Blog

by Steve Risner

Last week we started a journey aboard the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. The Ark Encounter is a full-scale representation of Noah's Ark that demonstrates the feasibility of the account in Scripture. Last week we talked about the size of the Ark and the number of animals that may have been on it. I discussed what we found on the first 2 decks of the Ark. This week, we'll move to the third deck.

The third deck at the Ark Encounter was built for living quarters and food preparation. Again, as I said last week, the people at Answers in Genesis who put this all together took the freedom to fill in gaps where we simply don't know the specific details from the Bible. They make sure this is clear numerous times as you walk about the decks of the Ark. They give us what the Book of Jubilees says is the name of Noah's wife—calling her Emzara—and give us possible names and physical characteristics of Noah's sons' wives and skills they may have had, given the mission to survive on a wooden vessel for about a year with thousands of animals. Whether any of this information is accurate really is of no consequence. It just helps fill in the gaps that the Bible leaves out, because the details were not important. My wife and I enjoyed every bit of it.

A couple of side notes: if you plan a trip to the Ark, which I highly recommend, plan on eating there. Emzara's Kitchen is right next to the Ark with outdoor seating if you like and is exceptionally reasonably priced. In fact, I couldn't believe the cost; for a tourist attraction, it was very inexpensive.

The other side note is the impact this attraction has made on the area. There were nearly a million visitors to the Ark last year (keeping in mind the park opened in the summer) and is projected to draw about 2 million this year. That's an amazing amount of revenue for local businesses which will, in turn, put money in the state's purse. Gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and many other local businesses have had a great deal of added business from out of state or at least out of area travelers. Not only has the media not mentioned this at all, but they've painted a very different picture where the Ark Encounter actually cost the state tax money out of the budget. This is not true at all and you can find factual reports on this online. Kentucky’s tax payers will see a great benefit to having this park in the area, bringing in millions of people and tons of revenue and tax dollars from around the country.

The truly beautiful thing I appreciate with the Ark Encounter is it stays true to God's Word. It fully incorporates the narrative told in the Biblical account of the Flood. Sure, gaps are filled in where there are no details, but these things don't impact the account as a whole. The Bible makes a few things clear and AiG doesn't water these things down: God created the universe and therefore the earth about 6000 years ago, He hates sin and there is a penalty for sin, God destroyed all mankind in the Flood about 4400 years ago saving only 8 people, and this Flood covered the entire planet. Rather than bow to the currently popular humanistic interpretations of the evidence (which are largely contrary to the evidence, in reality), AiG has determined to honor the Word of God. They've decided that it's more important to stick to the clear teaching of the Bible instead of manipulating it to say something it obviously doesn't. There is no room in a Biblical worldview for millions or billions of years of geologic time and no room for evolution or a Big Bang. There simply is no way to be consistent and mingle the Word of God with humanism. Single common ancestry and Big Bang cosmology are nothing more than humanism, and it's impossible to marry them to Christianity and still be a faithful to the Word of God.

For centuries, science and laypersons alike understood the fossil record and geologic column in general represented a massive worldwide Flood that destroyed everything on land during the time of Noah. Due to the arbitrarily chosen ages assigned to rock layer by Charles Lyell and others (who specifically stated his purpose in doing so was to remove Moses—that is Genesis—from the sciences), humanism hijacked science and has dominated it ever since. Darwin chimed in with a process (an impossible and completely unscientific process, mind you) to create biodiversity, and now we're here. Science was invented by Christians as they studied the world and universe around them. They marveled at the greatness of God as they looked deeper and deeper into His glorious creation. God created nature. For some reason, even mentioning God as we look at nature gets shouts of anti-science or religious nut. The truth is, I believe, that if we refuse to acknowledge the One Who made nature as we study it, we can't possibly expect to unlock its greatest secrets. Humanist interpretations of scientific evidence have effectively stated that, although there are a great many reasons that nature points to a Creator, that is the one thing they will refuse to acknowledge regardless of the evidence. It's the one thing that's right and they've chosen to accept any answer except the right one. It's remarkable, really.

Atheism, in general, is very illogical and inconsistent—inconsistent with science, reason, and reality as well as being internally inconsistent with itself. The depths to which atheists go to deny the God of the Bible and the obvious evidence for Him in creation is pretty amazing.

As an example of the terrific lengths humanism will go, let's look at Mars for a second. NASA will tell you that “Mars used to be covered in water and so could have been ideal for supporting life.” It is believed that Mars has water on it, mostly of the frozen variety although some gas seems to exist there as well. Some scientists want us to believe the Red Planet was covered in water and probably had life on it, but it’s now bone dry. However, if you mention to them that the earth was once covered in water by a huge Flood, even though two-thirds of the earth is still covered by water and large reservoirs of water have been found beneath the earth's surface, they'll laugh and scoff and say, “Where's the evidence for that?”

I plan to explore some of this evidence in the future and also share with you some of the magic atheism must believe in for the universe, sun, earth, and life to exist. It's pretty crazy stuff. Thank you for reading. Be encouraged. The faith of the Christian is backed by the evidence, not in spite of it. We have a faith that is reasonable and well founded.

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