Ken Ham's Blog, page 369

A Student’s Anti-Museum Blog Gets Noticed on the Internet—Our Response

Yesterday afternoon I was “winging my way” back to my homeland of Australia. I will be arriving in Queensland right after this blog gets posted and will be “down under” for more than two weeks. Because of the last hectic 24 hours, I thought my blog today could point you to an excellent item by Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff that has just been posted to her blog.

Below are excerpts of Dr. Purdom’s blog—then visit the link under the excerpts to read her full blog post. It involves a student at a well-known seminary who wrote negatively about our Creation Museum. Now, this seminary has many professors we admire, and the president stands with us regarding the historicity of Genesis. But that’s not to say that all the students there believe that Genesis is straightforward history.

First, Dr. Purdom discusses why a young student even merits some attention from us. Here is why:

A few weeks ago I came across a blog post written by “Ben,” a seminary student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Kentucky. I greatly respect the president of SBTS, Dr. Albert Mohler, who has spoken at one of our conferences and written several articles for Answers magazine. (His wife Mary has also spoken several times at our Answers for Women conferences, and we have many friends on the SBTS faculty.) It is sad to see the claims this student makes against our Creation Museum which are clearly contrary to the teachings of Dr. Mohler. But as the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.” Every educator strives to teach his or her students the truth, but it is ultimately the decision of the student as to whether or not to accept that truth.

I wanted to respond to just a few things that really stood out to me as I read Ben’s post. AiG typically does not comment on a post by a student. However, bloggers and websites are linking to his anti-museum commentary, and people are now asking us to comment because of the claims made against our apologetics ministry.

Presuppositions About Dragon Legends

Ben has a lengthy rebuttal as to how the museum presents dinosaurs and dragons. In the new Dragon Legends exhibit, we share how many of the so-called dragon legends from multiple cultures around the world are likely based on real-life experiences that people had with dinosaurs and other reptiles thought by old-earthers to have perished millions of years ago (i.e., those extinct reptiles of the sea and of the air). The Bible states that land animals (which would include dinosaurs) were created on Day Six, the same day as Adam (Genesis 1:24–27, 31). Therefore, man and dinosaurs co-existed since almost the beginning of time. Evidence from petroglyphs and other places that we describe in our exhibit indicate people had knowledge of dinosaurs throughout history, with dinosaurs possibly only becoming extinct in the recent past. But Ben offers an alternate view . . .

I encourage you to read the full blog post by Dr. Purdom. More about our fantastic new Dragon Legends exhibit will be the theme of my blog post tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Listen In to the Answers Conversation

Since we began the free Answers Conversation podcast series earlier this summer, many people have commented on how helpful these conversations are to them. Featuring our team of experts, this series has already dealt with a great variety of subjects, including ape-men, dinosaurs, the history of millions of years, the Resurrection of Christ, sanctity of life, and many more.

For those who have not yet had the opportunity to listen to these podcasts, it may help you to know that they are a weekly 15-minute recorded conversation between Steve Ham (our Senior Director of Worldwide Outreach, and my brother) and experts within and outside Answers in Genesis.

Recently I had the opportunity to discuss a few very important topics with Steve, including a conversation about our heritage from godly parents that had great impact in our lives (part one and part two). As many people know, Steve and I are 20 years apart in age, but we can both testify to a father and mother who were committed to pointing us to the Bible’s authority in a clear and profound way. Our father was indeed a great apologist for his day and his example made a big impact in our lives as he confidently proclaimed answers from Scripture and pointed us to the gospel of Christ.

Ray Comfort is the producer of Evolution vs. God.

Even more recently, we had the great opportunity of recording a session at our Answers Mega Conference in Tennessee with Ray Comfort and Todd Friel. This is our most recently published session of Answers Conversation, and is the behind-the-scenes discussion about Ray Comfort’s new movie from Living Waters, Evolution vs. God: Shaking the Foundations of Faith. If you haven’t seen this DVD (available in our online store), I encourage you to do so and spread it around to every high school and college student you know. Steve, Todd, Ray and I discussed this movie, which shows Ray’s interviews with college students and professors on secular college campuses. They answer questions about their reasons for believing in evolution. The answers you will hear are both sad and illuminating as they highlight the religious nature of evolutionary faith and the lack of any real substantive basis. The conversation was recorded at the Mega Conference last month and offers a great behind-the-scenes dialogue about these interviews, with some fun thrown in along the way.

I encourage you to listen to these podcasts. I trust that you will greatly benefit from these conversations and use them to help others see the truth in God’s Word as we point people to the truth of His Gospel.

Each week you can find the Answers Conversation on our website’s media page. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or the RSS feed.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Just as Relevant to 100-Year-Olds

Every now and then I love to share testimonies with you about the impact of AiG resources on people’s lives. This is a rather unique testimony, so I wanted it to be my blog post for today.

Here is the testimony from the staff at a residential retirement home in California:

Our Residential Care Facility for the Elderly has been blessed by the “Tools for Teaching” PowerPoint materials put together by Answers in Genesis.

The majority of our residents are in their 80s or 90s and one of them will be 100 in a couple months. As most everyone in their generation, they grew up in the church. It was the norm for their day. But apologetics were not the norm. I have gone through several of the “Tools for Teaching” presentations and our residents have really enjoyed them. It was the first time they had seen the teachings of Scripture presented in such a way as to counter the false worldviews they daily see presented on television.

“The Relevance of Genesis” presentation is just as relevant to 100 year olds as it is to their great-great-grandchildren!

If you can use this little word to encourage people to obtain Answers in Genesis materials—just do it! Thank you, my brother, and may the Lord bless you abundantly as you labor in His vineyard!

Here are two of the illustrations in the series of “The Relevance of Genesis” PowerPoint slides:

Yes, both young and old can learn apologetics! All I can say is “Praise the Lord! Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be in this ministry impacting lives for eternity.”

I hope this encouraged you as it encouraged me.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Chutzpah of Unethical Atheists—But We Actually Understand Why

You probably know that word “chutzpah.” (A similar term is “audacity.”) I am using that Yiddish word to describe the actions of an atheist who visited our Creation Museum last week. He got in free by cheating, toured the museum, and afterwards proceeded to blast the museum on his blog—a blog which is devoted to, as he calls it, “debunking Christianity.”

How did he get in free? He played on the generosity and sympathy of a museum staff member. The man came to the museum desk and declared that he only had a short time to spend at the museum and did not have the money in his budget to pay for a ticket. Now, he did admit that he was skeptical of the museum’s content. But the museum staff member, wanting to reach out to a person who expressed a financial need and also hoping the museum might challenge his thinking, allowed him in at no charge. We very much want skeptics to visit.

Conveniently, though, what didn’t he tell her? Well, that he was really at the museum as an atheist who was wanting to go through the museum and then would be blasting it—without having to pay. We have since learned that the man has written five books in the past few years and advertises himself as a speaker against Christianity—I doubt very much he is the pauper he pretended to be when he came here.

But coming here under false pretenses and getting in free doesn’t really upset me. Why? First, because he did hear God’s Word throughout the museum, and “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Perhaps this man will repent of his sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, because he is an atheist, this man is only acting consistently with his worldview. I understand his actions, though I certainly don’t condone them, for stealing is against all sorts of biblical teachings, including one of the Ten Commandments. But you see, he has no absolute standard by which he lives his life. So why is it even wrong in his secular worldview to misrepresent himself to us? He can justify being a cheater.

So I understand his mindset. I really do. If there is no God, how could an atheist ever say what is right or wrong? By what standard can he make that determination? If each person decides for himself what is right or wrong, then he can argue that what he did at the museum was not wrong. Secular atheistic humanism is a belief system about what we supposedly came from (nothing), what our purpose is in life (nothing), and what happens when we die (which again is nothing). Those who believe this way are only demonstrating the truth of Romans 1—they are suppressing the truth of God’s existence in unrighteousness. They claim to be wise, but Romans 1 states that they have become fools.

It also did not make me mad when I learned that as this atheist was leaving the museum, he left a business card with our guest services staff member—the one who had been so kind to him. The card had the words “debunking Christianity” on it along with his website address. Now he wanted her to know what he was really doing at the museum, as if he was gloating, “Ha! I deceived you.” But this behavior was consistent with his atheism.

I recently posted a Facebook comment about this man, with the title, “Atheist debunking—or an advertisement for the Creation Museum?” Like most atheists who write negatively about their museum experience, he simply described some of the exhibits and, with lots of hand-waving, just said we were wrong. His lengthy piece really offered no real rebuttals of the scientific displays. He mocked the exhibits more than anything. (He did seem to be impressed with our new Insectorium’s collection of insects, though.) But I’m not upset with him for another reason: the man seems to have a lot of followers (based on the number of comments he is receiving about his blog against us), and so I see his blog post as an advertisement for the Creation Museum.

This atheist certainly saw and heard God’s Word in the museum, and we should pray for him. I understand that he comes from a church background, but apparently he did not receive any effective apologetics teaching, or perhaps it may have been weak teaching. I don’t know. So let’s pray for this atheist, that God will use His Word to convict him and lead him to salvation.

At the same time, I am not going to link to his blog here and give him some satisfaction that we are driving more web traffic to him. Of course, with a little effort you can find it, and I’m sure atheists will be linking to it and his numbers will grow. But for any atheists reading this blog post, I urge them to consider this AiG article on why atheism is irrational.

Meanwhile, because of cheaters like this man, we are greatly tightening up our procedures to make sure that people like this don’t take advantage of our generosity just so they can mock us. Actually, this museum incident shows he did not come to the Creation Museum with any other intent but to mock and speak against Christianity. Even before his visit, his atheistic, blind-faith religion had already biased what he would write about the Creation Museum!

We’ve had a number of instances of atheists not telling the truth (for them there is no such thing as “truth” anyway) in order to take advantage of us at the Creation Museum. For instance, TV commentator and comedian Bill Maher and his video crew lied and broke the rules to sneak into AiG. Here is what I wrote about that incident in 2007. And then there was this incident in 2010. And there have been other instances. Actually, the atheists’ behavior just illustrates Romans 1 over and over again—they work to suppress the truth because they know in their hearts that God created (Romans 1: 18–19).

Special Showing of Evolution vs. God

Yesterday we held a special all-staff meeting in Legacy Hall so that all AiG staff could watch Ray Comfort’s new film Evolution vs. God. The film interviews a number of atheist professors and students at California universities and one leading atheist from Minnesota. Not one person could come up with even one example of one kind of an animal becoming another to show evolution. Of course, the atheists cry foul, claiming creationists don’t understand evolution because you have to allow for millions of years to make it happen. But therein lies the point: Millions of years is a part of their atheistic religion. They worship time because they refuse to worship the God who created all things. And they do this because they don’t want to acknowledge they are sinners in need of salvation.

This well-produced DVD is a great resource to share with atheists. It could be a real eye-opener for them. It’s also a great resource to show Christians (and show our young people) as it demonstrates that evolutionists simply can’t defend their faith. Yes, molecules-to-man evolution is a blind-faith religion. You can order the DVD from our online store.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for praying (including for John, the former church-going man who is now an atheist),

Ken

Yet More Major Media Coverage!

We continue to add fantastic new exhibits to the Creation Museum. Some are considered world-class by accepted museum standards. So it’s not surprising that the world’s media continue to cover the museum, even six years after its opening.

The major news service Associated Press (AP) released a feature story over the weekend about the new additions at the museum. The article is now appearing in many newspapers and websites across the country (for example, here on the ABC-TV website).

By the way, this AP article quotes an opponent of the museum who calls himself the “Friendly Atheist.” Well, he is not that friendly at all if you read some of his blog posts (you’ll have to watch out for some nasty language). He says false things like we have not added exhibits over the past five years and the museum is supposedly failing because of low attendance. As the AP article clearly shows, we have added new exhibits. Also, our attendance remains strong, even much better than what we projected before we opened in 2007 and before the recession hit, which affected many tourist attractions.

The AP article noted our new insectorium. It’s one of the world’s greatest insect collections, rivaling the Smithsonian’s in quality, presented in a unique high-tech way, and all within a framework of the Genesis account of creation. In “Dr. Crawley’s Insectorium” (yes, a real collector by the name of Dr. Crawley donated his great insect collection to the Creation Museum), we offer museum guests the opportunity to discover the fascinating design that our Creator has built into bugs, beetles, and other insects.

The AP article also mentioned our large new Dragon Legends exhibit. It tackles the question, “Were dinosaurs dragons?” With exceptional artwork, these dragon displays also ask the question, “Did dragons and dinosaurs live in recent times, not millions of years ago?” We also ask museum visitors to consider the question, “How could people centuries ago paint, carve, or write about these creatures if they had been extinct for about 65 million years?” We show that the Bible teaches that dinosaurs and humans were created on the same day: Day Six of Creation Week. Our staff scientists are not surprised at all by all the evidence of dinosaur and human coexistence.

