Expedition will seek to find Noah's ark.

[skinsfanjoe]

Expedition Will Seek to Find Noah's Ark

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An expedition is being planned for this summer to the upper reaches of Turkey's Mount Ararat where organizers hope to prove an object nestled amid the snow and ice is Noah's Ark.

A joint U.S.-Turkish team of 10 explorers plans to make the arduous trek up Turkey's tallest mountain, at 17,820 feet, from July 15 to August 15, subject to the approval of the Turkish government, said Daniel P. McGivern, president of Shamrock_The Trinity Corporation of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The goal: to enter what they believe to be a mammoth structure some 45 feet high, 75 feet wide and up to 450 feet long that was exposed in part by last summer's heat wave in Europe.

"We are not excavating it. We are not taking any artifacts. We're going to photograph it and, God willing, you're all going to see it," McGivern said.

Explorers have long searched for an ark on the high slopes of Mount Ararat, where the biblical account of the Great Flood places it.

In 1957, Turkish air force pilots spotted a boat-shaped formation in Agri province. The government did not pursue the sighting, however. The entire area, including Mount Ararat, was off limits to foreigners because of Soviet complaints that explorers were U.S. spies.

That ban was lifted in 1982, and since then teams of explorers have visited the area but have been unable to substantiate any claim of an ark.

McGivern and Ahmet Ali Arslan, a Turkish mountain climber who grew up in a town near Mount Ararat, say satellite photos have helped them pinpoint a more exact location. Arslan will be leading the expedition.

The biblical account in the Book of Genesis says that after the great deluge, the ark came to rest on the mountain with Noah's family and a cargo of male and female pairs of every kind of animal.

Geologists say even though there is evidence of a flood in Mesopotamia in Sumerian times, it is not possible for a ship to make landfall at an altitude as high as Mount Ararat.

[warpathRUskinsfan]

WASTE OF TIME

[kameuh]

The history channel has a show about the Ark. I remember them saying something along the lines of.. there isn't enough water on the planet to submerge the Mts of Ararat.

Its kinda interesting this was posted as space.com had a piece about someone claiming to find the ark.

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

On space.com they have a picture of something preported to be the Ark. Sadly to me looks like an outcropping of rocks. Like the face on Mars people see what they wish to see in certain images, not what is really there.

Now before I bash all Christians, let me say many of my best friends are very religious (hey and i've uh got some black friends too!). But some of the ultra right christians worry me as badly as the Taliban. Both refuse to accept any Ideology but their own and demand you worship their god or burn in hell, infidel. Anyways a closing thought...

The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination.

- -- Mahatma Gandhi

[BG]

I heard the Ark is in a small crack in Uranus.

[skinsfanjoe]

The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination.

What if all roads don't lead to the same destination? I know that it sounds like a good philosophy but what if Ghandi was wrong in his thinking on this matter. Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me"

So when you call your Christian freinds whacko's for saying that all roads don't lead to heaven what your essentially saying is that Jesus was a whacko.

[TypingSux]

This will be a complete waste of time as well as money that could be spent on something much more worthwhile. Recent archeological findings support many of aincient (sp?) stories in the old testement. The story of Noah and his arc is not one of them, it is a parrable, based on an even older Sumarian story about a king who survived a flood and changed to give a message of warning to mankind. It has already been mentioned that the earth does not contain enough water to support the Mt. Arafat landing. There are other reasons besides that which make Noah's story not only unlikely but impossible - too many to bother listing here. Before anybody jumps on me for being a non-believing heathon, I am a Christion. But remember, although I believe in God's ability to perform any miricle, that one would have left behind a substancial amount of evidance to support it that just does not exist.

[kameuh]

Like most people I've given considerable thought to religion. Blaise Pascal, the person who Pascal programming language was named after, used logic to address the topic of god. His thoughts went something along these lines. Paraphrased "Its better to believe in God and die, only to find out there was no god. Than to not believe in God and die to confront a pissed off God"

That quote has often given me pause. Damn logic. I dont mean to question your faith, you believe in Jesus as your savior and I respect your faith. I actually admire those who have your devotion and faith.

Perhaps Gandai was wrong and those roads do indeed diverge instead of converge. But using logic wouldnt those diverging roads lead to multiple Gods. Polythesim and not Monothesim?

