Close Encounters(B)

Meanwhile, back in the Bible belt, the study of ancient texts meets modern reality and legend is questioned under severe scrutiny by evidential truth.

The Blueprint for Absolute Certainty

The Bible. Basic Instructions before Leaving Earth. The first printed English version of the Scriptures made by direct translation from the original Hebrew and Greek text was the work of William Tyndale. He was met with bitter opposition by organized authorities. He was accused of willfully perverting the meaning of the Scriptures and his "untrue translations" were ordered to be burned. Tyndale was finally betrayed into the hands of his enemies and in October 1536-he was publicly executed and burned at the stake.

The King James Version has, with good reason, been termed "the noblest monument of English prose." It's revisers in 1881, expressed admiration for its "simplicity, dignity, power, its happy turns of expression,… the music of its cadences and the felicities of its rhythm."

It entered, as no other book has, the making of the personal character and the public institutions of the English speaking peoples. Yet the King James Version has grave defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century there were more developments of Biblical studies and the discovery of more manuscripts.


The manuscripts were more ancient than the manuscripts the King James Version was based upon. The manuscripts proved that the defects of the Kings James Version were so serious, a thorough revision of the English translation was called.

Tyndale, William
c.1494-1536, English biblical translator and Protestant martyr. Sympathetic with the new learning, he translated the New Testament into English. Opposed in England, he went to the Continent, where he met Martin Luther and began (1525) printing his New Testament. In England it was suppressed (1526), but he continued translating the Scriptures and writing tracts defending the English Reformation. He was seized (1535) in Antwerp, condemned for heresy, and executed. He was 42 years old. His work was the basis for the Authorized King James Bible.
 
The problem of establishing the correct Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Old Testament is very different from the corresponding problem in the New Testament. For the New Testament we have a large number of Greek manuscripts, preserving many variant forms of the text. Some of the manuscripts were made nearly two to three centuries later than the original composition of the
books.

For the Old Testament, only late manuscripts survive with the exception of the Dead Sea texts of Isaiah and Habakkuk and some fragments of other books. The present revision is based on the consonantal Hebrew and Aramaic text.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves that run along the shores of the Dead Sea. It is a barren wilderness where life has always had a tenuous foothold. The lowest place on Earth, at 1,300 feet (400 meters) below Sea Level, the Dead Sea has a salt content 7 to 8 times that of the world’s oceans and it evaporates at a rate of 55 inches a year, often creating a thick, heavy stench in the air. Less than 2 inches of rain falls on this desolate land in any given year. Temperatures hover above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for days on end during the long summer.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 11 caves. Those caves are geologically of two kinds; five of the caves are in the cliffs in the very hard limestone, in the dolomite. They, of course, are natural caves. The other six caves are artificial caves that have been dug in soft marl. Now, close to the caves in which the scrolls were found are ruins that are known as Khirbet Qumran. The site had been surveyed briefly between 1941 and 1946, but the discovery of the scrolls called for a more thorough examination of the site.

Between 1951 and 1956, Roland de Vaux excavated the site and created a survey report that still stands as the major work done on the site to this date. The most active period of occupation at Khirbet Qumran was during the years 134 BC to 31 AD. This is the period when the inhabitants built the structure that we see remaining today. This site was a complex that included a tower, a scriptorium, and kitchen, and laundry, potter's kilns, meeting hall, pantry, large cisterns and an elaborate water system that was fed by an aqueduct that captured water from the surrounding hills. Coins, linen, and pottery artifacts found at the site were used in assessing the date of the site.

The elaborate water system was used to fill a number of cisterns at Qumran. The members of the community would come in from the fields at the fifth hour of every day and ritually cleanse themselves before taking part in a communal meal. Ritual bathing at Qumran was an important part of their day and has been construed by some to foreshadow the later Christian ritual of baptism.

It is important to understand however that the members of the community were Jews, adhering to a strict observance of the Mosaic tradition. They did not recognize Christ as a Messiah, although they lived in a world that knew of him and his teachings.

