A Professor’s Falsehoods and Poor Research

I do not write this blog item assuming I can reach a certain professor and change his mind (which would take the work of the Lord)—nor do I write it to attack this man, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota (its Morris campus). Rather, I write this piece in the hope that if even one of his students/associates/blog readers reads it, he or she can then at least check out what I am writing/responding to regarding this professor’s claims . . . and get the truth for themselves so that they won’t be led astray by the rather vicious attacks of a man who (sadly) proudly shakes his fist at God (in a rather vile, often profane way) day after day.

Let’s consider just a couple of recent postings from his blog:

Recently, a different evolutionist and philosopher, Michael Ruse, reported that he visited the Creation Museum and wrote some comments on it (at least he apparently did visit—but it seems the Minnesota university professor has not). The Minnesota prof wrote:

Michael Ruse went to Ken Ham’s house [i.e., the museum], twirled about among the exhibits showing dinosaurs with saddles, Noah’s ark being built to carry off members of every species on earth, exhortations to accept Biblical literalism, and accusations of malice and dishonesty against every sensible biologists . . . .

Now, you would normally think a biologist who is a professor would ensure he did first-class research to get his facts right—but that’s not the case when it comes to talking about the Creation Museum. Let’s analyze some of the statements:

1. “Noah’s ark being built to carry off members of every species on earth”: Nowhere is this stated in the museum or on our website. Only land-dwelling, air-breathing animals were on board Noah’s Ark (according to the scriptural account). The Bible states that representatives of every kind of these creatures were on the Ark—and it is explained in the Creation Museum (and on our website) that a biblical “kind” in most instances is at the family level of classification.

There are many articles on the AiG website regarding speciation, natural selection, etc. I encourage people to check these out. For example, read the article Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff (she has a PhD in molecular genetics): Is Natural Selection the Same Thing as Evolution? Also, the natural selection exhibit at the Creation Museum explains this in more detail.

2. The museum has “dinosaurs with saddles”: In the dinosaur exhibit there are no dinosaurs with saddles. At times in the past (and currently it is getting some repairs), we have had one sculpture of a small dinosaur with a saddle on it for kids to hop on and get their photograph taken. This is not a museum exhibit, as this professor continues to write about.

This is no different from many other facilities (shopping centers, theme parks, and even other secular attractions) where there is a special area set aside for children—and for parents to take photos. In our museum there is a model of a dinosaur, but it is just a fun thing for kids to do and have their parents take photos. If this professor, who has written a lot about us and the museum, had ever bothered to visit the museum he critiques so much, he would not have made this mistake. It reveals something else about his research abilities.

3. His “accusations of malice and dishonesty against every sensible biologists”: There are no such accusations anywhere in the Creation Museum building, which he would know if he visited.

In an earlier blog, this professor wrote:

As we all know to our great shame, Ken Ham has this Creation “Museum” in Kentucky. As has been reported before, it’s a thoroughly bogus bit of bunco, with dinosaurs wearing saddles and all the ills of the world laid at the feet of Charles Darwin. There are a few things you might not know. Like that it’s rolling in dough, with almost $18 million in revenue and $14 million in assets. It’s entirely tax free, which helps, and Ham is a relentless self-promoter.”

Let’s examine a few of these statements:

1. “ [The Creation Museum] is rolling in dough, with almost $18 million in revenue and $14 million in assets”: The $18 million is actually the entire revenue of both AiG and the Creation Museum. We have over 250 staff in the entire ministry and many outreaches (the museum being one of them). Entrance fees from the museum cover basic running costs—but to add new exhibits and new facilities, this has to come from donations. And $18 million for such an organization is not that big. Focus on the Family’s budget is about six times as much!

2. “$14 million in assets”: I’m not sure what he means by this, but maybe he is trying to imply that we have that much money in the bank. Wish we did! We have very little in the way of reserves, as we spend the money donated on outreaches, as required by law. The museum itself has cost at least $40 million to date—so, that asset is much greater than $14 million!

3. “It’s entirely tax free”: Well, donations from our supporters are tax deductible (as is true for any equivalent 501c3 organization—religious or secular). We do pay thousands of tax dollars to the State of Kentucky every month, by the way (e.g., sales tax on items we sell). Also, our large staff pays state (and federal) income tax on the salary we give them.

4. “Ken Ham has this “Creation Museum” in Kentucky”: Well, it is not my museum—it is the Lord’s (and the ministry of AiG and its board are its stewards)—and that is obvious as one walks through it. Also, 75% of the donations to build the museum came from people who gave an average of $130 per gift.

The point is, many thousands of people supported (and still support) this museum—it is their museum in that sense. It is a thrill to see the thousands of names of the Charter Members on one of the walls inside the museum—and that is just a small segment of the supporters. Contrary to what atheists like this Minnesota professor think, there are thousands upon thousands of people who support the message of AiG and the Creation Museum in this nation. Almost 750,000 people have now visited the museum in just over two years—and although not all visitors agree with our message, by and large, most of those who might disagree with the message have complimented us on the tasteful way it is presented.

5. The claim that “the ills of the world laid at the feet of Charles Darwin”: Actually, when you get to the second “C” in our 7 C’s “walk” through the Creation Museum, it is made very clear that all the “ills of the world” are the result of sin—not Charles Darwin. The connection between Darwin and social ills is that as students are taught that atheistic evolution is fact and that there is no God, then they have no basis for an absolute morality—all is relative. Thus, what they believe about where they came from does affect how they construct their worldview.

However, Darwin is not to blame for “the ills of the world.” Evolution does not, for example, cause racism–but it can fuel it. As the apostle Paul states clearly in Romans 8:22, the whole creation groans because of sin.

This professor continues to pour out falsehoods on a regular basis, using poor research in regard to the Creation Museum—and Christians in general. I trust he doesn’t apply the same lack of standards in whatever he does at the university. If he is representative of that institution, one certainly would not want to enroll at such a place for academic instruction.

Now, he can disagree with God’s Word all he likes (he answers to his Creator for that, not I), but I guess that, being an atheist, for him there is no such thing as absolute truth. So I suppose he will continue to tell falsehoods (as from such an atheistic worldview, who determines right and wrong except one’s self anyway?) about the Creation Museum and Answers in Genesis.

If any of his supporters have any conscience not seared by their hatred of God, perhaps they will realize how they are being led astray. Why would he bother with attacking our museum anyway if it wasn’t a spiritual issue? If we all die and cease to exist (from his perspective), there really is no point to anything he does. He sure spends a lot of time fighting against One (God) he doesn’t believe even exists! Curious.

This past week I spoke five times at the Creation Museum. Each day we use our Special Effects theater for one of our speakers to give a lecture to visitors. Here is a unique photograph taken from the stage on Friday:

Devotion

One response

(Exodus 12:27) That you shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

Saved, we are overwhelmed with how much we did not deserve to be saved and how much we deserved hell; we have only one response, to worship the Lord Jesus.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken