Noah's Ark Historical Fact, Metaphor or Myth?
Dutch full-sized Noah's Ark finally opens doors
Debate still rages whether the story of Noah's Ark is an historical event, a metaphor or just a myth. Read below to find out if remains of the Ark have really been found in Turkey, whether archaeological evidence proves the occurrence of a biblical flood.
This lens will present evidence and viewpoints from both sides and also allow you to give your point of view.
Whatever your viewpoint Noah's Ark is one of the most vivid, fascinating and well-known stories in the World
Hot News : New Life Size Noah's Ark being built in Kentucky
Dutchman Builds a Noah's Ark Replica
A devout Dutchman Johan Huibers has spent two years and a million euros rebuilding Noah's Ark after a dream that the Netherlands was suddenly submerged under water.
He has built a half-size working replica of Noah's Ark in Schagen, Netherlands---the ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.
While the biblical boat was built from "gopher wood", the Dutch version is made from a mixture of American cedar and Norwegian pine over a steel hull.
Full Size Noah's Ark Built in Holland by Johan Huibers - Dordrecht, Netherlands
This will finally allow people to get some kind of realistic estimate of how many animals could be stored may be a bit short of the 87 millions species known today of course.
Religious Explanations for How They Saved all the Animals
There seems to be two schools of thought, one that Noah's Ark was really huge and could carry all the species and two that only kinds were brought on board.
- Noah chose young animals to save on food and space.
- Only Kinds were saved, eg one type of Elephant and all others evolved from this.
- Animals were dormant or in hibernation on board.
- Water was held in a canopy above the earth.
- Noah's Ark was huge as big as any ship constructed until the Titanic. There is much analysis about how this could be done without the benefit of a steel frame.
- Many cultures have a flood legend that cannot be a coincidence.
Scientific/Practical Objections to Noah's Ark - Could one boat hold all of the Earth's Animals?
- Impossible to Carry Enough Food
- Too Many Species
- Not Enough Human Helpers
- How did Animals Get from Australia?
- No evidence of a simultaneous World Wide Flood in Geological records
- Two of each Animal or Seven
- Two of Each Animal not Enough for a Species to Survive
- Where did all the Water Come from and Go To? The water covered every mountain, that is 5 miles high of water! Imagine 5 miles in your head.
- What About the Dinosaurs? The largest dinosaur would have pretty much filled the ark on its own.
- Egyptians have no record of a flood at that date.
- No evidence that post-flood humans are better.
- Bitumen/pitch necessary to waterproof the ark was supposedly formed by the flood (Flood Geology)
- The number of fossils already found and the extrapolation of how many animals there once were (only a minute fraction of creatures are ever fossilized) is too great a number for them all to have been killed in the flood.
- Since everyone would have Noah as an ancestor, so Chinese, Africans,Eskimos etc have since evolved from this family, all the different languages would have to have developed in a very short time a few thousand years, this is much faster than is posited by the Theory of Evolution.
- When the animals were liberated from the Ark what did the carnivores live on without wiping out their normal prey?
- They could not have breathed at an altitude of 5 miles
They would needed oxygen masks, it would have been very cold but of course with all those animals heat would not have been a problem.
- There are 5 Extinction Events to be found in the Fossil Column
We know of 5 great extinctions events and not just one Noarchian catastrophe.
- Plant Life would have also been devastated
Much of the plant life would have been swept away or covered in mud or just rotten. What would the animals have eaten.
Is Noah's Ark Fact or Fiction? - Noah's Ark Fact , Metaphor or Myth?
Vote on this hotly debated subject. Complicated calculations are made as to how many animals could be packed into an ark, how much food they would need , how much dung would be produced etc. Activists are now planning to build a full scale Noah's Ark which could help answer certain questions.
Noah's Ark what do you believe?
Noah's Ark Found Again - A Very Convincing Video
(This story has disappeared from the news)
A GROUP of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers said Monday they believe they may have found Noah's Ark - four thousand meters up a mountain in Turkey.
The team say they recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4,800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.
The team 15-strong team from Noah's Ark Ministries International
Normally evidence for Noahs Ark is confined to fuzzy photos but this video is very detailed of course it will be necessary to prove that it's not just a wooden building.
