The scripture lesson for this morning trips its way through the sixth, seventh and eighth chapters of the book of Genesis. This includes most of the account of Noah and the Great Flood.

For reasons you might or might not consider obvious, this part of the Bible generates considerable debate. From time to time, the controversy spills into the public arena. In February 1993, CBS had a two-hour prime time program titled, The Incredible Discovery Of Noah's Ark. The program, hosted by Darren McGavin, featured an archaeologist named George Jammal who presented evidence of having found Noah's Ark. He claimed to have actual wood from a "large ship" found atop Mount Ararat in Turkey. The program made additional claims to having evidence to prove a flood of world-wide proportions had resulted from …