Expedition Will Seek to Find Noah's Ark

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
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:roll:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,118210,00.html

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

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 (search) 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.
 

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
12,572
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From Off Topic: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4838007/
Wow, almost the exact same words! :Q

Anyway, why is it an exercise in futility? Peope have a right to persue their religious beliefs. Are you afraid of what they might find? If you are so sure that it's futile, then surely you must know what it is up there if it is not a ship.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
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The tale of Noah's Ark is just that, a tale. This is another prime example of the idiocy of people taking the Bible (esp. books like Genesis) literally.
 

Gaard

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
8,911
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I'm almost sure Spock (In Search Of...) did a show on this way back when.
 

myusername

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2003
5,046
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0
Hm. I dunno, I'm all for bashing fundies in the head with bricks, but if it's a legitimate archaeological expedition, it certainly could prove interesting (And yes, "The Trinity Corporation" does not sound like a legitimate scientific organization). An ark would not prove divine judeo-christian existence anymore than the existence of fire proves prometheus was real, but it might make for some good research. Although it sure does sound like something Dan Brown would write about...

(p.s. Dan Brown is a sad excuse for a writer)
 

Gaard

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
8,911
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As long as they watch out for Nazi's...and steer clear of young women with a taste for Tequila.
 

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: Gaard
As long as they watch out for Nazi's...and steer clear of young women with a taste for Tequila.

LOL . . . different Ark.