Dead Sea Site-Qumran

Qumran display of clay vessels in which scrolls were found

***

Throughout recorded history there have been many different names to reference the Deity. In both the Old and New Testament there is no script or text that refers to the actual name of the Deity. There are only names that people have given throughout various cultures. A major departure from the practice of the American Standard Version is the rendering of the Divine Name.

The American Standard Version used the term Jehovah. The King James Version had employed this in four places, but used the English word Lord or in certain cases GOD printed in capitals. The present revision returns to the procedure of the King James Version, which follows the precedent of the ancient Greek and Latin translators and the long established practice in the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures in the synagogue. It is almost if not quite certain that the Name was originally pronounced Yahweh. This pronunciation was indicated when the Masoretes added vowel signs to the consonantal Hebrew text. To the four consonants YHWH of the Name, which had come to be regarded as too sacred to be pronounced, they attached vowel signs indicating that in its place should be read the Hebrew word Adonai meaning Lord or Elohim meaning God.

Masoretic Text-This is an Old Testament text established in the eighth and ninth centuries AD by Jewish scholars. The scribes, known as Masoretes, tried to preserve the meaning of the Scriptures. Considering the effective system of vowel marks developed by a small Jewish sect in Babylon about 500 AD, a Masoretic family named Ben Asher produced a better system of vowel markings
in the ninth and tenth centuries AD. 

In 1524, Jacob Ben Hayyim published a printed text of the Hebrew Old Testament, using manuscripts that were copied from the Ben Asher manuscripts. Because this was the first printed edition of the Hebrew Old Testament, it became a standard for printed Bibles. The ancient Greek translators substituted the word Kyrios (Lord) for the Name. The Vulgate likewise used the Latin word Dominus. Vulgate is the Latin translation of the Bible made at the end of the 4th century. The Roman Catholic Church now uses it in a revised form. The form "Jehovah" is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. "J" represents the sound of "Y" and "W" represents the sound of "V" as in Latin.

The King James Version of the New Testament was based upon a Greek text that was marred by mistakes, containing the accumulated errors of fourteen centuries of manuscript copying. We now possess many more ancient manuscripts of the New Testament and are far better equipped to seek to
recover the original working of the Greek text.

The evidence will aid in establishing more extensive complete text and assist in determining the approximate date the books were originally written.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

The first book of the Bible was titled Genesis* by the 3rd century BC translators also known as the Septuagint translations. The first word of the Hebrew text is Bereshith, which means in the beginning. Genesis is the first book of the Pentateuch**. Since the events took place many centuries before the first book was written, the author had to utilize whatever resources were available, including testimonies and bibliographical information. Now, the authorship of the book of Genesis has been traditionally attributed to Moses and an additional author later added the account of the death of Moses. 

*Genesis means origin or beginning. 

**Pentateuch is Greek for "five books."

G    E    N    E    S    I    S
WRITTEN BY: MOSES

The generations of the heavens and the earth created by GOD:

1. Shapeless bodies of waters, wind, and darkness were all that existed.
2. Light was created. Light and darkness were separated. Day became morning and night became evening.
3. Firmament-The expanse of the heavens-Sky was created and separated the waters from the waters. Heaven became the outer waters of the firmament.
4. The inner waters of the firmament were shaped together and dry land was placed. The dry land became Earth. The gathered waters became Seas. Vegetation, plant-life and fruit trees were brought forth from the Earth, each with seed to multiply abundantly.
5. Luminaries-celestial bodies and objects as a source of light were placed in the firmament of the heavens. Constellations were formed. Seasons were formed to determine days and years. Stars were made visible from Earth. The Sun was created to empower day and the Moon was formed to empower
night.

6. Swarms of living creatures were brought forth from the Seas. Birds were brought forth to fly. Every sea creature great and small, every living creature that moves and every winged bird were created to multiply abundantly.
7. Cattle; creeping things and beasts were brought forth from the Earth according to their kind to multiply abundantly.

8. Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle of the land, every creeping thing and over all the Earth. Male and female were brought forth from the Earth to multiply abundantly.