I do believe there is a source for which all came. The original thought. In the beginning there was only the Word, or something to that effect. The Supreme Being. No I actually stand with gandi here, in that all religion does lead back to the scouce and its just how we choose to accept this fact thats an issue.

Yes, I'm dancing around the quote "I am the way the truth, and the Life" because It's not my intent to offend with this post, only to discuss. Never say never as it's always possible I'm looking at it all wrong. If a good enough arguement is presented I'm open to changing my position. Thats what the point of discussion is all about is it not?

Now, flame me, bash me,correct me, attempt to convert me, just dont ban me!

:peace:

[Guest 979guy]

How about launching an expedition to find the remnants of Adam and Eve's apple... :doh:

[chomerics]

Well, I grew up in a strict Roman Catholic family and I can say, from experience, Roman Catholosism is a crock. There were priests in both town surrounding me that raped young boys when I was growing up and the church "hushed" the incidents and moved the priests to other areas. This is so abhorrable, it ruins the legimiticy of the Roman Catholic Church IMO.

I have since read up on many religons, but I am really an agnostic. If I was to pick a religon, I would probably go with Buddism, but I'm a hunter, so I guess that's out:)

I have no problems when people believe in their own religion, but when you start forcing me or my kids to pray to your god, yes I am against it. When you start trying to convert others to your religion I'm against it.

Kind of off topic, but my beliefs.

[WeBeHogs]

Whether they find the ark or not really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Why do we seek proof that the Bible is the infallible Word of God? That is what faith is all about. As for other religions or agnostics, you may say, aren't all religions the same? They all look to a higher power.

That is an easy lie for Satan to spread. He does all he can to keep people from finding the truth-Jesus Christ. The problem with that is that there is only one God who created the heavens and the earth. There is only one God who came to earth as a man to pay the price for our sins. There is only one God who fulfilled hundreds of prophecies surrounding His life. And finally, there is only one God who died and then rose again after three days, defeating the grave and giving believers the promise of eternal life.

It amazes me how people can pray to or put their hope in a god who died and remained in the grave. Where is the hope in that? I will serve a risen Savior who, because of His own resurrection, can promise me eternal life with Him.

The Word of God states Christianity is the only way to achieve eternal life. Accepting Jesus as your personal savior is the only way to obtain salvation. It may not be politically correct to say this, but if Jesus is truly the Son of God, then neither Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, nor any other faith can redeem your eternal soul.

In John 14:6, Jesus made it very clear that He is the only mediator who can span the sin-rift that exists between God and man: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

[Leonard Washington]

Originally posted by 979guy

How about launching an expedition to find the remnants of Adam and Eve's apple... :doh:

exactly...what are they going to do when they find it? charge people to see it...oh yea..exactly what God wanted.

[Kilmer17]

They ought to send Indiana Jones. He'd find it for sure.

[SEF]

Or Dirk Pitt.

[Vegas-Born]

Who was it that said religion is simply the opiate of the people? It has slipped my mind. But I have never thought of religion as anything more. I can't imagine a society that didn't feel it had to pay some eternal price for their "sins". It would be complete anarchy.

I just feel the bible was written by human hands in order to lay down the law. It is a great read. In fact, the story of Jobe is one of the greatest horrors ever written.

[Destino]

I think it's great I hope they do find it. The Ark is a story that predates christianity and it may hold a interesting story that IMO is worth telling. It would be interesting to have a tangible piece of biblical history to study.

[chomerics]

Originally posted by WeBeHogs

Whether they find the ark or not really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Why do we seek proof that the Bible is the infallible Word of God? That is what faith is all about. As for other religions or agnostics, you may say, aren't all religions the same? They all look to a higher power.

I wasn't going to bother putting down any religions, but after reading this post you deserve it.

That is an easy lie for Satan to spread. He does all he can to keep people from finding the truth-Jesus Christ. The problem with that is that there is only one God who created the heavens and the earth. There is only one God who came to earth as a man to pay the price for our sins. There is only one God who fulfilled hundreds of prophecies surrounding His life. And finally, there is only one God who died and then rose again after three days, defeating the grave and giving believers the promise of eternal life.

Well, have you even looked at any other religons? What about Islam, what about Budhism? Are these other religions Satan???

You make all these claims, but you have nothing but the bible for proof. It's a good book, but its a book of myths and psudo-history which was written for political purposes. The New Teatament was written decades after Jesus' life and was gathered from years of folklore and stroy telling. Not the basis I want for my so called afterlife.

