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Friday, November 23, 2012
Where to Get the Lost Worlds Trilogy
Hardcopy print edition is available from CRS books for all 3 books of the trilogy:
- The Coming Wrath (1st edition, 2005) hardcopy
- Mabbul (2007) hardcopy
- Mystery of Lawlessness (2010) hardcopy
- The Coming Wrath for Kindle (2nd edition, 2011, with new Chapter 1 "Lion's Cub")
- Mabbul (2007) for Kindle
- Mystery of Lawlessness for Kindle
- The Coming Wrath (2012, 1st edition with new Chapter 1 from 2nd edition)
Listening to Audio Book Podcasts 101
- If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and no PC or Mac
- If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with a Podcatcher app
- If you have a PC or Mac without iTunes
- If you have a PC or Mac with iTunes installed
- If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and a PC or Mac with iTunes installed
- If you have an Android, along with a PC
- If you have an Android, and no PC
Once inside the iTunes app, press the Search button, and search on your book name, like "The Coming Wrath". It should then be listed in Top Results. Press it, and you will see all the chapters listed. To manually download the chapter that you want to listen to next, click the down arrow next to it.
When done, you can now get in your car or go babysitting, away from your wireless connection. The podcasts are now on your iPhone, iPad, or iPad Touch! From your iOS menu, press the Music icon, then press Podcasts to listen to your book (you will see the title of it listed there). If you have to stop listening in the middle of a chapter, your device will remember exactly where you left off.
When you are completely done with a chapter, you can delete it from your device with a left swipe. The Delete button will appear.
› If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with a Podcatcher app
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| Downcast |
› If you have a PC or Mac without iTunes
If you have a Windows PC or a Mac running OS X, open your browser and go to Podiobooks.com. Browse to the book that you want to listen to (The Coming Wrath will be located at http://Podiobooks.com/title/the-coming-wrath/) Scroll down and click on the "Listen to Episodes" tab.
You will now see a list of all chapters in the book. Just click on the one you want to listen to.
Choose "Open" to listen right away to the MP3 file using your music player. But make sure you have an inexpensive wireless connection that stays with you, or your listening might get interrupted before you get to the end of the chapter!
Choose "Save" to send the MP3 to a folder on your computer so that you can listen later. But since you are not using iTunes, when you have to stop listening in the middle of a chapter, your music player may not remember exactly where you left off.
› If you have a PC or Mac with iTunes installed
Open your browser and go to Podiobooks.com. Browse to the book that you want to listen to. (The Coming Wrath will be located at http://Podiobooks.com/title/the-coming-wrath/.) Then, in the left side panel, click on "Listen in iTunes".
The most recent episode of your book will appear in the Podcast section of your iTunes Library when it has finished downloading. It may take a while to download, since an individual chapter may be up to 40 megabytes in size. Future episodes will be downloaded automatically as they become available.
To change your settings for loading other chapters, click on the Settings button at the bottom of your iTunes window:
By default, iTunes will automatically check for new episodes every day, download the most recent one, and will keep all episodes. You can change this to download automatically every week, or manually. You can download all episodes, not just the most recent one. You can keep just your unplayed episodes, or the last several of them.
You can immediately play the one that was downloaded by pressing the iTunes Play button. If you have to stop listening in the middle of a chapter, iTunes will remember exactly where you left off. But if you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android, you can do even better with a little more effort....› If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and a PC or Mac with iTunes installed
If you're in this section, first do everything in the section right above titled "If you have a PC or Mac with iTunes installed."
The top panel will show a series of choices. Highlight "Podcasts", then check the box that's titled "Sync Podcasts":
Now you are ready to copy all the podcast episodes to your device. To do this, click on the Sync button in the lower right corner:
This may take a while, since each chapter of your book may up to 40 megs in size. The entire book may be more than a gigabyte in size:
› If you have an Android, along with a PC
If you have an Android, along with a Windows PC, from your PC go to Podiobooks.com, and browse to the book that you want to listen to (The Coming Wrath will be located at http://Podiobooks.com/title/the-coming-wrath/). Scroll down to the "Listen to Episodes" tab, click each chapter link and save it to an MP3 file on your PC. Then download from your PC to a folder on your Android, either wirelessly (if you know how), or by plugging the Android into a USB port on your PC. (See the section above titled "If you have a PC or Mac without iTunes").