However I found this report 'Difficulties with a number of issues'
Dr. Price, who is director of the Center for Judaic Studies at the conservative Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., was the archaeologist on the Chinese-led team in 2008 when this alleged discovery was first made. He says he has "difficulties with a number of issues related to the evidence at hand."
Price declined to elaborate. However, a leaked email from Price - which he confirms that he wrote - shows that he has reason to believe that a group of local Kurdish men trucked wood up to the mountain and staged an elaborate hoax for the Chinese team.
A group of Kurdish workers "are said to have planted large wood beams taken from an old structure in the Black Sea area (where the photos were originally taken) at the Mt. Ararat site. During the summer of 2009 more wood was planted inside a cave at the site. The Chinese team went in the late summer of 2009 (I was there at the time and knew about the hoax) and was shown the cave with the wood and made their film,
I've been trying to get hard facts on this story but everyone is rehashing the same reports. A number of skeptical reports have emerged however, namely the planks seem to be in too good a condition, they piles of hay haven't even collapsed and apparently there are spiders webs to be seen. Anyway what is sure is that his story will run and run.
I've looked at the video again and while much of it looks authentic at a certain moment they pick up some rope which doesn't fall to dust but looks like newish rope.
Noah's Ark Discovery Latest News - Noah's Ark Timeline
Great announcements get made and then everything goes silent, this news list will attempt to rectify this
- April 25th 2010
Chinese Evangelists announce with %99.9% certitude the discovery of Noah's Ark and actually have video evidence plus samples. The video evidence clearly shows a wooden structure frozen in ice. This sensational news is headlined on Fox News and tours the Internet like wildfire. Surprisingly several Creationist groups are skeptical.
- April 28th 2010
Dr. Randall Price, head of Judaic Studies at Liberty University, had been a cohort of the Noah's Ark Ministries International team until two years ago. Claims that these wooden structures had been constructed by Kurdish workers and that the wood came from an ancient wooden building near the Black Sea.
- April 29th 2010
Chinese Evangelists deny that it is a hoax
- April 30th 2010
Dr. Randall Price announces that he is due to lead a rival expedition which knows the actual whereabouts of the Ark.
- May 4th 2010
I can find NO new report at all anywhere, what has happened to this story?
- 11May10
What seems to have killed this story was that it was greeted with sceptism by the Creationist community , many of whom it must be said have "investments" in other Noah's Ark locations
- 12May10
Just been to http://www.noahsarksearch.net/eng/ that's Noah's Ark Ministries International Limited (NAMI) and they are still adamant that no one could have secretly carried so much wood that high never mind constructed the wood so deep in the ice. Further they claimed that Randall Price have had only passed 2 weeks with them and not actually climbed the mountain. My only criticism would be that there wasn't much information on the website, why only a few photos why not hundreds.
- Story Just Disappears
No matter how hard I Google this discovery has just disappeared. Nobody talking about it all.
Noah's Ark Discovery Links
There have been several recent expeditions to Mount Ararat, Turkey which have followed repeated claims to have found remains of the Ark high in the mountains of Turkey
- Noah's Ark Search
The Historic Search for Noah's Ark - The Search for Noah's Ark
The Search For Noah's Ark - Has anyone discovered Noah's Ark? - ChristianAnswers.Net
A look at the claims of the history of the Ark of Noah, and those who have claimed to have seen it. Excerpt:- In the 1980s, "ark-eology" was given an air of respectability with the active participation of former NASA astronaut James Irwin in expedit - Noah's Ark - Fact not Fiction
The story of the search for Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat by Ray Anderson, with Violet Cummings, Eryl Cummings, Lawrence Hewitt, Ed Davis, and Jim Irwin.
Noah's Ark Sceptics Links
- Problems with a Global Flood
A list of questions which the story of Noah's Ark and a global flood leave unanswered and probably unanswerable, such as: How did all the fish survive? and, When did granite batholiths form? - History of the Collapse of Flood Geology and a Young Earth
History of the Collapse of "Flood Geology" and a Young Earth - Noah's Ark - The Skeptic's Dictionary
The animals would have been too heavy - Creationist "Flood Geology" Versus Common Sense
Reasons why "Flood Geology" was abandoned in the mid-1800s by Christian men of science by Edward T. Babinski
An Explanation for Flood Stories
Many cultures have flood legends, is it because they like us found fossils of what were plainly sea creatures high on mountain sides?
