UPDATE: “Laugh or else” is a category that ought to only be used by people with a sense of humor. All others just stay clear. Apparently poking fun at Ark hunters qualifies me as an angry, Bible rejecting heretic. Well, I’d like to thank all the little people who made this possible…
Since we’re talking about religion and science, let’s see what Baptists are up to.
It has to make you feel good that Liberty University- practically a Southern Baptist School and the recipient of thousands of dollars and students from trusting Southern Baptists- has employed its very own Indiana Jones, who is off to do guess what?
Guess. Really. Guess.
A Kurdish shepherd told the ark hunters that he had seen the ark, and even climbed on top of it, when he was a boy.The team hypothesizes that the ark is preserved in several pieces beneath a glacier on the mountain, and every so often the glacier recedes, exposing part of the vessel.
“That’s when he saw it as a boy,” Price said, adding that they had interviewed the shepherd and could find no reason to distrust him.
The shepherd asked for nothing in return, and agreed to lead Bright to the site where he said he had seen the ark.
Bright first climbed to the site in September. Then a team including Price, the shepherd, a mountaineer and several others made a follow-up ascent to 15,000 feet later the same month.
They found the spot, Price said, but it now is covered by an estimated 60-foot-deep pile of boulders. Price believes the landslide may have resulted from attacks against Kurdish rebels on the mountain, or perhaps from explosives that were set off to cover up the ark.
Wow. The chills are going up my spine. Almost like the first time I watched “The Search for Noah’s Ark” on tv.
Somewhere in the archives around here is a box of “Bible teaching” material that I’ve quietly managed to not use. Donated materials. Inherited material. And there’s no less than three videos on the “search” for Noah’s Ark in that box. There must be a convention somewhere of Ark hunters. The Omaha Holiday Inn? Somewhere.
It’s under a glacier. Jimmy Carter may have seen it. A Russian princess wore a piece of it around her neck. One resident climbed on it with his father, and saw stalls. It’s been seen by satellites, and pilots. It’s petrified. It’s in pieces. It’s down. It’s up. It’s in pieces. Every different sighting is different piece. (Bet you didn’t know that.)
It’s evangelicals’ version of Nessie and Sasquatch is what it is. Plus, it’s a great way to set your kids up to dump their Christianity as well. Two for the price of one.
My favorite section in bold.
Price estimated that the team needs to raise about $60,000 to pay for permission to use the site, to buy the necessary machinery and to fund about two months of work on location.Bright said a discovery would “mean so much to so many, many people worldwide.”
“Keep your ear to the road, so to speak, this summer,” he said. “Because there will be discovery. The only thing that’s holding us back is to finance the machinery that we need.”
I don’t know about keeping your ear to the road, but I’d keep my eye on my wallet. I have a feeling some of that $60,000 may wind up in the local Turkish economy. (If you don’t get this, read Bruce Feiller’s Walking the Bible and his experiences with the locals on Mt. Ararat.)
What would mean a lot to some people is one more television documentary and one more book for sale to a few thousand evangelicals.
I don’t know anyone whose faith journey is waiting for a chunk of wood with “Noah was here” carved on the side to be finally judged as worthwhile.
In fact, this sort of “prove the Bible” mentality does an outright disservice to the discussion of the Bible’s truthfulness and authority. If you aren’t saying you have to have scientific evidence to judge that the story is truly inspired by God, then what are you saying.
I see that Mr. Price gets a check from the good Baptists at Liberty University as director of their Judaic Studies department. I’m sure Jewish scholars everywhere want to get that address.
Well, to all of those who are willing to donate the $60,000 for Dr. Jones….uh Mr. Price to go Ark hunting, I’d like to suggest you send the money to me. I could actually use the money to relieve my school of my salary, live modestly and allow me to teach the Bible to my students for several years. If you need a piece of Noah’s Ark, I can probably come up with something equally impressive as Mr. Price. God may have shown me that some of the old lumber in our barn came from the Ark. Or was it the temple? I forget.
