NOAH'S ARK GREAT FLOOD Update

[betsy]

One of the most exciting discovery of science may well be about Noah's flood.

Noah's Ark Great Flood may have happened, says Robert Ballard

The Great Flood as featured in the Biblical story of Noah's Ark may have happened, according to Robert Ballard, the underwater archaeologist who found the Titanic.

11:53AM GMT 11 Dec 2012

In an interview with ABC News's Christiane Amanpour, Mr Ballard explains that he investigated a theory proposed by two scientists from Columbia University that there was a massive flood in the Black Sea region. They believe that the Black Sea was once an isolated freshwater lake surrounded by farmland until it was flooded by a torrent of water.

"We went in there to look for the flood," he told ABC News. "Not just a slow moving, advancing rise of sea level, but a really big flood that then stayed ... The land that went under stayed under."

Although they did not find the Ark, they found an ancient shoreline which Mr Ballard believes is proof such an event did take place. He believes that, by using carbon dating shells found along the shoreline, it took place around 5,000 BC.

http://www.telegraph...rt-Ballard.html

Below is a segment of the documentary and interview with Ballard.

http://abcnews.go.co...hs-ark-18040914

Edited December 29, 2012 by betsy

[The_Squid]

Yes, there were floods back then as there are floods now and forever there will be floods.

they didn't find the ark??? What a shocker!

[betsy]

Yes, there were floods back then as there are floods now and forever there will be floods.

they didn't find the ark??? What a shocker!

He's talking about a very, very, very big flood. Well, as they say....it ain't over til the fat lady sings. He said they may have some answers in the summer.

[betsy]

I remember having a big discussion about the flood in one of the topics, and yes it was brought up that it may've been a localized flood instead of global.

[kimmy]

There could have been some local flood that inspired a story. The argument was (and remains) that the flood could not have happened the way it is described in the Bible.

-k

[Mighty AC]

Besides the plagiarized flood story predates the Bible by a few hundred years anyway.

[betsy]

There could have been some local flood that inspired a story. The argument was (and remains) that the flood could not have happened the way it is described in the Bible.

-k

Could not....maybe...we don't know. Like I said before in the other discussion, at that moment I was thinking it was probably a localized flood, and that the Biblical description was not meant to be taken literally. I also said that should science proves otherwise, I can, and will change my position on that.

So right now, science is again on the brink of what could be a discovery/confirmation.

[betsy]

Besides the plagiarized flood story predates the Bible by a few hundred years anyway.

That doesn't make a difference to me. As stated every culture practically has a flood story. But what is interesting is that the ancient shoreline discovered by Ballard is dated around the time of Noah.

[kimmy]

Science may well show that there was a mighty flood in the Black Sea region. This sort of stuff happened during the ice age as shifting glaciers created lakes where lakes never used to be. There was a significant one in the western US; read about Glacial Lake Missoula if you're interested in that sort of thing.

However, if science confirms that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region, all it will confirm is that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region.

The stuff about a 900 year old man building a magic boat that carried all the creatures of the earth for a year and eventually marooned on top of the tallest mountain in the world once the waters receded is and remains a gigantic load of crap that only gullible children would believe.

-k

[DogOnPorch]

Aren't you a PG resident? A huge ice age lake once covered the region. The Fraser Canyon must have been quite the place when it let loose.

[Guest Manny]

Science may well show that there was a mighty flood in the Black Sea region. This sort of stuff happened during the ice age as shifting glaciers created lakes where lakes never used to be. There was a significant one in the western US; read about Glacial Lake Missoula if you're interested in that sort of thing.

However, if science confirms that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region, all it will confirm is that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region.

The stuff about a 900 year old man building a magic boat that carried all the creatures of the earth for a year and eventually marooned on top of the tallest mountain in the world once the waters receded is and remains a gigantic load of crap that only gullible children would believe.

-k

Something like that could have happened though. Maybe, without all the embellishments but to dismiss it out of hand just because of that might be missing the point. In other words, there might be deeper meanings to certain stories, be they biblical narratives or derived from earlier myths.

So are you going to take it at the most "childish" level? No of course not. Question is, is there anything else there of value at all.

Scientifically though, its possible that a large region can be at a lower level, lower sea level than surrounding highlands. This area could be like a large depression or bowl, so that if there was a sudden event, major melting of a glacier that suddenly breaks, boom. Major flooding, and the water could remain for years.

Why wouldn't it be reasonable for people who have big boats to be able to survive? Eventually they would find the shore along some mountain range. Nothing unbelievable about that.

[betsy]

Science may well show that there was a mighty flood in the Black Sea region. This sort of stuff happened during the ice age as shifting glaciers created lakes where lakes never used to be. There was a significant one in the western US; read about Glacial Lake Missoula if you're interested in that sort of thing.

However, if science confirms that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region, all it will confirm is that there was some sort of flood in the Black Sea region.

The stuff about a 900 year old man building a magic boat that carried all the creatures of the earth for a year and eventually marooned on top of the tallest mountain in the world once the waters receded is and remains a gigantic load of crap that only gullible children would believe.

-k

We'll just have to see what else is discovered.

[dre]

Why wouldn't it be reasonable for people who have big boats to be able to survive? Eventually they would find the shore along some mountain range. Nothing unbelievable about that.

Sure of course. But that would do nothing at all to strengthen the story in the bible about god commiting an unspeakable act of genocide, and murdering every man woman and child besides noah and his family, and the rest of the nonsense.

But when people dreamed up the bible im sure that they some of the stories they wrote were based on real legends and real history. So its entirely possible that there was a really big flood, and that people did use boats to survive it... maybe there was even a guy named Noah that had a big boat and helped rescue some folks... Then the story of the genocide, and the mass murdering maniac diety, was written based on that a few hundred years later.

Edited December 29, 2012 by dre

[betsy]

Sure of course. But that would do nothing at all to strengthen the story in the bible about god commiting an unspeakable act of genocide, and murdering every man woman and child besides noah and his family, and the rest of the nonsense.

But when people dreamed up the bible im sure that they some of the stories they wrote were based on real legends and real history. So its entirely possible that there was a really big flood, and that people did use boats to survive it... maybe there was even a guy named Noah that had a big boat and helped rescue some folks... Then the story of the genocide, and the mass murdering maniac diety, was written based on that a few hundred years later.

Whether our God is a genocidal maniac or not is not the issue.

Boy, your rant is spooky. You remind me of the movie.....The Exorcist! And the spinning head, and the green drool.

Edited December 29, 2012 by betsy

[dre]

Whether our God is a genocidal maniac or not is not the issue.

Boy....you remind me of the movie.....The Exorcist!

Sure its... Gods genocidal murdering is a key part of the story of Noah. The story of Noahs Ark isnt just about a flood,so a finding by researchers that a flood did happen isnt going to do anything to "confirm" that biblical story like you hope it will.

My second paragraph explains exactly why theres a loose correlation between events described in the bible and other books, and historical events. It should be easy for anyone with an elementary school level grasp of logic to understand. Yet you will no doubt add this to your inane thread about scientific facts that prove things written in the bible are true

Edited December 29, 2012 by dre

[betsy]

Sure its... Gods genocidal murdering is a key part of the story of Noah. The story of Noahs Ark isnt just about a flood,so a finding by researchers that a flood did happen isnt going to do anything to "confirm" that biblical story like you hope it will.

Sure I'm excited about the exploration....and I'm hoping it will be another confirmation to add to the listed facts! But if it doesn't turn out to be....no big deal, since I've already said before that so far I think that just like some other things in the Bible that are not taken literally - I think Noah's Ark is one of them.

You're assuming they'll only find whether the flood did exist or not. It doesn't have to be only about the flood. Anything is possible. We have to wait and see.

And speaking of hoping....that would have to be you. You would hope very, very much that Noah's story wouldn't be proven true - because if it is ever proven true, you'd know you're at the mercy of the "murdering genocidal" God you love to mock.

Edited December 30, 2012 by betsy

[Moonlight Graham]

Finding evidence of a flood is one thing. There must be evidence that it covered all land and mountains in the region at the time as in the story. It must also be shown, via geologic evidence or otherwise, that every living creature on earth (minus those in the ark) were killed by a flood within an extremely short timeframe (what it is in the Bible, about 150 days?). Given that the story or the ark is estimated to have occurred around 4000 BC, the should be a ton of geologic evidence of a mass extinction at this time that killed everything not in a boat.

There may have been a flood, it may have have been regionally devastating, but many parts of the story itself is bollocks, almost certainly myth.

[betsy]

Finding evidence of a flood is one thing. There must be evidence that it covered all land and mountains in the region at the time as in the story. It must also be shown, via geologic evidence or otherwise, that every living creature on earth (minus those in the ark) were killed by a flood within an extremely short timeframe (what it is in the Bible, about 150 days?). Given that the story or the ark is estimated to have occurred around 4000 BC, the should be a ton of geologic evidence of a mass extinction at this time that killed everything not in a boat.

There may have been a flood, it may have have been regionally devastating, but many parts of the story itself is bollocks, almost certainly myth.

WOW! You got a list of demands! Btw, I'm not sure where you stand on evolution and the theory of how it all began (Big bang)....now that I see you're not one to be convinced quite easily (judging by your requirements of proof from this Noah's Ark exploration).

Anyway, I'm hoping for a real scientific exploration.

That everything will be backed by proofs and well-explained by the scientists - like they did in the listed fact about the discovery of SODOM and GOMORRHA. The whole annihilation took a few hours or a day (?)...and the proofs were not only clearly shown, but were also well-explained.

Edited December 30, 2012 by betsy

[dre]

That everything will be backed by proofs and well-explained by the scientists - like they did in the listed fact about the discovery of SODOM and GOMORRHA. The whole annihilation took a few hours or a day (?)...and the proofs were not only clearly shown, but were also well-explained.

But again even if its true that proves nothing at all besides that the people that wrote the bible wrote stories that were in part based on real events. If something did wreck those two cities OF COURSE the huxters that created Christianity would claim those things were the result of god punishing man for sin. Every single time theres a natural disaster a bunch of these so called religious leaders are claiming it was an act of god to punish fags, sodomy, lustfullness, immorality etc.

If the bible was written today, it would be claimed that hurricane katrina was the act of a vengeful god (which is exactly what religious leaders claimed), and an ellaborate story would be concocted around that. Then in a few hundred years when scientists determined there really HAD been a flood in Louisiana at around that time, you would add that to your ridiculous list of so-called scientific facts that prove the bible is true.

An 8 yearold should be able to see the folly in this Betsy, why on earth cant you?

[betsy]

But again even if its true that proves nothing at all besides that the people that wrote the bible wrote stories that were in part based on real events. If something did wreck those two cities OF COURSE the huxters that created Christianity would claim those things were the result of god punishing man for sin. Every single time theres a natural disaster a bunch of these so called religious leaders are claiming it was an act of god to punish fags, sodomy, lustfullness, immorality etc.

I suggest you read that listed fact about Sodom and Gomorrha, and the sceintific discoveries and how it related to the Bible. You're just rambling and tossing out your opinion....though, nothing wrong with that. It's understandable why you're resisting, and refusing to open your mind and wouldn't be objective about it. Of course, you shouldn't expect me to take your words seriously.

Edited December 30, 2012 by betsy

[dre]

I suggest you read that listed fact about Sodom and Gomorrha, and the sceintific discoveries and how it related to the Bible. You're just rambling and tossing out your opinion....though, nothing wrong with that. It's understandable why you're resisting, and refusing to open your mind and wouldn't be objective about it. Of course, you shouldn't expect me to take your words seriously.

I already replied to this and you completely ignored it.

Here it is again...

But again even if its true that proves nothing at all besides that the people that wrote the bible wrote stories that were in part based on real events. If something did wreck those two cities OF COURSE the huxters that created Christianity would claim those things were the result of god punishing man for sin. Every single time theres a natural disaster a bunch of these so called religious leaders are claiming it was an act of god to punish fags, sodomy, lustfullness, immorality etc.

If the bible was written today, it would be claimed that hurricane katrina was the act of a vengeful god (which is exactly what religious leaders claimed), and an ellaborate story would be concocted around that. Then in a few hundred years when scientists determined there really HAD been a flood in Louisiana at around that time, you would add that to your ridiculous list of so-called scientific facts that prove the bible is true.

An 8 yearold should be able to see the folly in this Betsy, why on earth cant you?

[betsy]

If the bible was written today, it would be claimed that hurricane katrina was the act of a vengeful god (which is exactly what religious leaders claimed), and an ellaborate story would be concocted around that. Then in a few hundred years when scientists determined there really HAD been a flood in Louisiana at around that time, you would add that to your ridiculous list of so-called scientific facts that prove the bible is true.

An 8 yearold should be able to see the folly in this Betsy, why on earth cant you?

If the Bible was written today, we won't know if it will say that hurricane Katrina was the deliberate act of God. Maybe Katrina was just that. A big storm. Do you think there were no other big storms that happened in the ancient times?

The Bible was not written today. It didn't have the luxury of modern science or technology.

Yes, if you only take the disaster-related accounts - yes you can say it doesn't prove anything. But when you're talking about the Bible, as you can see from the list of facts, it deals with more than just disaster-related events.

It's the accumulation of all these facts - not to mention the prophecies that had come true - that has to be taken into serious consideration. That's one of the things that sets the Bible apart from the other books or ancient religion. I don't know why that seems to be so hard to understand.

If you can easily believe in evolution - surely you can at least consider the Bible.... that is, if you are unbiased.

Edited January 1, 2013 by betsy

[kimmy]

Something like that could have happened though. Maybe, without all the embellishments but to dismiss it out of hand just because of that might be missing the point. In other words, there might be deeper meanings to certain stories, be they biblical narratives or derived from earlier myths.

But without the "embellishments", it's just a story about a flood. With the "embellishments" removed, what's big message? "Build your house on higher ground"?

-k

[Guest Manny]

But without the "embellishments", it's just a story about a flood. With the "embellishments" removed, what's big message? "Build your house on higher ground"?

-k

In a way... keep asking that. What house do you mean

[betsy]

But without the "embellishments", it's just a story about a flood. With the "embellishments" removed, what's big message? "Build your house on higher ground"?

-k

But it's more than just the "ebellishments." It's also all the other things that goes along with it. The whole package.