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Variations of the Noah story have made it down to us from Sumerian/Akkadian literature (Atrahasis/Utnapishtim). They are extremely old. The Flood is typically dated somewhere around 3000 B.C., which is right around the time that writing developed in Mesopotamia. So it is very likely that the Flood happened in a literate society--and it is mentioned as a historical event, quite in passing, in the Sumerian King List. We are not talking a vague oral tradition from time immemorial here, but an event that could well have been observed and recorded.

I 100% agree! In fact, many cultures have stories of a great flood. Yet, according to the Bible, only Noah and his family survived - so how can it be recorded in these other cultures? Additionally, given what we know about genetics and speciation (within species), it seems incredibly peculiar we could have rise of so many races that are genetically different from each other, in just a few thousand years - less than 300 generations!

I think too many people get hung up in trying to use a book intended for teaching spiritual and moral truths - providing an instruction manual on how to relate to and with God - as an objective history book. That's not the point of the Bible, or even of Christianity! It's about how God loves us, how we can accept and revel in that love, and how we can share it with others.

Trying to decide if a person is 900 or 894 or 910 years old based upon copies of translations of writings archiving dozens of generations of verbal stories is simply missing the point and in fact immaterial to the bigger picture, IMHO.

And considering the Bible as absolutely inerrant in its intended application - a guide to God - is not at all incongruent with understanding it's the morals and points of the stories that matter, not the factual nature.

Taking it as a literal, 100% factual historical record leaves one with the huge conundrum of the creation story as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis chapter 1, we have animals created before man. In Genesis 2, we have man created before animals. If it is 100% a factual, science/history book, then something there is in conflict!

However, if we consider it as inerrant in terms of the message, morality, and instruction contained therein, they such issues are irrelevant. What we get from BOTH creation stories is that God created all, He did it with purpose, and He put mankind in a special place. THAT'S the point of the creation stories, not that animals predate or postdate man...

There's no conflict. If you read chapter 1 of Genesis, the order that God created is given chronologically. Chapter 2 is a recap narrative of chapter one - NOT a repeat of the order of creation.