Noah's Ark?

Every few years a story like this one appears in the press about Evangelicals who think they’ve found Noah’s Ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey.

Believe me, I’d love for this one to pan out. I’d love to see the gents in question get together a competent expedition, get the necessary permissions, go to the site, and bring back solid proof of Noah’s Ark.

But I’m not holding my breath.

We don’t have, and never have had, any guarantee that Noah’s Ark or identifiable pieces of it have survived the ages. In fact, if I were Noah, one of the first things I would do after emerging from the Ark–before even planting a vineyard–would be to dismantle the Ark for building materials. In a world with four men, no chainsaws, and no lumberyards, the Ark could be too valuable for its raw materials to simply leave in one piece for future generations.

All the guys the article talks about really have (at best) is some satellite images showing some kind of wooden structures on the mountain (and there is even dispute about whether the location described by Genesis corresponds to the modern Mt. Ararat). Who is to say at this point that they won’t go up there and find the ruins of a few huts that are clearly post-diluvian. In fact, if they find anything, that’s probably what they’re going to find.

While I wish them well, the gents’ getting all this advance publicity worries me. If they fail (as they are likely to), it can embarrass the Christian cause. The worst of all worlds would be for them to go up, retrieve some wood that they loudly proclaim to be proof of Noah’s Ark, only to have the "proof" fall apart under laboratory examination.

Let’s pray that doesn’t happen.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

4 thoughts on “Noah's Ark?”

  1. ya i think your whole idea about noahs ark is wrong i mean i dont know a whole lot about it but i am a christian and i believe that it is true and by the way they have found proof

  2. “i think your *whole* idea about noahs ark is wrong” Then you must believe it never existed, since Jimmy evidently believes that it did.

    “i believe that it is true” That conflicts with what I quoted above.

    “they have found proof” Who are *they*? What did *they* find proof of? What is this *proof*?

  3. A lack of information has never stopped anyone from talking about facts…having said this, in

    regards to the ARK, much could be made of a satillite image of it that was of the same rsolution that can be had of anyone in americas home,I have looked at my pool drain and could see the holes in the cover…the thing on the moutain is over 1000 feet long… if it is a rock show everyone it is a rock…or explain how national security is at risk if we all see this special rock…and why is my pool drain somthing that can be looked at by anyone????

  4. For the sake of the debate, lets say that they found a REALLY, REALLY big boat. It is imbossible to take all species two by two. Lets look at some numbers of KNOWN species.

    287,655 plants

    1.5 million fungi

    10,000 lichens

    1,190,200 invertebrates

    58,808 vertebrates

    5-10 million bacteria

    1.5 million

    Grand total = 8,046,663 (low estimate)

    Two by two = 16,093,326

    Must have been a really huge boat equipped with a modern lab to house the bacteria and fungi….

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