If so not knowing anything about plate tectonics and that mountains were formed by colliding plates the only conclusion they could draw was there must have been a great flood high enough to cover the mountains.
Gilgamesh Epic Flood Story
The gods shook like beaten dogs, hiding in the far corners of heaven,
Ishtar screamed and wailed:
"The days of old have turned to stone:
We have decided evil things in our Assembly!
Why did we decide those evil things in our Assembly?
Why did we decide to destroy our people?
We have only just now created our beloved humans;
We now destroy them in the sea!"
All the gods wept and wailed along with her,
All the gods sat trembling, and wept.
The Flood lasts for seven days and seven nights, and finally light returns to the earth. Utnapishtim opens a window and the entire earth has been turned into a flat ocean; all humans have been turned to stone. Utnapishtim then falls to his knees and weeps.
Utnapishtim's boat comes to rest on the top of Mount Nimush; the boat lodges firmly on the mountain peak just below the surface of the ocean and remains there for seven days
Noah's Ark as a Metaphor
Noah's Ark is a bit difficult to explain as metaphor, what is the lesson for us to learn? It is also appears to imply that God is not infallible that he got things wrong. Many religious people find it hard to imagine that that all the pre-flood humans were evil even the children. There is also the odd story about Noah getting drunk and then banishing and punishing his son for uncovering his nakedness.
Please leave your comments in the feedback section
James Irwin Astronaut and his Search for Noah's Ark
On two occasions James led expeditions to Mount Ararat in Turkey in search of Noah's Ark. In 1982, he reached the 16,946-foot summit but fell on the glacier, suffering severe leg and face lacerations. He had to be carried down on horseback.
A year later, he surveyed the summit by airplane, looking down for possible remains of the Ark, which according to the Book of Genesis, came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
"It's easier to walk on the moon," he said. "I've done all I possibly can, but the Ark continues to elude us."
Ron Wyatt Controversial Discoverer of Noah's Ark - Claimed to have found many Biblical Artefacts and Sites
Ronald Eldon Wyatt was a self-described archaeologist (he had no qualifications or training and held no professional position in the field) and author who claimed to have discovered many significant biblical sites and artifacts. His claims are dismissed by scientists, historians, biblical scholars.
He claimed to have found an Egyptian Chariot Wheel from the parting of the Red Sea, the Ark of the Covenant, the site of the Tower of Babel, the hole where Jesus's Cross was implanted but what really finally infuriated the religious community was his claim to have traces of Christ's blood. He knew it was Christ's blood because when it was analyzed there were only 50% of the normal chromosomes. Unfortunately as was usual with Ron's discoveries he was unable to provide any proof. This was usually explained to be a conspiracy by the Israeli government.
See a devastating critique of Ron Wyatt and his discoveries by the otherwise Creationist website answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i4/report.asp
An excerpt from the above:-
Ron Wyatt
A nurse anaesthetist from Madison, Tennessee, Ron is a self-styled 'biblical archaeologist' who claims to have found virtually every archaeological site of interest to Christians. His alleged 'finds' are nothing short of astonishing and include:
* The true site of the crucifixion
* The Ark of the Covenant
* The true Mount Sinai (with a plaque announcing it as such)
* The site of Korah's earthquake
* The true site of the Israelites' Red Sea crossing, also with a marker 'built by King Solomon' as a memorial
* Chariot wheels from Pharaoh's drowned army
* The actual rock Moses struck to release water
* Noah's Ark (the site discussed here, for which he has been the prime promoter)
* Noah's grave
* Noah's house
* Mrs Noah's grave (containing a fortune-her gold and jewelry)
* Moses' stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, held together with golden hinges.
