NOAH AND HIS ARK - PART 2

In PART 1 of Noah And His Ark it was size that mattered, now we explore what we can do with it, if anything.

  Among other questions people have about the ark is; would the ark have been sea worthy? I'm not a ship builder but my Grandfather was and if he was alive today he would probably give me a great run down but as he has long since left us I'll have to investigate this one myself. To start with we have a football sized ship built of wood and was filled with animals and their food. For now lets just take the animals off and try to float this thing...

I'm only going to address the affirmative side of this debate, as the claim that it is seaworthy is the topic. The first stop in this journey is to take a look at AiG (Answers in Genesis). This was something of a hit and miss as after a short search I could only find rebuttals to skeptical blogs, and one in particular called "Feedback: Could Noah's Ark Float Without A Problem?" featuring an attempted debunking by "Froggie" who writes a blog called "A Bushy Tree" and one entry in particular called "More Lies From Ken Ham". I waded through the ad hominem attacks from both sides and, in the beginning at least, AiG seemed to have the information on their side with references for all the claims they made.

That changed quickly after breaking it down. One of the comments made was:

If the ancients couldn't handle big things, what will you do about Stonehenge, Easter Island, Egyptian pyramids, and huge obelisks? Surely, you are not suggesting aliens?

This is coming from a group of people claiming a supernatural god exists and they are poo pooing aliens. For me aliens seem to be a more believable explanation in the portrayal of a "god" than a supernatural answer. Either way this argument is a strawman as AiG has made an assumption on Froggies point. AiG also makes a strawman argument with this statement...

We are not discussing the myths of Noah’s Ark - though there are hundreds of them represented in Flood legends across the globe. Instead we are talking about the real Ark, as discussed in the Scriptures. By the way, you forgot to mention the distortions and obfuscation behind the myth of human evolution.

Even if human evolution is a myth (although evolution is seen throughout the bible) this has nothing to do with the question of the Ark. The argument from authority is also being used here suggesting that all other stories of floods and arks are wrong except for the Biblical Ark because it's part of the scriptures. A case of using the bible to prove the bible.

AiG cites the description of an unidentified ship with Kauri planks of up to forty-five feet in length...

Some of the kauri planks measured forty five feet in length by two feet in width, and the vessel appeared to be double planked suggesting that the vessel may have been built for navigation through the ice.

This is a great example of cherry picked information - the original text reads:

Unidentified. Pre-1800. The bow and portion of the starboard side of a ship more than 100 feet long was discovered by bushwalkers at South-East Cape, west from the Wilsons Promontory lighthouse in 1960. Analysis of her kauri timbers suggested they came from Queensland, Indonesia or New Zealand, whilst the iron recovered could have been manufactured in Birmingham, England before 1800. Some of the kauri planks measured forty five feet in length by two feet in width, and the vessel appeared to be double planked suggesting that the vessel may have been built for navigation through the ice.

That says to me this ship was built with both wood and iron... a big point conveniently missed by Tim Lovett, the author of this rebuttle, who cleverly omits this information to support his argument which is very misleading. The Iron Age started around 1200 B.C.E. Also, there is an assumption here to believe the Ark was double planked. One more point while I'm on this... the unidentified ship sank. Nobody can say whether it was it's maiden voyage or if it had been sailing for many, many years and the suggestion the vessel may have been built for navagation through ice also suggests it was not built for rough weather or major swells which could be the reason for it's demise.

The original blog from Tim Chaffey on AiG is "Feedback: Why are you building the Ark on Land?" which scoots around the question quite convincingly by refocusing on Jesus' sacrifice which has no baring on the Ark. I take exception to:

However, several scientific studies have shown that Noah’s Ark was built to optimal proportions to provide a perfect blend of comfort, strength, and stability.

I could only find one "scientific" study supporting the seaworthiness of the Ark which was tacked on the blog entry "Thinking Outside The Box", the link to which is another page by Tim Lovett. On this page there are links to the original study which don't work so I used my powers of Google to track down the organisations named including KACR, CRISO, MOERI and the scientist Dr Seon Won Hong. To his credit he did link to both KACR and CRISO and mentioned one was a new name of the other and now it's MOERI but neither of the links worked. The only thing I could find was the MOERI website which had no information on this study and the only information I could find on the good Dr was on creationist web sites. The experiment, from the photo, seems to be done with a scale model in a wave tank not a life sized one. The model would easily hold together but when you scale it up the pressures put on it would turn the whole thing to kindling. Perhaps somebody could prove me hypothesis.

I also did a search for any other scientific studies which prove the seaworthiness of the Ark and found... nothing.

I personally do not believe that the Ark, filled with animals, would be very seaworthy at all but I'm not sure about the evidence either way.  I'd be happy to look at any evidence that it existed let alone being seaworthy and for the sake of the next argument lets just assume that it was a real boat and could handle whatever god threw at the world.

Part 3 to come.

I write this blog because it is a passion of mine to explore the myth of god and along the way even I learn some cool stuff but it takes a lot of time and energy to write this blog.  If you enjoy reading this blog please make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on the right so I can put more time into creating a better blog.

Thank you all

Justin

GENESIS 13

Genesis 13 is a scene setting story letting the reader paint the picture in his or her own mind.

GENESIS 13

ABRAM AND LOT SEPARATE

1  So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.

2  Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

3  From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier

4  and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

"Hi Lord, this is Abram, just checking in. I have arrived with Lot and just waiting further instructions. Lot's being a pain in the ass but I think I can deal with him.

5  Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

6  But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.

7  And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

Which is why there was not enough room. Basically Abram and Lot were passive-aggressive invaders of the land.

8  So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.

9  Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

10   Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

11  So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

12  Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Worse choice ever! Well, how was Lot to know that Sodom was to be forever known as the buggering city? 

13  Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.

14  The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.

15  All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 

16  I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 

17  Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

18  So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

And the adventure begins...

GENESIS 12

 If you ever wonder into Egypt with your wife I'll give you two pieces of advice.  1 - watch out for the Syrians and 2 - read Genesis 12

GENESIS 12

THE CALL OF ABRAM

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Sounds like a good deal to me. It's like a promotion at work but with land.

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Good plan, well executed. 

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

So if you build an alter to god he will appear. Why has this never been in the news or on YouTube? I'm sure many have tried the alter building thing, even with cameras, yet no god appears so I'm wondering if was just a one off thing. Building an alter to your god for thanks is like giving your girlfriend a rose if your girlfriend was a blow up doll. Sooner or later one of the thorns is going to pop the plastic and she will disapear is a pop of idiocy. 

ABRAM IN EGYPT

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

Well, if he's not there to help he's adding to the problem...just another mouth to feed.

11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 

12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

Kind of jumping to conclusions there, aren't we? 

13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

Lying - why didn't I think of that? 

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.

15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.

16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

Wait a minute. Because they thought she was his sister and they wanted a little action, they are offering all sorts of farm animals as payment.

17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

Sounds a bit harsh as they didn't know she was a chosen one.

18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

So, the moral to this story is that you are to lie to your enemy then when they find out you lied tell them they've been punked and you get away scot free. Now that's the kind of education I want my kids to have.