Fun at the Creation Museum!!!!

This Saturday, I made my much anticipated field trip to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum, a $27 million monstrosity devoted to religious fanaticism, disguised as “science”.

Two of my heretical friends and I ventured an hour north up I-75 from Lexington, just short of Cincinnati, to discover a museum full of shocking idiocy and unintentional humor.

Early in the museum, the visitor is given advice on the proper mind frame to have for your visit: “Don’t think, just listen and believe”. As you can see in the picture below, Human Reason is the enemy and God’s Word is the hero. Descartes represents Human Reason, saying “I think, therefore I am”. But God tells us there no need to waste your beautiful mind, for God says “I am that I am”.

So logic, reason and science are Bad; blind faith is Good.

“Reason” says the planets formed many billions of years ago. God’s Word says only 6,000 years ago.

“Reason” says the evolution began 14 billion years ago. God’s Word says creation began 6,000.years ago.

After showing the “days” (literally days) of creation, we venture into the 6th day of creation, when we meet Adam and Eve. A video recreation below shows how Adam was created. In about 3 seconds, a burst of wind swept up funnel of dirt and, “wah-la”, it turned into Adam. Oh, and the actor playing Adam? He happens to be a naughty, naughty, naughty boy.

We then venture into the recreation of the Garden of Eden, where we get to meet the Beastmaster himself. Here, a creatively covered up Adam pets the friendly animals of the garden. Oh, and there’s no need to be afraid, because all of the animals at this time were like Disney cartoon characters. They did not bite, sting, or even defecate for that matter. Even the T-Rexes were playful and gay. Adam even gave them all names! How cute!

Unfortunately, there was no display of Adam riding a Lion, much like The Beastmaster, the film that I believe was based on Adam’s life story. This will disappoint many of the “Christian Academy” students here in Kentucky attending the museum for a field trip, for their psycho “Biology” textbooks have supercool illustrations of the Lion-riding-Beastmaster/Adam next to bears and brontosauruses.

Yes, the Garden of Eden was a Disney wonderland, even with dinosaurs! One of the most interesting discoveries of the museum is that The Flintstones was not merely a children’s’ cartoon, but rather a realistic depiction of man’s early interaction with their dinosaur friends. Never mind those foolish heathen scientists who say that humans came some 60 million years after the extinction of dinosaurs. The first image the visitor receives as he/she enters the museum is Eve/Pebbles Flintstone frolicking with her pet dinosaur, Dino. No worries for Pebbles, because this “velaciraptor” is a playful vegetarian pet here to serve you and be your buddy.

At the end of the museum, we see Fred Flintstone’s riding lawnmower, otherwise known as a Triceratops, one would assume. Here we see a father, after a long day of infecting his child with propaganda, letting his son play “Bam-Bam Rubble” on the riding mower (which my friend Jon called a “Jesus Horse”. I like that.).

Here we see some more child abuse, as Billy Ray shows his kids some mind-numbingly stupid explanation for how dinosaurs were around 4000 years ago. Excellent parenting skills!

And what about those silly “scientists” who say dinosaurs were long gone by the time of humans? Here, we see two paleontologists coming up with different conclusions. The wise white paleontologist doesn’t need that whole “carbon-dating” bullshit, for he only needs the Bible to tell him how old these fossils are. Meanwhile, the Asian paleontologist uses all that so-called “logic”, “reason” and “scientific method” to come to the ridiculous conclusion that these fossils are from many millions of years ago. Whatever, Confucius! Put down those science books and pick up the Bible, that’s all you need to get to the truth!

But back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where we discover the garden was like a luxury sex spa/vacation retreat of sorts. Here we see Adam and Eve in a pre-coitus setting amongst the foliage. Unfortunately for Eve, Adam is a Ken doll.

They also take their sexcapades into Hugh Hefner’s grotto, apparently. Oh, those kinky kids! But the fun stops quickly when that silly bitch Eve pushes the evil devil berries on Adam. As was the case with Eve’s offer of aquatic fornication, Adam simply could not refuse.

This is where the Disney fantasy land turns into a mix of Trainspotting, Deliverance and To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything. We are taken down a dark hallway showing us pictures of the horrors that humanity would now face, such as carnivorous wolves, Hiroshima, heroine junkies and the graves of American troops killed because of a lying president (don’t worry wingnuts, you can blame the Clenis). There is also the inexplicable bloodbath pictured below, sure to frighten children that aren’t already desensitized by the tasteful violence in The Passion of the Christ.

We then see a serious of signs showing us that snakes now have venom, lions and T-Rexes now bite and eat meat, and all are now subject to the then unknown horrors of death, aging, disease, pain, conflict, poison, suffering and burdensome work.

With all of that bummer shit going down, at least humankind was given weed. You’ve had a hard day out in the fields Adam, take a load off and smoke a bowl.

Then things get a little weird. We get to Cain and Abel, and one must ask the question, where did Cain get his wife? Well, the museum has a perfectly legitimate answer, and as a lifelong Kentuckian who is well aware of false stereotypes about our state, I can only cringe when I type this.

INCEST.

As you can see in the sign above, incest is really no big deal at all, since all humans are related! Also, since there wasn’t a lot of sin happening back in those days, what with no gay marriage and anal copulation, the effects of incest just weren’t there. Here we see Cain’s pregnant 14 year old wife taking a cigarette break outside her trailer. Get R Done!

The kids seeing the next exhibit are the presented with Cain’s murder of Abel, for which there’s not really much explanation at all. Here, a kid watches in horror as Cain lets out a guttural roar after popping a cap in Abel’s sorry ass. Another thumb’s up for bad parenting!

We then meet the prophets that follow, including a wonderful performance of a Christian Country song by the animatronic “Old Testament Jew Jamboree Band”. We even see ancient biblical scrolls that we snatched out of Saddam Hussein’s evil hands in our “War to Smite Those Who Attacked us on 9/11”. As Jesus proclaimed in 2003, “America …. Fuck Yea!”

We then move on to a wonderfully stupid section of the museum, dealing with the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark and the Holy Grand Canyon. Here we see Noah’s animatronic slave labor hammering away at the Ark. Too bad those slaves didn’t get to actually board the Ark when the flood came. Suckers!

When the Ark was completed, God then decided to put pairs of each animal on earth under a hypnotic trance. They all sleepwalked onto Ark: elephants, T-Rexes, Brontosauruses, lions, wolves…you name it. But no, they did not prey on the chickens and pigs once inside, for they where under God’s orders to behave. Unfortunately, there was not much discussion of the many billions of species of insects that did “creepeth” onto the Ark. Go figure.

Then came the flood, which we see in a dramatic video recreation. The earth is seen being swept by a tsunami that lasts only a few days, but covers the entire earth. The Ark is swept away as the poor suckers left behind plead for help.

Noah’s family laughs hardily at the rest of humanity’s fate inside at their dinner table. They also rejoice in knowing that they will repopulate the earth after the flood with some more…… you guessed it: HOT INCEST ACTION!!!

After 6 months, the Arc comes to a rest, leaving the animals free to fuck their brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers for many generations to come. But wait, how did all of those animals not starve to death after 6 months at the sea?

Now, now, remember young one. You’re not supposed to use all that “logic” and “reason” gobbledygook that those egghead scientists keep telling you to do. Just listen to the Bible and BELIEVE.

But the flood did much more than just make the world safe for incest again. Why, in just a few days, it made the Grand Canyon! That’s right, over a few days the Great Flood proceeded to change our landscapes, giving us the mountains and canyons and landscape that those stupid geologists would probably tell you took billions of years. As if!

The visitors are then given a horribly mind numbing film presentation of the Christ years, but the fun part begins after those mean Jews in the Mel Gibson movie kill him. Yes, after Christ died for everyone but Patti Smith’s sins, we see mankind begin to question God’s Word. As you can see, people began to use that whole “logic” and “reason” bullshit again to ATTACK God’s Word.

The following charts are really worth a look. They detail the history of mankind beginning to question, destroy, discredit, criticize, poison and replace God’s Word. Whereas almost all of mankind is taught that Enlightenment and Science brought progress to Mankind, here we find that these were merely evil “progressives” that were hell-bent on destroying our world. Such “infidels” as Voltaire are put in their place as devilish crackpots, while the visitor is assured that Biblical Scholars have disproved all of these crazy scientists of the last few thousand years with their talk of “evolution” and “incest causes birth defects” and whatnot.

Here we see the great William Jennings Bryan, fighting valiantly to keep the evils of evolution and science out of our public schools in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Alas, our great hero was unsuccessful. Humanity continued to banish God from our public square. And what horrific hell has this brought us to?

The funniest section of our museum, that’s what.

