I'm not even sure how to begin this post, but I have to get it off my chest.
Apparently Noah's Ark has been discovered yet again, this time by a joint team of Turkish and Chinese (Hong Kong) evangelical Christians. This article from the Catholic News Agency makes an attempt at sounding convincing. The Christian Science Monitor offers a critical article on the 'discovery', as well as many others, like this one, this one and this one also by the Catholic News Agency.
Here's a little historical run-down of past Ark discovery-hoaxes, from wikipedia:
- 1917-1918?, Nicholas II of Russia, the dates are fuzzy and that is not the only issue with this story
- April 1, 1933; if the date doesn't give this one away you probably need to go back to school. Clearly false, the German paper that first printed the story retracted it as an April Fools joke, but the fire had already spread to neighboring countries and languages, being reprinted in Russia, (and to our embarrassment) duping two American Ark-hunters into spending four months investigating the claim.
- 1943; Ed Davis, while stationed in Iran during WWII claimed to have climbed Mt. Ararat with his driver's family and was able to see the ark, but not able to get near it. For what it's worth, several paintings were made that seem to corroborate evidence from the 1970 entry below...
- 1955; a French explorer, Fernand Navarra claimed to have found a beam from the fabled boat. Later his guide claimed the Frenchman bought the beam in a village nearby and carried it up the mountain.
- 1970; Armenian Georgie Hagopian claimed to have visited the ark twice between 1902 and 1910 (dates vary depending on source). However, details conflict with other evidence, including the apparent ease with which he reached the ark when compared with other expeditions that have claimed to have found it.
- 1977; a documentary aired on a number of television stations claiming that the ark had been found. The documentary was based on a book. That's all.
- 1993; CBS aired a special in which George Jammal recounted a dramatic story of discovery, including the loss of his Polish friend Vladimir. He even produced some 'sacred wood' from the lost boat. Later it came out a hoax. Jamal was an actor and the sacred wood was a piece of railroad tie from Long Beach, CA, and hardened by cooking in various sauces like Soy.
- 2007; this, the most recent of claims, seems to carry about the same amount of weight as the previous claims. I hope it's not too noticed by media, my friends, believers and non-believers. Also fraught with complications and contradictory claims, it's not worth your time, prayers or a thought.
What is all the hype about anyway? So what if they find the boat? Does that change anything? Let's run it through three scenarios.
SCENARIO 1 - Someone ACTUALLY finds the boat. AND they can really verify with strong plausibility and probability that it really is THE boat (perhaps Noah's youngest son scratched his name on the bathroom stall wall). So what? For Christians, our hope is not in finding a boat. If you already believed that Noah was real, more power to ya, you were right. Now you can waive that banner around for the rest of your life and annoy everyone around you. Did finding the boat actually change anything?
For non-Christians, you tell all your friends that the boat was discovered and now they should put their trust in Jesus and become a Christian too, because Noah was 'really real'. And just maybe your non-Christian friend is even willing to concede the point. Noah was real. Have they been turned to joyfully worship the living God? No. As one pastor has said it, "God is not interested in our begrudging submission, but our joyful obedience!" They may admit that Noah was an historical reality, but that doesn't turn their hearts towards God. At best you add a whole bunch more non-Christians to the church who think they are Christians because a boat was discovered and NOW they believe the Bible. Does believing that Noah was real make you a Christian? This is the fallacy of 'evidence'. Josh McDowell, bless his heart, did a great injustice in titling his books Evidence that Demands a Verdict, and the later book More Evidence... Honestly, you can read that stuff and sneer. I've talked with many people who need "just a little more evidence", or even the bold claim, "if God came down and told me to my face, then I would believe." Piles of evidence does not a Christian make.
SCENARIO 2 - Just another hoax. If you're out there waiving this new discovery in your friends' faces claiming that Noah was real and it soon comes out that someone was bought off, several people lied about it, some wood was carried up a mountain and it made headlines before the true story could be known, you look like a fool and it will only add more fuel to the fire for people who say, "see, Christians are just gullible. They'll believe anything."
SCENARIO 3 - It seems believable, and your non-Christian friend hears the news and thinks, "wow, if Noah's ark is real then maybe everything else in the Bible is real too," and decides to 'become a Christian.' Six months pass and the discovery is shown to be a hoax just like all the others. Now how about your friend's faith. What was it in? In Jesus' perfect life, finished work on the cross, empty tomb, and ascension into heaven? Or on a piece of 1500 year old wood dragged up a mountain and made to look like a old boat? (note for the unobservant: Noah did not float his boat 1500 years ago; that would be Augustine, and to my knowledge, he did not build a boat)
What does it really mean to be a Christian?
This is Gospel 101, 201, 301, 401, grad school, PhD, post-doc and later research. It never gets old. There are lots of people searching for this or that answer to the one question on their mind, that if they can find the positive answer to it they'll believe. They look to all these 'discoveries' in order to really know that what they believe is true and everyone else is wrong. The Bible tells us we have one place to look.
Hebrews 12:2 - ...looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...
There's no where else to go. And from whence comes this faith?
2 Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
and in Ephesians 2 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved...For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Paul says we have ONE message, and ONE Savior. His name is Jesus, and that is what we preach.
1 Corinthians 1:23 - ...but we preach Christ crucified...
Let's divest ourselves of this nonsense about boats, shrouds, weeping statues of virgin mary, mantra-like prayers, and anything else the 'wisdom' of man can come up with. Maybe the boat is there. Maybe not. It doesn't change a thing.
- - -
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 - He (≈God; from the previous sentence) is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
- - -
No comments:
Post a Comment