The Ark and the Darkness

My wife and I went to see this on Thursday, March 21. The theater was literally full - there was perhaps one remaining seat. The subject matter was interesting but the presentation was difficult to sit through. The two most annoying things were 1) that the melodramatic background music literally never stopped, and 2) worse, the narrator was a horrible reader. His words were clear and appropriately emphasized, but the pronunciation of the word "a" as a long "A" and of "the" as "thee" began to grate pretty quickly, and he treated every word this way, including Michael Chrichton's last name (as a heavily emphasized "Crike Ton" sounding like two words). It's hard to explain, but you would understand what I mean if you tried to sit through it.

Another irritation was the fact that they complained a lot about how scientists make fun of creationists, while they spoke in condescending tones and fake-laughed out loud on occasion when describing something they claimed that scientists believe (which was generally a drastic over-simplification of the facts).

Bizarrely, the generated video would have us think that the main animals on Earth 4000 years ago were dinosaurs. They made sure that dinosaurs appeared in nearly every scene. I can't imagine their reason for doing this, but I've read that their Ark Encounter is obsessed with dinosaurs as well.

Nevertheless, I heard some creationist arguments that I'd never heard before so it gave me some things to study. (I once believed in creationism myself, so I'm very interested in the subject.) One example is that of what are known as fossil trunks, upright fossil trees, or T0 assemblages, that the film refers to as "polystrate fossils." They claim that geologists cannot explain. (Unsurprisingly, geologists actually do understand this phenomenon.)

We stayed until my wife, who is a Christian and believes in the flood of Noah, couldn't take it anymore due to the tedious and annoying production. There were about 15-20 minutes left at this point. The end seemed to be heading toward an appeal to believe in the god of Israel and the threat of eternal punishment, though I can't say for sure.

Most here give a bad review simply because they do not believe that a global flood occurred and that there is a God at all. This is where all of them come from. But there is ample evidence of a global flood by just listening to the dialogs in this documentary film. It's very well thought out and gives skeptics a real workout on how to refute it. Basically comes down to you either believe in God or not. Since even many atheists believe in a God whether not a personal one but just one that started everything goes to show that it's very very hard to explain all this evidence without one. Beautifully done, well explained and with a plethora of historical and archaeological evidence everywhere, you would have to just be ignorant to not see that something really big happened 4000 years ago and we are going to experience another very very soon. Nothing questionable, no nudity, or foul language, great for the whole family. Enjoy!!

There's quite a simple test to understand if somebody is a man of God. If somebody operates with love, and they can communicate their truth while accepting others truth, then they are like God, and they are one of gods people. Unfortunately, at least 2 of main narrators in this film are very much filled with hate, they are men of distraction and distortion.

I personally am a believer in the flood, and I don't think that the Bible is a terrible account of it either. But trying to prove facts that have been distorted over thousands of years isn't helping their case.

Given many other accounts which have surfaced, a better interpretation of the Bible in particular of the flood or that God in the Bible is aliens, you can quite literally replace the word God in the Bible with aliens and have a much more accurate account. They spend a lot of time talking about the lifespans of humans, well that's what happens when you have a race that lives 1000 years and they interbreed with a genetic stock here that lives much less time.

There's no mention of carbon 14 dating, and it's quite a sad charade of trying to make a literal interpretation of the Bible seem plausible by pretending that the only arguments are the ones that they can attack.

Overall, I enjoyed this film and watched it twice, I pray that the authors hear find love in their hearts as Jesus wants them to.

Wow. I am just simply awestruck by this so-called documentary that I thought to be, from the description, a scientific collaboration of geologists and historians about the flood myth. I thought it was going to present varying views, as many research studies have been produced on the topic (combined with literary and oral traditions that span cultures and religions throughout the world) to show that there likely was in fact a major deluge at some time in human history in the Mediterranean world, which by the way was the known world at that time. It is so far removed from either in all aspects. I actually created an IMDB account just to comment.

As a former Biblical Scholar with a degree from Yale University in this subject, the circular logic is astounding. Starting with the assumption that the Bible says as much and is therefore truth, followed by claims that use the Bible as the sole evidence for these arguments is just absurd. There is literally zero extra-biblical evidence or perspective in the film, nor is there any scientific research or counterfactual included whatsoever. It begins with the reasoning that the Bible says there was a flood. It then proceeds to use the Bible to confirm it's own null hypothesis...for those of you who are actual scientists or researchers.

As someone who is both Christian and a historian of the Bible (don't get me started on that separate level of analysis alone in terms of historicity and interpretation), I find this film insulting to critical historians and Christian believers as well. It negates the value of biblical literature as one source of human history by asserting that a single document is the sole truth and account of humanity.

I gave the film 5 starts out of 10 for a reason. I would have given a rating of 1 star. Based on it's deceitful marketing and nonsensical presentation. However, as a current lobbyist who argues for a living and spins webs of propaganda into debatable talking points, I am dumbfounded by the sheer brilliance of these "researchers" in the film. Just in complete awe. I have to respect that along with their dedication to perpetuating this mythos.

As I stated above, as a former scholar of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, I wholeheartedly believe their starting point is just blatantly missing the point of what these "divine" texts intend.

We are not meant to interpret the Bible or any other holy text literally. Even the ancients, at their time of collectively writing the "Bible" that later became canonized texts (based on political reasons under the Roman Empire), did not take these accounts literally. Again, there is no space or time here to delve into so many details. But, current biblical apologists simply miss the point.

Accounts of God, Heaven, miracles and so forth were not meant to be "scientifically" proven by modern-day believers. In my honest opinion, this dilutes the intended message that was understood even by the numerous original authors of the biblical texts. It just defeats the purpose. Faith is a completely different concept than proof. If evidence existed to humans of biblical accounts, faith would be irrelevant. Faith is what believers hold dear for the very fact that there is not proof. Attempting to prove biblical stories totally misses the point - both for us currently and for the ancients living in biblical times.

I could write books on this topic, but I'll end here. For those who need to prove the Bible through supposed "scientific research," I would question your own faith. The two are irreconcilable. For those who need proof, faith is nonexistent by definition. For those of us who question and rely on science, no amount of faith will ever suffice. I neither deny nor affirm any absolutes. I find solace personally in living in the realm between belief (or faith) and reason.

It's just one of the many desperate attempts by followers of the Bible to "prove" that the myths written in that pile of copies of fragments of texts from the Iron Age found in a jar in a cave of a desert of the Middle East are true stories. Guess what: they are not (obviously). No matter how hard religious people try: There is no proof whatsoever that a global flood happened, let alone that a boat with samples of all the animal species from all continents - literally, how could that not be silly? - ever existed. Even Christians don't believe these stories anymore. The majority of Christians today think these stories are nothing more than allegories. The number of Christians who take the Bible literally is very small. I wonder why. ;-)