We walk into a dark, dirty neon lit hallway. Some hoodlum kids decided to graffiti the walls with their secular progressive propaganda that Bill-O has warned us about. There is even rampant littering, with newspaper strewn all over the ground. Don’t those kids have any respect anymore? Also, a menacing plastic mouse looks over us, another sign of the Godless mess of a world we’ve created.

On the walls are a series on horrific headlines and stories cut from our Godless Liberal Media publications.

Gay Marriage! Abortion! Evolution in the Schools! Science! School Shootings! (Yes, gay marriage is literally equated to mass murder, how festive!)

Oh, how the youth have strayed from God! Here we see some slacker in front of his computer screen, rolling a doobie while he downloads porn and IM’s with Representative Mark Foley (he was a Democrat, right?). We also see a teenage girl talking on her cell phone. We’re not really told why this is evil, but.....she must be talking about getting abortions with all of her girlfriends, It’s now the “hip” thing for secular progressive teens to do.

Lastly, I was presented with two signs that gave me some hope. The first one? I hope it’s true. The second one? Perhaps some secular progressive within the museum staff has a sense of humor.

In all seriousness, while it’s fun to laugh at these idiots, the parents that take their kids to this museum are committing child abuse. There is no other way to put it. To present this idiocy to them as “science” and blatantly brainwash their kids by entertaining them with cool animatronic dinosaurs while they absorb these ridiculous stories is a goddamned crime. And on their way out, they could purchase a DVD from the visitor’s store that will help them continue this abuse at home.

My friends disagreed with me, but I think that most adults that went through the museum probably have less faith in this creation bullshit than they used to. To witness such obvious, childish propaganda and not think to yourself, “God, this is complete nonsense”, seems almost impossible to me. But then again, maybe I’m overestimating my fellow Kentuckians (also Ohio and Indiana). After all, I was about 8 when I stopped believing in this crap.

Nevertheless, it was 2 hours of pure laughter and Ed Wood/Rudy Ray Moore style entertainment. God Bless the Creation Museum, and God Bless My Old Kentucky Home!

Comments

[Кентукки Ленин]

This is a brilliant post. Well done.

[Shneez]

Oh, my, it is at once worse than I thought and exactly what I expected. Oh, Lord, help me please, I am unable to resolve that dichotomy in my mind. My head almost exploded. I am all for the First Amendment, but this is criminal. Please don't think, just listen.

[John David Adam Mary Bob]

thanks for going and documenting this astonishing spasm of idiocy. i laughed heartily, but as i read on, i must say my mood soon gave way to dread and bewilderment. for you are right, this is not a funny thing to lay on a child. it is absolutely abuse. therapists will reap rewards in coming years as kids who are dragged through this mind-destroying muck come of age. this is retarded, stupid, wrong. amen.

[Albatross]

WHITE? They made Adam and Eve WHITE? Wow, stupid and fanatical yes, but racist too...

Yeah, guys, Adam and Eve were WHITE, and that's why the Mid-East is full of all their WHITE descendants. Criminitlies.

[mr trail safety]

Look at the bright side! In less than five years, it'll go belly up, and they'll beg the state to take it over. Or it will be sold and turned into a jihadi theme park!

[John David Adam Mary Bob]

theme park, yes, i look forward to the x-rated fantasy sketches with bestiality and incest. and white people, of course.

[Media Czech]

If it goes under it should be preserved as a museum devoted to human stupidity.

Unfortunately, I think it might stay around for a while because the kids will want to go back to see the dinosaurs.

Sickening manipulation of children, these people (both the creators and parents) are extremely fucked up.

[Zeno]

Great post! Wish I had been there. Disney's FantasyLand has nothing on these guys.

You showed that poster about falling-away teens near the end of your museum tour. Did you notice that it implies that 1/3 = 30%? Yes, they're as ignorant of math as they are of science.

[Harold blog]

Thanks for the report. I'm particularly impressed by the Ed Wood reference. Plan 9 from Genesis!

[Media Czech]

Yea, the 1 in 3 thing slipped by me, somebody at DailyKos caught it.

Plan 9 from Genesis, I like it!

[speed]

They need to be nominated for a Darwin Award...

[DanV]

Brilliant!

