Contact
for more information:
Banstead Christadelphians
FREEPOST
SEA 10703
Epsom
Surrey
KT17 2BR

At the same time as an unprecedented worldwide effort begins to document every living species on Earth - labelled the 'Noah's Ark Project" in the national newspapers - a less well publicised project to build a copy of the original Noah's Ark has been completed in Holland.

The Catalogue of all life on earth
Over the next 10 years, researchers plan to gather every scrap of information that exists on the planet's 1.8million known species of animals, plants and other organisms, to build up an enormous Encyclopedia of Life. When completed, it will be made available freely to anyone with an internet connection, as the most comprehensive repository of life as we know it.

The encyclopedia will describe every aspect of every species, including the Aardvark and the Zorilla, pictured here. Among the records will be descriptions of habitats, prey and predators, genetic make-up and diseases carried, and assessment of populations around the world.

A complete archive has been a long-held dream among biologists who believe it will revolutionise their work. It will also make life easier for taxodermists charged with assigning names to 5 million to 100 million distinct but so far nameless species!!

As the executive director of the project is reported as saying in The Guardian newspaper, "There is no doubt that bringing this critical mass of information together, and for people to have it at their fingertips wherever they are in the world, will create a fantastic resource for understanding our ecosystem".

But missing from reports of this 'Noah's Ark' project is any reference to an earlier chapter in the Bible that comes just before the description of Noah building that famous ark at the time of the flood:

"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field..." (Genesis 2:19-20)

So it seems that this 'Noah's Ark project' will not be the first attempt to name every living thing on earth. The Bible also tells us that God knows far more than man will ever know about all his creation. Jesus was aware of that fact and pointed out to his hearers almost 2000 years ago that God knows everything there is to know about his creation in minute detail, as the gospel writers remind us:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father [knowing]. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:29-30)

"Consider the lilies how they grow; they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his wisdom was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith." (Luke 12:27-28)

These quotations of Jesus not only remind us of God's immense knowledge about his creation, they also use that fact as the reason why we should not worry about any problems we have in our lives. Worrying about not having enough clothes or where the next meal is coming from is unecessary, because God - who knows everything there is to know about his creation - already knows what we need, even before we do ourselves! But he wants us to have faith in His promise that He knows what we need and He will provide it for us.

The lesson we can learn from Noah's Ark
According to the account in Genesis chapter 7, when God told Noah to build the Ark that would save him, his family and other living things from The Flood, He could see how wicked the world had become:

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5)

It was because of that world's wickedness that God decided to destroy it with The Flood. But because Noah and his immediate family had faith in God, he saved them from the fate suffered by the rest of the world.

Perhaps it's because that account has some valuable lessons for us, with the world today just as wicked as it was in Noah's time, that another 'Noah's Ark Project' has been completed recently in Holland (see www.arkvannoach.com). A scaled -down version of Noah's Ark has been built and will soon start a journey around the country. But whatever the purpose of that new Ark, it will certainly act as a reminder that the Bible can help us understand our world today and God's plan for its future.

The Bible tells us that, before too long, this world will be destroyed again, as it was in Noah's day. But as then, God does not plan to destroy his creation completely - He plans to replace the world as we know it now with something much better. Even though there are those who work hard to understand and manage this world responsibility (like those behind the 'Noah's Ark catalogue of life'), other facts - like climate change - suggest that the world's future is now as desperate as it was in the days of Noah.

Every reason, then, to 'find refuge' in the 'ark of salvation' that God has provided for us all, through the work of Jesus Christ. The people who watched Noah build the ark and load up his cargo of living things, thought he was mad and mocked his obedience to God's commands. Just as many people these days think the Bible is irrelevant and God's promise of a worldwide kingdom on earth just wishful thinking.

Time will soon tell who is right about the future - God or man. Meanwhile, there is a little time left to make arrangements for your own salvation from this world's bleak future, by baptism into the name of Jesus Christ. The door of this 'ark' is still open - come aboard!!