You can watch a short video about the new Bible-upholding exhibits inside the museum. These exhibits are offered at no additional charge to visitors holding general admission tickets.

We’re also very excited about the evangelistic opportunities we have now with the new zip line course on our property, which the AP article discusses. It will draw a broader range of people to our museum and expose them to our Bible-affirming teaching. Zip line participants can view the first part of the museum without having to pay, and for an additional $10 they can tour the entire museum.

The course has over 12,000 feet of lines. We believe it is the biggest and best zip line course in the region. The 25 lines (along with several sky bridges, Challenge Course, and two new super zip lines each about 1,700 feet long) run through much of the museum’s beautiful grounds. With a children’s zip line area, our course helps make the Creation Museum an even better family-friendly destination.

In the photo below, you can see my long-time friend Ivan Schrock of Ohio on the zip course. Last week he celebrated his 80th birthday at the museum and wanted to take a ride!

Follow the link to watch a short video of the new zip line course.

So much for some opponents claiming that the museum is stale, as we add a few things each year to the museum.

We have expanded our petting zoo recently with more animals for families to enjoy, including a second camel that can be ridden. Also, the world-class Bible manuscript exhibit inside our museum, Verbum Domini (“The Word of the Lord”), has just seen the addition of two dozen valuable Bibles and Bible-related artifacts. The collection currently includes an Elvis Presley personal Bible, Bibles signed by American presidents, an autographed Bible by baseball legend Babe Ruth, a 1599 Geneva Bible, and so on. These items are part of an impressive traveling exhibition of rare Bible manuscripts and artifacts from the famous Green Collection, much of which will be eventually placed in the future Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.

On top of that, our state-of-the-art Stargazer’s Planetarium recently added Fires in the Sky: The Sun-Grazing Comets to its line-up. This new program on comets features Comet ISON that will appear in the sky this November and December. There is a separate charge for this excellent, high-tech program.

The AP article briefly mentioned the Ark Encounter, our full-size Noah’s Ark we will be building south of Cincinnati in northern Kentucky. Last week I shared with our entire staff that we are completing the permitting process and have already begun clearing the land. You would not believe how many thousands of pages and huge amounts of money are needed to get this all these permits. See the photo below of just one permit and the number of pages involved!

Two weeks ago, we signed the formal construction contract with the Troyer Group. We hope to have all of our construction permits by November. Meanwhile our talented Ark team is designing the many exhibits that will go inside the Ark and on the grounds.

I also mentioned to the staff that later this year we hope to have some major news to share about the funding of the Ark. I think it will excite you to hear that news, hopefully to be revealed in November.

A lot is happening behind the scenes with the Ark project.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Is It a Bird? Or Is It a Dinosaur?

Or Is It a Dinosaur “Thinking” About Becoming a Bird?

On our website over the years, you may have been following our ongoing commentary about news that relates to Archaeopteryx. For many years, this bird fossil had been a classic example brought out by evolutionists to try and show the evolution of reptiles into birds. You may recall that evolutionists reclassified Archaeopteryx as a non-bird, but then they reclassified it as a bird again. Now it’s being considered by some evolutionists as a transitional form between dinosaurs and modern birds. Little confused?

Well, you see, it turns out that researchers have discovered that Archaeopteryx had a brain with a feature that is characteristic of modern birds. In an excellent article that is posted to our website this weekend about the changing views of Archaeopteryx, Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell reports on this brain feature.

Dr. Mitchell shared the following with me yesterday: “Evolutionists wonder how birds and mammals evolved bigger forebrains than their supposed reptilian ancestors. Some think it was to help them see or smell better. Now some evolutionists have used a CT scanner to look into several dinosaur skulls to see if they can find the transitional brain that enabled dinosaurs to fly.”

Dr. Mitchell added, “Some of those dinosaurs had proportionately bigger forebrains than the researchers thought that a stereotypical pea-brained dinosaur should have. They claim these dinosaurs evolved flight-ready brains in preparation for evolving into birds.”