How can we see that EVERYONE reads it? I'm serious. I've culled and annotated the list of AIG's "scientists" to send to various REAL scientists scientific organizations. Object: each scientist picks at least 5 "scientists" and refutes the hell out of them! PLEASE visit my blog so that we can stop this insanity: http://thedevilanddanvojir.blogspot.com

Thanks again.

Dan

[lefty]

Where on Earth did these nit-wits get $27 MILLION???? If one dime of public money was spent on this the residents of Kentucky ought to SUE the pants on the state government to get it back!

[jstyvers]

I would like to thank Media guy for producing this excellent word and picture blog of this exhibit.

Thank you for the time you took to allow us all to be better informed.

Great work! Bravo!!!!!

Jim Anderson Stivers

[m-fitz]

There are some people standing up to these crazies

http://maryfitz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/rally_for_reaso_1.html

[m-fitz]

Let's try that link again.
maryfitz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/rally_for_reaso_1.html

[Skeptico]

Re: God says “I am that I am”.

Surely that was Popeye?

[George]

There's an interesting article in Science that uuderscores why "childish" is an appropriate description of the "creators" of this museum for idiots. Title is "Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science." They note:

"One important bias is that children naturally see the world in terms of design and purpose. For instance, 4-year-olds insist that everything has a purpose, including lions ("to go in the zoo") and clouds ("for raining"), a propensity called "promiscuous teleology" (15). Additionally, when asked about the origin of animals and people, children spontaneously tend to provide and prefer creationist explanations (16). Just as children's intuitions about the physical world make it difficult for them to accept that Earth is a sphere, their psychological intuitions about agency and design make it difficult for them to accept the processes of evolution."

Bloom B, Weisberg DS. Science. 18 May 2007;(316);5827:996-997.

[Geoffp]

From their "about page."

"...spectacular gravity-defying spaceflight, a thrilling 22-minute ride billions of light years away to the vast outer regions of our universe."

Hmmm.

[TheaHardy]

A friend just told sent me the link for the museum and I am appalled, disgusted, and upset. It's not news in one sense - we live with this kind of distortion in most walks of life in our society. But like others I consider it child abuse, and a travesty in relation to true spiritual life. I suspect God is not amused, either!

Just as a side note - Middle Easterners are largely in fact "white" - the race is not about skin color, it's the fact that "whites" are Caucasians, and Middle Easterners are Caucasians. Having said that, the cartoon-like statues are very dorky and western - not realistic. But then realism is not the strong point of fundamentalist anti-evolution folks.

Thanks for being here and exposing lies.

Thea

[Polywog]

FYI: You said, '“Reason” says the evolution began 14 billion years ago.' Was that a typo for universe?

The universe is about 13.7 Gyr old; the Sun is about 5.5 Gyr, the Earth is about 4.5 Gyr, and I think life arose about 3.5-4 Gyr ago.

You know, in case anyone gets picky. ;)

[Diarrhoeaslave]

HILARIOUS! This just goes to show one that the States and the UK are surrendering the high ideals of the "Enlightenment" of Europe of a couple hundred years ago and taht of modern science and regressing back to the dark ages of what I call "stuporstition"! What a shame. Actually I DO thing that intelligent people ought to visit this "museum" as we will be "aMUSED" as pure entertainment and a comedy hour! (It is such a shame that so many people take all this shit sooooooooooooooooooo bloody seriously! I, myself, have indeed become a secular atheist -- even from MYSTICISM! Too much hocus-pocus on this here planet!

[BartLennon]

Great stuff... thanks for the photos and time to put all this down.

[ravelgrane]

I disagree that it's child abuse. After all, the kids can grow up and have a chance to think for themselves. What I find sad is that ppl want to worship a god who pulls all this emo/sadistic crap on them like making harmless animals into vicious predators and increasing the pain of childbirth. What a freakin' crazy jerk the judeochristian god is! We really need a buddhist museum to give ppl a saner, less horrifying religion to join.

[Marianna Scheffer]

That's the best they can do with $27,000,000?
How lame.

[ghostarmagh]

I think Andrew should cry. He knew full well this lunacy was the mainline of the Bush Administration and he defended them relentlessly until just a few moths ago. Cry for not listening, Andrew. Cry for not paying attention. Cry for supporting & encouraging a fascist religious theocracy taking over America. Cry for being so wrapped up in conservative idealism you could not see reality. Shut up and cry, Andrew, because these men are gonna give you plenty to cry about.

