Noah’s Ark Discovery Exciting, Tenuous: Experts are waiting for scientific evidence to prove that the relic found on Mount Ararat in Turkey by a group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers is in fact the one and only Noah’s Ark. A Dutch Ark researcher was reported as saying there is a “tremendous amount of solid evidence” that the wooden structure found there is in fact the Ark mentioned in the biblical story in Genesis, but an archaeologist from Stony Brook University in New York remains skeptical, saying “I don’t know of any expedition that ever went looking for the ark and didn’t find it.” The evangelical group says carbon dating suggests the wood is of correct age, but scientists say this method only tells how old the wood is, not how old the structure is. Some even question the possibility that a wooden artifact exposed to air could have survived from ancient times. Most scientists appear to be waiting for empirical evidence and/or the opportunity to conduct independent examinations to support the discovery. (New York Daily News- 4/29/10)
Archive for ‘Bible’
Noah’s Ark found?
Of animals and God
I read Rev Dr Lorna Khoo’s “SEMINAL THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS ABOUT GOD AND ANIMALS” in her Facebook and thought it interesting. She has permitted me to reproduce this for the good of all hoomans.
1 God’s world is not meant to be humancentric (revolving around humans )but theocentric (revolving around God). While it is true that humans have a special exalted position in His world -it is God’s world where He alone is God and Lord.
2 Animals don’t exist for us. They exist for God. They were there before humans were made(Gen 1 ), created for His pleasure and for His glory. Do not usurp God’s role.
3 Animals have inherent worth as fellow creatures of God in God’s world. Their worth is not tied to their ‘usefulness’ or lack of it to humans/ecological system. Their worth is in how their Creator values them. And He values them – be they Israel’s sparrows or the cattle of Nineveh. Never limit the wideness of God’s love.
4.We DO NOT have absolute right over their lives. (eg #1 I do not own my dogs. I am their God appointed guardian.#2 Patenting ‘clones’/’ chimeras’- says that they are ‘things’ and we have absolute right over their lives. This is wrong)
4 There is a Fall. What we see now as ‘natural’ or ‘natural order of things’ (eg survival of the fittest, hierarchical structure of wolf pack etc.) is NOT the model of how God’s ideal creation was meant to be. To use ‘what is’ now as a principle, pattern or philosophy for relating to creation(eg dog obedience is based on the ‘wolf pack’ hierarchical idea: top dog vs underdog) is to perpetuate the brokenness of the Fall. Alternatives should be found based on the rediscovery of His original intention and desire for creation.
5 Humans do owe to creation a duty: the duty is to ‘rule’ creation as God’s steward ie to care and tend it, reflecting the character of God.
6. God’s ideal was for humans to be vegetarians. Note that even when verse28 of Genesis says that humans are to ‘rule’over creation, the very next verse (s) 29-31 states the food appointed for humans- plants. Animals were NOT created to be eaten in the original plan of God. (Neither do they eat each other then).
7. The way we treat animals reflect/affect our integrity as Christians.
8. The argument based on ‘order’ and ‘hierarchy’ leading on to ‘prioritizing’ importance and value is inherently problematic eg to say that we have to take care of humans first sometimes means there will never be a time when anyone would be allowed to focus on creation’s needs.It is like someone saying, “ Children should be our priority” which can lead to no resources being ever given to the aging and the old. “Citizens first” can mean the lack of care for migrants. “Focus on development of male leaders” can lead to a denial of God given gifts and callings when it comes to women. God usually has a preferential option for the marginalised and forgotton. Some of His best resources will be set apart for such ministries.
Copenhagen 2009, Hopenhagen or Hypehagen?
I am a confirmed pessimist when it comes to world efforts at anything. From the League of nations to the United Nations to G20 to whatever.
National interests
National interests always override humanity’s interests or even the interests of future generations. So I am certain Hopenhagen will be Hypehagen: an array of hyped up declarations that will appease the sceptical press and armies of lobbyists and protesters(or should we call them Protestants!).
The grand statements and headlines will whitewash a surrender to the demands of national pragmatism. Industries are still driven by fossil fuels. Industries mean jobs. And jobs mean power and longevity at the polls for the ruling parties.
The real “cultural mandate”
The Bible tells us that when God created heaven and earth, He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). Adam and Eve were “to work it and take care of it.” This is what theologians call the “cultural mandate”: God’s call to man to lovingly steward the earth. However, since the fall, man’s propensity has always been in the opposite direction: wasting instead of working; raping instead of caring of the earth.
Hope anchored in God’s promise
My hope is not in any grand agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. My hope is in a fulfilment of God’s promise “that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God….(it) has been groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”(Romans 8:21-23,22). This 
liberation of earth will happen when Jesus Christ comes again not in humiliation but in kingly glory and power.
Lifestyle changes?
While we wait for that to take place, and it certainly will, we will pray, do what needs to be done, and support efforts to care for the earth. I cannot say I have stopped using plastic bags for the disposal of rubbish nor do the other little things that inconvenience my lifestyle. Other concerns occupy my heart and if along the way I have to make adjustments, I do not mind doing so. Tell me some concrete things you are doing, for I would like to do more.
B L O G P A S T O R . N E T
