Sunday, May 1, 2016

Post Number 1600 - Johan's Ark



Looking at stats for this blog, I see that my last post, Bridge Repair Update, was post #1599. I almost find that hard to believe. I'm the first to admit that not all of these post are remarkable or memorable. I feel that, maybe, post #1600 should be better than, say this post from May 1, 2015 - Let Them Eat Cannoli or this from May, 2009 -Comment on "Monday Madness V". It would certainly have to be better than anything from May, 2014 - a month when I published zero posts.

Surfing about for something to write on, I came upon of story on Facebook about Johan's Ark, a Noah's Ark-themed barge in Dordrecht, Netherland, built by Dutch millionaire creationist Johan Huibers.

A story from the Huffington Post says the life-sized replica will travel from the Netherlands to Brazil this summer. Johan's Ark will eventually make it's way to Long Beach, San Francisco and Seattle.

Obviously, Huibers' adventure is his attempt to forward his views on Creation as interpreted from his particular version of Christianity. It's an interpretation with which I do not agree.

I get it, not everyone views the Bible in the same way. Some believe Noah brought "two of every kind into the ark, one male and one female" onto the ark because that's what's written in the 6th chapter of Genesis. The fact that the number of animals is contradicted in 7th chapter of the same book doesn't appear to phase these "true" believers. One pair each? Seven pairs each? An ark this size is way too small to carry that many animals, but DNA samples for that many animals might be another kettle of fish.

Just sayin'

When a video of Johan's Ark made it's way onto Facebook, one person commenting wrote:

"fascinating ..... the doubters are in for a shock someday. More and more science is supporting the Bible. Well over 100 prophesies have come true... and there are still secret codes to be uncovered. A verse in Isaiah that talks about the towers falling.... just happened to be 9:11 ( chapt 9 verse 11 ) not only a warning for ancient Israel but also for modern times."

Trouble maker that I am, I had to go to Isaiah 9:11 to find out for myself if there is any mention of "towers falling". Here's Isaiah 9:11 from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's website:

"Aram from the east and the Philistines from the west—
they devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this, his wrath is not turned back,
and his hand is still outstretched!"

No mention of towers there.

Least anyone believe that the eeevilllll Catholic Bishops are hiding something from us, a search finds the King James version of Isaiah 9:11 :

"Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies" together.

A search of Isaiah 9:11 in all English translations fails to mention any towers either. Verse 10 mentions bricks falling, but bricks aren't towers and 9:10 ain't 9:11.

 All in all, I'm not at all certain that Huibers' ark does Christianity any favors. I'd say the number of converts coming to Christ via this boat can be counted on one hand.

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