Enlarge image to see full story

The Genesis account is not the only extant record of beginnings. Other cultures also preserved legends of creation and although the sources of creations were different the results are the same. Ancient Babylonian and Assyrian sources also account for the creation of the subterranean ocean and the earth that rested upon it; including the creatures of the seas of both fresh waters and salt waters. Another similarity is the firmament or heavens formed like an inverted bowl, separated the above waters from the earth.

Universe Creation Map (click to enlarge)

Fossils discovered during expeditions in the 1960's and 1994, belong to the oldest swinger ever found-a large ape-like creature that also may be the oldest known relative of humans and apes. The fossils from Uganda are dated at least 20.6 million years ago.

"They belonged to a 100lb creature that could stand upright and swing from trees," says Laura Maclatchy, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and an Associate Research Scientist in the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan. "The fossils show features of the shoulder and vertebral column that are significantly similar to those of living apes and humans."

The date pushes back the appearance of an ape-like body by at least 5 million years. Contemporaries 20 million years ago were more like monkeys; walked on all fours and were unable to swing and compete for food in the same way.

"This is the earliest evidence for a significantly ape-like body plan in the primate fossil record," adds Daniel Gebo, Ph.D. Anthropology Department, Board of Trustee Professorship at Northern Illinois University. "The fossils discovered in the 1960's consisted of facial bones, teeth and vertebrae. The facial bones and teeth were primitive like others from the period, but the vertebrae resemble those of modern apes. On return expeditions in 1994-1995, the team found shoulder bones and two partial femurs with modern features."





The proposed new genus and species name for the elder relative is Morotopithecus bishopi. Moroto is the site in Uganda where the fossils were found, and W. Bishop is the name of the scientist who initially discovered the fossils. Ian Tattersall is a Curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. "All other forms of hominoids known from 20 million years ago are much more generalized in their body proportions and don’t show the specific adaptations that the apes have," Tattersall says.

"These are certainly the oldest fossils that show characteristics that resemble those of living apes and humans."

Apes and humans are also believed to have evolved from a common ancestor and diverged into separate groups around 6 million years ago. The oldest fossils of human origin after the split from apes are 3 million to 4 million years old.

Zeresenay Alemseged found the remains in 2000 and spent the last six years analyzing them. He holds the skull of the 3-year-old. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology photo via Associated Press

It's a girl -- she's 3.3 million years old, almost human / Fossils of oldest known child hominid found in Ethiopia 'in mint condition'

September 21, 2006|Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer

Scientists have uncovered fossils of the oldest known hominid child near the site in Ethiopia where researchers discovered prehistory's most famous female -- Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old skeleton -- in 1974.

The unnamed tot's remains appear to be those of a 3-year-old female that lived 3.3 million years ago and, like Lucy, is a primitive human ancestor of the species Australopithecus afarensis. It probably walked upright, but it might also have been able to climb trees, judging by its curved finger bones, a research team reported in today's issue of Nature.

"It would have resembled a chimpanzee more than it would have a modern human, although it's clearly neither of those things," Bernard Wood, an anthropologist at George Washington University in Washington, said in an interview.

"I think it would have had a hairy body, but who's to know? Nobody knows the answer to that," added Wood, who wasn't connected with the discovery, but wrote an accompanying essay about it for Nature.
The cause of the child's death remains unknown. Judging by the terrain and geological strata in which it was found, scientists say the youngster's body was likely quickly covered by flood waters.

The unusually well-preserved remains were found partly buried in the solidified sediments of a river channel in Dikika, Ethiopia, in 2000.

Like a family genealogical chart with many different branches, sub-branches, and twigs, Australopithecus afarensis is one early species within a group of mammals known as hominids, which over millions of years have evolved into modern humans. Scientists still debate whether "A. afarensis," as they call the species, is a direct ancestor of modern humans or was an evolutionary "twig" that eventually went extinct.

The scientists know the child was female "because she has small canines (teeth)," said team leader Zeresenay Alemseged of Leipzig, Germany, in an e-mail. "She is the oldest and most complete" known specimen of a hominid child.

Wood agreed. "It's in mint condition, (although) some (parts) are missing that may well turn up later. This is a discovery of an incredibly well-preserved individual ... that lived between 3 and 4 million years ago," he said.

