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.'"
Actually, it was much earlier in the evolutionary scale..
The convergent evolution occurred with Ham and Eggs..
This was due to the missing links.. of sausage..
Grandpa ate 'em..
I had eleven of those things addressed to me, from about seven different threads (most of which I've never posted to or even looked at). It must be one of the lunatic freaks who got banned from this website back in late 2003 during what is known as the Luddite War.
Indeed they are. Our science programs are going down the drain in this country.
The stakes are the reliability of the scripture. If people doubt the reliability of the scripture, they may reject God's plan of salvation with eternal consequences for them. Therefore it is important to refute erroneous claims and interpretations of data that conflict with scripture.
Just sweeping data under the rug or distorting it so badly does nothing but further undermine Christianity. All this flapdoodle about a 6000 year Earth is just that. This reminds me of the flap caused by the heliocentric ideas back in the 16th century.
People though that it would be the demise of Christianity back then as well. Oops, guess not. Acknowledging a 12 billion year old universe will not either.
Evolutionists probably take it personally, because their decision to reject God and live the way they want to hangs in the balance.
The theory of evolution does not address God one way or the other. Just like the theory of a heliocentric solar system; theory of gravity; atomic theory, etc. does not as well.
Both of us are well aware that the theory of evolution is not a religion. Stating such does not bolster your argument.
That's the Creationists' problem. As you well know, the TOE, like any other scientific theory, is silent on the topic of religion. Sorry to tell you, but not everything is about you and your religion.
Evolutionists probably take it personally, because their decision to reject God and live the way they want to hangs in the balance.
As you well know, people who support the TOE run a wide gamut when it comes to religion, from believing theists to atheists. Your repeated assertions that the TOE exists to refute God are either distortions of reality or outright lies.
I suppose ignorance is bliss and something else to be proud of.
Oh well ... .
Sometimes ... I'd be tempted to swear I'm on a Godless liberal forum. The same tactics such as name calling are used by liberals and YOU. Of course there is NO meat or substance to what they come up with.
Nice links.
I found the fourth one especially interesting with the dishonest tactics being employed by creationists.
Of course that is ALL they teach so I'm not surprised you don't think for yourself! Indoctrination doesn't make it so and I know of folks MORE qualified than YOU who see things VERY differently.
"I guess if creationists actually started turning out real science, they could qualify for public grants, too. Remember, not all research is carried out on the public dime; a lot of it is privately funded. Creationists evidently have a pretty decent well of funds they can go to to fund their research -- if they actually wanted to do any research, which we know they don't."
Actually they do their own research. They don't need to coerce people through taxes to fund it as evolutionists do. If evolutionists didn't have taxpayer dollars few would fund their nonsense. Creationists aren't hurting for money, research or truth as evolutionists are.
They do research? Do you have links to any of their published, peer-reviewed papers?
I haven't done a lot of research on this. But here's a link. The basic argument is that the current model of Egyptian chronology is flawed. And from what I've read there does seem to be much confusion about it.
This link argues that the exodus should be linked with the 12th Dynasty not the 18th dynasty as it has been traditionally. I've seen another site that links 12th Dynasty Egyptian stories and records with Moses.
Keep in mind that the date for the flood is not fixed either. I believe there is a gap in the Biblical geneaologies between Noah and King David. It's been reasoned that gap should only be a maximum of 500 years or so.
I'm also not sure about the Pyramids. The second article claims they were built after the flood. I remember reading, but not sure where, that some of the pyramids show evidence of massive water damage. Not sure which is right.
Agreed He hates sin.
Nobody is going to be able to stand before a perfect Holy God with sin in their lives and survive.
That's why we need Jesus. Without the imputed righteousness of Jesus we are toast. Literally.
Phineas T. Barnum never actually said that.
Let us remember that the rapidly-growing biotech industry, which is profit-oriented and thus non-ideological, employs thousands of scientists, and they don't waste their time or their shareholders' money doing "creation science" (if they did, the creationist websites would surely mention it).
So-called creation science has produced nothing of value in the medical, agricultural, or any other fields. I know, I know ... there have been scientists who were creationists. Before Darwin, just about everyone was a creationist. I'm speaking specifically of "creation science." It's a scientifically barren doctrine.
I don't call names very often. And when I do, it's usually directed at someone who has been extraordinarily abusive in the past.
But since this post was in reply to my post of "The evolutionist case for the evolution of Ham Sandwiches". You should know that this particular tactic was pioneered by Patrick Henry. I'm sure he has a link to his "The Creationist case for meteor crater design" on his list of links that he is so proud of.
Other than studying the Bible, what research have creationists performed?
Creationists aren't hurting for money, research or truth as evolutionists are.
Creationists have access to money because there is a large pool of uneducated, ignorant, gullible people who are associated with talibornagain religious denominations. You can make such buffoons give money to pretty much anything. As for research and truth, as has been shown hundreds of times on these threads, creationists do no research and provide no scientific evidence for their claims.
H.L. Mencken "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste (intelligence) of the American people".
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