It’s good to know that Liberty University is continuing the quality of evangelical scholarship we’ve come to expect from Baptist fundamentalists. Who says America’s conservative Bible believers haven’t created a great university?
And these would be the first to condemn a Roman Catholic monastery claiming to have a piece of St. Peter’s toe.
My computer keyboard is wet from the sarcasm that is currently dripping off my monitor!
File this one under, “Ways to get others to pay for my expensive holiday vacation.”
Well, thank Jesus for global warming. Now at least that pesky glacier is out of the way!
Do you ever wish you had the fundraising skills of a Kurdish shepherd…?
It’s not just Southern Baptists that have been chasing the chimera of Noah’s Ark the LCMS`s own resident “public intellectual†John Warwick Montgomery has been hunting it for years. In fact he claims to own a piece of it.
God Bless
Steve in Toronto
The money will come as quickly as it does on a TBN telethon when 118 of 120 lines are “busy” with folks calling in their pledges. What do such “projects” say to those Jesus called “the least of these?” Finding the ark will help them a lot–yeah! Where’s my “barf bag?”
Imonk,
Two things.
I submitted a post the other day in regards to the Cardinal talking about evolution. In it I made reference to distrusting things from Rome in an admittedly sarcastic tone. (verily similar to yours now)
It was either modified and deleted by you (certainly your perogative as blogmaster) or I made some sort of technical error (also not unheard of).
Either way, two things.
1. I wish your sarcasm could be leveled at others as harshly as it is at fundementalist and specificly your fellow baptist brethren at times.
2. This sort of post insinuating that fundementalist are some how inferieor or substandard in their intelligience and logic is an example of the first person in the conversation in the coffee shop from a couple of post ago.
Now I would like to offer my own aknowledgment. I have spent the better part of this day reading up on Old Earth Creationism specificaly biblical arguments and support for why the days of creation could be long spans of time with God doining the creating outside of the evolutionary process. It makes great theological and logcial sense to me and I should not have been so quick to dismiss anyone who is not YEC. I appreciate you for opening my mind to that.
With that said, I must say I have never seen the need to search for things like the ark. The bible is a book of faith and miracles. At some point one simply has to believe.
“God may have shown me that some of the old lumber in our barn came from the Ark. Or was it the temple? I forget.”
The cross dummy. Pieces of wood always comes from the cross. :>)
Hasn’t anyone ever considered that a wooden vessel wouldn’t survive the several millenia that it supposedly has undergone? Why do people think that the Ark is somehow indestructible (or immune to decay?)
Austin:
1) Liberty University isn’t my “fellow Southern Baptist” unless you know something I don’t know. The Falwell crew may have technically joined the SBC, but their school isn’t part of the family.
2) Sarcasm isn’t a sin. It’s a writer’s tool and sometimes it’s the right one. Since I paid for this space, it’s my privilege to decide when to use it. If you wouldn’t use it and wish that I wouldn’t, I acknowledge your opinion. I don’t agree with your assessment of it.
3) I am not speaking “harshly.” I am not questioning anyone’s intelligence. If anything, I’m questioning stewardship and the wisdom of an supposedly serious academic engaging in this kind of windmill chasing.
4) Your comparison to the first person in the conversation is seriously flawed. That person stopped a conversation and lectured people with scripture. I didn’t do that.
5) My fellow “Baptist brethren” spend all their time telling everyone that their belief in inerrancy makes them wiser than others. I not only don’t agree, I think it’s demonstrable that they are making public fools of themselves.
6) I edit a lot of post around here because I moderate actively. The result is the most vigorous and generally civil conversation in the evangelical blogosphere. Nothing personal.
7) The point here is that you aren’t going to be taken seriously as a movement when your flagship universities are doing this kind of nonsense.
ms
At what point should somebody point out that the Bible does not even say that the Ark settled on Mt. Ararat, but rather, “in the mountains of Urartu,” which could be anywhere in eastern Turkey or Armenia? So much for that fastidious biblical literalism.
