By the gracious working of the Holy Spirit a Bible reader is convinced through faith about the veracity of the Bible's message. Also keep in mind the Bible's claim about itself. "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31)

The Bible is God's inspired and accurate record to mankind. The Bible is not intended to be a scientfic treatise. God wants us to know the answers to essential questions: Where did I come from? Is there a God? Why does my conscience bother me? Why is there so much wickedness? How do I get right with God? Is there something after life?

Consequently, Scripture's focus is to point the reader to the Creator God who in love promised to send a Savior to rescue his children who rebelled. I apologize for this rather lengthy introduction, but we need to always keep the Scripture's primary focus in mind. Now to your specific questions.

Let me begin by answering the question about how Noah could possibly gather all the animals into the ark. In a word--he couldn't! It truly would be an impossible task for Noah and his family to try to go around the globe and catch two of every kind of animal. How would they know whether or not they got every kind of animal the Lord wanted on the ark? How would they know if they got the fittest and healthiest specimens for breeding purposes? It would be impossible for humans to make the best selections.

That's why the Scriptures point out that it is a miracle of God's doing. A careful reading of Genesis 6 and 7 makes it clear that God was the one who was selecting the animals and bringing them to the ark. Look at Genesis 6:19. "You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive." Also read Genesis 7:8-9. "Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God commanded Noah."

And finally we hear Genesis 7:15-16. "Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in."

These passages show that the Creator Lord God was involved in the selection process and in causing the animals to come to Noah. And the LORD was the one who shut the door of the ark. Every creature that God wanted on board was on board. No one "missed the boat" according to God's divine passenger list.

What a marvelous display of God's power and love. The Lord insured that the gene pool of every animal genus was preserved. He also preserved Noah and his family. With those eight people the human race was preserved.

Now, in response to your first question. If you think Noah lived a long time, check out the ages in Genesis chapter 5. Adam lived 930 years, and he wasn't the oldest human! How can such lengthy lives be explained? Remember that God created Adam and Eve perfectly and intended them to live forever. (See Genesis 1:27) There was no death in the original creation. Only when Adam and Eve sinned, did death came into the creation. (see Gen. 2:16,17; Gen. 3:19; Romans 8:20-22)

But keep in mind that our first parents had not been subjected to genetic disorders, inherited defects, or family tendencies to heart problems or diabetes, etc. There was yet to be the cumulative effect of sin passed down through generation after generation. Also keep in mind that the world before the flood was totally different than the world we observe now. For example, the Bible describes an ecosystem that did not yet include rain. (Gen 2:5-6) An atmosphere and climate more dense than ours might also have protected the first humans from the harshest effects of ultraviolent rays, etc.

We need to be careful that we don't simply make deductions based upon present observations and conclude it was always this way since creation. This approach, sometimes refered to as a uniformitarian approach to observations, ignores the cataclysmic events of the flood.

Finally, the age of humans before the flood, as fantastic as it might seem, nevertheless still reflects the love of a Creator. By allowing such long lives, God made sure there were first hand witnesses to the wonderful promise about a Savior to come. Adam and Eve could relate the truth of God's word to others, down to within a few generations before the flood.

Regarding the Bible's record of the universal flood (Genesis 6 - 8), I don't understand how you can claim there is no evidence of the flood. Geological evidence for an universal flood is everywhere: the fossil record found throughout the globe, the glacial lakes, the formation of coal and oil deposits, just to mention a few. Just because evolutionists explain away such features using a chronology of millions and millions of years during which gradual even impercitible changes occur, does not mean such an explanation is accurate.

Read Genesis 7:11,12. Huge seismic and geologic activity could be occuring at this time. Major changes in the land masses and oceans could have happened. A thorough discussion of the vast topic is well beyond the scope of this web site. To continue your study you might check out the web site www.answersingenesis.com. That organization discusses many issues about creation and the flood from a Biblical perspective. Although I cannot give the site a blanket endorsement, for I certainly have not perused everything, I can tell you that there are many helpful resources including a question and answer column, books, dvd resources, and other items that pertain to your questions above.