All Hail the Creation Museum

Fear not, all ye who struggle with the whole Evolution v. Creation debate.

Behold, the Creation Museum! For the glory details, check out this link from Salon. Just interesting as hell.

For those unfamiliar with my sordid past, I am a reformed religious zealot. Yes, honey, I said zealot. As in knocking on doors. As in color-coded, highlighted Bible. Washed in the blood of the Lamb. I could quote the Word on a dime. Any topic.

I was fervent, y'all.

Anyway, even with this holy background and understanding of the creationist "logic", it just amazes me to read the rationalizing going on in the Creation Museum.

Their motto: Prepare to Believe.  Their mission statement (emphasis mine):

Exalt Jesus Christ as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer through a safe, wholesome, family-friendly center for learning and discovery that clearly presents major biblical themes from Genesis to Revelation.

This center will equip Christians to better evangelize the lost with a sense of urgency, through a combination of exhibits, research and educational presentations that uphold the inerrancy of the Bible.

This center will also challenge visitors to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to accept the authority of the Bible by providing culturally relevant biblical and scientific answers from a biblical worldview.

Well. I can't help but wonder: how exactly is Jesus Christ "the Creator..."?  Huh? Redeemer, okay. Sustainer, sure. But Creator? Uh-uh. Jesus came later. Way after Genesis. New Testament, people -- things had already been created by the time Mary immaculately conceived.

I'm sure the Holy Trinity folks will attempt to explain that by schooling me on the whole three-in-one deal. Been there, done that, sang the hymn. I'm just saying, if I'm supposed to come to your museum and accept the creationist premise ... an inaccuracy in the first sentence of your mission statement may create a bit of a barrier to the proverbial scales falling from mine eyes.

Anyway, get the whole down & dirty at Salon, but here is a taste of how they will show you the Way (... the Truth, the Light).

We’ll then explore why the Bible—the “history book of the universe”—provides a reliable, eye-witness account of the beginning of all things.

They will do this through what they call The 7 C's of History. 

Photo : So, What Are the ‘7 C’s’ Anyway? by Stacia McKeever

So there you have it. The 7 C's. All you need to know about the how & why of history. And the folks over at Answers in Genesis, the museum's creator, have an answer for everything:

• Is the timeline figurative? (No. Everything was whipped up in 6 literal days. The Earth is 6,000 years old.)
• Is the one-man, one-woman thing figurative? (No. God created two individual humans, not a whole gaggle of Adams & Eves.)
• But ... doesn't that mean Cain would've had to marry his sister? (Yes.)
• Wouldn't that lead to birth defects and all of us being a few eggs short of a dozen? (No. Adam & Eve were created perfect, therefore, cumulative genetic abnormalities had not yet developed. Those came later, "because of sin and the Curse", so the whole incest thing would not work now.)
• What about dinosaurs, did they exist? (Yes.)
• Aha! Humans and dinosaurs didn't exist at the same time! This shoots your argument in the foot. (Wrong. Humans and dinosaurs DID, as a matter of fact, exist at the same time. It just doesn't appear that way because the Great Flood moved all the fossils around. Have faith.)

Anyway. Check it out. You can even visit. They're in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, apparently "within a day’s drive of almost 2/3 of the U.S. population ". Prepare to be evangelized.
Prepare to Believe!