Anyway, this is a perfect example of fundamentalists tacitly making science the arbiter of truth, even as they claim to do the opposite. Farces such as the ark chase are just narcotic diversions to chase away the cognitive dissonance brought on by their obscurantism. Don’t peel that onion!
Do people want to know why 80% of evangelical youth apostasize? Hmm?
Did our Kurdish shepherd see the ark? No idea.
But if I could take one of your rhetorical questions and answer it:
“In fact, this sort of “prove the Bible†mentality does an outright disservice to the discussion of the Bible’s truthfulness and authority. If you aren’t saying you have to have scientific evidence to judge that the story is truly inspired by God, then what are you saying.”
What does “inspired” mean? Ask any 3 Christians and you’ll get 4 opinions. But if the Bible is to be useful, we have to agree that in some sense it’s reliable. So if Jesus goes to Jerusalem, there should be a record of a place called “Jerusalem”. And if he was crucified by Pontius Pilate, there should be a record of a Roman official named “Pontius Pilate”. And if a Jewish guy named Gamaliel has enough pull to sway the whole Sanhedrin, there should be a record of a Jewish guy named “Gamaliel” with that much pull. And, while we’re on the subject, there are records of all of the above. That’s not “proving” the Bible. But it does show that the Bible has roots in the real world, that it can’t be brushed off just because someone doesn’t believe in inerrancy. It’s like some Christians believe in 100% inerrancy with no mistakes, some anti-Christians are peddling a story of 100% errancy with no reality. But that’s a pretty easy take to disprove.
The more we can show people that it’s not just a fairy tale, the more the open-minded ones are willing to consider that it’s not just a fairy tale. And we’re under so many attacks from so many directions as being just a fairy tale that I can’t see why it’s a problem to explain to people exactly how we know it’s not that. If that means showing that “Gamaliel” is a respected Rabbi and we know it from the Talmud, then so be it. We show that the Bible belongs to the real history of the real world.
That’s all.
Did our Kurdish shepherd see the ark? I still have no idea.
Take care & God bless
Anne / WF
Their own Indiana Jones! Thanks for the laugh!!!
Anne/WF:
On one level your point is obvious. On another it’s problematic.
If it says Jesus went to Winterhaven and there is no Winterhaven, one possible interpretation is that it’s fiction. But that’s not the only interpretation. I won’t bore the discussion, but take the example of the rivers mentioned in the Garden of Eden account. It’s more likely we don’t know what the text is referring to than that it’s fiction.
This happens quite a bit in the Bible. The judgment on the “real world” doesn’t come because we actually find “it,” but because the existence of “it” is plausible when the total text is evaluated.
From other names being used, to misunderstandings of the original language, to textual variant to changes in geography and so on, there are a lot of factors in this discussion.
A person accusing the Bible of being a “fairy tale” has a lot more to do than say “We can’t find the ark. A-ha!” And the demonstrated existence of Gamaliel doesn’t mean it’s not a fairy tale. I could spend years writing historical fiction about real people in real places.
peace
ms
Imonk,
I see no difference in your first response attack attitude and the person who attacked with scripture in the “coffee house” scenario.
Both leave little room for dialogue and discussion.
How about our fellow baptist? Exclude the Southern part which I personally can take or leave. If you still consider yourself one that is? Also, perhaps your “Christian” brethren? Will that suffice? Or does the “Fallwell Crew” find themselves anathema to you b/c they insist on biblical innerancy?
At what point then is the bible innerant? Genesis 11? Mark 10? Philipians 2?
You are the one who identified it as “practicaly a Southern Baptist school.”
I find it odd that you have so much hostility towards your fellow evangelicals (I know your post-evangelical) yet you seem willing to give every Papist, liberal, and abberant theologcial postion more courtesy than them.
Strange really.
Austin,
Thanks for your contributions to our discussion, but it’s clear you aren’t here to make a positive contribution, but to accuse and taunt me personally because I’m not “your kind” of Baptist.
And why are you ranting at me about inerrancy and my hatred for evangelicals? I’m a blogger, not a seminary president.
