‘Evangelist explorers’ called Noah’s Ark Ministries International, (a name half-Orwell, half Playdays), search for the legendary vessel. Said explorers then ‘discover’ the ark up a Turkish mountain.
Naturally not everyone welcomes the news without a hint of skepticism, and the blogosphere’s been buzzing with hoax stories, images, background info and videos – one of which you can see right here. So here’s a snippet of what the web’s been saying about this ‘breakthrough’ –
Hot From NIMA
The NIMA site itself gives little more than a few newspaper cut-outs (nearly all in Chinese) and an expedition timeline.
Quote:March 2010 – “The We Touched Noahs Ark: The Search for A Carpenters Heart Evangelistic Campaign was launched. Worldwide press conferences, exhibitions and sharing are carried out to spread the Gospel through the Noahs Ark discovery.”
Where’s This Flood, Then?
The Daily Mail has been in touch with two experts. The first, US security analyst Porcher Taylor, confirms there is an ‘anomaly’ on the side of Mount Ararat. However British archaeologist Mike Pitts, who took archaeology to London’s Fourth Plinth last year, questions the team’s find.
Quote: Mike Pitts – “If there had been a flood capable of lifting a huge ship 4km up the side of a mountain 4,800 years ago, I think there would be substantial geological evidence for this flood around the world. And there isn’t.”
Ark Gets Around
The Gaea Times points to several unnamed ‘historians’, who it says are skeptical of the discovery, pointing out that ‘discoveries’ of Noah’s Ark are frequent ocurrances.
Quote: “It is being claimed…that the evangelists…may only have been misled. The historians base their skepticism in the fact that so-called evidences of Noah’s Ark pop up almost every other day…generally in different parts of the world.“
American Nation is slightly less even-handed in its approach, enlisting a phalanx of skeptics with few good words to say on the news, including Paul Zimansky and Peter Ian Kuniholm.
Quote: Paul Zimansky – “You have to take everything out of context except the Bible to get something tolerable, and theyre not even working much with the Bible.”
Stay Frosty, Guys!
The Marshian Chronicles warns its followers to ‘stay frosty’ on the story, but accepts the gravity of the story when pointing out that, if true, it blows apart disbelief of the Bible stories like no other event in history.
Quote: “If thats really Noahs Ark, this discovery is the equivalent of an Atom Bomb in the historical and spiritual world. I dont know how you could possibly not believe the Old Testament on other issues if this one is proved true.”
Have Your Say
Flag up below any other takes on the story that you spot on the blogosphere and think are interesting.
What do you think about the discovery?Do you think it’s too good to be true? Should it be added to our list of favourite hoaxes and pranks? Or is there enough evidence for us to take the team seriously? – don’t hold back!