After the find, Alemseged quietly spent the next six years carefully scraping away the sediments and analyzing the creature's fossils.

So the first modern human being, the Adam, was special because it was the first to be made up of body and spirit. They were made in the moral and spiritual image of their creator as free rational beings. They possessed knowledge of self and could choose righteousness and holiness over sin. But not all human life derives directly from the Adam and the Eve.

The day of Sabbath was formed by Hebrew culture. It was written that the Most Supreme rested for after 6000 years of creation for 1000 years.

Therefore, the seventh day of the week became shabath. Shabath is Hebrew for cease or rest. Through the influence of the Septuagint, the word shabath was changed to Sabbath. Another interesting fact is that the first humans were created as adults, what we would perceive to be an average twenty-five year old person. They were vegetarians and were originally designed to be both physically and spiritually immortal.

Nature is irrefutable evidence of divine order which admits of no other explanation than a supernatural intelligence as its creator. All of natural existence proves in-and-of itself to be the direct result of intelligent design; intricately set in motion to be a self-sustaining, self-adjusting, temperate organism. Modern science continues to prove and accredit biblical history.

After more than a hundred years, Darwin's evolution remains a theory and nothing more. Certain unruly species do develop from algae and garbage, but such species do not evolve into that which multiplies according to its own seed, with a superior intelligence. Darwin’s theory of evolution is but a formulation of apparent relationships or underlying principles of certain observed phenomena that can only be verified to some degree. The biblical claim of creation, when studied and analyzed, can be verified to be the state of things as they were then and now and as they will become.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~**************~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The First Home of Man

According to Moses

GOD planted a garden in Eden; in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground GOD made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah. Havilah is rich in gold, bdellium and onyx stone. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the
Euphrates.
 

Man is the generic Hebrew term Adam. In the book of Genesis, Adam possessed something of God's knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Archeology has located Eden just south of Ur, at a site known as Eridu. British archeologists excavated the ruins of Eridu in 1918-19. Sedimentary layers some of, which are miles thick, bear mute testimony to this massive watery upheaval, which tore apart and buried the pre-flood world forever. Note also, that the Bible speaks of one river breaking into four, only, two of, which were called Tigris and Euphrates.

Mesopotamia [Ur]-digital images have been established to reconstruct the ancient city of Ur. The city was established around 2100 BC as the capital of the Mesopotamian Civilization, which arose about 3500 BC. The people of this civilization built a wonderful city, which was centered on a temple, called a ziggurat that towered above all other things.

The Creation of Woman

As attributed to Moses

GOD felt it was not good for man to be alone; therefore a helper fit
for him shall be created. Out of every living creature none were fit to be a
companion of man. So GOD put Adam under a deep sleep and removed a
rib from his side and closed up the flesh where the rib was removed.
GOD took the rib and formed new flesh. The new flesh was called
woman, which is draw from the womb of a man. Therefore it was
established that when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to
his wife, they become one. 

The first marriage recorded in the bible.

The institution of marriage was created by GOD for the
welfare and personal fulfillment of the human race. Woman was created to be a companion of man and to be obedient of GOD. Man called the first woman Eve, which means mother
of all living.

The Fall of Mankind

As attributed to Moses

GOD made an agreement with first man and woman that this haven of good and plenty is eternally abundant and they may learn of every wisdom and take in every beauty, but they must not partake in forbidden knowledge. If they did, they would surely die. 

The Anointed Cherub, chosen to guard and protect the new beings from the indigenous beings outside the walls of the Garden, spoke to the wife on several occasions and eventually convinced her that this was not true. If she took in the knowledge of self and the beyond, surely she would not die, but would become omnipotent. The Cherub lied to her about her creation, lied to her about who and what she was and she soon became angry and ashamed.

The wife shared the lies with her husband and told him of these perversions and it was not long before he became rebellious and defiant in his ways.

When confronted by their Maker, they committed the second sin: they lied. The first sin was disobedience. The Cherub shared its knowledge of good and evil with the man and wife. They knew nothing of lust or temptation before, but now in the presence of the Divine, believed they must cover their naked bodies.