You can have faith all you want in a ficticous book, waste your Sundays in church listening to a man (who's raping young men after hours) lecture you about how people who don't believe in your faith are going to hell. I myself can think of a lot more constructive things to do than waste hours of my life listening to some hypocritical priest tell me what's right and wrong.

It amazes me how people can pray to or put their hope in a god who died and remained in the grave. Where is the hope in that? I will serve a risen Savior who, because of His own resurrection, can promise me eternal life with Him.

Have you even looked at other religions? There is an afterlife, weather it be nirvana, heaven, reincarnation or some other eternal plane. There is hope in other religions, your naievity and ignorance concerning others is what leads you to a waste of time.

So you put all of your faith in a book written by four people over 20 years after Jesus died??? Others can say the same thing of you.

The Word of God states Christianity is the only way to achieve eternal life. Accepting Jesus as your personal savior is the only way to obtain salvation. It may not be politically correct to say this, but if Jesus is truly the Son of God, then neither Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, nor any other faith can redeem your eternal soul.

Well then, I guess I'm dammed to hell or purgatory then. Well, that is unless I confess my sins before I die. Actually it's pretty funny. You, in all of your holyness, can go to church every Sunday and profess your religion your whole life, yet if you sin before you die and you fail to confess them you will end up in purgatory. I, on the otherhand, can denounce the lord as BS, take a piss on the manger scene in front of my church every year and hate the catholic religion and if I confess my sins before I die, I will get to go to heaven

Lets just hope you don't die suddenly, otherwise you're doomed:laugh:

In John 14:6, Jesus made it very clear that He is the only mediator who can span the sin-rift that exists between God and man: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

I'll go even farther than to denounce the blasphemous manner of my post. Mary was a whore!!! Yep I said it, she was a slutty whore. She cheated on Joseph and passed it off as the holy spirit visiting her and giving her the gift of Jesus. If I was Joseph, I would have dumped that slut. . . too bad chastity belts weren't invented until after he was born, maybe then he wouldn't have had to live with the adultress slut.

Just think of it, your virgin wife announces to you that she's pregnent, but she didn't cheat on you. Instead, she claims that the spirit of god visited her and impregneted her, you'd think "you lying b!tch", not I have the son of god as my son.

I'll tell you what, you can spend your Sunday mornings praying to your god and I'll spend mine drinking beer, waiting for the football games to start.

[Lowghost]

Originally posted by Destino

I think it's great I hope they do find it. The Ark is a story that predates christianity and it may hold a interesting story that IMO is worth telling. It would be interesting to have a tangible piece of biblical history to study.

:applause:

I agree, this would be a tremendous discovery.

I am not a religious person. IMO, religions do more to keep the human race separated, instead of bringing us together.:2cents:

[codeorama]

I saw the show on the Discovery channel too... they debunked a lot of the stories and gave a more realistic version. In their opinion, the flood was more of a regional flood, not world wide. But, that region WAS the world to those people at that time, so it's just semantics.

It would be really cool if they found something, but I don't think they will.

As Kilmer said, they need to send Indy if they really want to get the job done....

[luckydevil]

Who was it that said religion is simply the opiate of the people?

Marx

[WeBeHogs]

Wow Chomerics.....I am sorry that I stirred up some much hatred and wrath in you. That was definitely not what my post was about. It was about a loving God. You infer that I am Catholic in your post, but I'm not, though even if I were it is not about religion it is about Jesus. Just a few points addressing your statements. Whether you read them or not doesn't really matter, I will still love you in Christ and incude you in my prayers asking the Holy Spirit to open your heart.

The Bible being the Word of God....

If you truly study the Word of God, you will see that it still applies perfectly to this world. Some cultural issues have changed, but sin is still sin and separation from God is still separation from God. Sin is still at the heart of the human condition.

Some of the prophecies in the Bible are yet to be fulfilled. Since we can still expect to see them come to pass, then we should see the Bible as a living work. If you were to study the numerous prophecies recorded in the Bible that already have been perfectly fulfilled, you would have no choice but to give the Bible full authority. You can read about the prophetic work of Scripture in 2 Peter, chapter 1.

God gave us His Word so that we can understand Him and His ways and so that we can learn how to live. That never changes. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

If I sin before I die I will go to hell....

