Creationism Museum Counters Evolution
By J. Grant Swank Jr. (04/26/07)
"Dozens of exhibits attempt to show the Bible as the literal truth and the theory of evolution as unsupportable by science. Creationists believe that the Garden of Eden did exist, that the world is 6,000 years old, that God created man and animals simultaneously, and that the flood wiped out every living creature that wasn't inside Noah's Ark," per Newsweek's Dmitry Kiper.
Ken Ham, museum founder, will swing wide the creationism museum’s front door this May, hoping for at least a quarter of a million visitors in his first year.
It just may happen. The museum is "no more than a day’s road trip for two thirds of the American population. It’s located in Petersburg, KY, in the heart of Middle America—just a short drive from Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio."
Barbara Walters mentioned on The View recently that liberals must still contend with moralists who believe in the Bible as divine revelation. To support her statement, she referred to evangelicals who hold to creationism as against evolution. Walters was speaking to one of the program’s "hot topics" regarding Bible being taught in public schools. With that, she moved into the creationism versus evolution theme.
Newsweek’s poll recently concluded that "39 percent of those surveyed felt that the theory of evolution was ‘not well-supported’ by evidence."
And of course it is not. It is full of holes. Though liberal instructors and texts refer to evolution as a fact it is very much an embryonic theory. All the more that evangelical colleges not feel obligated to play politically correct with evolution in the classroom. Some instructors feel they must bend over to give certain credence to a theory that in fact is exceptionally flawed. This should not be the case on church-related campuses.
"Museum curator Ham believes that the public is certainly ready for his museum. Last year, a Pew Research Center poll found that 58 percent of those interviewed support the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in schools. Ham certainly shares that view.
"A onetime high-school biology and zoology teacher in his native Australia, he felt he could not be consistent if he taught evolution while believing in the literal truth of the Bible. He came up with his plan for a creation museum after seeing his students presented with evolution as fact when they visited natural-history museums."
Of course it takes faith to believe the Bible to be divine revelation. However, it also takes faith to believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Evolution is quite convenient for immoralists in that they can hold to some explanation regarding beginnings without having to acknowledge deity. They also can live an existence that is not accountable to a biblical moral code. All the more then that evolution and secularism go hand in hand, hence the tenacious hold evolution has upon those who decry faith in the Bible’s God.
"Ham, 55, went on to found the Creation Museum and become president of Answers in Genesis, the Evangelical ministry behind the project. In an interview, he recalls how, when he was first taught evolution in school at the age of 13, he asked his father—a dedicated Christian—about ‘those ape men.’
"’If you don’t believe in Genesis,’ his father told him, ‘then the whole rest of the Bible falls.’"
That reminds me of Billy Graham’s testimony. He said that as a youth he concluded to believe by faith that the Scriptures are divine revelation. From that premise has come his evangelistic message of good news. When one wavers concerning the divine stamp upon the Bible, then doubts spread and spread and spread, hence the creation of theological liberalism.
There are numerous theological seminaries, for example, Harvard Divinity School, as well as congregations that pledge doubt as a prime virtue. That doubt is regarded as a badge of liberal open-mindedness. The problem with that is that once doubt is enthroned, it remains there. I know those who have given their entire lives to the pride of doubt. They die with doubt. What then has doubt done for them regarding this earthly existence as well as preparation for eternity?
Graham, accepting the Bible as divine origin, opened then his young soul to the Bible’s God. That has enhanced his own personal life as well as molded him into the servant to the spirit for millions upon millions.
"The Creation Museum, which has so far funded its $26 million cost through private donations, focuses on Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Its special-effects theater shows a video of Biblical history; when it’s time for the flood, the seats shake and the audience is sprayed with mists of water and air. There is also a planetarium—Ham calls it ‘one of the most powerful parts of the museum’—with big, comfortable chairs that tilt backward so that viewers can watch a video about the galaxy projected on the dome-like screen on the ceiling.
"’It gives them a taste of the kind of creator they have, and they say ‘wow,’"’ says Jason Lisle, who is in charge of the planetarium program.
"Lisle is 32 and has a Ph.D. in solar astrophysics from the University of Colorado. One of his tasks, he said, is to review videos for accuracy. Has he ever found a contradiction between the scientific and Biblical claims in the videos? Lisle says this is the wrong question. ‘Science comes out of a Biblical worldview,’ he says. ‘We don’t try to prove the Bible from outside evidence. We accept the Bible as presupposition.’"
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