In her article, Dr. Mitchell explains that they did not. She states that these dinosaurs simply had brains able to handle, as another scientist said, “highly agile lifestyles.” When God created all kinds of animals (as Genesis describes), they did not have to evolve big brains. God created them with brainpower and other abilities to be fully functional right from the beginning—and in the places God designed for them in that “very good” world the Bible describes.

Read more about what these scientists discovered as reported in Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell’s excellent article “Were Birdbrains on the Dinosaur Pre-flight Checklist for Evolution?”

By the way, our Creation Museum has added a major exhibit that answers the question: “Were dinosaurs dragons?”  Check out this fascinating exhibition—located inside the museum’s portico—when you visit the museum in the Cincinnati area.

Also, return to this blog and AiG website in a few weeks for some great news about another dinosaur exhibit coming to the museum (a 2014 unveiling, but we’ll offer something of a preview in a few weeks). The exhibit will be a major museum addition—people will come from all over America just to see it. The secular world will be astonished—and probably dismayed—at what AiG will unveil.

Yes, we use dinosaurs at the Creation Museum as “missionary lizards” to present the creation/gospel message!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Compromising Christians Don’t Like “Evolution vs. God” Film

At the Answers in Genesis Mega Conference last month in Sevierville, Tennessee, Ray Comfort held the  public premiere of his  film, Evolution vs. God. At around the same time, many atheists spoke out against the film (as I reported in a previous blog post).

Atheist reviews included:

  “I can’t believe I watched the whole thing.” Professor PZ Myers

“Worst documentary ever.” Aaron Whitman

“Your movie was horrible … sad and pathetic.” April Brumett

“How about not including idiots in your video.” Philip Ware

The criticism from atheists was almost immediate, for Comfort’s well-publicized film powerfully challenged their entire worldview. But now we’re hearing from professing Christians about the film—and they don’t like how effectively Evolution vs. God challenges evolutionists and their ideas.

The first Christian organization I am aware of to speak out against Evolution vs. God was Reasons to Believe. Dr. Hugh Ross, a progressive creationist, is the president and founder of RTB. For years, Dr. Ross has been compromising the book of Genesis with millions of years and other evolutionary ideas. (Though he does not believe in biological evolution, Dr. Ross accepts cosmological evolution, like a very old universe, the big bang, etc.).  He has misled so many people in the church and he will one day have to give an account regarding his compromising stand on God’s Word.

One of his staff members wrote a review of Evolution vs. God, discouraging Christians from viewing the film. In his critique, he says he’s concerned that Comfort didn’t actually debunk evolutionary ideas—and that the film hurts evangelism:

Although the video contains some valid content, its questionable treatment of science and scientists—with an attack mindset and a goal to make scientists look stupid—causes me to advise extreme caution. Bluntly, I see this video as counter to our evangelistic mission. I cannot think of one biblical example where Jesus ridiculed nonbelievers who held erroneous views—although he harshly rebuked the religious leaders who were supposed to guide people toward Him. (www.reasons.org/articles/a-review-of-evolution-vs-god)

Now, I’ve viewed Evolution vs. God a few times, and I don’t remember Comfort “ridiculing” unbelievers. What he did was ask them question after question about evolutionary ideas and their own spiritual state—and he shared the gospel with each of them. How does encouraging critical thinking and sharing the gospel hurt evangelism?

During the interviews, Ray asked students and professors for evidence of one kind of creature changing into another (i.e., molecules-to-man evolution). The Reasons to Believe reviewer claims, “Comfort dismisses any reply that fails to meet his contrived criteria.” But the criteria Comfort relied on certainly weren’t “contrived”! The criteria came straight from the pages of Scripture. In Genesis 1, during Creation Week, God continually refers to the animals (on land, in the air, or in the sea) as being created “according to its kind.” And in Genesis 6:20, God refers to the representative land-dwelling animals and birds as having “kinds.”   In the film, students and professors  speak for themselves and give the same old examples of speciation/changes within the one kind—as supposed evidence for molecules-to-man evolution.

When Comfort asks for specific evidence of this type of molecules-to-man change necessary for evolution, none of the answers he’s given demonstrate a change from one kind to another—plain and simple. What’s surprising about Reasons to Believe’s position on this film is that progressive creationists typically deny the validity of biological evolutionary ideas—although they kind of accept the evolutionary progression biologically and say God created the different species, etc.  Personally, some of RTB’s views are not that much different from theistic evolution. They believe that over millions of years, God created life forms “progressively” that would die off, and then He would create more, and they would die off (and so on) until we arrive at present-day humans and animals. Of course, this idea relies just as much on long ages as evolution does—and it contradicts the Bible’s account of creation and human history.