JUDGEMENT  

When asked who told them of the forbidden knowledge of evil, the husband blamed the wife, the wife blamed the Anointed Cherub. So GOD punished them all.

A. Man was banished from the land of plenty and must now labor among the indigenous beings to survive. Man will live by the sweat of his brow and will no longer be one with the Divine.

B. Woman will face the same judgement as man and from this day forth will bear children in pain, sorrow and weeping.
C. Cherub was cursed to become demon, crawl upon its belly and eat dirt all of the days of its life.
D. The offspring of man and woman will bear the suffering of their judgement.
E. Man, woman and demon will be separated from eternal life and suffer physical death. Their days upon this earth shall be numbered.

Life on our own…

As attributed to Moses

And so it came to pass, the sin of the parents lived on in their sons. The younger son murdered the older son out of jealousy and envy. The first of our kind. Again, when confronted by the Divine, he lied about his brother's whereabouts and why there was blood spilled by his hand. GOD knew what happened and hoped the young brother would tell the truth, but he lied.

Again, judgement was passed and the young brother, full of rage and guilt, was cast out of the village to a foreign land of indigenous natives known as Noqdi, just east of Eden.

So let's take a look at this from the urban legend perspective. When God asked Cain where Abel was, Cain said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"

Cain could not hide his guilt and shame for the murder of his brother, God already knew that Cain murdered Abel. God punished Cain and he became a fugitive and a wanderer. Cain was cast out of his native land to live in Nod, just east of Eden.

Cain: Which people did he fear and where did his wife come from? 

Adam and Eve had three sons. They were named Cain, Abel, and Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. So, by the time Cain received the punishment from GOD to be a vagabond and a fugitive, there were many descendants of Adam and Eve who wanted revenge for Abel's murder. There is historical foundation to prove that there were other people about the earth other than the first homo sapien man and woman and their descendants. 

So in summary, Moses, like most authors of the Bible, used simple terms to explain complex dynamics:

1. DAYS: 1 DAY = 1000 YEARS

2. ADAM: in Hebrew means: HUMAN BEING OR PERSON

3. EVE: in Hebrew means: ONE OF HIS RIBS

4. EDEN: in Hebrew means: PLACE OF PLEASURE

5. CAIN: in Hebrew means: TO SPEAR, PIERCE OR STRIKE

6. ABEL: in Hebrew means: BREATH OF THE SERVANT

 ***

In the 17th Century, Archbishop Ussher drew the conclusion that the first homo sapiens were exiled to live among the Neanderthals around 4004 BC. However, carbon dating withdrew this conclusion. According to the carbon dating, his claim was chronologically impossible. Bronze became common around 3300-3000BC. Iron became popular around 1500-1200BC. In many cultures around the world, it was acceptable to have more than one wife, for various reasons, the most common was so that the bloodline of the family would live on to multiply and monopolize an area of township or tribal control.

James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, was highly regarded in his day as a churchman and as a scholar. Of his many works, his treatise on chronology has proved the most durable. Based on an intricate correlation of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean histories and Holy writ, it was incorporated into an authorized version of the Bible printed in 1701, and thus came to be regarded with almost as much unquestioning reverence as the Bible itself.

***

The Story of Noah and the Great Flood
As attributed to Moses

GOD despised the wickedness of the world. The fallen ones, along with other beings not of this world, perverted the hearts and minds of men and women. GOD saw that every imaginable thought of heart was continuously evil. GOD saw this and was sorry that he had ever made human beings. In order to rid the earth of the interbreeding of species and extraterrestrial interference, it was decided that a great cleansing must occur to wash away all that was created in abomination. Along with it, it would destroy most of creation: man-beast-creeping things and birds. GOD reached out to Noah, which means "comfort to us". GOD instructed Noah to build an ark made of gopher wood with various rooms and cover the inside and outside with pitch. Its length will be 300 cubits, its breadth, 50 cubits and height, 30 cubits. The roof will be finished a cubit above: mount the door on its side and give it three decks. GOD's plan was to cause massive flood waters to drown the earth and literally destroy every living thing on the earth.

