The Creation Museum: Yes, you should go

If there’s one thing that we saw a lot of on our trip through the southeast, it was Cracker Barrels. And squirrels. And museums.

And while we only ducked in to The Barrel twice (hey–twice in a month is not bad for this country ham loving girl!), and we only assaulted a squirrel once (and even that was an accident), we did spend a lot of time in museums.

A lot.

As in, near the end of the trip, Phin started asking, “We go to ‘zeeum now?” as he wiped the sleep from his eyes each morning.

We toured D.C., hitting the requisite sights. (I plan on posting about that later.) We visited both Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg. We experienced the Titanic as it hit an iceberg awkwardly located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We even found a gem of a science museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that far exceeded our expectations.

But the one place that had been mentioned early in planning, the one place that we continued to waffle on touring, the one place that gave me the potential creeps … it was The Creation Museum.

Y’all, if the Lord judged faith by one’s appreciation of modern “Christian entertainment,” I would be spit out as less than lukewarm. “Christian” fiction gives me the cold sweats. “Christian” movies make me want to cry. And please, do not get me started on the concept of “Christian” video games.

Yes, there have been some notable exceptions in recent years. I am willing to concede that point. But until the day when we, as followers of Christ, consistently offer the world high quality, engaging, intelligent art that doesn’t go limp as we struggle to insert Jesus into the plotline, we’ll continue to bore believers and make non-Christians laugh.

With this as my starting point, I approached AIG’s Creation Museum with trepidation. Truthfully, I wasn’t sold on the destination until the moment that I stood in front of a Smithsonian case and read the words, “Meet your ancestor!” above a tiny sea creature. Reading the placard, I was stunned by the total lack of acknowledgement of “the other side.” There wasn’t even a mention of the scientific label “theory” tagged on to the bit about humans evolving from bacteria.

Now who’s being closed-minded?

So we made our way to The Creation Museum. If nothing else, I figured, it would give us discussion fodder to process alongside the mountains of information we gorged on in three and a half weeks. I didn’t go in expecting to really enjoy it. I didn’t go in thinking I would recommend it to others as anything more than ballast to counter some of the humanism and other bits of “science” paraded about as Law.

Lo, and behold, I was wrong. Very wrong. So here’s my humble pie endorsement to you:

Go. Really. Go. The exhibits in The Creation Museum are top-notch, easily holding their own in the landscape of modern curating. The atmosphere is entertaining, yes– but the information is presented in a non-preachy, accessible manner that neither speaks down to the guest, nor assumes a PhD in any of the various disciplines addressed. And truly, the collection crosses so many areas: culture, yes. But there’s paleontology, archeology, art, geography, history, literature, sociology, mythology … and so much more. I knew we were in for something different– something exciting— when we spent no less than half an hour making our way around the “throw-away” display in the exterior hall (before we were even in the museum proper) highlighting myths of dragons, offering some potential explanations, and showcasing relics from the time periods.

We saw a planetarium show. We oohed and ahhhed over ancient books. We marveled at a massive construction site interpreting Noah’s building of the Ark.

The Creation Museum was fun. Even better? This was good, solid science. How so? Every time (and I mean every time) a piece of information was presented, the story was clearly told with the background narrative of “Remember, this is evidence. And evidence is interpreted through the lens of a starting assumption. So the conclusion of someone who believes in creation could be this, or this, or even this. And the conclusion of someone who does not could be this, or this, or this.” In other words, bias was clearly addressed, and “fact” was not a term tossed around without a thought to it’s actual meaning. For example, an exhibit on the Lucy Skeleton featured about fifty options as to what the real “Lucy” might have looked like, based on the structural evidence found in the bones themselves, and taking into account the wide range of opinions on the significance of the find. Human ancestor? Extinct ape species? The Creation Museum really let the artifacts speak for themselves.

I appreciated The Creation Museum far more than I thought I would. It offered a satisfying, entertaining, intelligent balance to the din of evolution-based exhibits we took in. The quality of the exhibits, the presentation, and the overall effect were neither too slick nor too homey. And really, for being the pet project of AiG, I was surprised at the low level of peddling and marketing that was evident. In fact, I felt more shuttled into gift shops and lured to buy into the Smithsonian “brand,” for what it’s worth.

In terms of doctrine, I found the museum pretty much as expected. Catholics will probably cringe at the section clearly pointing to the Sola Scriptura movement. Other mainstream Protestants will find divergences from their own nuances, no doubt. For the most part, however, I found things to be your basic inerrant Bible, Christ-as-the-center Christian dogma. The only sticking point worth mentioning, actually, is that in that construction zone, an animatronic Noah seems to be evangelizing and inviting a worker to consider finding refuge in the ark when God’s judgement arrives. That kind of extra-Biblical interpretation isn’t uncommon, I understand, but it was a bit odd to find it in a place so clearly bent on not embellishing or reimagining God’s Word.

So, friends, if you find yourself near Cincinnati, or in Kentucky, make it a point to head to The Creation Museum. Feed your mind a little counter-cultural info. Take it in, take it home, and chew on it. Filter it through the Holy Spirit. Decide for yourself.