If that were the case, then you would essentially be earning your salvation by your good works. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains it this way, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." If you could be good enough to deserve salvation, then you would boast in yourself, not in Christ. Furthermore, if you could live without sin, Jesus would not have had to die.

If you have truly repented of your sinful nature, and asked Jesus to be Lord in your life, then you have begun a lifelong journey in which you will constantly be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that you aren't saved; it means that the Holy Spirit is calling you into righteous living through conviction of sin. This process will continue until the day you stand before Jesus. Philippians 1:6 says, "...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

In Christ's love...

[Phat Hog]

Wonder if he cleaned out all the animal poop. Oh well, I guess it’s all furniture now.

Seriously, I do hope they find something.

chomerics, are you the script writer for Monty Python ? :laugh:

[Vegas-Born]

Lucky Devil--Marx...thank you my friend.

[Leonard Washington]

Originally posted by 979guy

How about launching an expedition to find the remnants of Adam and Eve's apple... :doh:

exactly...what are they going to do when they find it? charge people to see it...oh yea..exactly what God wanted.

[skinsfanjoe]

Originally posted by Higharolla ****amamie

exactly...what are they going to do when they find it? charge people to see it...oh yea..exactly what God wanted.

Sigh...... Your late, someone already said that.

What are they going to do when they find any archealogical tidbit? SO, just because it pertains to the Bible you don't like it right? Give me a break.:doh:

[chomerics]

Originally posted by WeBeHogs

Wow Chomerics.....I am sorry that I stirred up some much hatred and wrath in you. That was definitely not what my post was about. It was about a loving God. You infer that I am Catholic in your post, but I'm not, though even if I were it is not about religion it is about Jesus. Just a few points addressing your statements. Whether you read them or not doesn't really matter, I will still love you in Christ and incude you in my prayers asking the Holy Spirit to open your heart.

The Bible being the Word of God....

If you truly study the Word of God, you will see that it still applies perfectly to this world. Some cultural issues have changed, but sin is still sin and separation from God is still separation from God. Sin is still at the heart of the human condition.

Some of the prophecies in the Bible are yet to be fulfilled. Since we can still expect to see them come to pass, then we should see the Bible as a living work. If you were to study the numerous prophecies recorded in the Bible that already have been perfectly fulfilled, you would have no choice but to give the Bible full authority. You can read about the prophetic work of Scripture in 2 Peter, chapter 1.

God gave us His Word so that we can understand Him and His ways and so that we can learn how to live. That never changes. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

If I sin before I die I will go to hell....

If that were the case, then you would essentially be earning your salvation by your good works. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains it this way, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." If you could be good enough to deserve salvation, then you would boast in yourself, not in Christ. Furthermore, if you could live without sin, Jesus would not have had to die.

If you have truly repented of your sinful nature, and asked Jesus to be Lord in your life, then you have begun a lifelong journey in which you will constantly be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that you aren't saved; it means that the Holy Spirit is calling you into righteous living through conviction of sin. This process will continue until the day you stand before Jesus. Philippians 1:6 says, "...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

In Christ's love...

Sorry bout that, I went a bit overbaord, I do that from time to time.

My rant was pointed more towards the RCC, not as much at Christianity.

I do get upset though when others profess their religion is the only way that will lead to heaven, because IMO, it leads to hatred, the one thing religions claim to be against "love thy neighbour". I myself don't have a problem with religion, unless they try to profuse their beliefs upon someone else.

With your post, you insinuated your religion is the only "true" religion. When you say "there is only one God. . . Jesus Christ." and things like. . .

The Word of God states Christianity is the only way to achieve eternal life. Accepting Jesus as your personal savior is the only way to obtain salvation. It may not be politically correct to say this, but if Jesus is truly the Son of God, then neither Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, nor any other faith can redeem your eternal soul.

You are infact belittleing others. You are professing your religion is the only true religion and all others are a farce.

What's to make Christianity so much more believable than say Hinduism? Is it because you were brought up in a Christian household? If you were brought up as a Hindu, would you still feel everyone who doesn't believe in Christ and God will go to purgatory?

As for having god creating earth and all living things, I have one word for you . . . evolution. You see, man has evolved from apes, and until I find a religion that takes this into account, I'm staying agnostic.

I for one think religion should be a philosophical way of life rather than blindly worshiping some god or diety on faith alone. Just think, the New Testament was written by four religious nutjobs. Who's to say Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul weren't the same people who were following David Koresh?