So you’re done. Your comments will be automatically sent to the moderation que. If you can get over your shock that another Baptist doesn’t agree with you, I’ll consider allowing your comments to reappear.
I hope you find another place to participate that leaves “more room for dialogue and discussion.”
ms
What do they do when they find an ark that dates back to when they think that Noah would have set sail, but it doesn’t match any of the dimensions that the Bible gives us for the ark? Do we say it’s not the ark because it’s not the right dimensions? Do we say it is the ark but the Bible just exaggerated a little bit on the dimensions and how many animals Noah really took?
If people are interested in proving that the Bible gives us real history, I can’t imagine that the discovery of the ark is going to do much to help their case that those parts of the OT can be trusted for reliable historical and factual accounts.
James McGrath
“Do you ever wish you had the fundraising skills of a Kurdish shepherd…?”
Like many other things in life…
Location. Location. Location.
The sad part to this is it make it so much more difficult for people like Ray Vander Laan. I’ve watched two of his series and their great.
One more time with the correct words. Please delete the previous post.
The sad part to this is it makes it so much more difficult for people like Ray Vander Laan. I’ve watched two of his series and they’re great.
Side comment. I was typing while watching UK win a close game. How is it Imonk isn’t a UK basketball fan.
If they didn’t want to send the money to you, I would gladly take it to help with my education.
I’m all for the idea that it was used for firewood and barn building, so I like your idea of sending a piece of the barn out… just make sure you don’t confuse the two planks, one from the ark, the other from the temple.
Ben Wheaton
“Hasn’t anyone ever considered that a wooden vessel wouldn’t survive the several millenia that it supposedly has undergone? Why do people think that the Ark is somehow indestructible (or immune to decay?)”
Actually wood up that high in an area that cold and dry (yes dry) wood can last a very very very long time. Rot requires organic chemistry and it proceeds very very slowly in locations such as this. If this IS the correct location.
If I was a guy with a great big block of pre-finished wood, and the whole world had been destroyed, I’d probably break it apart and build a house.
Of course, should they not find anything (which is highly likely), the end of the TV special will have a cliff-hanger ending, pointing to the possibility that the avidence remains hidden under the ice.
This little twist will whet the ‘relic-hunter’ appetite and provide the first marketing impetus for funding the follow-up series.
What gets me is, if these dudes have some serious leads, why aren’t the world’s major universities and archaeological institutions funding their “research”? This would be the archaeological find of the century . .. . perhaps the serious archaeo’s realise it’s a wild goose chase?
Quote from ‘How are You Going to Fight that Fight’……..”The scripture says that the anger of man doesn’t create the righteousness of God. The way of love is far more difficult, but it is not optional for the follower of Jesus.”
Internetelias,
You and I must be reading different Internet Monks, because I see no anger, just some questioning, possible frustration and definitely humor.
Anger is when a blog blocks a whole city from posting.
PS Michael, I appreciate the moderation because of the civility it produces.
Amen on Vander Laan.
I knew that piece on Cardinal O’Connor would have ‘em climbing the walls.
Internelias: Please note the “Laugh or else” category. I assume you are “or else.”
Thanks for the psychoanalysis. Just put it on my tab.
“Jimmy Carter may have seen it”
Reason enough to disbelieve. [and he is/was SBC]
It is quite possible that Osama Bin Laudin is living in the ark, making tapes to send to his supporters. My proof? Can’t find the ark, Can’t find Bin Laudin. See! Proof positive
This reminds me of Mark Twain’s comment on the true cross. He felt Jesus was the strongest man that ever lived. After touring the Holy Land and Europe, he had seen so many fragments of the “True Cross”, that if assembled, would made the Cross the size of The Ark.
God used to build some tough trees back then. I guess the further we get from the Fall, the quicker
wood rots.
