There are many things in the Bible that are misunderstood by many people, especially those who rarely read the Bible for themselves. One Example: Most people believe that when Jesus was born that the Wise Men (the Bible doesn’t say there were three of them) came to visit Baby Jesus as he lay in the manger as an infant. The truth…Jesus was at about two years old when the Wise Men got there. (See Matthew 2:1-16.)

A more complicated MYTH has to do with Noah’s Ark, chronicled in the Old Testament…see Genesis chapters 6-8. Prior to the Flood event there is no record in the Bible of rain having fallen or any record of boats having been built. When God instructs Noah to build the ark the details of how it is to be built are specific, with exact measurements. God said to build an ARK…not a Boat. As you can see by the first photo, of the Ark of the Covenant, an Ark is just a BOX…designed to carry something. Arks were common in Genesis society, as storage boxes and for carrying belongings when traveling. Of course, the Ark of the Covenant was a box, designated by God to carry the COVENANT STONE TABLETS that Moses had brought down from the mountain, listing the Ten Commandments. God instructed that ARK to be fitted with wooden carry-handles because the tablets constituted the actual presence of God and God was to pure for a human to touch His presence. Touching the presence of God could be lethal to people.

The point is…an Ark was just a BOX. So, the Biblical Ark, based on God’s detailed instructions, would have looked like a HUGE box. The instructions directed Noah to put one door in the side and an 18-inch window along the top of the Ark. So, the Ark that Noah built would have looked more like the photo below.

Ark deniers rave about how the ark could not have held two of all animals in the world (seven of clean animals, to be used for food.) But, think about it…if YOU were directed to collect animals to repopulate the earth, would you select fully grown animals which were already OLD? NO! You would select baby animals that would have a long life ahead of them to reproduce their species. Noah was a smart guy and would have done the same.    

Last year the NOAH MOVIE hit theaters. Biblically the movie turned out to be a ridiculous comedy! About the only thing the movie got right was the design of the ark. You see, the ark did not need to be boat-shaped because it didn’t have to GO ANYWHERE…it just needed to float…like a box. However, the Biblical version has been complicated by…of all things…the Church! Every church I have ever seen displays the ARK as a Big Pointy-Ended Boat with a bunch of happy animals gathered on the top deck, or with heads sticking out of numerous port-holes. And, those same churches will show the Wise Men visiting baby Jesus in the Manger during their Christmas Pageants.    

You may ask…”So, what?...What is the big deal?” Good question. But, accepting these myths, especially in the church, opens us up to accept other myths, such as; Jesus didn’t really die on the cross… he was just in a coma and finally woke up in the tomb and was rescued by the Disciples. Or, Heaven and Hell are not actually real…just metaphors.    

My point is this: The Bible means what it says. If OCS graduates had been given the Bible instructions…they would have built a BOX.

Max Holt, Class 02-67
Association Chaplain