt you will read it ….but it might help others to overcome the darkness of faith you seem to relish so much.

@ SHELDON:
1. Not enough water in the earths atmosphere to flood the entire planet 20ft above highest peak ( Mt Everest).

(Then explain the Sea Shells. Obviously the earth was smaller at that time and it has grown since. Atheists are so stupid.)

2. Fresh water species would have been wiped out. (Oh my God. All Noah had to do was put a few eggs on the ark. For Christ sake, the damn fish eggs fit in his pocket.) ATHEISTS OWNED

3. A family of about 2 dozen working on foot and by hand collecting at least 2 of every air breathing species is risible. UMMM! Hello block head! God done it. God made the animals go to the ark. "You build it, they will come." Duh!

4. The same family building a wooden boat by hand to house everything is risible.
How can you question the power of God. Noah lived to be 900 years old. He was very healthy and usually full of go go juice.

5. Catering for the wildly varying nutritional needs of all those species over about a year is risible.
No problem at all. The dirty animals just ate the clean animals. This was completely permissible as Noah had a plan to kill off all the clean animals once he parked his boat anyway. (IT'S EXPLAINED IN THE BIBLE.)

6. Catering for The wildly varying environmental requirements in a wooden boat without power is risible.
Yep, Hotter on the bottom and cooler on the top. I don't see a problem here.

7. The flood wood have killed off all the earths vegetation, including rare species indigenous to remote places.. (No). Animals carry seeds in their poo. Once he let them out of the ark, killed off the good species in the big BBQ, the rest of them just went about pooing and growing new plants. Also..... SEEDS FLOAT. That's why kangaroos and koalas only live in Australia. That is where their food ended up so that is where they went.

8. There isn't a shred of archaeological evidence for any global flood.
HA! Shells on mountain tops. The formation of the Grand Canyon. Oh atheists are so silly.

9. The flood myth is almost certainly plagiarised from an earlier Babylonian flood myth, no doubt when early Hebrews lived there and share myths and fables. (No... Babylonia had a flood too. What is the problem. It just wasn't the great flood that covered the entire earth. It was a local flood.)

10. All supernatural claims are unevidenced, and risible.
Then Explain Ghosts, Orbs, Possessions, Why prayer works, Angels, spirits, Why curses work, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Ha - Owned!

11. A family of roughly two dozen couldn't account for the population today, and specifically would be too small a bottle neck for the diversity of current human DNA. This is a scientific fact, which also utterly negates the Adam and Eve myth. (Not if they fucked like rabbits. It only took Adam and Eve to populate the earth before and now God had Noah and his sons and their wives. I can hear god singing already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO0euzURgRI "I did it before and I can do it again."

Where did all the water come from? (The sky .... are you not paying attention? It rained.)
Where did all the water go? (God took it away. Wow are you dense.)

Come on Sheldon, you know this stuff!!!!

Dammit another drive by.

The Noah Flood story is really about a Group of Ducks that decide to move out of their home and paddle their way to Australia.