Founder Claims Arkansas Creation Museum Combats Creeping Secularism
by Jim Brown
August 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - A biblical creationism museum in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas is attracting thousands of visitors each month and gaining more notoriety by the day. The Museum of Earth History in Eureka Springs, which features several cast replicas of dinosaur fossils dug up in North America, is no typical creation exhibit. The museum is a joint effort of the Oklahoma-based Creation Truth Foundation and Eureka Springs' Great Passion Play Outdoor Bible Theme Park. Its founder, Dr. Thomas Sharp, says he hopes the facility will help Christian parents train up sons and daughters who are "Bible-believing, kingdom-minded" young men and women.
Sharp observes that contemporary society is seeing "an incredible secularization" of Christian youth by the time they reach age 15, and he says extensive research convinces him that the process starts in the early elementary years. This secularization process begins "with the spinout of the dinosaur story," he contends, "because you've got death and pain and suffering being promoted by this dinosaur story before man ever walks on the scene."
The Museum of Earth History's founder believes the concept of pain and death having existed before original sin is in conflict with the Genesis account of creation and the fall of man, and that this conflict can have a cascading negative effect on the faith of young believers. "The dumbing down process in the culture is impacting Christian children between the ages of 3 and 12," he says, "and the dinosaur icon is being used to deliberately disseminate a disbelief about the authority of scripture to that age group."
Sharp points out how believers have watched the faith of younger generations being eroded by this "dinosaur icon" and other ideas put forth by secular scientists for years. "And, unfortunately and tragically," he says, "the greater church community and many of the families that make up the church community have not properly taken care of that problem."
But according to Dr. Sharp, the Museum of Earth History in Eureka Springs is addressing the issue by presenting the creation message as never before, in both a biblical and scientific context that is garnering national attention. He notes that more than 40 international media organizations have done stories about the museum, and between 250 and 350 people visit it daily.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