Please allow a further comment, “Who cares?” Believers believe, non-believes will not if you had video, some old wood will prove nothing. I hope they do not find a prehistoric ski lodge.
internetelias
Quote from ‘How are You Going to Fight that Fight’……..â€The scripture says that the anger of man doesn’t create the righteousness of God. The way of love is far more difficult, but it is not optional for the follower of Jesus.â€
Imonk and Anna: I do apologize. In the quote, I wasn’t going for the first sentence above….anger. In fact, I only included it to clarify the second…the one about love. Scripture says we are to ‘edify’ one another. Now, I’m seriously putting thought to the scripure…’let your answers be yes or no’…since anything said beyond those two….is too much.
Or you could use the $60,000 to support a foreign missionary family in Kathmandu, or stock a food bank, or pay for the Dish Network deluxe package for who knows how many years…..
If these folks actually found something tangible, it might rate a one-line entry on the Yahoo front page (we’re not all Google adherents) for maybe half a day and then, like blog entries, it would quickly become yesterday’s hot topic and disappear.
Remember the breathless search for the Ark of the Covenant that ended, stopped cold, outside a two-bit mud brick building in Ethiopia guarded by a solitary old guy (at minute 55 in a 1-hour documentary)? Now there’s some dogged investigation that certainly reinforced my faith.
Perhaps I’m more of an ignorance-is-bliss kind of guy, particularly when it comes to the debate over Biblical relics. One side wants to have their aha moment of Biblical confirmation, while the other seems bent on a reassessment/rewriting of history (see any Discovery network documentary on an ancient subject). It just confuses me.
I’ve been to the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem a couple of times, and the scholarly display on the evolution of scripture changed my mind on how I define inspiration instead of reinforcing the definition of biblical inerrancy I’d been raised on.
On a side note, I do have one suggestion: Perhaps you might start your “Laugh or Else” entries with a joke, seriously, so your dear readers will know they aren’t in Kansas anymore.
Glaciers are rather destructive agents. If the Ark were beneath this glacier, it probably wouldn’t be in a few pieces, but sheared into thousands of pieces.
A few years ago a guy named Cornuke led an “expedition” to a region in Iran near Mt. Ararat to find the Ark. He claims that he may have found it there. He didn’t bring along a real archeologist (he describes himself as an archeologist, but he is a former police officer and has no formal archeological training) or geologist. He does make lots of money off of his books and seminars, however.
I see this Liberty University group has someone described as an archeologist. I hope he is a real one; that could help a little. But then again, ICR and AiG have real geologists, and that hasn’t helped them keep things straight.
I’m very skeptical. Not because I don’t believe in the flood (I do) but because I don’t think it ended up on Mt. Ararat (the Bible doesn’t say it did) and because I don’t think its remains have survived.
,.On a side note, I do have one suggestion: Perhaps you might start your “Laugh or Else†entries with a joke, seriously, so your dear readers will know they aren’t in Kansas anymore.
Or iMonk could put a disclaimer on the top of the message:
“This is a joke. This is only a joke. The sarcasm contained within is not necessarily the opinion of the management. It may just be there to make you laugh. If this had been a serious comment you would have been told. This is only a joke.”
or,“Laugh or else†is a category that ought to only be used by people with a sense of humor. That would be a good idea!
iMonk…admit it, you’re just jealous of the mustache!
When I was a kid I spent part of my time in a Christian private school. I remember they used to send my home with “archaeological evidence” of the ark being discovered in various places and I would spend hours at home with my GI Joe action figures having them discover the ark under the living room furniture.
It was nice and fun until they sent me home one day with all this information about how someone had drilled a whole deeper than anyone had ever drilled into the earth and had heard the sound of the “souls in hell” screaming in pain and anguish while being eternally burned. I was in 3rd grade. I had nightmares for weeks.
Not long after that one of the teachers took me aside and told me that I needed to witness to my parents (my dad had long hair and my mom wore blue jeans) because they were headed for hell.
I went home terrified and in tears yelling at my parents for not going to heaven with me. That was about the time I got pulled out of that school, luckily, and sent to public school.
What’s funny, is what my old teachers didn’t know. That I spent all my weekend nights playing in bars as the drummer with my dad’s blues band from the time I was 9 years old. I wonder what they would have thought of that one. heh.
