Museum Aims to Equip Christians With Bible-Based Science
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
February 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - Work continues on an exciting new educational facility designed to teach about how science supports the biblical view of creation.The 100,000-square-foot building that will house the Creation Museum is complete, but numerous displays for the project remain under construction. The 25 million-dollar facility, which sits on a major highway exit near the Kentucky-Ohio border, is set to open to the public in the spring of 2007.
Ken Ham is president of Answers in Genesis, the organization spearheading the museum project. "It's going to be a walk through biblical history with animatronics and computer technology, telling people the true history of the world, about creation, the fall of man, the flood of Noah, the origin of races, marriage ... and so on," he says.
Defending the Faith -- Teaching the Bible's Scientific Truths
AIG's mission involves equipping Christians to defend creationism and other scientific ideas based on scripture. The ministry is in the process of raising money for the completion of the multi-million-dollar Creation Museum, which Ham says will be a center for both education and evangelism.
The AIG spokesman says the museum will present information to help believers learn about the science and scripture behind many scientific controversies. He notes that some exhibits will address topics that creationists and the secular scientific establishment have long debated, such as six-day creation, the "Young Earth" theory versus the notion of an Earth that is millions of years old, and how the fossil record has been misinterpreted to support the latter.
Ham's excitement about the Creation Museum was evident as he described it at the Defending the Faith Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, earlier this week. "It's 40-feet high inside," he pointed out. He added that, through its displays, AIG would be "answering the questions of the age" with a planetarium designed to "teach people that the Big Bang is not true and teach them about astronomy from a biblical perspective, and a special effects theater that will teach them the history of the world."
Of the museum, AIG's president declared, "There's nothing else like this in the world." Through it, he hopes more believers will come to realize the Bible does not contradict science but, in fact, illuminates science, teaching humanity the truth about the natural world, mankind, and the origins of all created things. Ham believes Christians armed with these truths make better witnesses and better defenders of the faith.
Evangelism Explosion -- Taking the Bible's Truth to the World
And that is just what the Church needs, according to Pastor Jim Engle of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale Florida, which hosted the Defending the Faith Conference. For nearly 30 years, he has led sessions on witnessing at churches worldwide and now, as Minister of Evangelism at Coral Ridge, he uses a program developed there to train Christians how to share their faith effectively with the world.
Engle recently led an Evangelism Explosion International (EEI) clinic for pastors from around the United States and the world. The EEI program was developed Dr. D. James Kennedy, senior pastor at Coral Ridge, and through it millions of Christians have been helped to conquer their fear of telling others about their faith -- something Engle says believers are commanded to do.
"We keep trying to swim against the current," the Minister of Evangelism says, "and do what we can to show people that it is a biblical mandate, and that we can take them along with us and help them overcome all of their reticence." He adds that Dr. Kennedy believed fear was the foundation underlying all the excuses believers give for not witnessing, and that fear is something Christians can only overcome by going out and sharing their faith.
"When they see people open to hearing the gospel, responding to the gospel, the fear begins to drain away," Engle says. However, he contends that far too many Christians who call themselves evangelical have failed to prioritize witnessing, and any excuse they offer is merely a means of putting a veneer over their disobedience.
