We returned yesterday from a trip to northern Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati. Where have you heard that before? Well if you subscribe to the one-minute-per-day podcast of Ken Ham, he mentions the location of their facilities regularly. We had eleven in our group, including my parents and my sister with her family of seven. Because we had some younger children we decided the first day should be at the Creation Museum and the second day would be at the Ark Encounter.
Day one for us was a Wednesday at the tail end of Winter, and even though most children are in school and families are not going on vacation, the Creation Museum was fully staffed and there was plenty to see and do. The outdoor attractions weren’t available, and I understand they are very nice and will add another day to your visit. As it was, one day of strictly the interior of the museum proved to be sufficient, but we did not read every sign on the wall, preferring to purchase a book that contains them all.
The facility is an apologetic all by itself and it seeks out discussion points where the assumptions of our culture will differ from faithful Biblical teaching. As we walked in, we saw displays of encounters with dragons that had been documented in years prior, some only a few hundred years ago. It wasn’t that long ago that the word “dinosaur” was invented, so the question is asked whether some of these encounters might be explained as living creatures that had not yet gone extinct. Even so, they would only be presumed to be extinct at this time, since it is logically impossible to prove that a category of something does not exist anywhere in creation.
Once we were inside, we were immediately greeted with a garden scene that featured humans and dinosaurs together. Again, the facilities place their authority upon scripture over that of secular authorities and they are unapologetic about it. They present a consistent biblical worldview to their guests and call them to repent and believe in every word that comes from the Bible (Matthew 4:4). This call to believe what the Bible says extends not only to the agnostic or the skeptic but to the churchgoer as well. If Christians refuse to believe in a biblical definition of the first Adam, why should they expect others to believe in the last Adam (Romans 5:18-19)?
Any functional worldview will include a description of the original state of creation, which includes how that creation came to be. It will answer a question of what the cause and the effects are of what is wrong with creation, for I don’t know of anyone who believes that everything is as it ought to be. The worldview will then pose a solution for how to deal with the core issues that are causing the problems along with an expectation of what things will be like after that solution is enacted. A walk through the museum begins by establishing the Bible as the supreme authority in everything they present to us. It poses contrasting views to show why this matters.
Which worldview is the one that allows for racism? Is it the one that claims we evolved over millions of years, so different people groups will demonstrate different levels of evolutionary status, or the one that says that all of mankind was created in the image and likeness of God on Day 6? How has our sin impacted the world? How has man’s inhumanity to man been troubling in our history? Can we find a solution that will last? How will that solution be enforced? How can we know that the Bible speaks with the authority of our Creator and what grounds does He have to dictate right and wrong to us anyway? Aren’t other sources of information, or perhaps the consensus views of our own experts, just as authoritative as the Bible?
We continue on and information is shared about the data that has been gathered from fossilized bones. This is the same data that is available to all scientists, regardless of their presuppositions, and the data examples that determined certain evolutionary statements are seen to be quite sparse. And yet it is assumed to be the only reasonable answer to the question of where the Universe came from, how our planet came to be inhabited and what the role of humanity must be within it.
I mentioned earlier that I didn’t take very many pictures. That isn’t because there aren’t many things to see. Rather, there is an overwhelming number of things to see! From insects to different kinds of animals to radiometric dating and more, there are exhibits all over the place that exclaim the majesty of God in His creation! The workshops where you can watch a presentation and ask questions are great as well, and the one we attended included a discount offer on homeschool curriculum that lowered the price beyond the already reasonable amounts being asked. There were also a couple shows we watched in the planetarium, with the Created Cosmos being one that was breathtaking in its explanation of the scale of our small alcove of the Milky Way galaxy and the blue stars that burn hot and fast and should not be in existence any longer if the billions of years and a big bang are assumed.