[Marc123]

"Don't think just listen and believe" Welcome to the Dark Ages. Sounds like the motto to the Everything-Has-Changed-Since-9/11 Museum. I think the real intent of the place is the socio-political propaganda at the end of the tour.

Notice the wall headline about the mother killing the baby in the microwave and realize that just about a month ago such a thing was attempted by a Religious Funadamentalist father in Galveston, Texas. Maybe someone should point it out to them.

[Media Czech]

Amen, Ghost.

[evildonut]

Excellent review. I hope it's not too over the top scornful for anyone who might have been on the fence.

And p.s. - re: Adam's creation: I think the word you're looking for is voila. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/voila

[Wilson46201]

But "voila" is French and those cheese-eating surrender monkeys couldn't be true Christians so "wahla" is more authentically American!

[rtnmac]

I can only imagine these two right behind you oooh-ing and aahhhh-ing loud enough to make it annoying. Or hysterical. I can't decide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8MGAsidFI

[hemnebob]

oh my gawd!
you paid $20 to experience this?
next time use that towards a full body massage...

you will get more out of it for sure.

[jaytn]

Great work. I blogged about this abomination several weeks ago sight unseen. You've proven my concerns were well-founded. Admittedly, I am a Christian, but one who is comfortable enough in my faith and myself to accept evolution. People who indulge in the beliefs fostered at this museum need serious counseling and prayers.

Again, very well done.

Jeff Noble
www.ohioriver606.blogspot.com

[Bad Cat!]

Wow - holy crap is that thing crazy...
I remember being a little kid in Sunday School learning about creation for the first time. I raised my hand and asked where the dinosaurs fit in. The teacher didn't have an answer. I remember thinking "Well *this* makes no sense!".

[sdv]

They really said that pairs of animals went onto the Ark? Do they not read the Bible? Seven of the clean animals, two of the unclean. Not only do they fail at math and logic, but they can't even read their own Bibles...

[Batocchio]

Wow! Thanks for the pics. Valuable. And "Jesus horse" is a keeper.

[seeingisbelieving]

Been there too . . . When we asked why they have 24-hour guard dogs on site, we were told "Well you know, there are CRAZY people out there!" They live in an alternative reality -- It's like walking into Woody Allen's Sleeper -- without the orgasmatrons!

But seriously --
First of all, consider the fact that Answers in Genesis is a 501c3; They are a religious "church" orgnazation so all contributions to them are tax deductible. Not clear what happens to their "profits" -- anyone know the tax law on that? As well, it's pretty certain they're exempt from all property tax on their 50+ acre estate! Bottom line, you, me, all of us are subsidizing this insanity with our hard earned tax dollars!!!

And, child abuse? Perhaps. Brain washing, for sure. It is so ingeniously conceived to appeal to children at every angle (from the movie theater with chairs that vibrate and squirt water during the "flood" as narrated by "Belushi-esque" cool guys . . . to the Noah's Arc Cafe with the best ice cream in town!) They told me they're going to have a "birthday party room" -- yippee! Imagine your child being invited to that fun time . . . and how you'll manage the situation when he's the only one not allowed to go! And what about school trips?

[RevPhat]

Well you blew my theory that the dinosaurs ate the unicorns on the ark :( And I hope you used the $5 off coupon from their website. A group of northern ky disciples clergy are touring the museum in August. We figured their would be strength in numbers lest our brains melt. I want to ask them how they sync their displays with genesis chapter 2.

[hibiscusfire]

Wow. Thanks for the post.

Did one of those signs explain why the dinosaurs aren't mentioned in the bible...or on the ark?

oh, and Adam's hot.

[pegasusgiraffe]

Mark Foley was in fact a Republican. And, apparently, supported by the Scientologists.

[garebear]

Darn. That blows my scientific theory that the dinosaurs died because they drowned when Noah couldn't get them on the ark.

Science is so evil. I wish people would give up medical miracles and go enjoy the company of God.

[Anglicub]

sdv -- Actually the Bible says both things; Gen. 6:19 says two of each, and Gen 7:2 (just a few lines later) says seven pairs of clean and one pair of unclean. It's one of the "seams" that shows Biblical scholars that the Torah was likely compiled out of at least four separate sources. These people can't reconcile this because they believe the Bible was written the same way as any hack novel -- all at once, authored by God himself; he's just apparently too cheap to get a good copyeditor.

