DIVINE COMMAND OR INSTINCT?
The words that God spoke to Noah:
“Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive.” (Gen. 6:19-21)
Eyewitness report after the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004:
“Khao Lak Elephant Trekking Centre, in Thailand, elephants Poker and Thandung started to panic — trumpeting and breaking free from their chains. It was something their owner Jong Kit had never seen them do before. They ignored his commands to stop and ran for higher ground, just five minutes before the resort where they’d been standing was destroyed by the tsunami. When the tsunami struck in Khao Lak, more than 3,000 human beings lost their lives. But no one involved with the care of animals can report the death of a single animal. Goson Sipasad is the manager of the Khao Lak National Park. He says all the animals went high in the hills and have not returned. He believes not one perished in or around the park.”
So: Divine Command or Instinct?
Animals came to Noah.
Why?
God told them, explains the Bible.
The animals avoided the Flood.
Humans drowned.
Animals ran uphill before the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Why?
Instinct, explains the modern scientist.
The animals avoided the Tsunami.
Humans drowned.
Agnostic skeptics will disbelieve that God actually cleared His throat and spoke to Noah and the animals.
Pragmatic humans find it hard to believe that Instinct guides animals to specifically run, not walk, uphill, inland, right now.
I think both explanations are true, but, incomplete. Beyond that, it’s inexplicable.
