Noah's Ark?

[Celtaur]

I've been wondering about this story. I was brought up Catholic, so taught it was literal, but anyone with common sense know's it's not literal, it's a metaphor, or symbolizes something. DNA, survival, flood?

I can see today, we could have a noah's ark in a sense through storing of genetic material in a type of bank.

Is Noah's Ark related to the Ark of the Covenant?

[brifae]

no the covenant came after i think. yes i always saw it as a dna bank cause the cat would eat the birds, wtc, plus food, and every animal all over earth, um no, explains what happened to those unicorns though

[nventr]

You are right Celtaur. The story of Noah's Ark is a metaphor. I call it the OT rapture story.

I do believe both arks are related in a very complicated way. Both use Grace as the primary power. Both are built to God's specifications - The Golden Mean. Both are called arks which means chest - a chest is a container. So what was in these two containers and how were they used?

Noah's ark nurtures Noah's family and rises them up above Mt. Ararat Or the mountain of error, while everyone else must endure tribulation/death. (rapture style)

The Ark of the Covenant contains the law within the heart of a spiritual nation. This Ark will kill anyone who is not purified according to the spiritual law.

So, both sides of the power of Grace are seen through these arks. One nurtures. The other kills. Just as lightening can light up the night (enlighten) or kill.

[Hiram]

I have to agree that the most likely case is that the story of Noah is largely metaphorical. It is most certainly allegorical at any rate. I’ve read a pretty interesting book called Underworld by Graham Hancock. It talks a lot about how the melt of the last ice age drowned a very large surface area of coastal territory. This flooding would have seriously affected ancient Sumerian people and their ancestors. We know that there a great many ties between Sumerian and Egyptian culture with OT literature. It my personal feeling that much like Nventr stated the story is, on a metaphorical level, the struggle of a man to guide his family and protect them (via the ark) from the “flood” of sin and debauchery of the time. I would not dismiss however the possibility of the story taking the form of a flood due to their own ancient histories of a flood that killed many people. The story of Noah is of great interest to me. Thank you for making the thread