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.'"
"Wise men think alike, and fools seldom differ."
But fools ain't thinkin'
(from an earlier post by you, it's "What's up Doc" not "Doc, what's up" sheesh, only a Canadian 8>} )
I don't guess there will be any gay days at this magic kingdom.
When it comes to an understanding of the universe I'd very much like to do the work myself as opposed to being insulted for giving it a try.
Why would links presenting the evidence on a physics/astronomy/nuclear chemistry question worry about some kind of population demographic issue?
You see, you see. js is wrong.
There in #3 - it's closer to 3.7 billion. Hah! and we don't correct each other. Hah!
I'm sure you're well beyond basic astronomy. How about bestowing the favor of telling us what point in history all of the known planets were in perfect alignment? Just the fact and a simple citation will do.
Huh? A) I don't have the time to rewrite all of the evidence from many scientific papers here on a thread, B) post huge screeds where a link will suffice, and C) attempt to format equations into the limited HTML here.
READ THE LINKS! I give them to you for a reason.
Does one of your links assert how many people, on a percentage basis, have been granted the tools and intellect to directly verify the age of the universe?
How about many thousands of people!
Maybe something needs to be mentioned about how links work. You click on the link, see, and you go to a whole article on a subject.
That keeps this thread from getting too big. We could copy the contents of the links to you, but reading them on the thread is no better than reading them on the sites that host them now. In the end, you have to read the stuff because we aren't there to read it to you. Anyway, links would be OK for someone who actually had some intellectual curiosity on a subject and was trying to learn.
Your point in disavowing the use of links, of course, is to stay ignorant. Now, when I say creation science is militantly ignorant of evolution and mainstream science in general, people say I am demeaning the opposition, arguing ad hominem, etc., and shame on me.
Well, here's you on this thread with a world of evidence in your lap and refusing to click. These are the arguments for creationism, the "You can't make me see" science!
The number of intelligent observers can only assist in verifying the information, right? I don't think modern science wants to know the answer to my question. But since "modern science" (a laughable concept when applied to Darwinism) is so intent on proclaiming the number of adnherents and amount of agreement as evidence of veracity, maybe this line of reasoning suits them perfectly.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say the the Earth is some figure less than 10,000 years old. It is irritating to have people say that it does.
In fact, the Bible has an interesting vignet that alludes to a created man that walked the Earth before Adam and God wiped them out.
Christians do not have to manufacture disosaurs on Noah's Ark to combat the ridiculous theory of evolution. If they would just read their Bibles instead of fantacizing procedures and events that never happened, there would by no leg for the evolutionists to stand on.
How about never.
I would much rather see a FReepers own thoughts and let them excercise their God-given intellect than click on a link and read someone else's stuff. Sorry.
:-)
However, messy is fun sometimes.
Stay stupid. It could hardly be otherwise. I'm out for the night.
You forgot the citation.
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