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Volume 11, Number 1,
July-August 2007
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The Creation Museum presents a unique and unparalleled experience, a
walk through time portraying significant, life-altering events from the
past, illuminating the effects of biblical history on our present and
future world.
--visitors
guide, Creation Museum
creationmuseum.org 888-582-4253
2800 Builittsburg Church
Rd
Petersburg, KY 41080
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The typical
natural history museum begins with displays of microscopic life, then
primitive life, then eventually dinosaurs, then mammals, then primates
which gradually ease their way into mankind. These evolution-based museums
will show the “geologic column”—layers of rock that were supposedly
deposited over millions of years with the corresponding fossils that are
found in them. They almost never explain where these miles of rock came
from, why some layers are missing or in out of order in much of the world,
and why there are fossilized trees that extend through what they claim to
be millions of years of rock layers. Does anyone believe that a tree stood
for millions of years without rotting while particles settled around it and
turned into rock? They also do not explain why the ancient geological
layers are perfectly flat—showing no signs of wind or water erosion. The Creation Museum has good explanations for these important
events.
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by Norman Edwards
photos by James Edwards
The Creation Museum, located just
outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, was on our return
trip from the Church of God (Seventh Day)
Convention. We had read about it extensively beforehand, and everyone in the
family wanted to see it. The 60,000 sq.ft. facility cost $27 million to build, and opened May 28, 2007. It has already had over 100,000
visitors.
The
Museum is largely the brain-child of Ken Ham, who has published the
creation-oriented Answers in Genesis magazine (www.AnswersInGenesis.org). We
at Port Austin can sympathize with him in that his first efforts to acquire
property for the museum ended in legal difficulties, but he persisted, found
another property, and made his dream a reality.
The
Museum is a refreshing change from the typical natural history museum (see
box, below). It had a multi-screen A/V production of the six days of
creation, followed by a display of the wonderful diversity that God created
all at once. There was a wonderful life-size walk through display of the
Garden of Eden. (see pictures, next page). Then
after Adam and Eve sinned, there was another display showing how they had to
work to provide food, and later when Cain killed Abel.
While
we cannot be sure what the people or their surroundings looked like at that
time, the evolution based groups cannot be sure either. It is far better to
experience the life-size exhibits that are constructed to agree with
Scripture and history than it is to see anything that views the creation as
an evolutionary accident.
Another
important part of the Museum is making Noah’s ark and the flood come to life.
Beside the life-size 3-D models (see pictures), there is much evidence to
show that the fossil record is better explained by a worldwide flood than
deposits over millions of years. A surprising amount of information has come
from the Mt. St. Helens explosion in 1980: layered strata, a river system, a canyon, a coal
incubation bed, and multiple layers of logs vertically floating one on top of
each other. These features, which scientists formerly claimed to have formed
in thousands of years, have been shown to form in days or a few years.
While some Sabbatarians understand Genesis to say
that the earth is millions of years old and a “recreation” occurred about
6,000 years ago, Exodus ties the time of creation right to the Sabbath day:.
For in six days the
Lord made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex 20:11).
Is
the Sabbath a literal seventh day rest, or only a symbol of a long eternal
rest? Are the seven days of creation literal days or only symbolic of long
periods of time?
Sabbatarians
need to look at the case for a 6000-year-old universe. There are reasonable
scientific explanations for the big issues. The apparent millions of light-year
distances between galaxies can be explained by evidence that the speed of
light was once much faster, and is still slowing down now.
The
Creation Museum’s A/V presentation stopped on the 6th day—it said nothing about the
Sabbath. As we need to learn from their creation research, they could learn
from us about the Sabbath. May God help us to work together!
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Norman Edwards
and Drew Bailey look at “Mass Graveyards” display. Most unearthed fossils
are found in great abundance in a particular area. They do not appear to
have died from old age, disease or predators, but from a catastrophe that
killed many at once and left their bodies piled together. Broken large
bones indicate force was used. Evidence is offered to show that these
fossils were likely deposited from a massive flood, in different layers
based upon their buoyancy, size, ability to swim, tendency to cluster with
their own kind, etc.
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“The Flood Rearranges the Earth” covers geological
evidence and theories about how the Earth changed as the result of the
flood. The displays frequently acknowledge that beyond the biblical
account, we cannot be exactly sure what happened on the Earth during the
flood or before.
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The
life-size model of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden reflects a beautiful
environment where food was available with very little labor.
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Eve
continuing the human race.
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After Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they
were sent out of the Garden of Eden and had to work hard to cultivate their
food. This life-size model shows Adam working with younger Cain and Able.
Eve looks on, pregnant, no doubt experiencing the added pain in
childbearing that was not present in the Garden.
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Next room: Sin did not stop with Adam and Eve.
Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, Abel.
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If
the fossil record is the result of the biblical flood, questions arise as
to whether Noah could have actually built an ark that preserved the animals
of the world. This small model, built to the biblical proportions
demonstrates how the ark may have looked and how it was built. Tests show
that the craft would be stable on the water. Since God instructed Noah to
soak the wood in pitch, it would certainly be able to withstand its one
year voyage. One hundred and twenty years is indeed a reasonable length of
time for eight people to build such a boat.
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A life size model of parts of
Noah’s ark show that the boat could be built with technology
available at the time. Multiple layers of notched planking secured with
wooden pegs could be made without any metal. Swelling from water makes it
tighter.
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Since God performed the miracle of
bringing all of the animals to Noah, it is logical that he implemented a
continuing miracle to stop them from fighting while on the ark. He probably
brought babies or very young versions of the large animals. They would eat
less and take less room on the ark. Here the Creation
Museum accurately portrays
seven of each clean animal and two of each unclean animal.
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Dinosaurs are a
big attraction to children at natural history museums. The Creation
Museum also has life-size
animated dinosaurs—a tyrannosaurus rex!
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Since God
provided two of every “kind”, did he provide baby dinosaurs for the ark? If
dinosaurs are like crocodiles, their babies are tiny, but they never stop
growing. Are the Biblical “leviathan”, “behemoth” and “dragons” dinosaurs?. Do the many folk tales of “slaying dragons” explain
the extinction of land dinosaurs after the flood? Some ocean-dwelling
species, once thought “prehistoric” (coelacanth, frilled shark), are still
alive today. &
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