[david rickel]

As I recall, Noah was told to take 7 of the clean and one of the unclean quite a long time before Moses was told which animals were clean and which were unclean. At the time of the Flood, humans were supposed to be vegetarians, so the clean/unclean distinction makes even less sense.

[franimal]

When I was in Catholic School, we talked about the 7 day creation thing and all us kiddies asked about dinasours, etc. The nuns had perfectly reasonable explanations regarding the "day" in bible terms not the same 24 hour period. The day, the nuns explained, could be anywhere from 24 seconds to 24 million years. God could make a day be whatever he wanted - he was that powerful. Seems reasonable enough to me. these fools aren't able to think that cognitively. My Catholic nuns (also, this was in the 70s)seemed to have more knowledge than these racist, crooked brainwashers.

[jehane]

Thank you for the brilliant blogging on the Genesis Museum. I feel that you should probably charge admission for viewing that particular section of your blog. It saves us all a trip to Ohio to see just how demented the museum really is. You are a very amusing writer. I am sure you were doubled over with horrified laughter the entire time; I would have been.

[Aquinas]

Just one small correction: the picture of the Jesus Horse is the wrong one. Here's the correct one:
http://omf.blogspot.com/2005/06/no-orchids-for-miss-farnsbarns.html

[lapopessa]

That's one scary "museum" - the product of the latest in human evolution - people who can apparently function without a brain.

[mkeller]

It is no more "child abuse" to teach children one theory of origins than another. The theory of Evolution has a number of its own problems. Dinosaurs supposedly disappeared millions of years before humans evolved, yet near the Paluxy river in Texas, human and dinosaur tracks appear in the same layer of limestone, and actually cross each other! In the Glen Rose formation of Cretaceous limestone, also in Texas, a human handprint has been found; and the Zapata track in New Mexico (a human footprint) is in Permian rock - both in rock that supposedly solidified millions of years before man!

And RevPhat, dinosaurs are not mentioned as being on the Ark for the same reason that donkeys aren't: they have no significant role in the story. If only the animals mentioned made it on, the Ark would have been an aviary of doves and ravens. Dinosaurs are mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, however: see Job chapter 40.

[Media Czech]

mkeller, if the world didn't have batshit crazy people like you, it would be a lot less fun. keep up the good fight, my man.

Say hi to Fred and Wilma for me after the rapture, OK?

[Reed Braden]

1 in 3... 30%

Holy shit... I literally fell out of my chair laughing at that one.

[tomtom]

just amazing mate!!!,as a Christian and a scientist,your 'walk through'gets my thumbs up,im faithful but im not an idiot,wat a load of f**kin rubbish! i feel sorry for them (*sic) kids to who this is perhaps there first taste of existentialism. mad bastards (sorry jebus) can they stop discrediting Christian ontology,it an insult! rant over,soz! thanks again mr x

[mkeller]

Media Czeck, you're right! If it weren't for me, these comments would be nothing but a bunch of people agreeing with each other. :-)

And it is so conveniently easy to dismiss people who bring up disturbing ideas as "crazy", isn't it?

[Media Czech]

What's disturbing is brainwashing those kids with this shit. Crazy, yes, that too.

[Amber]

As someone who has 3, count them 3, family members currently employed at the museum I feel I must say something... While it seems easy to mock this foreign belief system, I don't think it's as simple as idiocy. Laughing at the museum and its followers only adds fuel to the fundamentalist fire of hatred for liberals. I wish more people would comment on what is truly troubling to me - the proselytizing piece.

At the end of this museum is a chapel where one is supposed to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Doesn’t anyone else find it terribly disturbing that this is part of a “museum”? Let’s call it what it really is – a big, life-sized tract; a propaganda piece that will do little more than preach to the choir and make Christian fundamentalists feel legitimized.

[BoboHilario]

There is another issue that has not been brought up. The creationist actually, do not take issue with the use of human reason, unless of course, it is the large portion of human reason that is in conflict with scripture. Clearly, they are happy using the findings of unnamed "geologist" to show that the Grand Canyon was formed in days, or any of the other nonsense on display.
The question-discredit-poison-
destroy-criticize-replace charts should read as follows, "The bible says P, in the 19th century science concluded P was most likely false. Today, reputable, published scientist are sure that P is false, but some brainwashed idiot that graduated high school science still claims P is true."
Above, MKeller uses the same sort of argument. Five minutes and google can show the illegitimacy of the specific claims he laid out about fossil records showing man living concurrently with dinosaurs. More importantly than refutting his specific claims is pointing out his willingness to accept fossil records as fact when they seem to support creationism, but steadfastly rejecting them when they show evidence of evolution.

