The current presidential primary circus apparently does not have a corner on the Bizarre Market. A few of the nutcases may have craziness in their genes.
A $150 million theme park modeled on the biblical tale of Noah's Ark is being constructed in in Williamstown, Kentucky. The Ark Encounter features a life-sized replica of Noah's ark, 510 feet long and 85 feet wide. Opening day is July 7. According to the park's president and founder, Ken Ham, the ark will feature two of each species of animal which were present on the ark, including dinosaurs.
Ham, you may remember, debated evolution with Bill Nye "The Science Guy" in 2014.
The announcement by God, on His Facebook page that the Ark Encounter theme park was destroyed by flood on April 21, was debunked by snopes as a rumor. (Please note: God's Facebook page does include the disclaimer: "Thou shalt remember that The First Amendment protects satire as a form of free speech and expression.")
However, God also noted that "The park recently announced that they would only be hiring Christians to work there," which is true, in spite of the fact that the park "received millions of dollars of tax breaks during theme park construction."
In a refreshing spirit of ecumenicalism, Ham noted that employees won't be required to belong to a specific Christian denomination: Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians and other denominations are all welcome, as long as they are Christian.
Noah, naturally, was not a Christian. His well-known story is told in the Hebrew Torah, and, of course, in the Quran. The Christian Bible later incorporated the traditional story into their literature.
In addition to building the ark, Noah invented wine and the naked drunken stupor (is that the basis of the etymology of "he-brew"?)
When Noah was 500 years old, he begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. (It is unknown whether Ken Ham is a direct descendant.)
The Torah does not indicate how old Noah's wife was when she gave birth to these sons, but according to Jewish tradition, her name was "Naaman," and she was a descendant of Cain. Not that that was particularly special, as we shall see.
Cain and his brother Abel were the first two children of Adam and Eve. The first-born Cain murdered his brother Abel and then lied about it to God. Then he married his sister and set about to populate the earth. (Seth was born after Cain murdered Abel, and presumably married another sister. Or maybe the same one. Or maybe his mother. Who really knows? )
And that's how I learned it in Sunday School. It was a lot for a young mind to take in. Truly.
The Bible says that the entire world descends from this one family tree. And that would include all of the current presidential contenders. I'm starting to understand where the nutcases came from.
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