May 2, 2010

  • Question 253 - Mark Shea on Noah's Ark

    Robert,

    This was on Mark Shea’s blog today. He mentions you and not in a very respectful way. Care to comment on it?

    John

    Tuesday, April 27, 2010

    Big Doings on the Biblical Archaelogy Front Today

    Some Evangelicals think they have found Noah's Ark. This is the sort of story that gets nine-day-wonder play in the MSM, is trumpeted as "proof" of the Bible by Fundamentalists whether Evangelical or Conservative Catholic (you watch, it will show up on Bob Sungenis' site along with "Dinosaurs lived alongside man" and "Pyramids prove the flood" articles.

    Meanwhile, what we actually know is that some Evangelicals *think* they have found Noah's Ark and have issues a press release to that effect. Our information so far consists of a picture of a guy in a little wooden structure. They say the thing dates from 2800 BC, which is allegedly "around the same time the ark was said to be afloat". (That, in itself, is a somewhat dodgy claim). They say it's found at 13,000 ft on Mount Ararat, which is surely an intriguing thing and worth investigating more. How did it get there? Does it actually have the measurements of the biblical ark? If not, then couldn't it just be some structure that somebody built for some reason? Obviously there's something there, since the Turks want to investigate it. But I think the smart money is pretty clearly on "wait and see" before leaping to the Ark conclusion.

    On the other hand, what fun grist for a novel! The great thing about fiction is that you just make stuff up! I've got some ideas on that score!

    R. Sungenis: John, what can you expect from someone like Mark Shea? I mean, here’s a guy that actually advertises his ignorance and indiscretion right on the top of his own blog with the inane banner: “Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!” Do I need to say more? He thinks he’s being funny but behind every joke there is a pertinent truth. Mark Shea is actually telling us how his mind works. Most of his comments are just knee-jerk reactions that first pass through the “I must be as endearing and accommodating to the world as possible” grid in his brain, which are then spiced up for sale with his usual dose of sarcasm and off-color wit. So I’ll just follow Mr. Shea’s suggestion that what he says about me this time is just another one of his “stupid” comments.

    As for the issue itself, Mark Shea, if you don’t already know, is of the school of thought that tries to divest Genesis of as much historically accurate material as possible. You’ll see this in his book Making Senses of Scripture in which Shea tries to tell us that we can minimize biblical history by turning it into little more than spiritual platitudes. Basically, Mark Shea is ashamed of much of what the Bible regareds as historical. Thus, he dismisses most of what occurred in the narratives of Genesis as fanciful accretions. Mark Shea wants his history to be palatable to what the world believes occurred in the past. Additionally, Mark Shea has made no in depth study of “Dinosaurs living alongside of man” or of Noah’s Ark Archeology. He doesn’t know the first thing about science, much less paleontology and archeology. His only academic credentials are that he was a literature major in college. Just look at the ignorant comments he makes:

    Mark Shea: “They say it's found at 13,000 ft on Mount Ararat, which is surely an intriguing thing and worth investigating more. How did it get there? Does it actually have the measurements of the biblical ark? If not, then couldn't it just be some structure that somebody built for some reason?”

    Someone please tell Mr. Shea that the whole reason investigations of large wooden structures on or around Ararat have occurred for the last 100 or so years is precisely because nobody lives at 13,000 feet above sea level, much less builds structures the size of a football field at that height! Geeesh! We can tell Mr. Shea’s real motivation for his inept stab at explaining the structure, for he then says, “On the other hand, what fun grist for a novel! The great thing about fiction is that you just make stuff up! I've got some ideas on that score!” Wow! Is this what Mark Shea does when he sits down to his computer in the morning? You see, the real problem is that Mark Shea has already decided that he doesn’t like attempts to legitimize as real events narratives about big boats or global floods or animals being collected two-by-two. That sounds too much like fiction to him. He would much rather chalk up these items as remnants of Mardukian cosmogony than he would the eye-witness account of a man of God named Noah. The world will accept Marduk, but they don’t much like Noah, since if Noah is true, then they have to accept everything else in Genesis as having the pedigree of truth and historical accuracy, including accepting all the stories that Mr. Shea now deems as fanciful. Mark Shea doesn’t want to upset any of their sensibilities, since that, in his view, will make the Catholic Church look bad in their eyes. Oh, I better stop. Mark Shea is a real temptation for me to fall into sin.