Grandpa Bill and Black Beauty Travel: Ark Encounter, July 6, 2016 Post 1

This posting covers my visit to see the recreation of the life size Ark that Noah constructed following the instruction given to him by God.

To understand the Ark and it's meaning we must see what the Word of God in the Bible tells us. Genesis, Chapter 6 verse 11 says " The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Verse 12. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Verse 13, And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold I will destroy them with the earth. Verse 14, Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms thou shalt make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Verse 15, And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; the length of the ark shall be 300 hundred cubits, the breadth of it shall be fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. Verse 16, A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark; shalt thou set in the side thereof ; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. Verse 17, And behold, I even I, do bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is a breath of life, from under heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. Verse 18, But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son' wives with thee. Verse 19, And of every thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Verse 20, Of fowls after their kind, and cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.Verse 21, And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Verse 22, Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him so did he." This reading is from Thompson Chain Reference Bible, King James Version.

The ark has been constructed to help bring the message of salvation to a lost and dying world. It explains that the ark was a way God provided for the survival of Noah and his family and animal life to start over again and repopulate the earth. The ark is a for showing of Christ dying to save mankind. God made a covenant with mankind that He would never again destroy the world with a flood. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow we see so often. Of course the ark and its message is not without controversy. In fact tonight I saw one of the demonstrators at the ark on the news telling how dangerous the ark and its message is and that the organization supporting the ark are "just trying to cram religion down our throats". To this I say no one is forcing you to visit the ark and expose yourself to this dangerous teachings. if you believe that is what it is.

The above handout which each visitor receives shows some of the future areas that will be built.

Today, accompanied by my friend Jim, I went through the Noah's Ark located in Kentucky a short distance south of Cincinnati, Ohio just off Interstate 75. The last couple of days individuals who made contribution toward completion of this Life Size Noah's Ark were permitted to preview the Ark prior to the grand opening on Jul 7, 2016. The grand opening and the next 40 days will have a morning time period and an afternoon time period. They call this the 40 days and 40 nights because after Noah entered the Ark and God shut the door. it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Tickets are required for both times. Ark personnel indicated they had over 6,000 visitors yesterday and expected 0veer 7,000 today. They indicated they are expecting over 60,000 for the grand opening tomorrow. We arrived at the Ark parking lot a few minutes before 10:00 walked over to the ticket/bus station. Handicap parking is available right at the buss area.If you had pre-purchased your ticket you got in one line if you needed to buy a ticket this morning you got in another line. It soon became apparent that the day was going to be spent standing in lines.Roughly 1 hour 15 minutes after first getting in line we then found ourselves in another line awaiting a bus which takes you to the Ark. They have several large buses just like regular city buses to take you to and from the parking lots to the Ark. Arriving at the Ark we had another several hundred yard walk to get to the Ark and yes we got into another line to actual enter the Ark. I am sure if you planned your arrival at the Ark a couple of hours after the opening time you would spend a lot less time in lines. From there on as we walked through the Ark most of the time is spent in line with many other to get into a certain display or area to view. You first arrive and get in line at the ground lever and as you go up and down from one level to the next the walkway is a very gradual incline you don't really have to put out any extra effort to make the climb. There are three levels of displays. There is elevator service if you need that. They had a wide assortment of wheel chairs and motorized devices you can rent and ride every place in the Ark including all the inclines from one level to the next. There are ample rest rooms on each level. The Ark just like the Creation Museum is a place you can walk through and look to your left and right as you walk and you could say you visited to Ark in 2 or 3 hours. If, however, you really look at the displays and read about them it will require several trips to the Ark. I know personally I will be going back many times. One of the things that impressed me today the Creation Museum covers much of the subject matter the Ark covers but I did not see any duplication of displays. Another impressive thing is the sound system throughout the Ark. For example the displays that show the Ark on the water you can hear heavy rain and thunder. In the area where they are showing a work shop you can hear the sound of hammers, saws, etc. In some of the areas where you have caged animals, birds, etc you hear the birds chirping and the various animal grunts, growls and sounds. This is excellent and adds to the realism of the Ark. Most impressive is the fact that the biblical reason for God telling Noah to build the Ark is well told and shown. If you know the biblical story of the Ark regardless of your level of knowledge and study of the Bible you no doubt have wondered how did they do this or how did they manage that. Many of those questions have displays that show how it might have been done. I love that.

Our first line. Here you proceed to a point where they look at your ticket and you go on to get on a bus. Also, inside this structure you can buy your ticket.

Waiting in line for a bus.

In line waiting for a bus. You can see one of the buses in this photograph. It has the work Ark printed on the back end. You can see people boarding through a middle door and the front door. Stroller, wheel chairs, etc were welcome on the buses.

While waiting for a bus we get our first look at the Ark in the distance about a mile away.

Standing by the driver as we travel a crooked and hilly road on our way to the Ark.

Arriving at the Ark unloading area.

And there it is Recreation of Noah's Ark built to Biblical instruction God gave to Noah. It is huge is all I can say about it. It is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high. It has 3.1 million board feet of timber and is the biggest timber-frame structure in the world. about 150 Amish builder from Indiana helped build the Ark because they are experts on this style of construction.

Grandpa Bill Standing in front of Noah's Ark

Jim standing in front of Noah's Ark.

Some of the Logs like those used in the Ark. Most were from Colorado as I understand it.

Back in line again. Once you get to the Ark you proceed through a long line to get to the entrance is way above ground level. Most of this lines in under cover of a building that has several static displays for viewing as you proceed in line. This is a model of the ark. Notice the big jars and basket under the table. This is the ground level where you find the Ark Entrance, Reentry to Ark Exhibits and the Gift Shop Entrance.

This photograph show several levels of the ramp that leads from ground level to the Ark entrance which is located on level 1 or Deck 1. All these people are out side the Ark The large white feature in the upper portion of the photograph is the underside of the Ark. In the middle of the photograph you can see the people in line down on ground level. All these people are standing waiting. Once the Ark is near capacity they only let a few in as a few leave. There are hundreds of people waiting in this photograph.

I want to pause here and say that I only took a few photographs just to give a flavor of what the Ark is about. In future visits and postings I will go into much greater depth with photographs and descriptive displays and their meaning. The photographs until told other wise are all on level one.

This beautiful wood carving greets you as you enter the Ark.

Cages for small birds. The jug on the right side of the cage is for watering.

More cages and jars for storing supplies.

Noah and his family during worship period at the start of the flood..

Large tree trunks like this provide the main support for the Ark. Throughout the Ark you will see large metal plates and joints that help hold the Ark together: however; the main method to join the thousands of pieces of the Ark together are pegs. Also thousands of screws are use for thinner pieces of lumber.

The beams and timber in the Ark are extremely large.

Storage items.

Looking down through the center support of the Ark. Also you can see the three levels or decks.

Typical view of the area on each level/deck. Displays on either side.

Many animals Noah had on board are now extinct.

Enlargement of above.

I never did find the sign telling what these creatures were.

Water for the above creatures.

These are the very large flying birds you saw in Jurassic Park. Sorry for the poor photograph I got bumped at the wrong time All these type displays had sounds that would have been believed to have been made by the particular creature

All photographs from here are from level / deck two.

Entry to level two from the ramp.

As I said this is level two and this door is where Noah and his family and all the animal that went on the Ark with him entered the Ark. Then God shut the door not to be opened again until the flood waters receded, and the Ark settled on solid ground. This door represents extremely important symbolism in the Christian faith. This door represent the only way for Noah and his family to be secure and saved from the flood. Jesus Christ tells us that He is the door for our salvation and that only people that accept him as their Lord and Savior can be saved and they must enter through the door which is Jesus Christ.

Please note in the Scripture passage I quoted at the beginning of this posting It indicate all the creatures came to Noah. Noah did not have to go out and round them up.

The following11 photographs are next to the Ark door and the display is not completed yet and the lighting was very poor. This is a very important display and answers the questions that most people have about God destroying the earth and all people on the earth as well as all the air breathing animals by the world wide flood. I say air breathing because the fish and creatures that live in the water were secure in their habitat. I have tried to enlarge the wordage so you can fully understand the display. Perhaps on my next visit it will be completed with good lighting and I can get photographs of the entire display but for now I will only show a few.

This answers the above question.

No God is not cruel.

Was it just for God to Judge the whole world? See below for the answer.

Why is Death the Punishment for Sin? See below for the answer.

Black Smith's shop.

Carpenter's Shop.

One of Noah's family tending to animals in this cage.

Animals in cage and their water/feed tray

Another of the animals on the Ark. I only had time to see just a few of them.

Now we are on level / Deck three and one of the longest lines I saw inside the Ark was the one that took you into and through "The Living Quarters". Because of lack of time I was not able to see this display but will at a later time. This level/Deck also demonstrates the impact the Flood had on our world.

This is the line for the Living Quarters. The following two photographs contain much important information but because of the crowd of people around the entrance to the Living Quarters I could not decent photographs so I will show only a few and will cover this subject on a future visit to the Ark. The next photograph asks the question of "Why are the living quarters so nice?" and a note and explanation of Artistic License when it come to talking about Noahs' family, especially his son's wives and his wife.