SCHAGEN, Netherlands (April 28) – The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was thrown open Saturday – you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years – drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan’s fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. “The design is by my wife, Bianca,” Huibers said. “She didn’t really want me to do this at all, but she said if you’re going to anyway, it should look like this.” A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine – biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been. Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005.
Talented guy — to bad he didn’t donate his time to Habitat for Humanity, instead opting to build a boat like the mythological ark. What possible good can come of this effort?
This is one of my hobby horses. Religion and faith are an incredible waste of human resources.
Just now it occurs to me that we might have better things to do with our time if it weren’t intruding on us so much. We wouldn’t find the need to be here defending ourselves from the irrational.
I doubt Johan Huibers is afraid god will strike him dead because he didn’t make it out of gopher wood. It’s rather funny because he was very careful to get the measurements right but as soon as he rann into an obstacle (nobody knows what gopher wood is today) he just substituted cedar an pine wood.
And gawd didn’t tell him what gopher wood is?
Gopher Wood, n.
Penile tumescence in the genus
Spermophilus.
I love it. Now everyone can go and see that there is no possible way to fit all the worlds animals in any boat. I will bet the model animals presented are not 2/3 of the total animal life. It seems he spent time proving himself an idiot. Someone should take some species list in and make a list of what percentage he represents. It would not surprise me if the models only account for 1% or less of the actual list of animals known.
What
Aw, the poor little critters>/i>! It’d take an awful lot of ‘em to make a boat 150 x 30x 20 cubits!
Wonder how well that’d float?
Did gawd specify circumcised or not?
Such a judgemental title to this thread…gee Dave…how many “homeless” kids could you have fed instead of having a party in Seattle on the troops?
Comments about this story prove the saying…”little minds have little thoughts”.
Regardless of what you may or not believe about the ark, for one man to build such an exhibit is more then most people will ever accomplish in their entire life…but does anyone give him credit for his hard work…? Nooooo…showing exactly how tolerant “atheists” are, you pass judgement and complain about his use of time…
You know for being a “myth” it’s amazing how sea worthy the design of the ark is…what luck…eh?
phreedm,
“for one man to build such an exhibit is more then most people will ever accomplish in their entire life”
The same should be said for the artist that crafted the chocolate jesus, yet you and all the other insane theists condemned him for it. So what, does art have to adhere strictly to christian standards in order for it to be an amazing work?
a dutchman built an ark that is just too rich.he should have sent it to new orleans.phreedm christians who are not unbalanced are helping poor people not building boats for show and tell.
Take a look at Jesus of the Week:
http://www.jesusoftheweek.com/
for some really creative Jeezuz stuff.
“for one man to build such an exhibit is more then most people will ever accomplish in their entire life”
Most empathetic adults endeavor in their day to day work to make a difference rather than BE different. I find this “ark” to be a pathetic cry for attention.
Whatever floats their boats!?
Exactly,I’ve wasted countless hours playing in rock bands. I’d rather see people building boats than harassing non-believers on an atheist board.
“You know for being a “myth” it’s amazing how sea worthy the design of the ark is…what luck…eh?”
I dare him to put it in the water. I dare him!
Gawd, “Noah!”
Noah, “Yes gawd.”
Gawd, “How long can you tread water?”
They better take some life jackets
funny Cry4,
I would really like to know how sea worthy such a craft really is. The bibles description is vague. It says allot about how the instructions were passed on, but provides no blueprint. Building such a craft without a blueprint seems silly. I would imagine the story assumes the builders already had basic sea skills, and knowledge of the ship technology of the time. Can the ship tech of the time, be scaled up to this extent? If so, why did the merchants, that make money directly from how much cargo they can carry, not make use of this technology? How much commercial value could such a ship carry.
The story(flood) is really full of holes. Holes big enough to sail an ark through.
Habitat for Humanity is a xtian ministry, complete with presenting the new home recipient with a bible. Personally, I wouldn’t encourage donating either time or money to that organization.
jshanewhit, you silly goose. Isn’t it obvious? Gawd, divinely zapped the instructions and blueprints for the dingy into Noah’s head.
phreedm
I agree with you that this dutch fellow is as entitled to waste his time and money as the rest of us, we can all laugh at how silly it is but we have to condemn ourselves if we say he should have built houses for poor kids instead
that being said, I would not be suprised if it was seaworthy… but that certainly doesn’t prove the reality of the myth. “Ooh, I built a replica of the boat used by jason and the argonauts! that proves that the ‘mythical’ scylia and cyclopes were real! whoo!”
It’s kind of expected that Phreedm, a complete idiot, would entertain the idea that that boat would actually work with containing all the animals.
Notice how he doesn’t even attempt to touch upon how it actually could have gone down.. he only cares about keeping his beliefs going, at the expense of reason and logic.
Is this website a joke?
After reading that article I’m wondering why I should spend anytime doing any hobby I enjoy… I should be helping the children!
What if an Atheist decided to build this thing?
A theme restaurant. With Gilligan and Ginger working the bar.
Testerday Rush Limbaugh said some “Nut” built an arc because of global warming. Is there another one out there or did rush jump to a conclusion?
You know I cant help but wonder why do god believers come to a web site called NO-GOD are you that unsure of your god that you have to come here and tell us non-believers that we are wrong who are you trying to convence us or you
Generally I think it boils down to the irritating side of freedom of speech. But there are other possible motivations. I think a “Bully” has had been abused with the god thing and has to abuse others to keep the cycle of abuse going. Some people just like “Grading papers”. Find fault,split hairs ,they are allways right. Some people see others as a threat if they don’t see things the same way they do. I guess thats part of the “Convince themselves by changing others syndrome”. A few really like people and think they are helping. This is a really interesting board and it just draws people in.
Well, the Netherlands are supposed to end up under water with global warming, so maybe the Dutchman’s ark is really a “two-fer”. It satisfies his artistic need to copy the original and honor his pretend friend, and it’s a lifeboat in case of emergencies.
Um, wait, that’s a three-fer, ain’t it?
Karen,
You think he’ll charge admission if there is a flood? Or just demand sex with all the women and animals? It’d be great if there was a flood and he thought the boat would save him but it just sinks instead.
evil
I’m betting he boots the animals off and makes it a floating condo. After all, the animals are smart enough to move inland as the waters begin to rise. With global warming, it’ll be gradual, not sudden, like Noah’s party cruise.
karen,
“like Noah’s party cruise”
Hehe. If I remember my brainwashing right, Noah’s wife died before coming aboard the boat. That would mean he was getting pretty busy with the animals.