But not as interesting as Rachel Ray!
Posted on 01/14/2007 5:31:07 PM PST by Tim Long
PETERSBURG, Kentucky - Ken Ham's sprawling creation museum isn't even open yet, but an expansion is already underway in the state-of-the art lobby, where grunting dinosaurs and animatronic humans coexist in a Biblical paradise.
A crush of media attention and packed preview sessions have convinced Ham that nearly half a million people a year will come to Kentucky to see his Biblically correct version of history.
"I think we'll be surprised at how many people come," Ham said as he dodged dozens of designers working to finish exhibits in time for the May 28 opening.
The $27 million project, which also includes a planetarium, a special-effects theater, nature trails and a small lake, is privately funded by people who believe the Bible's first book, Genesis, is literally true.
For them, a museum showing Christian schoolchildren and skeptics alike how the earth, animals, dinosaurs and humans were created in a six-day period about 6,000 years ago -- not over millions of years, as evolutionary science says -- is long overdue.
While foreign media and science critics have mostly come to snigger at exhibits explaining how baby dinosaurs fit on Noah's Ark and Cain married his sister to people the earth, museum spokesman and vice-president Mark Looy said the coverage has done nothing but drum up more interest.
"Mocking publicity is free publicity," Looy said. Besides, U.S. media have been more respectful, mindful perhaps of a 2006 Gallup Poll showing almost half of Americans believe that humans did not evolve, but were created by God in their present form within the last 10,000 years.
Looy said supporters of the museum include evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews and conservative Catholics, as well as the local Republican congressman, Geoff Davis (news, bio, voting record), and his family, who have toured the site.
FROM 'JAWS' TO EDEN
While the debate between creationists and mainstream scientists has bubbled up periodically in U.S. schools since before the Scopes "monkey trial" in nearby Tennessee 80 years ago, courts have repeatedly ruled that teaching religious theory in public schools is unconstitutional.
Ham, an Australian who moved to America 20 years ago, believes creationists could have presented a better case at the Scopes trail if they'd been better educated -- but he's not among those pushing for creation to be taught in school.
Rather than force skeptical teachers to debate creation, Ham wants kids to come to his museum, where impassioned experts can make their case that apparently ancient fossils and the Grand Canyon were created just a few thousand years ago in a great flood.
"It's not hitting them over the head with a Bible, it's just teaching that we can defend what it says," he said.
Ham, who also runs a Christian broadcasting and publishing venture, said the museum's Hollywood-quality exhibits set the project apart from the many quirky Creation museums sprinkled across America.
The museum's team of Christian designers include theme park art director Patrick Marsh, who designed the "Jaws" and "King Kong" attractions at Universal Studios in Florida, as well as dozens of young artists whose conviction drives their work.
"I think it shows (nonbelievers) the other side of things," said Carolyn Manto, 27, pausing in her work painting Ice Age figures for a display about caves in France.
"I don't think it's going to be forcing any viewpoint on them, but challenging them to think critically about their evolutionary views," said Manto, who studied classical sculpture before joining the museum.
Still, Looy is upfront about the museum's mission: to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers.
"I think a lot of people are going to come out of curiosity ... and we're going to present the Gospel. This is going to be an evangelistic center," Looy said. A chaplain has been hired for museum-goers in need of spiritual guidance.
The museum's rural location near the border of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana places it well within America's mostly conservative and Christian heartland. But the setting has another strategic purpose: two-thirds of Americans are within a day's drive of the site, and Cincinnati's international airport is minutes away.
The project has not been without opposition. Zoning battles with environmentalists and groups opposed to the museum's message have delayed construction and the museum's opening day has been delayed repeatedly.
The museum has hired extra security and explosives-sniffing dogs to counter anonymous threats of damage to the building. "We've had some opposition," Looy said.
Gee- ya mean they get paid for a job? By golly- ya gots a point there- argument over- Cripes- Paid or not- facts are STILL facts- don't pull the bull crap tactic of trying to discredit facts by avoiding the facts and pointing out someones affiliation- IF you have counter facts to the facts presented- spell it out- then we can have a serious conversation- otherwise- all you're doing is sniping from the outside- taking pot shots at those who bring facts to the table.
'recent is a 'lie'? Gosh- yup- right full of lies that site- if this is your only 'proof' then you're really grasping at straws when presented with numerous facts.
Takin a nap- will be up later
You have without a doubt proven the substance of the first sentence of my post.
I have just done so. I do not find their argument concerning the inaccuracy of carbon 14 dating convincing.
