© 06 Colin Melbourne
The 20th century produced many claims that Noah’s Ark had been discovered. Are they true? Has Noah’s Ark really been found?
We all came from Noah and his Wife
The Genesis account of Noah’s Ark and The Flood (Chs. 5-9) is totally accurate exactly as written. It is the word of God, and He does not lie. You did not descend from an ape, but from Adam and Eve, via Noah.
The Holy Bible is completely true, but is Noah’s Ark on Earth today? Many statements have been made during the last 100 years that the Ark still exists buried in a glacier on Mount Ararat in Turkey. Is there any proof of their validity?
Fact or Fiction?
It is rumoured that a Russian pilot flying over Ararat first sighted the Ark in 1918, and Czar Nicholas ordered an expedition to investigate.
They climbed 14,000 feet to the ice cap, and, so the story goes, discovered the Ark jutting out, and went inside, finding it just as described in Genesis.
A dossier of evidence was compiled, but sadly, en-route to Moscow the documents were snatched by Trotsky’s Communists, and lost to this day.
Oh how we’d love it to be true!
This tale subsequently sparked a procession of Ark hunters to follow in their footsteps, each vying to be the first to bring proof of the Ark’s existence.
Whoops!
There have been various red-herrings, most notably the boat shaped limestone slab known as the ‘Durupinar’ site at Ararat.
You will find pictures of this across the internet described as Noah’s Ark. Even sincere Christians have been taken in by it because, “It fits the Genesis account dimensions exactly!”
So it does, but it is simply a naturally formed slab of rock eroded after slipping down the glacial valley.
It’s a perfect case of people being deceived by their own intense desire for it to be what they are looking for.
Much like poor Hugh Trevor-Roper confirming the validity of ‘The Hitler Diaries‘.
Soon after the greatly respected war-time boffin and historian pronounced them genuine, they were exposed as a clever hoax. Another intelligence expert’s previously unblemished reputation was ruined.
Dodgy Raiders of the Lost Ark
Bible archaeology is plagued with hoaxes, such as ‘Pharaoh’s chariot wheels’ ‘discovered’ in the Red Sea by the late Ron Wyatt. They were photographed underwater looking so pristine it appeared they had been there a mere week or two. Wyatt’s co-workers allege he had planted ‘artefacts’ himself.
The notorious Ark of the Covenant hunter was a member of the Adventist cult (SDA), not a Christian. It would be wise to be wary of anyone so easily taken in by the false prophetess Ellen White.
Shooting a line with Noah
The first book I read of the Ark’s ‘discovery’ was by a Frenchman who scaled Ararat several times, and even brought down timber he claimed was from the vessel.
His credibility suffered a knock when he wrote that, to combat the cold and give him endurance at high altitude, he took cocaine.
No doubt he saw several ‘Arks’ up there, whilst enjoying wine and croissants with Noah!
Indiana Jones and Buzz Lightyear
Then there have been streams of American zealots stressing their ‘scientific credentials’, to obtain credibility and financial backing.
They usually like to mention endorsements from US Air Force top brass, and CIA surveillance specialists. The same incompetents who accidentally bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, claiming their targeting map was out of date, and that Iraq had tons of nerve gas and WMD. Characters who earn their bread and butter by sowing lies, disinformation, and propaganda. Sorry chaps, tell it to the marines, they believe anything.
Pssst! Dirty postcards from Turkey
When these expeditions finally reach the summit of Ararat, with their ‘state of the art scientific equipment’, all they bring back are photos of themselves in anoraks standing on ice, or pointing to rock inscriptions. Doubtless carved by a coked-up Frenchmen years before, or perhaps by bored Turkish soldiers patrolling the Iranian and Armenian borders.
We are asked to believe they are ‘proto-Sumerian inscriptions’, implying they were made by Noah’s family and descendants soon after they emerged from the Ark to repopulate the earth.
Forgive my scepticism, but the latest picture I’ve seen was so dodgy it was obscene. Noah was a righteous man, not a crude graffiti artist.
The Verdict: Sober Up!
To this day, despite many expeditions and millions of dollars spent, there’s not a shred of scientific proof of the Ark’s current existence.
Plenty of claims: No proof. None.
The Bible account of Noah’s Ark is entirely true, but until irrefutable evidence of the Ark’s current existence is provided, I think it wise to be sceptical that it still exists.
Pause for thought
Several points give cause for concern, both practical and spiritual.
There are no fossils on Mount Ararat, it was likely formed by volcanic outflow subsequent to the Flood. The Bible does not say the Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat itself, but, ‘on the mountains of Ararat’, which covers a vast region.
So, if present day volcanic Mount Ararat itself was formed after The Flood, as it appears to be, the Ark would not be near its summit. It would have been crushed under billions of tons of hot lava.
The Ark was massive, 450′ by 75′, as big as a WWII aircraft carrier, but made of wood. For it to have survived for several millennia; inside a moving glacier, under millions of tons of cracking and shearing ice, in an earthquake zone, with abrasive rock debris grinding away at it, would be unnatural, indeed supernatural: It would be miraculous.
We serve a God of miracles, I proclaim Christ’s miracle power, it is an essential part of the Gospel, and confirms the Message. Mk. 16:20, 1 Co. 2:4-5
I’ve seen Him open blind eyes, and heal cancer in front of me. Miraculously preserving, or reforming, Noah’s Ark would be easy for Him, but…
Christian Disney-World
Would God want to preserve Noah’s Ark? Would He like us to discover it?
He certainly didn’t want Satan to get hold of Moses’ dead body. (Jude v9)
Why not?
Because Satan would have turned it into yet another religious idol like much of Jerusalem today. A city crammed with idols, as are most capitals.
The bodies of Lenin, Chairman Mao, and Ho Chi Min have been embalmed and on display in the temples of Communism since they died. Lenin is looking decidedly flakey, and has had several nose-jobs, since he died.
When the Third Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem it will be a cathedral of idolatry. The whole thing will be a blasphemous idol, but that’s another story.
The Jews reject Christ, but revere Moses. Imagine what an idolatrous snare his corpse would be.
Then consider what an idol Noah’s Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant, would become if the genuine articles were discovered today.
People are drawn to worship objects and places instead of the Living Word. Look at how Satan uses the Catholic fake ‘Shroud of Turin‘ to captivate idolaters.
Some Christians practically idolise the written word of the KJV. We are to worship the Living Christ, not a book, not a doctrine, not letters and words, but The Living Word.
The Actual Ark
My feeling is that God wants to keep significant Bible relics hidden until at least after the Rapture.
So don’t be carried away by reports from glory-seekers of sightings of Noah’s Ark. There will be plenty as the ice melts on Ararat because of Ozone layer depletion. Instead, focus your attention on what the Ark symbolised and foreshadowed:
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Ark, in whom we live and move and have our being. In whom we are safe, nourished, preserved, delivered, healed, and blessed. 1 Co. 1:30, Eph. 2:6, Ro. 6:1-10
Moses, Noah, You
It is interesting to reflect on a parallel by recalling Moses’ ‘little ark’ in the reeds. A floating basket, was it a cradle, or coffin?
Classical artists depict Noah’s Ark as a boat, but it was not boat-shaped. It was a wooden box. The Hebrew word also describes a box, or coffin.
In Christ we died, were buried with Him in His death, and will arise in Him at the Resurrection. Just like He arose from His tomb, we will arise from our coffin.
Baby Moses, under a death sentence, was rescued from his floating vessel and protected by the Royal family.
Noah emerged from his ‘coffin’ a few months following God’s first Judgment. God made a new beginning, a new world populated only by those in the Ark.
Because Heaven is only for those in Christ Jesus: The Ark.
Make sure you’re in God’s Ark today!
Update: 2010
Yet more Ark hunters claims to have found Noah’s Ark, this time it’s a Chinese Christian group NAMI/TMEL. They posted video clips on the web of what they say are the rooms and timbers of the Ark buried in a melting glacier on Mount Ararat. Like many before, they have brought back pieces of wood as evidence. And like previous claims, this one will be shown to be false. The timbers in their video look as if they’ve been machined by modern electrical appliances.
Update: 2011
The Chinese group have released a film claiming their find is genuine, citing a laboratory report on one of their samples as showing a Carbon 14 date of 5,000 years. Reputable Christian observers have noted that two other laboratories also tested samples, and found them to be only 100 years old, with the oldest about 600 years. Conclusion: Another dud claim. The Chinese group appear to have fallen for a locally concocted hoax.
Update: 2012
Despite abundant evidence showing this latest claimed “Ark find” is another locally manufactured hoax, the Hong Kong based group have released a film advertising their “discovery”. Reputable scientific authorities and Christians have repeatedly refuted these erroneous findings. Don’t be distracted by such fair-ground side-shows: Be busy proclaiming the Gospel until He comes!
© 06 Colin Melbourne