[Allytude]

Greatness like this ( I mena the blog, not the museum) deserves special applause.

Actually they need to frce religion down our throats, they will have more defectors than they already do.

[Contender]

Of course, there's something seriously awry with Faith vs. Thinking, and you are right to pick up on that. But then don't fall back into accepting it: it really is a false dichotomy. It has more in common with Kant and Machiavelli than Jesus and Paul. No, the faith of the Bible isn't a stopgap for reason's limits. You may have forgotten the power of Hollywood in particular to perpetuate a myth, and the idea of a leap of faith - like walking over a cliff - is distinctly Hollywood. Sadly, it's become very widespread - so widespread you may find it an a Creation museum greeting (could you please document this "don't think..." phrase?), and all over the internet.

If faith is not wishful thinking, what kind of thinking is it?

Faith is a trust. Trust is a measure of reasons why something or someone is trustworthy. The reasons for trusting in the integrity of both what's written in the Bible and what's revealed in nature about the attributes of God (and what He's done), are many and varied. Faith makes a reasoned inference in the SAME direction the evidence is pointing. There may be alternative interpretations of the same evidence, but that doesn't mean the Creationist interpretation, of "Faith," is unreasonable. Romans 1:20 explains how the testimony of Creation is so powerful God holds people accountable for FAILING to respond appropriately to an inescapably obvious logical and reasonable conclusion. Yes, the Creator gave us brains, and He expects us to use them.

Today, the false dichotomy is often presented as Science vs. Religion. Christianity holds no such dualism. Christianity grounds and justifies morality, justice, uniformity, mathematics, art, beauty, induction, rationality and intelligibility. This is a list of some things science either assumes (without justifying) or cannot even address. Science has limits, acknowledged and respected by the best scientists, and largely forgotten by everyone else. These limits mean there's a lot we don't know, and that oftentimes even scientists make proclamations requiring exactly the same kind of uncritical faith you're here rightly faulting.

Your photo of a sign has the heading cut off, which is most likely "Different Starting Points." This makes it easier to interpret YOUR caricature of Faith vs. Reason in what they say about Descartes. Their point here is not that reason is bad (that's just what you misunderstand it to be). Descartes began with an epistemological starting point of total skepticism. That is, he denied all knowledge, and tried to start over, beginning autonymously, with himself. He reasoned from the apparent awareness/knowledge of his own thinking (cogito) to knowledge of his own existence (sum). He bridged epistemology and ontology, which is why this was considered a momentous breakthrough. Nonetheless, philosophy based on this starting point, has failed to deliver. You may have a general definition of "human reason" and think it has succeeded, but competent philosophers have a specific definition, and think it has failed in many significant ways. One key problem it has, is the problem of induction. The concept of God's revelation (both general in nature and specific/verbal/propositional in scripture) gives us another "starting point" for reasoning, that overcomes the limits of induction. You clearly don't accept that revelation could be a way we could know, but it remains logically coherent.

If the Creation museum at any stage conveys a "don't think" caricature of faith, then it's clearly wrong about that. That doesn't appear to be what it's saying about "human reason."

[Media Czech]

Contender, I suggest you take a look at all of the photos from that room, as well as the others with lots of text. Human reason is undoubtable the enemy and WRONG. There are many more from that room early in the tour that I didn't take a photo of that back that up, too. Reason is bad and wrong, accepting everything in a book written by "god" is good.

And you quote Romans to me as if that means anything more to me than a passage from Danielle Steele. Fiction is fiction, and I refuse to live my life based on what fiction writers say I should do. Good luck with that.

[Contender]

Media Czech, what you call undoubtable, I doubt. Just as I explained, they mean a certain specific thing by contrasting the concept of "Human Reason" as a philosophical starting point for knowledge (which suffers from the problem of induction regarding past events), with the concept of "God's Word" or revelatory knowledge as a starting point (which does not conceptually suffer from inductive limits). For similar reasons, we value the word of an absolutely trustworthy eyewitness over a post-hoc Sherlock Holmes. I fear you're unable to see this conceptual distinction while you're distracted by doubts about the eyewitness (God).

