Creation Science Rebuttals

Answers in Genesis Daily Feature

Creation Museum Tour: Starting Points

Published as an AiG Daily Feature on 25 September 2012. This review published on 14 Feb 2013

In this article about the online Creation Museum tour, "AiG Staff" writers introduce visitors to the first areas after a person leaves the main hall of the museum.¹ (To view the Main Hall, or any other area of the museum, see Answers in Genesis virtual tour page.)

The first part of this area (Walk Through History) is meant to lay a foundation for the "museum's examination of evolution and the age of the earth. Of this area, they state "creationists and evolutionists have the exact same evidence, but we have different starting points, so we often reach different conclusions." This is only partially true. YEC's believe they start with God's Word, and they believe old earth creationists, and secular evolutionists, start with man's understanding (science). But as I mentioned previously, the YEC view of God's word is in fact not God's Word at all, but man's interpretation of the Word. They base their entire belief in a young earth on the false premise that their interpretation is correct.

This area begins with a Grand Canyon display, showing reproductions of the sedimentary layers. They pose the question “Were canyons carved over a long time by a little bit of water or a lot of water and a little bit of time?” How long did it take for the Grand Canyon to form? Geological understanding of the canyon yields an estimate of about 5.5 million years. To counter this, YECs point to various other canyons, such as Burlingame Canyon in Washington state. While you can carve a small canyon in a quick time, given the size of the canyon (Grand Canyon removed 89 million times as much rock as Burlingame), the YEC comparisons of the two are apples and oranges. (While by no means scientific, if you extrapolate the Burlingame Canyon 89 million times, then it would reach the size of the Grand Canyon in over 1.5 million years...much too old for a young earth.

From this point, children have an option to go through the Secret Canyon, with glow-in-the-dark activities and other items. YEC's know that the key to keeping children grounded in YEC beliefs is to indoctrinate them early and often (many non-YEC's would claim this is brainwashing). Unfortunately, so far this process for YEC's has only limited success. Young people are leaving the church at alarming rates, and one of the main factors is that they finally learn the earth is old, and cannot reconcile their beliefs with the age of the earth. On the other hand, if they had been taught that you can be a Christian and believe in an old earth, many of them would not have this faith crisis. (AiG even addresses this in a book, Already Gone).

The next paragraphs deal with the "starting point issue." YEC's believe they start with God's Word, when in reality they have lifted their man-made interpretation to the same level as God's Word. In reality, YEC's believe that they themselves are infallible...they just don't realize that they are making this gross error. In contrast, the old earth creationist believer trusts not just the word, but the findings of science. In a court of law, all aspects that have a bearing on a case must be examined. Since science has made important discoveries about the age of the earth, it would be foolish to ignore them. In fact, the things we see in nature are known in theology as "general revelation." Since God made the creation, we would be foolish to ignore the findings of modern science, which examines His creation. YEC's also claim that they examine the creation, but because of their man-made interpretation, they interpret it differently...they change what they see in the creation to fit their man-made conclusion of a young earth. Note that they don't change it to fit God's Word...they change it to fit their interpretation of God's Word.

Then the author highlights a new exhibit on Lucy, explaining to visitors that Lucy should be considered an extinct ape species, proving that most scientists are wrong about Lucy! I challenge Answers in Genesis--if your evidence is good, they should write it up and present it in peer-reviewed scientific journals. They won't, for two reasons. First, they know that their evidence would not be accepted, and second, their goal is not to convince scientists of Lucy's biological species, but to convince YEC believers that AiG is right...and YEC believers, will by their nature, accept AiG's word, no questions asked. (For more on the creationist's claims about Lucy, see this article.)

The section ends with a display of a Utahraptor, again aimed at showing the different starting points for interpreting evidence.

Finally, the author highlights one of the new features of the creation museum, called the Kneehigh Museum. These are displays aimed at children.

The author concludes with,

Man’s word says that the present is the key to the past, and secular humanists often claim the universe is billions of years old. God’s Word makes it clear that the universe is about 6,000 years old, and that God’s Word is the key to the past, present, and future.

I hate repeating this again, but the YEC interpretation that God's Word says the world is 6,000 years old is not actually God's Word, but the young earther's interpretation of the Word. This repeating highlights another tactic of YEC ministries...to repeatedly hammer their followers with their propaganda, and drill it into their minds that the earth is young. As any teacher will tell you, repetition is the key to learning...it is also the key to convincing someone of something that isn't true, and then making them reject anything that is contrary to their learning (in other words, brainwashing...that's exactly what the museum is seeking to accomplish, especially with young visitors).

¹ Answers in Genesis website - http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2012/09/25/creation-museum-starting-points

If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.

Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.

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