did noahs ark really exist?

Question

i beleive it was not a boat but some level of high ground above the flood

Answer 1

Tina, the Noah story in the Bible mirrors a number of very similar stories that existed in the ancient world about a giant flood and a remnant of people and animals saved from it. The DIFFERENCE was that the Jewish account focuses on (a) God's anger at evil (why he flooded the world in the first place); (b) God's ultimate character as a forgiving, gracious God (by saving Noah and his family because Noah "walked with God"); and (c) remade the world to start over again (only for Noah and the rest of us to gum it all up again... sheesh...)

Did it really happen? Did the whole earth flood? Is the ark still on some mountain in Turkey? Or are all those truths really the whole point? hmmmmmmm....

Answer 2

There is no evidence of a global flood. This was proved almost 200 years ago - ironically, by bible-believing Christians who were looking for evidence of the flood, but found none.

Someone earlier claimed that the Grand Canyon is evidence of a flood. If this is true, can you explain the hundreds of metres of *different layered rock* - see here for a great picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Colorado_River_from_Desert_View-geologic_column.jpeg

Another example is the famous White Cliffs of the south-east coast of England. Again these are hundreds of metres high, and are entirely composed of the remains of tiny sea creatures. Were they all deposited during a year-long flood?

If there was a global flood, there would be one single layer of flood deposits all around the world. There isn't.

I'm sorry, but there was not a flood. The reason why so many civilisations have stories about floods is that people have always lived near rivers, and rivers tend to flood. That's all there is to it. Apart from the one issue of flooding, the stories have nothing else in common with each other. And some civilisations - Egypt, China - actually have written records that are unbroken throughout the supposed period when they were entirely wiped out by the flood.

And all this is not to mention the impossibility of getting the hundreds of thousands of species of animals onto the ark. Or the fact that it is impossible to build a wooden boat in the dimensions given in the bible - it would sink immediately. Or the impossibility of feeding and mucking out so many animals. Or the impossibility of getting animals from the opposite side of the world - penguins, kangaroos, polar bears, llamas - to the Middle East to get on the ark, then getting them back afterwards. Or the impossibility of what they ate for the next few years while the vegetation regrew. And so on, and on.

It didn't happen. You don't need to believe it happened - at best it's an allegory. But face it, it didn't happen.

Answer 3

I'm sure it did. There are amazing similarities between flood myths in many different faiths. Don't forget, before travel became so convient the 'world' would have been a smaller place - if floods had inundated a few countries it would have seemed like the whole world. Also, there is a lot of hyperbole in the bible and other religious texts. There is every chance that, with shifting landmasses and melting ice, somewhere in our collective memory such a flood could have happened, and someone could well have built a ship and taken animals to safety. Every day scientists are uncovering more evidence in support of so called myths, which have turned out to be historical fact made into stories to make it more palatable.

Answer 4

The story is an allegory, prophetic of Christ's death on the cross. The Ark is Christ, Noah and family are those who have faith in Christ. The words used for making the Ark have double meanings; 'cover with pitch' means 'forgive with a ransom'.

That dimensions are given for the Ark is not evidence that it actually existed. It shows that salvation, as represented by the Ark concept, was practical and useful, a practical, useful boat shape meaning that salvation is relevant to, possible for, all people. It contrasted greatly with the ark in the earlier Babylonian flood myth, which was cubic (magical) and would have capsized if actually built. Also, Noah's Ark had no sails, no oars, no rudder, and Noah and his family could leave it all to God to save them, without their effort or navigation. So salvation comes by faith in Christ, not by working to be accepted by God. There is much to be learned from the Ark story.
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Answer 5

Well, it was a big rectangular boat and it's up there yet on Mount Ararat over in Turkey.
Many people have seen it and there are pics of it.
It's hard to get to and covered with ice most of the time, but I think someday they will be able to see it and take more pics to show everyone.
They have already brought down pieces of it. The wood is not the kind that is found anywhere near Ararat.
Strangely enough, the wood is that common to Mesopotamia, the very spot Noah is supposed to have built it, and where the great flood first floated it.
People don't want to believe in the ark, because if it IS real, and proven to be actually there, then they will have to come to terms with the fact that the Bible IS true, and they will have to deal with their own sin and need for a Savior, Who is Jesus.
(Note: The Ark ran aground at the 11,000 foot level of Mt. Ararat; that's where climbers have seen it. That after the flood waters had receded several weeks. It couldn't have been a "local flood" with water over two miles deep.)

Answer 6

Yes Noah's ark happen, that's like saying did Jesus Christ walk the earth? 2000 thousand yrs ago? People were here and that wasn't that long ago. There were no planes or lights or cars or regular houses no radios TVs factories street lights two thousand yrs ago, I don't see no one going up against Jesus Christ saying did he really walk the earth? I'm 60 yrs old and have my first time yet to hear anyone with strong proof that Jesus Christ didn't exist, and he never walked the earth. Since he did walk the earth then Noah's ark really do exist.

Answer 7

Most middle eastern societies have a flood legend. They probably go back to the time the Mediterranean Sea broke through and flooded the Black Sea around 10,000 years ago.

It gives the creationists a way out of some otherwise difficult questions.

Answer 8

Absolutely.

The worldwide flood of Noah's time (Genesis 1:2,6,9; 7:11-24) has been ridiculed often.

In 1885, Edward Suess was one of the first geologists to publish a study based on the geologic framework of all countries. His research, especially in his observations of the world's mountain ranges, led to his discovery that all land surfaces had been under water. This explains why you find shells on the tops of mountains. Coincidence?

Many huge fossil beds have been found where great numbers of many different types of animals were together. The Flood explains this. As waters rose, animals sought higher ground and eventually were all together, then were swept off together where currents deposited them along with loads of sediment.

The evidence of quickly-frozen Mammoths in Siberia is in favor of the Flood.

The Grand Canyon is evidence of the Flood: water cut through material that was not yet consolidated after it had been deposited by the Flood.

Ernst Mayr, a leading taxonomist, lists only 17,600 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. How would you get all those animals in the Ark?

Taking sheep as the average size for the animals, you can fit 240 sheep into a two-level boxcar.

The Ark was a huge box with enough space for 522 boxcars (the measurements are in Genesis 6:15).

This means all the animals would fit, leaving plenty of space for food and people.

So, maybe the Flood and Noah's Ark are not so far-fetched after all?

Answer 9

I watched a documentary on BBC2 a couple of years ago and it was in search of Noahs Ark. They began a search on biblical evidence and found a place in what we would call modern day Turkey; there was a location of a large hill shaped like a boat. They excavated the hill and found evidence of large amounts of decayed wood, enough to substantiate it as a possibility.

Answer 10

Yes, apart from the biblical evidence in the book of Genesis, a satellite have taken some shots and discovered this ark shape object in Mt Ararat between the borders of Tibet and Syria . .the pictures where published in the papers in the early 90's