** Jesus's Blood (search on YouTube)
Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study
This book on Noah's Ark is a one-of-a-kind compendium of information about animal-care methods, food-preservation techniques, animal-handling techniques, etc. It discusses in great detail how 8 people could have cared for 16,000 animals using pre-scientific technology. Whether or not the reader believes in the Bible or not, he or she can be fully confident that my book conveys substantive information about the workability of Noah's Ark and its inhabitants.
Noah's Drunkenness - Noah was saved because he was the Only Good Man on Earth then he gets Drunk!
After the flood Noah grew a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the disarray of his father, and told his two brethren without... And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret was it meant to explain the creation of the different races and why some had become servants or slaves of the others (justification), read more here Genesis 9:21-25
Sightings of Noah's Ark - Debunking Durupinar
Durupinar is a ship shaped rock formation which is located 18.25 miles south of Mount Ararat at an altitude of 6,525 feet above sea level. Ron Wyatt had no formal training in archeology or in geology, which is a shame since Turkish geologists now believe that the Durupinar site is nothing but a geologic formation. Seventh Day Adventist Ron Wyatt was a nurse anesthetist (a CRNA) from Madison, Tennessee, and "Indiana Jones"-type adventurer who was extremely charismatic but who also had a wild side. This wild side enabled Ron to interpret ferrite nodes as rusty bolts and brackets, to claim that he could see petrified timbers and so and so on.
For a comprehensive debunking follow www.andrews.edu/archaeology/archive/merling/newpage21.htm
People have claimed to have walked inside Noah's Ark which still contained dung, there are many other claims and sightings but most suffer from the "Loch Ness" problem ie supposed photographs/artefacts etc have disappeared, witnesses cannot be contacted etc
Did Other People Survive the Deluge?
I am sure there is a passage of the Bible which mentions "Other people" or implies "Other people" survived the great flood, is that my imagination or does any one know the passage?
Life Size Noah's Ark Replica in Hong Kong
What Was the Name of Mrs Noah? - Noah's Family the 8 people on board
Her name is unfortunately not mentioned in the Bible her children were Shem, Ham, and Japheth there is a Jewish tradition that her name was Na'amah. Noah's father was Lamech son of Methuselah.
The 8 people on board are Noah and his three sons and their respective wives.
According to Wikipedia
In the Book of Jubilees, known to have been in use from the late 2nd century BC, the names of the wives of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth are as follows:
* Wife of Noah - Emzara, daughter of Rake'el, son of Methuselah
* Wife of Shem - Sedeqetelebab
* Wife of Ham - Ne'elatama'uk or Na'eltama'uk
* Wife of Japheth - 'Adataneses
Biblical Facts about Noah's Ark
Facts derived from the Bible
Age
Noah was 600 when he went into the Ark and 601 when it was all over, he died aged 950.
Who was on the Ark
Noah and his 3 sons and their 4 wives.
Date: 2348BC
According to the King James Version of the Bible, the Flood was 1656 years after Creation, which according to Bishop Usher was 4004BC. This gives a date of 2348 BC. (as a point of reference this is roughly the start of the 6th Dynasty in Egypt).
Birth Of Abraham 1906 BC
So 400 years or so after the flood the earth is already populated by Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites,Chinese and so on this is not a very long period.
Dimensions
According to Genesis 6:15
the Ark's dimensions were at least 135 meters long (300 cubits), 22.5 meters wide (50 cubits), and 13.5 meters high (30 cubits). It was not until the 19th century that mankind constructed a larger ship.
And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
Shape
The Ark was not built to go anywhere so it was rather a dull rectangular block with one door and one window
Materials
Gopher wood (not satisfactorily identified) and pitch to seal joints
Flood duration
Rain falls for 40 days
the water rises 150 days
The ark rests on the mountains
the water recedes for 150 days
Noah's Ark Gifts
Gethsemane Gardens , New Zealand, Noah's Ark Replica
The ark includes a chapel where couples can marry.
Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty is a modern-day Noah instructed by God to build an Ark.
The film is a gentle comedy.
Steve Carell plays the Noah character and Morgan Freeman plays God.
The animal scenes caused this to be the most expensive comedy ever.
Noah's Ark Movie1999 - Starring John Voight and Mary Steenburgen
This was originally a 3 episode mini-series for TV. The movie was heavily criticized for amongst other things introducing Lot anachronistically.
Noah's Ark Movie 1929
(image Wikipedia Commons)
Noah's Ark is a 1928 American movie directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Darryl F. Zanuck. It starred George O'Brien and Dolores Costello.
The film has the most realistic and moving flood scenes which have never been bettered. So real in fact that three extras drowned and Dolores Costello caught pneumonia. a young John Wayne played an extra.
Pangaea the Super Continent
If you look at a World map you can see that Africa and South America would fit together. The fact they were together can be traced by the similarity of the geology and the type of fossils which are found where the continents previously touched.
Continental drift and plate tectonics caused the break up of the super-continent.
The Americas and Europe are still moving apart very slowly today
.
The single enormous ocean which surrounded Pangaea is known as Panthalassa.
There were other super-continents before Pannotia and before that Rodinia.
Image from Wikimedia Commons by User:Kieff
Noah's Ark Animal Rehabilition Center and Children's Care Home
The Children care for the animals and the animals care for the children
Noah's Ark is a rehabilitation center for animals and a group home for children from birth to 18 years old. The non-profit facility is home to over 1,000 animals and is licensed by the State of Georgia to provide residential care for up to 24 children.
The wildlife from the rehabilitation center and the children from the Children's Care Home play a vital role for each other. The children participate in "pet therapy," nurturing the baby wildlife as the animals are rehabilitated in hopes of eventually being returned to their natural habitat. This is important because many of the children have been abused or abandoned and may have a hard time relating to people. They're able to learn to care for the animals that, in turn, are receiving much needed affection and attention.
Visit them here www.noahs-ark.org
2012 Movie Uses Noah's Ark Theme - Doomsday in 2012
2012 is the fatal date predicted by a number of cultures as the end of the world. It is an Apocalyptic Date for the Mayan Calendar.
Ancient Mediterranean flood mystery solved
Research has revealed details of the catastrophic Zanclean flood that refilled the Mediterranean Sea more than five million years ago.
The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way into the cut-off and desiccated Mediterranean basin.
The researchers say that a 200km channel across the Gibraltar strait was carved out by the floodwaters.
Their findings, published in Nature, show that the resulting flood could have filled the basin within two years.
The team was led by Daniel Garcia-Castellanos from the Research Council of Spain (CSIC).
Full story here
Noah's Ark Was Round According to a New Discovery
January 2010
A translation of a 3700 year old cuneiform tablet by a British Museum Expert Irving Finkel reveals that the original Noah's Ark was a Giant Round Craft made out of bitumen covered reeds. Noah's Ark it has been claimed was based on Babylonian Legends learned by Hebrews in Exile. Atram-Hasis was the name of this King ordered by God to save his family from a flood by building an Ark. Everyone agrees that the Ark didn't like a ship need any navigational ability it just needed to stay afloat. The Tablet has been in private possession for many years.
Once again the Bible and Bible stories are news.
Noahs Ark by Edward Hicks
Image: WikiCommons
Conclusions
Arkologists produce complex theories about how big the Ark could have been quoting 522 railway box-cars, that instead of every species there were kinds, that animals were young, semi dormant, sometimes invoking that the fact that God could do anything he wanted.
At this point skeptics ask why couldn't God have simply started again without such a complex mechanism.
Whatever the case this debate won't end any time soon. If remains of the Ark can be found that will be sensational news and a stunning confirmation of the inerrancy of the Bible. Don't go away!
(Photo of Durupinar claimed to be the fossilized Noah's Ark)
Two Versions of Noah's Ark in the Bible
This is why you get one pair of each animal and 7 pairs of each animal contradiction
Other differences:-
Was a Dove or a Raven sent out.
Did the floods last 40 days or 150 days
Did Noah sacrifice any of his animals.
One version has more technical details, size of the ark
One version names Noah's sons.
The two versions of Genesis are called the "Priestly" and "Yahwist" accounts where God is named either Elohim or YAHWEH.
When did you first become interested in Noah's Ark?
Admit it whatever your belief it is an intriguing story.
Have you read any of the books, the feasibility studies?