Hmm, iMonk, maybe we need a contest! Something on the order of Help iMonk choose a header for his humor entries. You could even have prizes!
How about Laugh or die
Or maybe If you can read this and not laugh, you have been reading too many theology books.
Or even The EPA requires me to warn you that my humor entries are under Superfund cleanup supervision.
Hmm, in passing, I actually have no problem with people who wish to look for historical evidence and even raise money for it, provided they actually follow sound methods of investigation. I do worry about the charlatans who prey on the unwary. But, I do not worry about the idealists. Sometimes idealists can be quite right, though I may not think so in this case.
I love that this is the first entry in the category “Stupid Christian Tricks”. What in the world could be next? The mind reels….
“For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.” from the Song of Bernadette
Don’t see the point in the Ark hunt, even if such an artifact could be found it’s authenticity would be impossible to prove, just like the Shroud of Turin. Real or pious fraud?
The ark explained…by Bill Cosby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0KHt8xrQkk
I have found few things that get people riled up more than having the parallels in their own faith to the supposed “hated other” pointed out to them. I heard lots of this at my former non-denominational Protestant church: “Let’s all laugh at those silly Catholics with their relics. The One True Cross. Hah! And how they suborn themselves to the priest like that. Don’t need no mediator between me and Christ. And all this go to confession stuff to keep your relationship in a state of grace. Go on!”
On your last day in such a church, you get to say things like, “Why were we asked to buy sardine tins of Holy Land Air? Why are we constantly being told ‘Touch not the Lord’s anointed’ whenever we disagree with the Big Kahuna? Why are we being told that we are in constant danger of losing our salvation? You know, with a wardrobe change this would make a pretty good Catholic church!” Just make sure you know it’s going to be your LAST day.
Point being, to paraphrase Dennis Miller, we all think we are different, unique, and wise. But in the end we all do the same stupid stuff.
I knew that piece on Cardinal O’Connor would have ‘em climbing the walls. — IMonk
Isn’t there a saying somewhere about “Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable?” Sounds like the latter to me. And it’s more spectacular if your “Afflicting” can make their heads explode.
It was nice and fun until they sent me home one day with all this information about how someone had drilled a whole deeper than anyone had ever drilled into the earth and had heard the sound of the “souls in hell†screaming in pain and anguish while being eternally burned. I was in 3rd grade. I had nightmares for weeks. — Daniel
Ah, yes. The “Hell Hole” hoax. I heard “Rumor Rich” Buhler (radio talk show host in the Eighties) lose it on the air when all his callers wanted to talk about “was this cockamamie story about some Russian scientists who drilled a hole into Hell.” AFTER he’d tracked it down and exposed it as a hoax to those very same callers!
What’s funny, is what my old teachers didn’t know. That I spent all my weekend nights playing in bars as the drummer with my dad’s blues band from the time I was 9 years old. I wonder what they would have thought of that one. heh. — Daniel
See my comment to IMonk above.
I love that this is the first entry in the category “Stupid Christian Tricksâ€. What in the world could be next? — Katie
A LOT. I’m looking forward to future entries on this topic.
Don’t see the point in the Ark hunt… — Memphis Aggie
You don’t? Look at it this way:
ARK-OLOGY! Just like UFOlogy or Extreme Cryptozoology, Except CHRISTIAN (TM)!
Find Noah’s Ark on Ararat, Prove Young Earth Creationism, and Finally Have that Absolute Proof You Can Rub In The Faces of All Those Heathens! HAW! HAW! HAW!
Evangelical veneration of relics.
“Now, superstition is the substance of things we deem important, and faith is the evidence that those things aren’t.” (Opinions 11:1)
“Now, the origin and root of this evil, has been, that, instead of discerning Jesus Christ in his Word, his Sacraments, and his Spiritual Graces, the world has, according to its ‘custom, amused itself with his clothes, shirts, and sheets, leaving thus the principal to follow the accessory.” (John Calvin, “Treatise on Relics”)
I’ve long felt that this kind of “archaeology” owes lots more to P.T. Barnum than to anything (or anyone) who actually practices real archaeology, etc.
Willoh said on 11 Feb 2009 at 9:46 am, “It is quite possible that Osama Bin Laudin is living in the ark, making tapes to send to his supporters. My proof? Can’t find the ark, Can’t find Bin Laudin. See! Proof positive.”
Funny! Thanks for that humor.
Someone mentioned G.K. Chesterton’s book, “The Everlasting Man.” I see you can read the whole back at http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/chesterton/everlasting/content.htm if anyone is interested.
what if there is no ark and it was an elaborate story to make a point? jesus told parables too eh? should we look for the wise mans house upon the rock somewhere in the mediterranean? can we use the gospels for clues to its location?
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/chesterton/everlasting/conclusion.htm
I skipped right to Chesterton’s concluding chapter. Wow, he has a way with words! I can see I would need to focus well to read him well. Currently, I am rereading C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” plus I just started a HUGE book about Abe Lincoln and I am working my way through Kate Douglas Wiggins’ old books. She has a nice sense of humor and is not too “preachy” in these late 1800s,early 1900s novels. So, it may be a while before I get to Chesterton, though I have known for some time that I need to know him better. I know he influenced Lewis.
I think there’s something to be said of people’s desire to have some thing to touch, grasp, gaze at, or meditate upon.
So much of our belief and faith is intangible, that perhaps it is only human nature to try and put a thing to it…Something to point at and say we touched an object which someone holy touched.
Those Israelites were always building altars and setting up remembrance stones. I don’t think we’re too different.
People spend thousands to go to Israel to walk where Jesus walked…to visit the prominent sites mentioned in the Bible.
I have serious doubts that the Ark is there…and even more that the stories of miscellaneous shepherds are true.
If it were the Ark, or something which could be passed off as one, some enterprising govt. official would have found a way to make money off of it already.
Dear Michael:
How dumb do you think Randall Price (B.A. Texas State Univ., Th.M. Dallas Theological Sem., in OT and Semitic Languages; Ph.D. from the Univ. of Texas at Austin, in Middle Eastern Studies with a concentration in Hebrew and Arachaeology) is?
If only he knew with 100% certainty, like you do, that a search for Noah’s Ark on Mount Sinai has no more chance of success that a search for Nessie or Sasquatch, he could save $60,000 and avoid eventually dashing the hopes of his supporters.
If only Dr. Price had some evidence, like you do, that the accounts of Berosus (200’s B.C.) about the remains of a ship “in the mountains of the Gordyaeans in Armenia” are altogether fictitious. Then this scholar from the fringe – the same fringe where one finds Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. H. Willmington, and Dr. Tim LaHaye (all three are on the Board of Reference of World of the Bible Ministries) – could safely stay at home, and never conduct this, or any other, archaeological investigation that has a low chance of finding something important.
I don’t for one second believe that someone now living played on top of Noah’s Ark. I think that Noah’s Ark, if there is anything left of it, could be anywhere in the Urartu Mountains. I have a feeling that I would sigh and wince a lot if I read Dr. Price’s books. But what is the objection if Dr. Price returns from Mount Sinai believing that there is something on the mountain that merits a closer look? Quite a few significant archaeological discoveries have been made at sites which had previously been declared devoid of interest.
Even in Egypt, where sites are accessible and excavations have been ongoing for generations, new discoveries are still being made. If the line “All earlier attempts have failed to find anything substantial” fails spectacularly in Egypt, there is a chance that it may similarly fail at Mount Sinai. And it is such a chance that justifies many archaeological investigations. Maybe someone should tell the conservative archaeologists currently conducting digs that they should just leave the job to atheists and liberals, and stop trying to prove the Bible.
In reference-books from the mid-1800′s, scholarly authors assure their readers that the chance of finding New Testament papyri is practically nil. It was a sensible statement. Nevertheless, Grenfell and Price proceeded to find the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. If only you had been there to advise their sponsors at the Egypt Exploration Fund that the money for their unlikely-to-succeed trip would be better spent elsewhere.
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.