I was intrigued by a display toward the end that gave a wonderful demonstration of societal events from the time of Alexander the Great all the way to AD 73. I still don’t understand all of the underlying events that Jesus was born into, but it makes more sense to me now. Much like today, that was a time of the uneasiness of occupation and compromise mingled with the familiarity of raising a family and seeking to live a normal life. There were class structures within Jewish people and different classes in the Roman setup. They didn’t always translate and each side saw a different hierarchy than the other. That was alleviated somewhat by the Hellenization of the Jews, at least to the Roman way of thinking, but their fellow Jews looked at them with suspicion. The fact alone that not all of the Jews at Pentecost were able to speak in Hebrew was scandalous!
But the gospel is based on scandal. The scandal of our duty to our creator to serve as his image bearer. The scandal that we are guilty of failing in that duty. The scandal that we lack the ability, and even the will, to rectify that affront. The scandal that God would send His own son to live among us and to die in our place. The scandal that that same Son rose from the dead, forever putting the authorities of this world on notice that He has defeated sin and death. The scandal that we are to resume the original role of imaging Him and multiplying and covering the earth, not just through childbearing but by making disciples in the authority of Jesus and with the confidence that He will remain with us to the end of the age. The scandal that He is the exclusive way, truth and life and that no one may come to the Father but through Him.
These are all unpopular statements to the ears of the sceptics of our day. They are all shared under the authority of the revealed will of God, and His word presents a challenge to the order of man.
There is also a display there called “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” that shows numerous highlights of the germination of a baby, from the fertilization of the mother’s egg all the way to birth. As one who was a prime candidate for termination in the year that Roe v Wade revealed to the people that our legislative and executive branches are both cowardly, this presentation was powerful to me. Why was this in a dinosaur museum? Because this is not just a creation museum. This is a Biblical Authority museum. Abortion is murder. It is the willful killing of a person made in the image of God. It deserves the death penalty (Exodus 21:22-25).
The museum takes you to a very clear presentation of the gospel. God has spoken quite clearly and we have not listened, preferring our own ways. Accepting our own standard of truth. We are all sinners. We all deserve to be cast into outer darkness where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die. We are lost and without hope, left to our own devices. Jesus took the punishment we deserved so that we could be reconciled to God, and the method of that is to repent of our sin and to believe in the good news. God will then do a marvelous work in us, a work that continues throughout our lives and is completed in the resurrection.
The Creation Museum is a wonderful place, where the Christian Worldview is shared without shame. God has spoken, and His word contradicts unbelieving scientists, who suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. The data they work with is the same as the AiG scientists. But the premises they begin with and the conclusions they come to are all colored by their worldview. That is also true of the AiG scientists. The difference is that AiG admits this while the secularists deny it. There is no neutrality. Everyone observes reality from a vantage point.
The information shared in the museum is very well laid out and it is intended to share the gospel through creation. If you frequent the Answers in Genesis website, you will quickly see that the museum is not there to be a repository of all of the scientific data points that are available. Rather, the facility exists to show the interpretation of the data points. Your government school teacher is instructing your children from a worldview that rejects God. This facility will provide them with information that will empower them to question the conclusions reached by scoffers. It will also present homeschool curriculum at a reasonable cost so the parent can be empowered by seeing that this option is not beyond their abilities.
This was a fantastic visit! If you go, and you absolutely should, I suggest you get their cup for the free refills while you visit in the current year. Their brochure, available at any hotel, will give you a discount on it as well. And if you are visiting in the warmer months when more of the outdoor activities are available, plan on at least two days at this location alone. Once you start doing the math, getting a season pass to both facilities of AiG starts to become an investment worth considering.
The concessions available there are very reasonably priced and the quality is exceptional when comparing it to options at any other attraction. The same is true in the gift shop. There are many quality items for purchase and the prices are extremely reasonable. This is because the Creation Museum is not there to be a money generating facility for Answers in Genesis. This is a ministry. It is a place to embolden the faith of those who remain true to the authority of scripture and it is also an outreach to scoffers both outside and inside the church.