Another organization to speak out against Evolution vs. God is BioLogos, headed by Dr. Deborah Haarsma (previously a professor at Calvin College). BioLogos, an evolution-promoting group, actually posted and promoted the Reasons to Believe review (biologos.org/blog/a-review-of-evolution-vs.-god-from-reasons-to-believe). The BioLogos writers noted, “at BioLogos we hold the position of evolutionary creation, that God acted to create all life using the process of biological evolution. Other Christian organizations disagree; they question the evidence for evolution or reject it completely, preferring views where God acts directly and miraculously to create life.” Actually, that last view is the one the Bible teaches—the creation of the universe was the first recorded miracle and happened just as God’s Word in Genesis records!

The BioLogos writer goes on to call Evolution vs. God “hostile” and indicates that it lacks humility and respect for others. These  bold claims, however, certainly aren’t reflected in Evolution vs. God. Watch this powerful new film for yourself and decide. It’s available through the AiG webstore. Furthermore, our current web campaign on AnswersInGenesis.org centers on the battle between evolutionary ideas and the Bible’s account of creation. I encourage you to read our feature article for more.

Congratulations to Ray Comfort of Living Waters for producing such a powerful movie.  The fact that compromising Christians and the atheists don’t like it means it has really hit a nerve!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Is It Necessary to Believe in a Literal Adam and a Literal Fall?

Recently, I saw a headline that caught my eye. The secular journal Nature published an article titled “Genetic Adam and Eve did not live too far apart in time.” Now, secularists (and even some Christians) propose the idea that there was “Y-chromosome Adam” and “mitochondrial Eve”—basically the supposed ancestors of human beings.

According to the article in Nature, secular scientists have redated when they believe these two ancestors existed. But you know, these evolutionary scientists have the entirely wrong starting point on this issue, which the opening line of the article makes clear:

The Book of Genesis puts Adam and Eve together in the Garden of Eden, but geneticists’ version of the duo—the ancestors to whom the Y chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA of today’s humans can be traced—were thought to have lived tens of thousands of years apart.

Did you catch that—the “geneticists’ version of the duo”? From the outset, Nature’s report shows that these scientists have lifted man’s fallible ideas above God’s Word. Similarly the article later concludes that the Bible’s reference to “one man . . . is a bit of a misnomer because this Adam was by no means the only man alive at his time.”

Scripture tells us that Adam and Even were historical figures. In fact, together they were the progenitors of the entire human race. Genesis 2 recounts the special creation of Adam from the dust of the earth:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

Eve was later formed from Adam’s side (Genesis 2:21–22). God completed both of these creative works on Day Six of Creation Week (Genesis 1:27, 31). So Adam and Eve were the first couple, according to the Word of the One who was there. The entire human race is related to them in some way (Genesis 3:20), just as we’re all related to Noah in some way, as he and his family repopulated the earth following the global Flood:

Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. (Genesis 9:18–19).

Sadly, it isn’t just secularists who reject this biblical history—many professing Christians do, too! When I began my teaching ministry over 35 years ago, I said then that if compromise on Genesis continued to spread in the church, then the church would eventually give up an historical Adam. Well, today we’re seeing more and more Bible scholars and church leaders denying a literal Adam and Eve as they attempt to mix evolutionary ideas with Scripture. In fact, the topic of their historicity is such a major one in the church today that it made the cover of a 2011 Christianity Today magazine:

So, why is it so important that the account of Adam and Eve be true? Because their existence is foundational to the gospel! Now, I want to make very clear that belief in a historical Adam and Eve is not a salvation issue per se, but it is a biblical authority issue and a gospel issue. When we deny the existence of Adam and Eve, then how do we explain the origin of sin and death in the world? And if we cannot explain how sin and death came into the world, or if we believe that it was always here, then what was the purpose of Christ’s death and Resurrection? Why was the atonement even necessary?

