Creation Museum

As mentioned in an earlier post, we are currently at Kings Island Resort and Conference Center (I think it should be King's Island or Kings' Island, but they don't use an apostrophe) in Mason, Ohio, where my oldest son is competing in a chess tournament (he won his morning match, by the way). We have been coming here for 4-5 years now. It's not too long of a drive, the accommodations are very nice and reasonably priced thanks to the negotiated chess rate, and Trevor likes the playing schedule and time control.

On our trip here last year we decided to take advantage of our proximity to Kentucky and visit the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum. Ever since then I have been intending to write a blog post about our visit, but something else always seemed to take precedence. I guess one year late is better than never!

The Creation Museum is really not what most of us think of when we think of museums. It doesn't house a lot of old stuff. Instead, it is a huge, multi-roomed exhibit dedicated to teaching the Biblical truth of creation. It's a walk through the creation week as well as an effort to provide attendees with the knowledge needed to defend Biblical creation and discredit the flawed theory of evolution. There is, for example, one room devoted entirely to the Scopes trial. Other questions addressed are things like "What happened to the dinosaurs?" and "How did all those people and animals fit on the ark?" One of the most impressive parts of our tour was a powerful planetarium-style movie about the the heavenly bodies and earth's place among them. My daughter said she left the presentation feeling "awestruck."

The museum was still undergoing construction when we visited. These are one-year-old pictures, so they may not accurately reflect the current state of things.

Here's a far shot of the museum from across the body of water that is situated on its beautifully landscaped grounds. A pleasant walking trail winds its way through those grounds.



Some shots of the dinosaur exhibit, including one model that emphasizes the co-existence of humans and dinosaurs.

The unifying theme of the museum, from Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, is the "7 C's of Creation."

The Garden of Eden display.

Solomon, Moses, and David.


Marty (Luther) and me.

Learning about the cosmos.

Deep thoughts!

More deep thoughts!

Not-so-deep (but definitely fun) thoughts!

My, how they've grown in only a year!

If you find yourself in the Cincinnati area, I would strongly recommend an educational side trip to this peaceful, thought-provoking and soul-feeding haven in northern, rural Kentucky. I think it would be especially appropriate for junior-high or high school age students on a church or school field trip. It brings the creation/evolution debate to life in a hands-on way that may resonate with young people a lot more than simply reading about it in a book.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

I think for the most part my readers are familiar with this movie, but if you aren't, click here. And then run, don't walk, to your neighborhood theater and see it as soon as possible. We did so last night, and in spite of it going against every fiber of my being to pay $9.50 to see a movie, I am glad that I did, and I would do so again. The movie is worth every penny. and I think it is going to need all the help it can get to stay in the theaters more than a week, because the reviews are starting to come in and as one might predict, the scientific establishment and mainstream media have already panned it.

The thesis of the movie is that our institutions of higher learning have erected a wall between what they identify as "correct" and "incorrect" thinking about science and that anyone who dares to ask questions that don't subscribe to the establishment view is turned into a scientific outcast. The genius of the movie is that all it does is follow Ben Stein as he travels around the world asking people--all kinds of people, evolutionists and non-evolutionists alike--questions. Stein himself does not promote or push an agenda--he just puts people on camera and lets them speak, and he is careful to include both sides in their own words. It is ironic, then, to see the indignant and angry outcry emanating from the scientific community--an outcry which illustrates exactly the point that the movie is trying to make--that while our universities supposedly teach the freedom to ask questions, some questions are more legitimate than others (to paraphrase George Orwell).

And at its heart, freedom--not science or religion--is what Expelled is all about. (It is also neither a Christian movie--Ben Stein is Jewish--nor a creationist one, since contrary to what some think, creation and Intelligent Design are not necessarily compatible.) It begins with images of the building of the Berlin Wall, and that Wall becomes a symbol of the intellectual wall that has been erected in academia, stifling inquiry and open discussion. As a former college English teacher, I have personally experienced this wall in witnessing firsthand the intentional and organized attempt to use college English courses as a means of indoctrinating incoming freshmen into politically correct, postmodern, secular humanist thinking. Trying to teach English--just teach English--in that environment was difficult and disheartening. But Expelled left me with some hope that it may still be possible to wake people up to what is happening on our campuses and that perhaps there are still some principled, thinking professors out there who--especially if they band together and take strength from numbers--are willing to stand up for true freedom.

The movie concludes with images of ordinary people tearing down the Berlin Wall. The analogy is clear: it's time for America to tear down its own wall of politically correct thought and speech. One little way we can do that is to send a message by going to see this movie in huge, record-breaking numbers. To quote Mr. Stein . . . "Anyone?"

By the way, here are a few good reviews of this movie to balance the preponderance of negative ones that are out there.

Comfort Food
Answers in Genesis
Christianity Today