The ark has been estimated to be approximately 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and three stories high, about 15 feet each. Construction and preparations required a great number of laborers, including help from Noah's family. The estimated room for the animals came out to about 7000. GOD instructed that Noah and his family stock food, gather the animals and creatures and prepare the ark before the flood. There were a total of 8 people on board and room for almost 7000 species.

Additional historical evidence appears to debunk the original theory that the flood waters were universal, covering all land and killing all life.

Genealogical research has confirmed that not all species or nationalities were destroyed. The Negroid nationalities and Mongoloid nationalities survived the flood.

Negroids

Mongoloids

Rhino's and other land mammals alike

Lizards and other similar creatures

Ruins discovered from the pre-flood Era

It was a week before the flood and Noah was 600 years old. On February 17th, in the year Noah turned 600, the flood began its wave of destruction. It rained heavily for forty days and forty
nights. There were some areas in the world where highest mountain peaks were 15 feet under water. It took approximately 5 months for the sea levels to return to normal in various portions of the world. Finally, around July 17th, Noah's Ark settled upon the mountains of Ararat.

Remnants of Noah's Ark-Mt. Ararat

It was not until January 1st, of Noah's 601st year of age that the ground was dry enough to come out of the ark and move about. The rest of the earth in its entirety was not completely dry and livable until February 27th of that same year. Everyone emptied out the ark and all the species were unloaded. Life was given a fresh start: a new beginning. Then Noah built an altar to GOD and took of every clean
animal and bird and offered burnt offerings to God. When GOD smelled the pleasant aromas, he said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, fore the imagination of man's heart is evil from youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

GOD made a covenant never to destroy life again by a flood and sealed this agreement with a rainbow to act as a symbol to Noah and all nations and generations to follow. Whenever we see a rainbow in the sky, it is to act as a reminder that we will never be destroyed again "by flood." It did not say by any other act of nature or unseen forces; only by flood water. This means that we can still be destroyed by other phenomenon or events.

Today, there are approx. 6,909 languages communicated around the world. Architecture, engineering, modern sciences and technology glorify our great contributions to worldly growth. As a people, nations have reformed and developed new congress, legislature and judicial systems. Still with all our knowledge we struggle to find our purpose for existence in the enigma of the universe.

  

The Antediluvian World

There are Babylonian records, which speak of men living 30,000 years. Then there is Methuselah who was the oldest person whose life is recorded in the Bible. Today, human life span has been significantly reduced to no more than 150 years. Present medical forecasts predict greatly extended life spans for men, lending credence to the view that the patriarchal antediluvian may well have lived nine hundred years or more.

Given the extensive research on Mount Ararat, it seems fair to say that if Noah’s Ark has survived into modern times and is somewhere on Mt. Ararat, there are few places remaining on the mountain to search. There have been many expeditions, accounts, sightings, anomalies, and claims of discovery involving Mount Ararat. Many argue what has been lacking is evidence that can be substantiated beyond a reasonable doubt.

And given all the ground and aerial expeditions, one should surmise that if the remains of Noah’s Ark are indeed on Mount Ararat, they are not in plain view. There have been attempts using subsurface radar (Ground Penetrating Radar - GPR) technology on Mount Ararat to look under the ice. The 1988 Willis expedition and the 1989 Aaron/Garbe/Corbin expedition. The 1988 Willis expedition successfully surveyed the eastern summit plateau and the saddle area between the two peaks, concluding there were no Ark remains under the ice.

The 1989 expedition was not as successful as the preceding year, where a less-capable GPR system was used in temperate (melting) ice cap conditions on the western plateau of Mount Ararat. However, they were able to determine the ice depth on the western plateau and scale the size of the Ark.

Many researchers surmise that if the remains of Noah’s Ark were in moving glaciers on Ararat, that the Ark would have been ground to bits. However, until the entire mountain has been adequately "subsurface" surveyed, using the latest remote sensing technology, some people will always question whether the Ararat ice cap contains the remains of Noah’s Ark.

-DeMaster Thomas-