For all the faults of the Creation Museum, this dichotomy is not one of them, because when properly understood it's correct and noncontroversial. Since you apparently still assert your nonspecific definition of "human reason" and your false faith vs. reason dichotomy, despite my explanation, I expect you did so in your museum tour and will continue doing so in life. It's congruent with your stereotype of Creationists (Christians, etc.), and expedient and convenient for you to misinterpret this case example. The truth of the matter here depends on what the museum intends, not various interpretations of visitors, although I think they have failed in their task if they haven't made that distinction clear enough. I know their intention, and if you care to know you can find their position on matters of faith and reason, presuppositions, interpretation, facts, and so on, on their website.

As with your choice to cling to your own caricature of faith and reason, you also equate the Bible with fiction ostensibly for the convenience of dismissal. By your own admission, this is "fun" for you, so I can't really take you seriously, can I? It's not "fun" for me to take time to help clarify something for you, nor convenient. Objectivity breeds seriousness and sincerity. Thanks for asserting that fiction is fiction, and citing a well-known modern fiction author. Completely irrelevant to the actual issue, but thanks for tipping your hand. I don't have much confidence you've ever given the questions of origins and Biblical Christianity the objective consideration they warrant: tussling with straw men is always easy and "fun." Making fun of things you don't understand is your prerogative, so... good luck with that. As for me, I prefer rational depth and engaging the proper issues in their contexts, rightly understood.

[Media Czech]

Contender. You use very nice grammar and have a nice writing style.

But you believe that Adam and Eve played fetch with vegetarian Tyrannosauruses Rexes.

And therefore, it is intellectually wasteful to spend more time on you

Baaaaah bye, and say hi to Wilma and Betty for me. They fly.

[Media Czech]

Tyrannosaurus that is.

Oh, and all of that 6,000 years ago, I forgot. A thousand years or so before God created the Grand Canyon in a few days with the GLOBAL flood, in which 50 billion species of insects sleepwalked their way onto the ark, along with the Brontos and very well behave T-Rexes.

I am really glad that people like you are able to walk around as free individuals in America, because I hate the idea of people being locked up in padded rooms with their hands tied back. I am 100% in favor of cultivating free range loonies who provide me with delightful entertainment. I mean, what use would you be to me if they treated you like that? Let freedom ring.

[Contender]

Media Czech - such amazing fulfilment of my almost prophetic insight that you cling to caricatures and stereotypes! The only thing you know about what I believe is what I've revealed. You NEED me to be a loonie, believing the things you project on to me, in order to use your main technique of ridicule. The padded cell idea - very nice touch! Anyone can see through it. Even your veiled compliment about my writing STYLE intends to distract from the SUBSTANCE of what was said.

You reveal your assumption that I'm in America - I may never even set foot there, much less the Grand Canyon or Creation Museum. If your tactic is ridicule and a handfull of other easily detectible fallacies, at least have the decency not to invoke the term "intellectual." Same goes for everyone chiming in here in agreeance with you... if you're going to hold a viewpoint, make sure you're engaging the real issues with strong arguments, rather than gleefully claiming rights to logic and "reason," thinking you've somehow won by default (in its absence).

For anyone interested, the parade of evidence keeps on rolling by (eg. http://www.nysun.com/article/58185). If you keep your head in the sand of your agreeable in-group, you're liable to keep on missing it.

[Contender]

I don't see any of Danielle Steele's fictional characters constantly turning up like that...

[lmcfarlin]

Contender, at some point, you have to face the fact that your purpose is simply to argue. Perhaps you hold out on the idea that you might actually create a catalyst for conversion, but really, it's unlikely to happen here. At these games, you can declare yourself "winner" over someone like Media Czech. You've beaten him at internet forum posting. Congratulations.

The unwillingness to argue with someone like you is the futility. You can post biblical quotes ad naseum and it won't bolster any argument to the uninterested. You can post links to sites carrying proof and anyone can post links to sites carrying contradictory proof, as if we'll all actually visit them and absorb and change our ways.

This is all an exercise and if we really wanted to speed up this process, you can just post "God created man in 7 days." Media Czech can post "Did not". You can come back and post "Did too" and then it can be repeated it each day until someone dies. Not that either side would find that interesting, but it would sure save a lot of time over creating well-written and well-argued posts and the end effect would be the same.

Anyway, that's something for you to think about if you find it difficult to find internet forum adversaries willing to go toe to toe (to contend with) and, instead, just write you off so quickly. Surely, you have better things to do or easier targets for conversion.

Ho