The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark

Suppose you picked up the newspaper tomorrow morning and were startled to see headlines

announcing the discovery of a large ship high on the snowy slopes of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey. As you hurriedly scanned the article, you learned that a team from the Institute for Creation Research had unearthed the vessel and their measurements and studies had determined that it perfectly matched the description of Noah's Ark given in the book of Genesis. Would this be proof at last—the "smoking gun" as it were—that the earliest chapters of the Bible were true and that the story they told of a six-day creation and a universal flood was a sober, scientific account?

Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is no. Even this sensational find is not enough to validate a literal reading of Genesis. Our continuing skepticism is in the tradition of philosopher David Hume, who wrote that "the knavery and folly of men are such common phenomena that I should rather believe the most extraordinary events to arise from their concurrence than admit of so signal a violation of the laws of nature." As we shall see, the story of the great flood and the voyage of the ark, as expounded by modern creationists, contains so many incredible "violations of the laws of nature" that it cannot possibly be accepted by any thinking person. Despite ingenious efforts to lend a degree of plausibility to the tale, nothing can be salvaged without the direct and constant intervention of the deity.

To read the full story follow the links below:

Title: The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark

Author(s): Robert A. Moore

Volume: 4

Number: 1

Quarter: Winter

Page(s): 1–43

Year: 1983

 

Building the Ark
Accommodating All Those Animals
Leaving Some Things Behind
Sizing Up the Load
Gathering the Cargo
Surviving the Flood
Caring for the Cargo
Disembarking
Conclusion
Bibliography