All of their examples have long since been rebutted. In fact, its the same material we see on many of the creationist websites, which is accepted as truth due to a mix of wishful thinking, lack of scientific knowledge concerning the subject, and agreement with a priori religious beliefs.
and by the way- care to counter the fact that evolution is a biological impossibility? Or would you rather simply discount it all because the evidences are presented on Christian sites for the most part? (Depsite the fact that they do appear in peer reviewed journals as well)
sur3 they've been rebutted- anyone can take a theory that measured by incidents can't be observed and rebutt anything- why? simply because the knowns are not infact known- You failed to mention they have not been succesfully rebutted-
I am a Catholic who believes in elements of Theistic Evolution as well as Old-Earth creationism. Don't flame me for that, at least not here and now.
In Genesis 1:6-7, it says:
And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.
We know that this is not a literal "dome" or we would have crashed through it when we launched satellites and space shuttles. It's metaphorical. Therefore, if the dome isn't literal, how would we know the "days" as mentioned in Genesis are literal? Care to explain your thoughts on that?
your 'science' relies as heavily on specualtion as does creation science- yet- somehow, because your 'science' leaves God out of the equasion- you think it's more 'fact'? sorry- but you NEED a heapiong amount of faith to trust in something that delves into unknowns- for instance the coinstants or -non constants- that can not be determined. dating steps outside the element of science and goes straight to the beleif system- science studies knowns and observables- If you are going to discount creation science, then you also have to discount secular science as beingh a 'priori of dogma' as well-
But not as interesting as Rachel Ray!
and just one more point- it is untrue that the matter has been ev4n close to being settled and succesfully rebutted- if that were true- the matter would be settled once and for all in the peer reviews and that is FAR from the truth- You can assert that if you like- but it's not true.
At this point, I'm going to let my posts, particularly post #237 stand until you can come up with better arguments.
Bye
-- facts are STILL facts- don't pull the bull crap tactic of trying to discredit facts by avoiding the facts and pointing out someones affiliation- --
I first pointed out a 'fact' but you chose to (even after a second request) to ignore my post.
--'recent is a 'lie'? Gosh- yup- right full of lies that site- if this is your only 'proof' then you're really grasping at straws when presented with numerous facts. --
I doubt they would have posted those several paragraphs only to conclude that it was 70 million years old. Better to say "recent" and let the duped reader believe it was less than 6000 years old. Which is what you believed, right?
--the fact that evolution is a biological impossibility?--
I have never seen that fact.
Creationism puts forth a dogmatic view that a much edited collection of books details to modern man exact history and science. I thought that Christ brought forth the new era with a new testament that swept aside the old books. If you adhere to the old books then you do not fully accept that Christ brought about a new era that did not base its faith and belief on strict adherance to the old testament.
Are there parts of the old testament that have elements of truth historically? Sure there are. There was a great flood for instance, but that along with many other events in the OT are also written in the sacred books of other religions and have differences which would be expected in stories brought down through thousands of years and thousands of authors. The OT was written and rewritten for peoples who were uneducated and very much limited to knowledge of their own piece of the world and for many their "world" was limited to maybe a 100 square miles.
I know about the various ideas of the origins of man and the earth and the universe. You believe what you like, but don't imply that those who may disagree with you are leftists, ignorant or uninformed, once again, that is the self-important view of that cult out there. I did not say that you were a terrorist, just that your statement carried the same smug self-centered view of others beliefs that muslims do.
How can one trust a 'scientist' that takes this pledge and is paid for his 'research'.
"The Bible is the written, word of God, and because we believe it to be inspired thruout [sic] all of its assertions are historically and scientifically true in all of the original autographs. To the student of nature, this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of historical truth."
When a theory can be shown to carry enough weight of evidence to make it fact then it becomes a scientific fact. Coprenicus had a theory that the earth and planets revolved around the sun and the church branded him a heretic. With the advances in astronomy, math and physics it was shown that he was right and the theory became fact. There are other theories that have been disproved, not by dogmatic biblical means but by physical proof. The theory of evolution has neither been fully proved nor disproved and remains a theory. It is a theory based on a large number of physical proofs, not faith. If you choose not to believe the physical evidence then that is up to you. If your faith sustains you in respect to evolution then that is wonderful for you. My faith separates Christ and God and their message from the OT which was swept aside by the word of Christ and does not rely on a testament most recently rewritten by an English King for political ends. The universe, evolution are all part of God's plan and he gave us the intelligence and free will to learn how to discern his hand in the patterns of the universe and man.
Yum.
And the turkey looks good too.
Pretty much. Although the rest of the time he is probably busy with the other universes he is creating.....
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