Noah Is My Hero

The Ark from a distance

You may have a movie character as your hero - Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, Clark Kent. Maybe your hero is a real life relative - your mom or dad, grandpa, cousin. Perhaps you’d love to be like Aaron Rodgers, Michael Jordan, or Serena Williams.

The list could go on.

My hero is Noah. That’s the biblical Noah’s ark Noah. The guy who built a huge ship and lived on it with his immediate family for a year along with pairs of animals while everything else on land died.

The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum

About half an hour south of the Cincinnati, Ohio, beltline near Williamstown, Kentucky, is a special tourist attraction called the Ark Encounter. My wife and I visited it last week for a few hours. Before I get into the details of the ark, I’m going to take you on a side track about a related attraction called the Creation Museum.

The side track will be short.

Don’t bother.

Okay, that’s a little too short. You should know why you shouldn’t bother with the Creation Museum.

If you’re not a Christian, there’s nothing there (that you can’t find elsewhere) that is going to convince you that the creation of the universe happened as the Bible says.

If you’re a Christian, there’s nothing there that you don’t already know - or shouldn’t already know.

There lots and lots of reading. It would take you many hours to read it all, but it’s not particularly interesting reading, so you won’t read it all.

There’s a 4D movie that isn’t particularly well done. The 4th dimensional parts - rumble seats, flashes of light, and bursts of air - were completely unnecessary are usually not coordinated with what you were seeing on the screen. 3D effects are usually fun, but even these weren’t needed.

We skipped several features of the museum that would have taken hours to listen to, again because we figured there would be no new or interesting information provided.

So don’t bother.

On the other hand, do bother to take in the Ark Encounter.

To start with, you have no idea how big this ship was until you’re right there to see it in person. And then you have to remember that what you’re looking at is all real wood. It’s not plastic or fiberglass or some other man-made substance - just real wood. In many ways, I was more impressed with the tree trunks I saw in the ark than with the ones I saw a few years ago in Yosemite.

The inside of the ark is obviously not all like the original because this is meant for tourists. Still, many parts are designed to give you an idea of what Noah made. There are animal cages, storage areas, and living quarters. (Did you ever think about that last one?)

You can see the inside of the hull and the windows in the roof. We don’t know exactly what some of these features looked like, but I think the modern-day designers came up with something feasible.

Noah did know exactly how to make everything. I have a strong feeling that God told him a lot more than the brief description given in the Bible. Maybe he even had detailed blueprints similar to the ones shown in an excellent movie called The Noah Interview.

We saw this movie while at the Ark Encounter. You can see it if you visit me, or you can purchase it for yourself here.

I’ve thought a lot about Noah, the ark, and the flood over the years, but this movie and the visit to the ark itself made me think about a few things I hadn’t thought of before.

First, you have to remember that we’re not talking about “cavemen” here. These were intelligent folks that lived for hundreds of years. They probably had learned all they needed to know about shipbuilding, sailing (for what that would be worth), farming, animal biology, metalworking, and much more.

They had access to metals like iron and bronze. Making iron hinges and bronze piping for the ark is certainly a possibility. Think of the plumbing system that could have been installed. There were probably water collection, food and drink dispensing, and waste removal systems too.

Hard to see, but looking through the length inside

The movie makes a good argument for building the ark on a high point of land, probably close to a forest of gopherwood.

There’s also a good argument for making the ship with 3 keels - something not specifically mentioned in the Bible.

I appreciated the extreme skepticism of the interviewer/reporter in the movie. She and her crew conveyed what must have been the feeling of the people in general in Noah’s day regarding his work. It’s the same perception about many things biblical that many people have today.

Looking up inside

In the Ark Encounter itself, I also appreciated the emphasis on animals of a given “kind”, as opposed to “species”.

The displays inside the ark were well done, to the point, and informative. Without spoiling everything before you make your own visit, I’ll just say that you’ll learn a lot there.

After the Fact

Another look inside the ark

Outside the ark, you can have a good meal at the 1500-seat Emzara’s Buffet. (Emzara is the name they assigned to Noah’s wife. She’s not named in the Bible.)

There are other side attractions in the area too, but we didn’t take any of them in, partly because it was too cold that day.

I wouldn’t go back for a second visit to the Ark Encounter, with the possible exception of showing someone else around. I saw enough for myself the first time, and it was well worth the time and expense.