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. . . . For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:12, 17)

The problem with mixing evolution with Scripture is that it undermines the very foundation of the gospel. Can a person still be a Christian even while denying the existence of a literal Adam and Eve? Thank God, salvation is conditioned upon faith in Christ:

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Rejecting a literal Adam and a literal Fall makes Genesis chapters 1–3 untrustworthy. In other words, it’s an authority issue—it undermines the authority of the Word of God.  And from there, it’s a slippery slope to making even the gospel message untrustworthy.  Personally, I just don’t see how someone truly and fully understands what it means to be saved if they don’t believe in a historic Adam and a historic Fall!

Of course, I do not want to have a person think that I question the legitimacy of their faith if they reject a literal Fall. But I do need to point out the inherent contradiction in such a compromise as it relates to the gospel message. Again, salvation is conditioned upon faith in Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:8–9). But, to deny a literal Adam and a literal Fall is to deny the origin of sin, isn’t it? So for such a person who denies the literal historicity of Adam and the Fall, what does Romans 10:9 mean to them anyway? Only God knows our hearts and the nature of our faith.

We can trust God’s Word when He tells us that Adam and Eve were the first humans.

For more information on mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam, as well as many other genetics questions, I encourage you to visit our genetics topics webpage.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

 

Steve Golden assisted in the writing of this blog post.

“Found Out” by the Huffington Post!

Well, I have a confession to make to you. The large liberal news and commentary website Huffington Post, through its clever investigative efforts, has discovered something startling about me. Now, because HuffPost has made this matter public, I have no option: I have to make a public admission.

Under the headline “Dinosaurs Were On Noah’s Ark, According To Creation Museum’s New Radio Ad,” HuffPost dropped this bombshell:

No dinosaurs described in the Bible? No problem, according to creationism proponent Ken Ham, who recently argued that despite popular opinion, dinosaurs and Biblical characters did co-exist—in fact, they traveled together on Noah’s Ark.

Ham, the president/CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis-U.S. and the Creation Museum, made the unconventional claims during a new 60-second radio ad for the museum released this week.

Well, they found me out. I confess! Yes, I admit I believe dinosaurs and people lived at the same time. Furthermore, I do believe two of each kind of dinosaur (roughly at the family level of classification) were on board Noah’s Ark.

And I have another confession to make to you. Now that HuffPost has found me out, I need to share with you that I’ve actually been teaching human and dinosaur coexistence for 40 years! Oh, and one more thing, I’ve actually put it in writing. Once HuffPost found me out, I thought it was just best to confess this to you.

But, in HuffPost’s investigative research, this website also found out something else. I may as well go and confess that to you as well. I have been teaching the coexistence of dinosaurs and humans even, yes, to children.

The HuffPost article reported on one of the daily 60-second radio spots I record for each weekday (and have been doing so for 20 years). Here is what was summarized by HuffPost:

Titled “What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?” the ad [sic] explains that while evolution proponents have used dinosaurs to “indoctrinate children,” the scaly beasts actually back up a more Biblical creation story.

“Evolution has claimed dinosaurs evolved over 200 million years ago, that nobody ever lived with them,” Ham says in the ad. “But the Bible gives a different history. God tells us that he created all land animals the same day he created man, about 6,000 years ago. What’s more, there are even dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark because God told Noah to take pairs of every land animal.”

I have to confess to you again: yes, it’s all true. I’ve actually been teaching children—in fact, hundreds of thousands of children across the nation and around the world—that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark and that dinosaurs lived with people. It’s true.

Now that I’ve been found out by HuffPost, I may as well also confess to you that I intend to continue to teach children the truth about dinosaurs and the Bible. Sarcasm aside, God has put a fire in my bones to reach young people and adults with the truths from the Bible. I just have to do this.

Well, there’s one more confession to make to you. HuffPost has also found out that “museum attendance has been dropping for several years.” Now when our Creation Museum opened in 2007, our researchers America’s Research Group (ARG) predicted that the first year would be the biggest attendance year, and it was. ARG predicted we would probably get around 400,000 visitors the first year—actually, we had 404,000. ARG hit the nail on the head. ARG then predicted that attendance numbers would drop and eventually settle into a strong average visitor attendance.

Well, I must confess: this attendance phenomenon did happen. Yes, the numbers dropped from the opening year, as is the case for almost all new attractions because of the excitement of the first year. We have settled into a very strong and even stronger than predicted yearly average attendance. (Right now, this year’s numbers may be ahead of last year’s.) To our knowledge, nobody at the Huffington Post asked us about our projections and has attempted to portray the Creation Museum in a poor light by implying that we are in trouble. But each year we have exceeded the attendance projections that we first estimated six years ago.