› If you have an Android, and no PC
If you have an Android, and no PC, you only need an inexpensive wireless connection to download and listen to the set of audio book podcasts for your book. (But again, don't do this using your cell phone data plan, since all the chapters may hit you up for a gigabyte or more of total of data usage.)
First, purchase and install one of the Podcatcher apps listed in Wikipedia. Two of the best ones are BeyondPod ($6.99, free 7 day trial) and DoggCatcher ($4.99).On your Android, from your Podcatcher you can now subscribe to the podcast series for your book. To do this, specify the RSS Feed address that you discovered above. You will then be able to download the different chapters over your wireless connection.
When you are done, take your Android with you. You will enjoy listening to your Podiobooks series anywhere you go!
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Saturday, November 3, 2012
About LWT
The author of the Lost Worlds Trilogy is John K. Reed, of Reasonable Hope Ministry.
Reasonable Hope seeks to minister hope to a culture that has lost it.
There is one hope. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaimed from Genesis to Revelation. We offer that hope and offer reasonable answers to the challenges raised by our modern secular age. Read the books of Reasonable Hope Ministry and find out!
Reasonable Hope seeks to minister hope to a culture that has lost it.
Monday, October 29, 2012
More LWT Sites
Get more info on Lost Worlds Trilogy at the following sites:
Facebook page
Facebook group
Reasonable Hope Ministry
CRS Books
Amazon
Podiobooks
iTunes
Facebook page
Facebook group
Reasonable Hope Ministry
CRS Books
Amazon
Podiobooks
iTunes
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Why were only eight people saved on the ark?
The Bible tells us that before the flood, people lived for many hundreds of years. Therefore the population of the earth was probably in the hundreds of millions, or even billions.1 The Bible also tells us that God saved only eight of these people, Noah, his sons, and their wives.
It is astounding to consider that in the tenth generation from Adam the human race had become so wicked, evil, violent and corrupt that it was not fit to go on living. Weren't there other people worth saving? The answer is, that all of us, "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) By His standard, God would have condemned each and every person. So it is even more astounding that He did not! God chose to save Noah and his family, even though like all of us, they fell short of God's absolute standard of righteousness.
As Russell Grigg explains in Noah's Flood—why?:
How is this relevant to us today?
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
References
1. Lambert Dolphin, World Population Since Creation, retrieved October 13, 2012.
2. Russell M. Grigg, Noah's Flood—why?, Creation Ministries International, retrieved October 13, 2012.
It is astounding to consider that in the tenth generation from Adam the human race had become so wicked, evil, violent and corrupt that it was not fit to go on living. Weren't there other people worth saving? The answer is, that all of us, "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) By His standard, God would have condemned each and every person. So it is even more astounding that He did not! God chose to save Noah and his family, even though like all of us, they fell short of God's absolute standard of righteousness.
As Russell Grigg explains in Noah's Flood—why?:
God's mercy regarding the Flood is just as evident as His judgment, and is seen in the fact that God provided a way of escape for those who were prepared to believe what He had said, heed the warning He gave, and avail themselves of the means of salvation which He provided by instructing Noah to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14-16).Noah and his family survived physically. As portrayed in The Coming Wrath, there were probably others who came to believe in Noah's prophecy. They wanted to reach the Ark, but they were killed before they could get there. They were sinners just like Noah, but like him, they repented and turned to God. From the testimony of the entire Bible, those who were killed in this way were also saved, not physically in this life, but toward eternal, everlasting life.
Noah is described as ... 'a preacher of righteousness' (2 Peter 2:5). His messages, perhaps preached from the platform of the partially completed Ark, included warnings of the coming judgment and invitations to his listeners to avail themselves of the one means of escape, which he was constructing. In the event, Noah and his family alone had regard to the wrath of God, and only eight people boarded the Ark in faith and were saved—Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives.2
How is this relevant to us today?
The warnings given to Noah's generation are terrifyingly relevant today. When God's mercy is rejected, then His judgment must and will fall. But, as in the days of Noah, so now God has both given warning of the judgment to come and provided a way of salvation. The Ark was the only refuge from divine judgment then and it had to be entered by faith. As such it speaks to us of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour for sinful mankind today, whose death on the Cross must be appropriated by faith. 'For by grace are ye saved through faith' (Ephesians 2:8); 'Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:12). As the Apostle Paul declares, 'I declare unto you the Gospel...By which also ye are saved...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day' (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).2(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 39: Sechiall Strikes of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
References
1. Lambert Dolphin, World Population Since Creation, retrieved October 13, 2012.
2. Russell M. Grigg, Noah's Flood—why?, Creation Ministries International, retrieved October 13, 2012.
Where Is Noah’s Ark Today?
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4).
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| Mt. Ararat is the highest mountain of the Ararat range |
Mt. Ararat has attracted the most attention because it has permanent ice, and some people report to have seen the Ark. Many expeditions have searched for the Ark there. There is no conclusive evidence of the Ark’s location or survival; after all, it landed on the mountains about 4,500 years ago. Also it could easily have deteriorated, been destroyed, or been used as lumber by Noah and his descendants.
Some scientists and Bible scholars, though, believe the Ark could indeed be preserved—perhaps to be providentially revealed at a future time as a reminder of the past judgment and the judgment to come, although the same could be said for things like the Ark of the Covenant or other biblical icons. Jesus said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).
The Ark is unlikely to have survived without supernatural intervention, but this is neither promised nor expected from Scripture. However, it is a good idea to check if it still exists.
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Friday, October 12, 2012
Where Is the Evidence in the Earth for Noah’s Flood?
For this they willingly forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water (2 Peter 3:5–6).Evidence of Noah’s Flood can be seen all over the earth, from seabeds to mountaintops. Whether you travel by car, train, or plane, the physical features of the earth’s terrain clearly indicate a catastrophic past, from canyons and craters to coal beds and caverns. Some layers of strata extend across continents, revealing the effects of a huge catastrophe.
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| The Grand Staircase is an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park through Zion National Park and into the Grand Canyon. |
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Where Did All the Water Go?
And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased (Genesis 8:3).Simply put, the water from the Flood is in the oceans and seas we see today. Three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
As even secular geologists observe, it does appear that the continents were at one time “together” and not separated by the vast oceans of today. The forces involved in the Flood were certainly sufficient to change all of this.
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| The supercontinent that existed before the Flood, according to the catastrophic plate tectonics model. The dark lines denote plate boundaries where continental crust is present or boundaries between continent and ocean where both exist on the same plate. |
Some have speculated, because of Genesis 10:25, that the continental break occurred during the time of Peleg. However, this division is mentioned in the context of the Tower of Babel’s language division of the whole earth (Genesis 10–11). So the context points to a dividing of the languages and people groups, not the land breaking apart.
If there were a massive movement of continents during the time of Peleg, there would have been another worldwide flood. The Bible indicates that the mountains of Ararat existed for the Ark to land in them (Genesis 8:4); so the Indian-Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate had to have already collided, indicating that the continents had already shifted prior to Peleg.
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
References
1. Andrew A. Snelling, Can Catastrophic Plate Tectonics Explain Flood Geology?, Answers in Genesis, November 8, 2007.
2. For more details on this subject see chapter 14 Can Catastrophic Plate Tectonics Explain Flood Geology? by Dr. Andrew A. Snelling, in Ken Ham, ed., The NEW Answers Book, Master Books, 2006.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Noah's Global Flood: Enough Water for 40 Days of Rain?
Yes! Enough for 23 inches a day worldwide for 40 days, from water trapped in volcanic magmas from Earth's LIPs (Large Igneous Provinces).
A common criticism of the Biblical Flood account is that it would be impossible for rain to occur 40 days and nights over the surface of the entire earth without stopping.
If you believe in the Almighty Creator God who created the entire Universe miraculously in six days, it would be no great difficulty for him to supply that much water. He could have done it miraculously, of course. Or he could have done it by using what was already available on Earth and the Solar System.
In his article Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Hamilton Duncan shows that there is at least enough water trapped in molten rock (magmas) beneath the surface of the earth to supply 23 inches a day for 40 days everywhere on the planet! But how could all that water suddenly shoot into the atmosphere? A simultaneous bombardment of comets and meteors worldwide would be enough to cause the upper layer (mantle) of the Earth’s surface to lead to sudden decompression of the upper mantle, which would cause the trapped water to vaporize and erupt spectacularly into the earth’s atmosphere, shooting many miles up into the sky. Duncan concludes: “A world where 40,000 volcanoes simultaneously erupt would be extremely dreadful and may very well be the world referred to in Genesis 7 and 8.”
Of course, the miraculous hand of God is involved at some point! He is the one that warned Noah that the Flood was coming, and told him exactly how to build the Ark to take refuge. He is the one that sent the rains at their appointed time, and caused them to stop on the 40th day. May we recognize the awesome majesty, splendor and strength of our Creator (1st Chronicles 16:26-27).
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
written by Marko Malyj
Reference
Hamilton Duncan, Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 47, Number 1, Summer, 2010.
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| Figure 1. Distribution of known large igneous provinces (in black, after Reviews of Geophysics, by Coffin and Eldholm, 1994) |
If you believe in the Almighty Creator God who created the entire Universe miraculously in six days, it would be no great difficulty for him to supply that much water. He could have done it miraculously, of course. Or he could have done it by using what was already available on Earth and the Solar System.
In his article Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Hamilton Duncan shows that there is at least enough water trapped in molten rock (magmas) beneath the surface of the earth to supply 23 inches a day for 40 days everywhere on the planet! But how could all that water suddenly shoot into the atmosphere? A simultaneous bombardment of comets and meteors worldwide would be enough to cause the upper layer (mantle) of the Earth’s surface to lead to sudden decompression of the upper mantle, which would cause the trapped water to vaporize and erupt spectacularly into the earth’s atmosphere, shooting many miles up into the sky. Duncan concludes: “A world where 40,000 volcanoes simultaneously erupt would be extremely dreadful and may very well be the world referred to in Genesis 7 and 8.”
Of course, the miraculous hand of God is involved at some point! He is the one that warned Noah that the Flood was coming, and told him exactly how to build the Ark to take refuge. He is the one that sent the rains at their appointed time, and caused them to stop on the 40th day. May we recognize the awesome majesty, splendor and strength of our Creator (1st Chronicles 16:26-27).
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
written by Marko Malyj
Reference
Hamilton Duncan, Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 47, Number 1, Summer, 2010.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
How Did Noah Care for All the Animals?
Just as God brought the animals to Noah by some form of supernatural means, He surely also prepared them for this amazing event. Creation scientists suggest that God gave the animals the ability to hibernate, as we see in many species today. Most animals react to natural disasters in ways that were designed to help them survive. It’s very possible many animals did hibernate, perhaps even supernaturally intensified by God.
Whether it was supernatural or simply a normal response to the darkness and confinement of a rocking ship, the fact that God told Noah to build rooms (“qen”—literally in Hebrew “nests”) in Genesis 6:14 implies that the animals were subdued or nesting. God also told Noah to take food for them (Genesis 6:21), which tells us that they were not in a year-long coma either.
Were we able to walk through the Ark as it was being built, we would undoubtedly be amazed at the ingenious systems on board for water and food storage and distribution. As Woodmorappe explains in Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, a small group of farmers today can raise thousands of cattle and other animals in a very small space. One can easily imagine all kinds of devices on the Ark that would have enabled a small number of people to feed and care for the animals, from watering to waste removal.
As Woodmorappe points out, no special devices were needed for eight people to care for 16,000 animals. But if they existed, how would these devices be powered? There are all sorts of possibilities. How about a plumbing system for gravity-fed drinking water, a ventilation system driven by wind or wave motion, or hoppers that dispense grain as the animals eat it? None of these require higher technology than what we know existed in ancient cultures. And yet these cultures were likely well-short of the skill and capability of Noah and the pre-Flood world.
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 20: Walking Away of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Whether it was supernatural or simply a normal response to the darkness and confinement of a rocking ship, the fact that God told Noah to build rooms (“qen”—literally in Hebrew “nests”) in Genesis 6:14 implies that the animals were subdued or nesting. God also told Noah to take food for them (Genesis 6:21), which tells us that they were not in a year-long coma either.
As Woodmorappe points out, no special devices were needed for eight people to care for 16,000 animals. But if they existed, how would these devices be powered? There are all sorts of possibilities. How about a plumbing system for gravity-fed drinking water, a ventilation system driven by wind or wave motion, or hoppers that dispense grain as the animals eat it? None of these require higher technology than what we know existed in ancient cultures. And yet these cultures were likely well-short of the skill and capability of Noah and the pre-Flood world.
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 20: Walking Away of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Sunday, September 30, 2012
How Could the Ark Survive the Flood?
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| KRISO's proposed hull form of the Ark, 135m long, 22.5m wide and 13.5m high |
The Bible does not say the Ark was a rectangular box. In fact, Scripture gives no clue about the shape of Noah’s Ark other than the proportions—length, width, and depth. Ships have long been described like this without ever implying a block-shaped hull.
Moses used the obscure term tebah, a word that is only used again for the basket that carried baby Moses (Exodus 2:3). One was a huge wooden ship and the other a tiny wicker basket. Both float, both rescue life, and both are covered. But the similarity ends there. We can be quite sure that the baby basket did not have the same proportions as the Ark, and Egyptian baskets of the time were typically rounded. Perhaps tebah means “lifeboat.”
For many years biblical creationists have simply depicted the Ark as a rectangular box. This shape helped illustrate its size while avoiding the distractions of hull curvature. It also made it easy to compare volume. By using a short cubit and the maximum number of animal “kinds,” creationists, as we’ve seen, have demonstrated how easily the Ark could fit the payload.1 At the time, space was the main issue; other factors were secondary.
However, the next phase of research investigated sea-keeping (behavior and comfort at sea), hull strength, and stability. This began with a Korean study performed at the world-class ship research center (KRISO) in 1992.2 The team of nine KRISO researchers was led by Dr. Hong, who is now director-general of the research center.
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| KRISO's conclusion: the Ark’s wave height limit was more than 30 metres if the thickness of the wood was 30 cm. |
The study confirmed that the Ark could handle waves as high as 98 feet (30 m), and that the proportions of the biblical Ark are near optimal—an interesting admission from Dr. Hong, who believes evolutionary ideas, openly claiming “life came from the sea.”3
For more results of KRISO's research, see The Seaworthiness of the Ark.
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 38: Final Parting of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
References
1. J. Woodmorappe, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, Institute for Creation Research, Santee, California, 2003.
2. Hong, et al., Safety Investigation of Noah’s Ark in a seaway, TJ 8(1):26–36, April 1994. http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i1/noah.asp.
3. Seok Won Hong, Warm greetings from the Director-General of MOERI (former KRISO), Director-General of MOERI/KORDI, http://www.moeri.re.kr/eng/about/about.htm.
The Seaworthiness of the Ark
A Korean study performed at the world-class ship research center (KRISO) in 1992 investigated sea-keeping, hull strength, and stability characteristics of the Ark.1 While Noah’s Ark was an average performer in each quality, it was among the best designs overall. In other words, the proportions show a careful design balance that is easily lost when proportions are modified the wrong way. It is no surprise that modern ships have similar proportions—those proportions work.
Interesting to note is the fact that this study makes nonsense of the claim that Genesis was written only a few centuries before Christ and was based on flood legends such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Babylonian ark is a cube shape, something so far from reality that even the shortest hull in the Korean study was not even close. But we would expect mistakes from other flood accounts, like that of Gilgamesh, as the account of Noah would have been distorted as it was passed down through different cultures.
Wind catching obstruction on the bow. Wind-driven waves would cause a drifting vessel to turn dangerously side-on to the weather. However, such waves could be safely navigated by making the Ark steer itself with a wind-catching obstruction on the bow. To be effective, this obstruction must be large enough to overcome the turning effect of the waves. While many designs could work, the possibility shown here reflects the high stems which were a hallmark of ancient ships.
Yet one mystery remained. The Korean study did not hide the fact that some shorter hulls slightly outperformed the biblical Noah’s Ark. Further work by Tim Lovett, one author of this chapter, and two naval architects, Jim King and Dr. Allen Magnuson, focused attention on the issue of broaching— being turned sideways by the waves.
Skylight windows with coverings. Any opening on the deck of a ship needs a wall (combing) to prevent water from flowing in, especially when the ship rolls. In this illustration, the window “ends a cubit upward and above,” as described in Genesis 6:16. The central position of the skylight is chosen to reflect the idea of a “noon light.” This also means that the window does not need to be exactly one cubit. Perhaps the skylight had a transparent roof (even more a “noon light”), or the skylight roof could be opened (which might correspond to when “Noah removed the covering of the Ark”). While variations are possible, a window without combing is not the most logical solution.
How do we know what the waves were like? If there were no waves at all, stability, comfort, or strength would be unimportant, and the proportions would not matter. A shorter hull would then be a more efficient volume, taking less wood and less work. However, we can take clues from the proportions of the Ark itself. The Korean study had assumed waves came from every direction, giving shorter hulls an advantage. But real ocean waves usually have a dominant direction due to the wind, favoring a short, wide hull even more.
Mortise and tenon planking. Ancient shipbuilders usually began with a shell of planks (strakes) and then built internal framing (ribs) to fit inside. This is the complete reverse of the familiar European method where planking was added to the frame. In shell-first construction, the planks must be attached to each other somehow. Some used overlapping (clinker) planks that were dowelled or nailed, others used rope to sew the planks together. The ancient Greeks used a sophisticated system where the planks were interlocked with thousands of precise mortise and tenon joints. The resulting hull was strong enough to ram another ship, yet light enough to be hauled onto a beach by the crew. If this is what the Greeks could do centuries before Christ, what could Noah do centuries after Tubal-Cain invented forged metal tools?
Another type of wave may also have affected the Ark during the Flood—tsunamis. Earthquakes can create tsunamis that devastate coastlines. However, when a tsunami travels in deep water it is imperceptible to a ship. During the Flood, the water would have been very deep—there is enough water in today’s oceans to cover the earth to a depth of about 1.7 miles (2.7 km). The Bible states that the Ark rose “high above the earth” (Genesis 7:17). Launched from high ground by the rising floodwaters, the Ark would have avoided the initial devastation of coastlines and low-lying areas, and remained safe from tsunamis throughout the voyage.
Ramps help to get animals and heavy loads between decks. Running them across the hull avoids cutting through important deck beams, and this location is away from the middle of the hull where bending stresses are highest. (This placement also better utilizes the irregular space at bow and stern.)
After several months at sea, God sent a wind (Genesis 8:1), which could have produced very large waves since these waves can be produced by a strong, steady wind. Open-water testing confirms that any drifting vessel will naturally turn side-on to the waves (broach). With waves approaching the side of the vessel (beam sea), a long vessel like the Ark would be trapped in an uncomfortable situation; in heavy weather it could become dangerous. This could be overcome, however, by the vessel catching the wind (Genesis 8:1) at the bow and catching the water at the stern—aligning itself like a wind vane. These features appear to have inspired a number of ancient ship designs. Once the Ark points into the waves, the long, ship-like proportions create a more comfortable and controlled voyage. Traveling slowly with the wind, it had no need for speed, but the Bible does say the Ark moved about on the surface of the waters (Genesis 7:18).
Stern extension for directional control. To assist in turning the Ark to point with the wind, the stern should resist being pushed sideways. This is the same as a fixed rudder or skeg that provides directional control. There are many ways this could be done, but here we are reflecting the “mysterious” stern extensions seen on the earliest large ships of the Mediterranean.
Compared to a ship-like bow and stern, blunt ends are not as strong, have edges that are vulnerable to damage during launch and beaching, and give a rougher ride. Since the Bible gives proportions like that of a true ship, it makes sense that it should look and act ship-like. The below design is an attempt to flesh out the biblical outline using real-life experiments and archeological evidence of ancient ships.
While Scripture does not point out a wind-catching feature at the bow, the abbreviated account we are given in Genesis makes no mention of drinking water, the number of animals, or the way they got out of the Ark either.
Nothing in this newly depicted Ark contradicts Scripture; in fact, it shows how accurate Scripture is!
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 38: Final Parting of The Coming Wrath)
Discuss this post with us below, or here:
Reference
1. Hong, et al., Safety Investigation of Noah’s Ark in a seaway, TJ 8(1):26–36, April 1994. www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i1/noah.asp.
Interesting to note is the fact that this study makes nonsense of the claim that Genesis was written only a few centuries before Christ and was based on flood legends such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Babylonian ark is a cube shape, something so far from reality that even the shortest hull in the Korean study was not even close. But we would expect mistakes from other flood accounts, like that of Gilgamesh, as the account of Noah would have been distorted as it was passed down through different cultures.
Yet one mystery remained. The Korean study did not hide the fact that some shorter hulls slightly outperformed the biblical Noah’s Ark. Further work by Tim Lovett, one author of this chapter, and two naval architects, Jim King and Dr. Allen Magnuson, focused attention on the issue of broaching— being turned sideways by the waves.
How do we know what the waves were like? If there were no waves at all, stability, comfort, or strength would be unimportant, and the proportions would not matter. A shorter hull would then be a more efficient volume, taking less wood and less work. However, we can take clues from the proportions of the Ark itself. The Korean study had assumed waves came from every direction, giving shorter hulls an advantage. But real ocean waves usually have a dominant direction due to the wind, favoring a short, wide hull even more.
Another type of wave may also have affected the Ark during the Flood—tsunamis. Earthquakes can create tsunamis that devastate coastlines. However, when a tsunami travels in deep water it is imperceptible to a ship. During the Flood, the water would have been very deep—there is enough water in today’s oceans to cover the earth to a depth of about 1.7 miles (2.7 km). The Bible states that the Ark rose “high above the earth” (Genesis 7:17). Launched from high ground by the rising floodwaters, the Ark would have avoided the initial devastation of coastlines and low-lying areas, and remained safe from tsunamis throughout the voyage.
After several months at sea, God sent a wind (Genesis 8:1), which could have produced very large waves since these waves can be produced by a strong, steady wind. Open-water testing confirms that any drifting vessel will naturally turn side-on to the waves (broach). With waves approaching the side of the vessel (beam sea), a long vessel like the Ark would be trapped in an uncomfortable situation; in heavy weather it could become dangerous. This could be overcome, however, by the vessel catching the wind (Genesis 8:1) at the bow and catching the water at the stern—aligning itself like a wind vane. These features appear to have inspired a number of ancient ship designs. Once the Ark points into the waves, the long, ship-like proportions create a more comfortable and controlled voyage. Traveling slowly with the wind, it had no need for speed, but the Bible does say the Ark moved about on the surface of the waters (Genesis 7:18).
Compared to a ship-like bow and stern, blunt ends are not as strong, have edges that are vulnerable to damage during launch and beaching, and give a rougher ride. Since the Bible gives proportions like that of a true ship, it makes sense that it should look and act ship-like. The below design is an attempt to flesh out the biblical outline using real-life experiments and archeological evidence of ancient ships.
While Scripture does not point out a wind-catching feature at the bow, the abbreviated account we are given in Genesis makes no mention of drinking water, the number of animals, or the way they got out of the Ark either.
Nothing in this newly depicted Ark contradicts Scripture; in fact, it shows how accurate Scripture is!
(Reposted from Ken Ham & Tim Lovett, Was There Really a Noah’s Ark & Flood?, October 11, 2007, AnswersInGenesis.org)
(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 38: Final Parting of The Coming Wrath)
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Reference
1. Hong, et al., Safety Investigation of Noah’s Ark in a seaway, TJ 8(1):26–36, April 1994. www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i1/noah.asp.
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