Ken Ham poses with dinosaur models in his unfinished $25 million Answers in Genesis museum.
Posted on 05/23/2005 3:29:06 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Ken Ham has spent 11 years working on a museum that poses the big question - when and how did life begin? Ham hopes to soon offer an answer to that question in his still-unfinished Creation Museum in northern Kentucky.
The $25 million monument to creationism offers Ham's view that God created the world in six, 24-hour days on a planet just 6,000 years old. The largest museum of its kind in the world, it hopes to draw 600,000 people from the Midwest and beyond in its first year.
Ham, 53, isn't bothered that his literal interpretation of the Bible runs counter to accepted scientific theory, which says Earth and its life forms evolved over billions of years.
Ham said the museum is a way of reaching more people along with the Answers in Genesis Web site, which claims to get 10 million page views per month and his "Answers ... with Ken Ham" radio show, carried by more than 725 stations worldwide.
"People will get saved here," Ham said of the museum. "It's going to fire people up. If nothing else, it's going to get them to question their own position of what they believe."
Ham is ready for a fight over his beliefs - based on a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament.
"It's a foundational battle," said Ham, a native of Australia who still speaks with an accent. "You've got to get people believing the right history - and believing that you can trust the Bible."
Among Ham's beliefs are that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, a figure arrived at by tracing the biblical genealogies, and not 4.5 billion years, as mainstream scientists say; the Grand Canyon was formed not by erosion over millions of years, but by floodwaters in a matter of days or weeks and that dinosaurs and man once coexisted, and dozens of the creatures - including Tyrannosaurus Rex - were passengers on the ark built by Noah, who was a real man, not a myth.
Although the Creation Museum's full opening is still two years away, already a buzz is building.
"When that museum is finished, it's going to be Cincinnati's No. 1 tourist attraction," says the Rev. Jerry Falwell, nationally known Baptist evangelist and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. "It's going to be a mini-Disney World."
Respected groups such as the National Science Board, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Teachers Association strongly support the theory of evolution. John Marburger, the Bush administration's science adviser, has said, "Evolution is a cornerstone of modern biology."
Many mainstream scientists worry that creationist theology masquerading as science will have an adverse effect on the public's science literacy.
"It's a giant step backward in science education," says Carolyn Chambers, chair of the biology department at Xavier University, which is operated by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church.
Glenn Storrs, curator of vertebrate paleontology for the Cincinnati Museum Center, leads dinosaur excavations in Montana each summer. He said the theory of dinosaurs and man coexisting is a "non-issue."
"And so, I believe, is the age of the Earth," Storrs said. "It's very clear the Earth is much older than 6,000 years."
The Rev. Mendle Adams, pastor of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Pleasant Ridge, takes issue with Ham's views - and the man himself.
"He takes extraordinary liberties with Scripture and theology to prove his point," Adams said. "The bottom line is, he is anti-gay, and he uses that card all the time."
Ham says homosexual behavior is a sin. But he adds that he's careful to condemn the behavior, not the person.
Even detractors concede that Ham has appeal.
Ian Plimer, chair of geology at the University of Melbourne, became aware of Ham in the late 1980s, when Ham's creationist ministry in Australia was just a few years old.
"He is promoting the religion and science of 350 years ago," says Plimer. "He's a far better communicator than most mainstream scientists."
Despite his communication skills, Ham admits he doesn't always make a good first impression. But, that doesn't stop him from trying to spread his beliefs.
"He'd be speaking 20 hours a day if his body would let him," said Mike Zovath, vice president of museum operations.
Ham's wife of 32 years agrees. "He finds it difficult talking about things apart from the ministry," Mally Ham says. "He doesn't shut off."
Ham said he has no choice but to speak out about what he believes.
"The Lord gave me a fire in my bones," Ham says. "The Lord has put this burden in my heart: 'You've got to get this information out.'"
Thanks. Always curious.
LOL! Yep, she's the one. And you thought humans and dinosaurs didn't live at the same time.
OHhhh............
HMmmm.............
You almost convince me to steal a new tagline!
...painting Charles Darwin as a racist...
... anyone who advances it is either a wretched dissembler or a mental juvenile.
So many decisions: so little time.
WHAT???
It's NOT descended from 'a common ancestral' THING??
"You bad Creationists give the REST of us a bad name!"
(There: ya happy now; PH?)
Ain't ROM wonderful!?
Except that man was engaged in scientific research long before the Bible was written. Talk to the Chinese, for instance.
Be my guest.
I've used it in conversations, classes, and correspondence. Sometimes it goes over people's heads, other times it generates a delayed reaction, occasionally someone reacts immediately.
It's always fun, and informative, to watch the response.
theistic - deistic
What's the difference?
I dont know Chinese.
Well, I don't speak Chinese either. But they were engaged in scientific study before the Bible was written. So Science predates the Bible by a long shot.
"Or repeat the third grade."
Touchy, touchy, touchy. And juvenile, but I won't bother mentioning that.
Did we go to the dentist today?
The obvious intent of your original 3rd grade post was to pour gas on the flames of this thread, by insinuating (multi-syllabic word of an accusatory nature) that Creationists selectively participated (do I need to use smaller words?) in the usage of 'reason' and 'logic', and actively avoided their usage in crevo threads.
Since crevo indicates both creationists and evolutionists, and since you and I have crossed paths before, and thus I know you to be an evolution apologist, it was a reasonable and logical inference that you were referring to creationists as the ones not using reason and logic.
I would be pleased to know, however, that you were actually referring to evolutionists.
(Say it's so, Joe."
In the case of nmh, it's a safer bet to assume dishonesty. He has a history of it (see my first response to him in this discussion).
ok, come on. Before the Bible was written?
I'll go research this myself.
But the overall point was that the Bible "documents" what God did to create science...not that its the 1st textbook on it. The Chinese were not here before God. I know they are pretty efficient folks...but not that good.
NIV 1 Peter 1:17-21
17. Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
18. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19. but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
NIV 1 Corinthians 2:7
No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
NIV 2 Timothy 1:8-10
8. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
9. who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
10. but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
NIV Titus 1:1-4
1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--
2. a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
3. and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4. To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
"When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" even Helen THOMAS would have been a major babe!
Difficult to say.
"Timeless" might be the best answer.
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