Well, there you are. On the basis of a 60-second radio program (not an ad), which is a summary of what we believe (not what I would call a major documented article, of which we have many in our publications and on the web), the Huffington Post has now found out what I teach about dinosaurs and suggests that the Creation Museum is in dire straits.

Actually, it’s amazing how so many secular media outlets picked up on our radio program as if what we are teaching was so shocking—as if it was some new revelation! Do they think we have ever hidden our belief about dinosaurs? In addition, these secular sources act as if we are almost the only people on earth who believe in dinosaur and human coexistence. In reality, I would say, based on the 1.9 million people who have visited the Creation Museum plus the millions of people I have given creation lectures to in 30 years, I would say that tens of millions of Americans (including thousands of scientists) would agree with me: dinosaurs and people lived at the same time.

Besides the HuffPost, here is another example of a secular website acting as if it had found out something shocking about us—something that they just have to tell the world. But praise the Lord! I’m glad that this has finally “clicked” with them—and I’m grateful they want to tell everyone. It just drives more people to our website to get answers.

Well, follow the link if you want to read this “great investigative” article by Huffington Post.

Oh, and if you want to read lots of articles on dinosaurs and see a list of the various books and DVDs AiG has produced on dinosaurs, I can now “at last” let you know where you can find these for yourselves. Yes, they are available on the AiG website—a website HuffPost apparently believes we are trying to hide from you.  Search for “dinosaurs” in the store or in the articles. Actually,  you may be shocked to find lots of articles and lots of resources that actually teach the things Huffington Post has now made public about us.

On this day, my “confession day,” thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

A Walking Witness and a Whale Story

In June of this year, Lowell Shoaf set out on an impressive task. He is walking 2,000 miles—from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to our Answers in Genesis headquarters in northern Kentucky. This would be an impressive feat for anyone, but it is even more so when you learn two additional things: Lowell is 66-years old, and he has had a knee replacement!

His reason for walking is to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to have them believe in the absolute authority of the entire Bible as God’s Word. This is the message we teach at AiG and the Creation Museum.

Lowell is truly “redeeming the time” as he spends so many days on foot and walking on his new knee. While he walks, Lowell prays for the nation as whole, for the towns he passes, and also for the many individuals he has the privilege of meeting along the way. Others may join Lowell in prayer and even tag along with him on parts of his long journey.

At the same time, Lowell is raising money for two ministries that he believes are honoring the Lord by proclaiming the truth of His Word: the Ark Encounter project of AiG (a full-size evangelistic Noah’s Ark to be built in northern Kentucky) and the annual Christian Leaders’ Grand Canyon Trip that AiG coordinates.

You can learn more about Lowell’s unique outreach, follow his progress, and donate to the ministries he is promoting during the walk by visiting his personal website.

Please join with me in praying for Lowell’s cross-country walk, including his safety. And stay tuned for another update in a few months when, Lord willing, we will have the privilege of welcoming Lowell and his wife Pat to the Creation Museum and celebrating with them on the completion of this wonderful outreach!

Whale Story

The well-visited website WorldNetDaily (WND) has posted an article about a fossil whale that the Washington Post newspaper has reported on. The Post stated that the fossil was dated at 15 million years old. But how was the date determined? Well, the news service of WorldNetDaily wanted our perspective.

Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff was interviewed extensively for the WND article and many of her quotes ended up in the piece. I did find it sad, however, that the intelligent design (ID) spokesperson who was quoted dismissed the importance of the question of the age of the earth. But it’s really not surprising, as the ID movement is not a Christian movement. And while many ID proponents are Christians, they are not interested in biblical authority—they are just against naturalism.

AiG, though, stands on biblical authority and proclaims the gospel. We are unashamedly evangelistic. The old earth is such a key issue today in fighting for the full accuracy and authority of the Bible. AiG does not only present the arguments against evolution. You see, it is just as important to offer arguments against an old age for the earth and universe. When it comes to biblical authority, the question of the age of the earth is just as vital as the question of whether evolution is true or not. The chronologies in the Bible and the length of the days of the Creation Week (they were 24 hours each) show that the earth is young. Why try to reinterpret the very clear teaching of Scripture to accommodate the fallible ideas of man that say the earth is old? Such reinterpretations undermine the authority of the Word of God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken