A Creative Attraction

A Creative Attraction

By Ken Walker –

Charles Darwin gained scientific fame through his On the Origin of Species, the 1859 book that established the evolutionary viewpoint taught in most public educational systems.

Yet the scientist’s favorite topic wasn’t evolution, but carnivorous plants. These fascinating carnivores lure flies, spiders and other bugs (and in one case, a hapless bird) into their systems.

Most people have heard of the Venus Fly Trap, the topic of fantasy films imagining man-eating varieties. However, there are many others that remove the nutrients from victims that they can’t derive from the surrounding environment.

A Worthwhile Attraction

At the Creation MuseumI learned about these plants in a most unusual place: the Creation Museum near Cincinnati. If you are searching for a summer vacation idea, the museum is a first-class attraction worth a full day.  Or, in our case, parts of two days to avoid rushing through everything.

There are a considerable amount of family-friendly exhibits, lectures and videos that are quite enjoyable. We paid an extra $3.50 per picket to attend the carnivorous plant talk, and it proved to be worth it.

Judging from the array of license plates in the parking lot—such as Missouri, California, Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania—the Creation Museum is drawing a nationwide audience. The highly-publicized debate founder Ken Ham conducted last winter with Bill Nye (whose “The Science Guy” shows still air on PBS) helped increase its profile.

In addition to numerous attractions inside, we found the outdoor exhibits equally interesting. They include botanical gardens, a petting zoo, attractive pavilions, and a lake where schools of fish bob to the surface to grab bits of food visitors toss to them.

Biblical Undertones

Visiting the Creation MuseumThe strong biblical undertones at the museum will comfort Christians and offend those who are hostile to the very idea of God. They even bothered one friend who took his children there the week before our visit.

While saying he believes in creation, my friend said he wanted to be bowled over with the scientific basis of creation instead of the biblical emphasis woven into the presentations. “Especially in the kind of culture we live in now,” he said. “Hit people with the idea at the end, after you’ve established the science. That’s the model they should have used.”

While I’m not sure about the practical aspects of how that could be implemented, I am pleased this kind of attraction exists to buttress the idea of God creating the world. And, you don’t have to agree with Answers in Genesis’ young-earth views to enjoy all that the museum has to offer, including a series of zip lines.

Young Dinosaurs?     

Creation MuseumCoincidentally, the week after our visit, I saw a story that pointed out the possibility the museum raises—that dinosaurs are only thousands of years old.

Raising this point was a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination against a professor who lost his job for not adhering to the evolutionary perspective.

The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) says a professor at California State University at Northridge lost his job after publishing findings of soft tissue on a triceratops fossil.

According to PJI, while at a dig in Montana, scientist Mark Armitage came across the largest triceratops horn ever unearthed at the site. When later examining the horn under a high-powered microscope, he reportedly saw the soft tissue.

This discovery stunned members of the scientific community because it indicates that dinosaurs roamed the earth only thousands of years ago instead of the scientific consensus of extinction 65 million years ago.

Armitage’s lawsuit also alleges that a university official challenged his motives and shouted, “We are not going to tolerate your religion in this department!”

Aside from the legal action, the question I want to see answered is whether this scientist’s findings prove to be valid. This could get interesting.

 

%d bloggers like this: