Expedition to search for Noah's ark

digital goldfish

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Thought this was of interest. Apoogies if it's in the wrong forum.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/26/noah.ark.ap/index.html

An expedition is being planned for this summer to the upper reaches of Turkey's Mount Ararat where organizers hope to prove an object nestled amid the snow and ice is Noah's Ark.
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my favourite quote:

Geologists say even though there is evidence of a flood in Mesopotamia in Sumerian times, it is not possible for a ship to make landfall at an altitude as high as Mount Ararat.
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Sadly, i don't think it'll stop these people wasting thousands in research money to explore their woo woo ideas!
 
Curses, why didn't i think of that. Perhaps Nasa is secretly funding this mission, using Van Daniken's secret information, and David Icke, acting as the Sherpa for the trip!
 
Check this bit.
We are not excavating it. We are not taking any artifacts. We're going to photograph it and, God willing, you're all going to see it
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As slashdot pointed out, photographic evidence is virtually impossible to fake, so what more proof would they need? :rolleyes:
 
The sad part is that CNN and FOX (and probably other news orgs) carried the story.

I think "expedition to find Noah's ark in Rosie O'Donnel's butt crack" to be just as newsworthy.
 
what if

Just a thought, people: What if a large ship really is found in that glacier on Ararat? What then? What would win out, cries of planted evidence and foul play, or some deep soul searching? If a ship is discovered at that elevation, could it be anything other than a direct and physical validation of the Bible? Let's face it, if the Ark exists on Ararat today, then the Bible is no longer a sceptics worst enemy, is it?
 
Re: what if

alwayscurious said:
Just a thought, people: What if a large ship really is found in that glacier on Ararat? What then? What would win out, cries of planted evidence and foul play, or some deep soul searching? If a ship is discovered at that elevation, could it be anything other than a direct and physical validation of the Bible? Let's face it, if the Ark exists on Ararat today, then the Bible is no longer a sceptics worst enemy, is it?
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Problem is that even (some) christians are now backtracking on the ark story and are realising the fundamental absurdity of it.

I know some christians who would be as shocked as anyone to find an ark relic.

It's really only the young earthers and biblical literalists who still believe the ark story as it stands.

I don't think the bible is the skeptics worst enemy. In many ways, as science progresses, it is a skeptics best friend.
Before the advancements made by science (evolution, copernican revolution etc) it would have been unneccesary to add the labels 'young earther' or 'biblical literalist' to a christian believer. It would have been taken as read. Now christians (at least,IMO, the more enlightened ones) have abandoned some of the excesses of the bible in favour of more easily defended positions.
 
Diogenes said:
Of course, no one points out, that if they really did validate the story of Noah's Ark, it would serve to demonstrate what a cruel, evil SOB God really is...
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In the version of the flood story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Jupiter is being completely arbitrary and capricious. No nonsense about justice.
 
Let's assume they DO find an "ark" on the mountain.

Does this prove the Bible is true? Sadly, no, it doesn't.

But wait! You say, Why wouldn't it?

Well, becuase the Bible is only one place that offers flood legends. Mesopotamian religions (of which we have written records far older than the oldest biblical accounts) told the story of Untapishtim (spelling may be slightly off here), which is very similar to Noah's account (although his god was more reasonable, telling Unta to take not just animals but also one of each type of craftsman...a god that respected knowledge, how refreshing!). There may be more, although Untapish's story is the only one I am familiar with, and I reclal it clearly because of the smililarities with the Biblical account.

As an interesting side note, many of the biblical legends and stories are very similar to much older Mesopotamian myths: Untapishtim and Noah, Gilgamesh and Adam/Eve, etc. In fact, the oldest writing ever found to date contains the story of Gilgamesh in the garden of paradise. When one considers that the Jews were held captive by the Babylonians for several hundred years before the first written accounts of biblical stories surfaced, it is highly suggestive.
 
If a ship is discovered at that elevation, could it be anything other than a direct and physical validation of the Bible?
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Well assuming we can prove it is boat up there, then you'd have to prove how it got there.

It could have been dragged up there, built in situ, plonked there more recently (even if it is old), or the unfortunate outcome of unreported highly successful pre-historic hot-air balloon.

Even (as others observed) floated up in a flood unrelated to your bible, or for that matter any bible.
 
Huntsman said:
Let's assume they DO find an "ark" on the mountain.

Does this prove the Bible is true? Sadly, no, it doesn't.

But wait! You say, Why wouldn't it?

Well, becuase the Bible is only one place that offers flood legends...
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In Metamorphoses, there is a flood but no ark.

Deucalion ("Noah") and his wife survive by going to the top of the highest mountain.

Afterward land life is miraculously restored with the help of the goddess Themis.

So if no ark is found, that proves Ovid was right! :p
 
Just a thought, people: What if a large ship really is found in that glacier on Ararat? What then? What would win out, cries of planted evidence and foul play, or some deep soul searching? If a ship is discovered at that elevation, could it be anything other than a direct and physical validation of the Bible? Let's face it, if the Ark exists on Ararat today, then the Bible is no longer a sceptics worst enemy, is it?
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What if...

What if they find a boat, but it is only big enough for a couple of drunk sailors and a pair of hamsters?

"IF" they find anything...that hasn't been supressed by atheists, the Turkish government, spirited away by Aliens, or hidden by God because the time is not yet ripe to put flight to the skeptics, you than have to prove it is an (the?) Ark, and that it coud hold a cargo of the size and scope indicated by the bible, etc.

Finding "something" is only the first step in the "what if" chain of deduction and proof...

What, for example if they find a 57' T Bird up there? Or Judge Crater, for that matter?
 
Of course the mountain in Turkey today known as Ararat has no known connection to the "mountains of Ararat" quoted in Genesis.

These people might as well be searching for the golden fleece in aisle 12 at KMart.
 
Re: what if

alwayscurious said:
Just a thought, people: What if a large ship really is found in that glacier on Ararat? What then? What would win out, cries of planted evidence and foul play, or some deep soul searching? If a ship is discovered at that elevation, could it be anything other than a direct and physical validation of the Bible?
Click to expand...


>>If they find the Ark, wouldn't it be cool if they found some dinosaur bones in a stall also? That would really break some brains.

alwayscurious said:
Let's face it, if the Ark exists on Ararat today, then the Bible is no longer a sceptics worst enemy, is it?
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My problem with the bible is that it is written by people, and they are almost uniformly deluded, greedy liars.
 
US spy satelliates can read the license plate on a moving car....

NSA (with "W" in the lead) hasn't released any photos of the Ark.

I rest my case.
 
Virgil said:
the Dells rock!!!
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Here's the only rock song I know of about the Dells:

"Dream Vacation" (by the Gear Daddies)

Been saving now for over a year
Let's pack the kids get outta here
We'll leave behind our troubles for a week
We'll borrow the pop-up from Phyllis and Steve
Just tell the boss I gotta leave
Be the best week of our lives as I can tell
We'll take our dream vacation in the Dells

We'll see the robot world and the water show
Go anywhere you wanna go
Circus world Museum in Baraboo
We'll play mini-golf at the Jellystone
And we'll finally see that house of foam
And if the kids wanna buy a t-shirt what the hell
It's our dream vacation in the Dells

And at night when the kids is all asleep
Then off to the lounge for a nightcap we can sneak
I know our lives they ain't the stuff of dreams
But for one full week we can live like kings and queens

So let's board the dogs lock the door
We'll roll down Interstate 94
Be the best week of our lives I can tell
We'll take our dream vacation in the Dells

And at night when the kids is all asleep
Then off to the lounge for a nightcap we can sneak
I know our lives they ain't the stuff of dreams
But for one full week we can live like kings and queens

So let's board the dogs lock the door
We'll roll down Interstate 94
Be the best week of our lives as I can tell
We'll take our dream vacation in the Dells
Gonna take our dream vacation in the Dells
 
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