An American researcher named Andrew Jones is the “founder” of Noah’s Ark Scans. He has spent 3 decades investigating the “boat-shaped Durupinar formation in eastern Turkey, near Mount Ararat (where the Bible tells us the Ark rested after the flood in Noah’s day… Genesis 8:4). Mr. Jones has used very sophisticated methods in this “discovery,” including Ground Penetrating Radar. But has he really found Noah’s Ark? Many scientists have denied this, and even earnest believers that do believe in archaeological evidence that support the truth of the Bible believe the ark has NOT BEEN FOUND (see the website “Answers In Genesis: Has Noah’s Ark Been Found…For Real This Time?”).

What do I believe? Back in the mid-1970s I was unsaved, but I was reading the Bible and wondering if the story of the universal flood and Noah’s Ark was true. At that time there was a documentary being shown in movie theaters titled, “In Search of Noah’s Ark” and the evidence SEEMED compelling. I thought to myself, “Well then, the Bible must be true.” I then started reading the Bible believing it was indeed the Word of God, God’s revelation to mankind. As I studied the scriptures, I learned that I was “born a sinner” (Psalm 51:5) and that’s why I sinned. I also learned that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I was convinced that I was a LOST SINNER who deserved DEATH (Romans 6:23) and JUDGMENT after death (Hebrews 9:27). Then I learned, by the amazing grace of God, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS” (1 Timothy 1:15) and that in order to save sinners He had to take my place in “death and judgment” on the cross (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 1 Peter 3:18). The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see the truth of Jesus’s words on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30). He had finished the work to “put away my sins” (Hebrews 9:26) and by believing this I was saved (Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 1:21). Did my belief that Noah’s Ark may have been discovered have anything to do with my salvation? No; though God did allow this to pique my interest in the Bible which led me to read of my sinful condition and God’s salvation through faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. My faith rests ON GOD’S WORD (for “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God…” Romans 10:17), and not on any archaeological finds.

I am not trying to downplay the importance of archaeological findings that do support the truth that the Bible is the Word of God, but I want all to know that one’s salvation is NOT dependent on those findings. It is dependent solely on the Scriptures which speak of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and how the sinner who believes these tremendous truths has eternal life (John 5:24 & 1 John 5:11-13).

We read in Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens DECLARE the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day UTTERS SPEECH, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their VOICE is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their WORDS to the end of the world.” We learn here that God also SPEAKS to men through the “light of CREATION” (see also Romans 1:18-20). There may be those who have never heard or read the Bible, but God has revealed Himself by “the things He has made” and men will be judged by that light and how they have responded to it.

And then we have the “evidence of archaeology” that SUPPORTS the Bible. You can do a Google Search on this and see dozens of links with many archaeological findings that most definitely prove the “historical accuracy of the Bible.” One is NOT SAVED by believing in these findings, but God has been pleased to allow men to unearth many things to show us the Bible is true. One of the greatest of all discoveries was the “Dead Sea Scrolls” (between 1947 and 1956). But I will close by one of the most compelling discoveries that proves the skeptics wrong. Here is a quote: “Some scholars once said that Moses couldn’t have written the first five books of the Bible (as the Bible says) because writing was largely unknown in his day. Then, archaeology proved otherwise by the discovery of other written codes of the period; the code of Hammurabi (ca. 1700 B.C.). the Lipit-Ishtar code (ca. 1860), and the Laws of Esh Nunna (ca. 1950 B.C.).” Praise God for using a man with a shovel to dig up an artifact thousands of years old which refutes THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE WISE in this world!  (DO)  (744.3)