Is This the Biggest Story Since the Resurrection?
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I can’t say that I expected to get this kind of a news drop from “Barstool Sports.” What some Christians would call the biggest news story since the resurrection of Jesus? Barstool wasn’t on my shortlist. But here we are, and that’s exactly whose social media feed I first saw this story on yesterday. Granted, by later in the day, major media had picked it up (though as far as I knowm the mainstream press is still avoiding it):
Archaeologists have used “Ground Penetrating Radar” (GPR) to discover evidence of what they believe might be the remains of Noah’s Ark next to Mount Ararat in Turkey.
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If you haven’t heard anything about this story yet, let me give you the most visual, concise version of the information that I’ve been able to find:
Ok, that’s all incredibly fascinating to me, and I’m not about to dump cold water on the whole thing (for the next 40 days and 40 nights - see what I did there?). But I do think it’s important – especially for believers – to be rational, patient, and wise about what it all could and does mean. Let’s start here:
The Bible is already the most archaeologically authenticated text in all antiquity. Finding the intact Ark that Noah’s family built would be insanely cool, but it is far from being a necessary or even scale-tipping discovery. From coins, to inscriptions, to city excavations, to nautical maps, the scales are already weighing down heavily on the side of biblical authenticity.
Also, I’ll put it this way: as exciting as it is, I am tremendously skeptical about these claims. Not because I’m a Debbie Downer or wish to castigate the researchers and their hard work. But here are my reasons for pumping the brakes:
First, Dr. John Morris and several other well-respected, Christian archaeologists have analyzed the Durupinar Formation for years, and concluded that though it is certainly a unique geological configuration, they are confident it is not the Ark. Their conclusions are well documented and reasoned. In other words, this isn’t a new find – it’s been known, studied, and analyzed by a lot of smart people (who WANT to find the Ark) for a long time and they have concluded as much as they wish it was, that’s not what this is.
Second, just logically speaking, it seem highly improbable that Noah and his family would simply walk away from the ship without scavenging it and making use of it in the months and years after departing. The earth was a wasteland, without lumber and other resources available for some time. Thus, it’s very unlikely that the Ark was abandoned in pristine condition. And in whatever condition it was left in, that Ark, already having been abused by the greatest global cataclysm in world history would have met the harsh elements of nature for a period of 4,000 years. The only way I can even fathom a wooden structure surviving all that time in any recognizable form is if it was encased in some preserving element like ice. That wouldn’t be the case with this particular formation.
Third, I’m not persuaded by the reliability of GPR. It was this very technology that “revealed” the signs of 215 “unmarked graves” at a former residential school in Canada that had been run by the Catholic Church. After many accusations had been hurled, insults had been levied, and apologies had been made, the whole thing ended up being totally bogus. Wise people will be cautious to embrace GPR as some sort of visual proof.
All that said, let me tell you why I think all this is such amazing, hopeful news: