Creation Museum needs your help

[Nick]

The Creation Museum has hit a fundraising snag in its attempt to raise millions for a life size Noah's Ark.  On top of that attendance is down this year.  I'm sure they could use a donation if any of you feel it in your heart.  I guess tax breaks are not going to do it.

[Emily]

Poor planning on their part. Perhaps they should fire their CFO. Or perhaps they should've gone to this guy for advice on how to build a life size Noah's Ark.

haha, I've been having a lot of fun with meme generators lately.

[thunderridge]

I am going to AIG to donate now.  Thanks for the heads up. 

[Graybeard]

Among the many problems with the Creation Museum's "Noah's Ark" is the shape of the ark. Most people are used to it being a sort of double-ended boat with a crude house on top. This is absolutely nothing like what was intended. It is a far later depiction.

However, few people ever consider the other ark; the ark of the covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is well-described in cubits and spans, just as Noah's Ark is. Why then, should one be a box and not the other?

Here is what the painter Hans Holbein the Younger^Wiki drew around 1540, Holbein was no idiot. He was hired to illustrate the bible - obviously, he would not have drawn something that did not agree with everyone's idea of what the Ark looked like.

Are there any other clues to tell us that the Ark was a huge box and not at all like a boat with a house on it? Yes. The story of Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth, can also be found in the Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis^Wiki which is incorporated into the Epic of Gilgamesh^Wiki. In this our hero is told by one of the gods, Ea, to build a boat in the shape of a box and to fill it with all the animals in creation.

Wiki

In this work, the hero, Gilgamesh, meets the immortal man, Utnapishtim, and the latter describes how the god, Ea, instructed him to build a huge vessel in anticipation of a deity-created flood that would destroy the world; the vessel was not only intended for Utnapishtim, but was built to also protect his family, his friends and animals.

If the Creation Museum had stuck to just making a box, it would have been far cheaper and they would not have run out of money... They ran out of money because they disobeyed God and angered Him.

Oxford English Dictionary (online, subscription only)

ark, n. 1. A chest, box, coffer, close basket, or similar receptacle; esp. a. in north. dial. a large wooden bin or hutch for storing meal, bread, fruit, etc.

Merriam-Webster

Origin of ARK: Middle English, from Old English arc, from Latin arca chest; akin to Latin arc?re to hold off, defend, Greek arkein, Hittite ?ark- to have, hold
First Known Use: before 12th century

[IAmFirst]

Yeah. 20 cubits by 50 cubits by 14 cubits = a trapezoid magically able to fit two (seven) of each (some) animal(s) on their way to an inhabitable mountain top, but only after a bull is sacrificed to attract a deity's attention on the day of the ark landing.

Hmmm... that may be my summation of the Noah/ark story. So sorry, Genesis! *



* and, no, I'm not apologizing to Phil Collins.

[albeto]

I wonder if they're going to strew floating, bloating, half-decaying body parts around for the sake of realism.

[Frank]

Here's the story

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/07/05/creation-museum-attendance-is-dropping-and-they-cant-raise-enough-funding-for-ark-park/

To add to the bad news, the Creation Museum is having its lowest attendance year yet. Last fiscal year, 280,000 people visited, compared to 404,000 the first year it opened in 2007. Zovath thinks that potential visitors have been less willing to travel to the museum because of the poor economy.

Maybe the real reason for a drop in attendance is that the only visitors they get are repeaters. After they've been 2 or 3 times they've seen everything there is to see so they stop going. Not to mention the cost. Apparently it's very expensive, especially if you bring a kid or two. Here's a comment.

An adult ticket to the Creation Museum is $29.95.  Children 5-12 are $15.95.  A family of four would need to pay $95.80 to go there.  How many people do they think are going to go there to see a bunch of dioramas more than once?   

By comparison, the world-class Columbus Zoo is $14.99 general admission, $9.99 for children 2-9.  Even if you have older children, you're still only spending $60, and you get to see actual living animals, not dioramas and propaganda.

Is there any wonder that this place is failing?

Looks like the competition is too hot for them.

As Noah would say. "Into every life a little rain must fall".

[Brakeman]

I wonder if they're going to strew floating, bloating, half-decaying body parts around for the sake of realism.

I like that. It made me sing the old christian song "jesus loves the little children" but with the words "jesus drowned the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow .."

[Turbo SS]

I heard if you donate a penny through credit card the receiving company gets charged like a .30 cent processing fee.  Lets all be generous and donate a penny at a time. 

[Graybeard]

I thought I might send them a trolling email, but the "Ark Encounter" can only be contected by mail and phone. However, they do have an address:

Street Address:
2800 Bullittsburg Church Rd.
Petersburg, KY 41080

At first reading, "Bullittsburg" does look like "Bullshitberg" doesn't it?

I see this as a sign from an embarrassed God.

[screwtape]

link from Frank's link:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/creation-museum-evolves-hoping-add-life-size-ark-170347907.html

at the end is a sort of sad story:

When I visited in June, a girl who looked about 10 years old rushed up to an exhibit that showed a giant hummingbird. Next to it, in shadow, were three other creatures—a pterodactyl, a bat and a small finch. "Look, this is evolution!" she said, pointing at the four creatures.

Her mother jerked her head around and walked up behind the girl. "You know what, honey? Those are just other animals that are designed to fly," she said, pointing at the exhibit's description.

"Oh," the little girl said, embarrassed she'd gotten it wrong.

Poor kid doesn't stand a chance.

[Nam]

What would they do with a life-sized ark? Get two of every animal on the planet to prove that it actually happened?

I'd pay to see that.

-Nam

[pianodwarf]

What would they do with a life-sized ark?

Depends, I guess.  If they built it to the specs given in Genesis, they would watch it break apart and sink shortly after its first launch.

I don't know enough about boatbuilding, but maybe somebody else here does.  Anyone have any idea how long it would take a 450-foot long wooden boat with no pumps and no metal reinforcements to go to pieces, assuming just for the sake of argument that it was a calm sea?

[jtk73]

Anyone have any idea how long it would take a 450-foot long wooden boat with no pumps and no metal reinforcements to go to pieces, assuming just for the sake of argument that it was a calm sea?

I found this site - http://www.biblicalnonsense.com/chapter6.html - very informative. I think there was something in there about the timescale. They have chapters covering all kinds of other biblical nonsense as well.

I can't take credit for finding the site though, someone else had linked to it in a thread about a month ago.

[Graybeard]

I don't know enough about boatbuilding, but maybe somebody else here does.  Anyone have any idea how long it would take a 450-foot long wooden boat with no pumps and no metal reinforcements to go to pieces, assuming just for the sake of argument that it was a calm sea?

List of world's largest wooden ships^Wiki and, as I say, it wasn't a boat, it was a box.

[pianodwarf]

List of world's largest wooden ships^Wiki[/quote]

Right, I've seen that before (used it in a couple of my older posts here about the flood myth), but it doesn't really answer the question.

and, as I say, it wasn't a boat, it was a box.

Yes, that's true.

[Quesi]

I hope they build it AND put all the animals inside! 

I'm especially interested in how the biblical scholars will recreate this important historical icon, while keeping all of the animals from eating each other and/or burying themselves in their own feces. 

I'd also really like to see how they accommodate close to one million species of insects using only materials available in Noah's time.  I wonder if he put them all in hand-blown glass jars!  Guess we'll just have to wait and find out. 

And then there is the question of storing food to feed everyone. 

Sounds like an exciting project, and  know I'll be sending them money as soon as I get around to it. 

[Turbo SS]

I hope they build it AND put all the animals inside! 

I'm especially interested in how the biblical scholars will recreate this important historical icon, while keeping all of the animals from eating each other and/or burying themselves in their own feces. 

I'd also really like to see how they accommodate close to one million species of insects using only materials available in Noah's time.  I wonder if he put them all in hand-blown glass jars!  Guess we'll just have to wait and find out. 

And then there is the question of storing food to feed everyone. 

Sounds like an exciting project, and  know I'll be sending them money as soon as I get around to it.

I want to see them put all the sea creatures inside too!  Uhhh where do we put the two Blue Whales?????

Or do sea creatures get a pass because they are already in the water?

[Brakeman]

I want to see them put all the sea creatures inside too!  Uhhh where do we put the two Blue Whales?????

Or do sea creatures get a pass because they are already in the water?

They rode in the "Jonah" Fish, a spacious 500,000 cubic foot fish with a pool, dining room, and luxury bedroom accommodations for three. Jonah, loved it and rated it "FIVE STARS!"

[Nam]

Wait, wait! There are creatures in the ocean? When did this happen?

-Nam