Pastor Reviews the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum

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August 2, 2021

Pastor Keith and his family visited the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum on their vacation this year. In this podcast, he gives his thoughts as both a pastor and parent about the trip and about the subject of Christian theme parks in general.

00:19: Welcome back to Conversations with a Calvinist.
00:22: My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
00:25: Well, we're back.
00:26: It's been two weeks.
00:28: We had a little vacation and now we're here to give our review of the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum, which are part of the Answers in Genesis Ministry, which are in Kentucky.
00:41: That's what we did for our vacation this year.
00:43: It's something that my wife and I have wanted to do for a long time and we took the opportunity to go to Kentucky this year.
00:50: We did the drive all the way up there with three kids, enjoyed ourselves at both of the parks, and then I am now going to be doing a review of the parks.
01:01: But before I begin, let me talk, just in case some of you don't know what the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum are, I just want to give you sort of an introduction because you may not know what I'm talking about on the program today.
01:11: Or if you've heard about it, maybe you've only heard a little bit.
01:15: The Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum are both part of the Ministries of Answers in Genesis, which is a young earth creationist ministry, apologetics ministry.
01:29: In fact, I want to read to you how it's described in Wikipedia.
01:34: I pulled this up right before the show began and I thought it was interesting how they describe the creation.
01:39: I just looked up Creation Museum and this is what it says.
01:42: It says, the Creation Museum, located in Petersburg, Kentucky, United States, is a facility operated by the Christian Creation Apologetics Organization Answers in Genesis, AIG, not the insurance company.
01:55: It promotes a pseudo-scientific, that's nice, young earth creationist, YEC, that's the short for young earth creationist, explanation of the origin of the universe based on a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative in the Bible.
02:14: So right away, Wikipedia, of course, which you would expect it to do right away, sort of offhandedly puts out the idea that this is pseudo-science.
02:23: This isn't real science.
02:24: This isn't a real scientific museum.
02:26: This is make-believe.
02:28: This is biblical make-believe.
02:30: So that's what we're going to be talking about a little bit.
02:33: I'm going to talk about the two parks, and there are two parks, and they're separated by a good distance.
02:39: I don't know how anybody could do both in one day.
02:42: I guess some people could try, but my wife and I did the Creation Museum first.
02:47: We did that as our first visit, and then the next day we got up and drove to the Ark Encounter, and I want to give my review today of both of the locations from a practical family perspective, but I also am, of course, going to give my theological thoughts as well and kind of talk about our trip and the fact that we did enjoy it.
03:12: I want to say from the outset, though, I came at this from a young Earth creationist perspective.
03:19: I'm actually preaching through Genesis right now.
03:21: I've been preaching through Genesis for a couple of years, and during my time in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, I maintained a consistent viewpoint that I believe that the Earth is young in the sense that if you think thousands of years is young versus millions and billions of years, which is the standard understanding among secular scientists today, that the Earth is millions and billions of years old.
03:51: The young Earth creationist model says that the Earth was created out of nothing about seven to ten thousand years ago, depending on a few factors, and the idea is that God created the world simply by speaking it into existence.
04:10: We take a fairly literal approach to how we understand the book of Genesis, particularly in the first few chapters, and this is juxtaposed with other creation views.
04:23: There are other creation positions, such as the older Earth creation position, which is held by men like Hugh Ross, and I have read some of Hugh Ross's books.
04:32: I understand his arguments.
04:34: I don't agree with them, but I do understand that he is there, and he's making those arguments, and the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter specifically seek not only to make a defense of a biblical worldview and a biblical position on creation, but specifically a young Earth position.
04:58: So not only is the Creation Museum making an argument for the Bible, they're making an argument for a very specific interpretation of the Bible, and I think they're right.
05:08: I understand.
05:09: I agree with much of what they're saying, but it is good for people to understand that if you go to this, you're going into a very specific understanding of Genesis, a very specific understanding of the first 11 chapters of the Bible, and that's not bad.
05:28: They're not ashamed at all of that.
05:30: I'm not saying anything that isn't certainly obvious if you look at any of their materials, but that is what you're going to get.
05:38: So that's my introduction.
05:40: Let me jump right in.
05:41: I have an outline.
05:41: Normally I do this show extemporaneously.
05:43: I don't normally have a script, but today I want to make sure that I hit some high points.
05:49: I wrote down some notes as I was going through the museum, and as I was going in the Ark experience, I was already thinking about this show, so I was jotting down notes in my phone as I went through.
06:01: So I made some important notes, and there's some things in this program, especially if you are a parent, some things that I really want you to listen to.
06:08: So I hope you stay with me throughout the entire program.
06:11: I hope this is a show which benefits you and your family if you're thinking about visiting the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter.
06:20: First of all, let me just begin.
06:21: I'm going to say pros and cons, and I'm going to give practical pros and theological pros, and then I'm going to give some practical cons and some theological cons.
06:31: I hope that makes sense.
06:32: And understand, this review is, nobody asked me to do this review.
06:37: I wasn't, certainly I'm not being paid.
06:39: I'm not a sponsor for Answers in Genesis.
06:41: So anything I say, whether pro or con, is purely my own opinion and for the benefit of my listeners.
06:48: And maybe they, it will encourage you either to visit or to maybe refrain from visiting after you hear what I have to say.
06:55: But understand, this is just my thoughts.
06:58: This is not, certainly I'm not a friend, you know, of anyone at the ministry there at AIG.
07:05: I'm not doing this as a favor to anyone.
07:07: So the positive things I'm saying, this is not a sales pitch in any way.
07:12: But I do think that the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum can be a benefit.
07:18: So let's talk about some of the pros from a practical perspective.
07:22: Well, let's talk about that from a practical perspective.
07:25: I visited a lot of museums and theme parks over the years.
07:30: I am from Florida.
07:31: This is the patron state of theme parks.
07:35: We have Disney World.
07:36: We have Universal Studios.
07:38: We have all of the major theme parks here in Florida, you know, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, all those things.
07:44: In fact, I grew up, my father worked for the Anheuser-Busch Company.
07:51: And so we got tickets to Busch Gardens every year.
07:54: And so I went to, I have been to theme parks, trust me.
07:57: I understand theme parks.
07:58: I understand things like lines.
07:59: I understand museums, things like that, all kinds of stuff.
08:02: I really understand how theme parks work.
08:06: And one thing on a side note, they're not really that fun, to be honest, especially as I get older.
08:12: Theme parks are not fun.
08:13: And so when I went to the Ark and I went to the Creation Museum, I, you know, I'm taking my children.
08:21: I have three children, eight, five, and three years old that my wife and I are taking through the museum, taking through the Ark Encounter.
08:27: And right away, I want to say that it was an enjoyable experience.
08:32: The customer service is great.
08:34: So from a practical standpoint, if you're going to take your family to the Ark or the Creation Museum, everyone that we dealt with, as far as customer service, were sweet.
08:44: They were kind.
08:45: They were nice.
08:47: And in general, they were helpful.
08:51: And the people there seemed nice and helpful.
08:55: In fact, a funny story, my daughter, there's a great play park.
08:59: Both of the museum and the Ark have a great play park for kids.
09:07: And it's sort of captured by some fences.
09:09: So like, you can let your kid run in there and play.
09:11: You don't have to worry about him going in other directions.
09:14: There's only one way in and out.
09:15: And so you can sort of stand there and let your kid go in and play.
09:18: And that part was great from a practical perspective.
09:20: But there was other little kids.
09:22: And my children were having some trouble on the zipline activity that they had.
09:27: And this other kind of larger child kind of reminded me of myself when I was a kid.
09:30: He came up and helped my daughter.
09:32: And I thought that was really sweet.
09:35: And again, that could happen anywhere.
09:37: There's sweet people all around.
09:39: But I'm saying we enjoyed the people.
09:42: It felt more comfortable than a lot of the theme parks that I have visited.
09:47: Wasn't so much of a rush to get to things and a rush to push around.
09:54: So that was positive.
09:56: Prices were great.
09:58: That's an interesting side note.
09:59: And again, I know this isn't probably what a lot of you, a lot of you probably want to hear my theological thoughts and they're coming, trust me.
10:05: But from a practical perspective, if you're going the pros on a practical side, good, nice people, pretty much a great family atmosphere for people to be around.
10:13: And the prices like the food, we went to lunch at the park, both days, we had lunch in the parks and they were great.
10:22: The food was good.
10:23: It wasn't super expensive.
10:26: Generally, you go to a theme park, you spend $8 on a hot dog, $5 on a soda, you spend $20 on a lunch that's usually not terribly good, but this was better.
10:40: So in that regard, I think that whoever is in charge of customer service, whoever's in charge of overall customer experience at these parks really is doing a fine job.
10:52: And again, I'm not being paid to say this.
10:54: This is not something that I'm doing as a pro or as an ad for pro Creation Museum, pro ARC encounter.
11:03: I'm just saying we had a great time.
11:05: And again, having been to many theme parks in comparison, I think it was great.
11:11: Now, when it comes to theme parks, the ARC is more of a theme park than the Creation Museum.
11:16: And obviously the Creation Museum is a park as what you get at the ARC.
11:25: The ARC feels like you're going into a theme park.
11:28: You walk in, there's a huge rainbow, you'll see some, by the way, as I'm going through this, you're going to notice to my left, your right on the video, I'm going to have the video of us going through the parks that's going to be playing.
11:43: You're going to see that as I'm talking.
11:44: So you understand what's going on.
11:47: And it's just going to play on a loop as I talk through everything.
11:51: And you'll see in there that the ARC, I mean, it's an, it really, it's an encounter.
11:56: So it's called an ARC encounter.
11:57: You go in and there's this giant, massive, full-size Noah's ARC.
12:02: And it is an amazing sight to see.
12:05: And you walk all through it and you see all of the things that they understand the ARC to have been like.
12:12: And again, that's what we're going to talk about in the theological part in a moment.
12:16: But ultimately the kids enjoyed the ARC more than they enjoyed the Creation Museum.
12:22: And the reason for that, again, is think about it.
12:25: The ARC is more like a theme park.
12:27: The Creation Museum is more like it is a museum.
12:31: And so even though there was a petting zoo at the Creation Museum, and there are zip lines, if your kids are old enough and able to do that kind of stuff, there are some things that you can do at the Creation Museum, but ultimately it's a museum.
12:42: You're going to walk through, you're going to read a lot of stuff.
12:45: And ultimately that's the part that I would say, if you have small children, or if your kids are younger and you're going to choose between the ARC and the Creation Museum, I would say the ARC is going to be much more visually appealing, much more able to keep their attention.
13:06: Even the inside of the ARC, where it was still sort of like a museum inside, the shows that were going on, videos and things that were happening, and the attractions that are inside, the little displays, they're much more visually appealing.
13:26: Again, both are great.
13:29: But if you have small children, ARC Encounter, I think feels more like a theme park.
13:33: They have a 4D ride, or rather not a 4D ride, because they have that at the museum.
13:39: They have a virtual reality tour that you can do with the ARC.
13:44: You can do camel rides at the ARC.
13:47: There's a zoo at the ARC, not just a little petting zoo, but a much larger zoo.
13:54: So there's a lot of the pros and the thoughts, sort of comparing them.
13:59: And from a theological perspective, I want to move now to a theological perspective on the pro side.
14:07: What's the theological perspective? Well, if you are a young earth creationist, then this is going to be right up your alley theologically, because it's going to not only present the position that you hold in a very, I would say, very visually appealing way.
14:26: A lot of things look real.
14:28: A lot of things look like they make sense.
14:30: Like for instance, a lot of people have the questions about the ARC.
14:33: Well, how do the animals get fed? How did their waste get dealt with? How did they get sunlight? All of these things which are necessary for health and survival.
14:45: And as you go through the ARC, these things are explained.
14:48: And so from a theological, practical perspective, these are all good things.
14:53: These are positive things.
14:54: These are things that you want to see.
14:56: And it answers a lot of questions about how could Noah get that many animals on the ARC? And how is it that one person is able to do all of these things? And all of the questions that young earthers who believe in a literal ARC, who believe in a literal global flood, a lot of the questions that we have are answered as you go through the ARC and as you go through each of the displays that they have.
15:22: And I was going to wait for a second, but I'm going to go ahead and talk about this now.
15:26: One of the things that going back to the practical side, if you wanted to talk about a con on the practical side, and that is sometimes you feel a little rushed.
15:36: And again, I know I'm jumping to the cons.
15:38: I'm supposed to be on positive, but I want to mention a positive and a negative.
15:41: You're going to feel rushed going through the museum.
15:43: You're going to feel rushed going through the ARC as people are moving because there's so many things to read.
15:48: And everybody, if you stop to read every single thing, you're going to hold the line.
15:54: And then there's going to be people behind you and they want to see what you're seeing and they want to move forward as well.
15:59: So one of the things that you can purchase is this, this is the ARC signs book.
16:05: And my wife and I purchased this and you can buy the ARC signs book and you can buy the creation museum.
16:14: I don't know how easy that is to see with the lighting creation museum signs.
16:19: And basically what this is, is every sign from within the, uh, the museum, all of the signs have been photographed and, and high quality photographs are put in this book.
16:32: So you're able to go through and like, here's, here's on the biblical canon.
16:36: One of the things that it talks about in the, uh, creation museum is how the Bible came together.
16:41: How do we know that the 66 books of the Bible that we have are the ones that we're supposed to have? How do we know we have God's word? And this is the, uh, these are the signs, all of the signs throughout the program.
16:53: So, so this is an extra 30 bucks, right? It was 3199.
16:58: I think to buy both of these books, they came in a pack of, of both of them.
17:02: Uh, we bought it at the creation museum.
17:03: So for, so, so you're already going to pay to get in right now, by the way, throughout all of this year, I think children 10 and under are free, which is great.
17:13: Um, and then I think it was $40 a person, uh, to get into the museum, $40 person to get into the arc.
17:20: So, you know, for two people for the day, it's 80 bucks.
17:23: And then you got your kids get in free, uh, two people for, uh, the, the arc, you know, 80 bucks.
17:29: So you get the museum and the arc if you do both.
17:31: But again, you're going to have a hard time getting all the way through reading all the way through.
17:35: My recommendation is definitely buy these books.
17:38: Uh, I mean, honestly, there's just so much good information in here.
17:43: And you're, especially for someone who's a homeschooler, if you're a homeschooler and you're teaching your kids young earth creation, this is what you believe.
17:50: And this is what you're thinking of teaching your children.
17:52: These books are very helpful.
17:53: You can, uh, you can use these books.
17:55: You can kind of hold them up to your children, let them see the nice, beautiful pictures in them and answer a lot of questions with these books.
18:03: Uh, spoiler alert though, there are pictures of Jesus in these books.
18:08: They, they, they take some liberties with what Jesus would have looked like.
18:12: And they put some pictures in here.
18:13: And I know that that is offensive to, um, to some of our folks who may hold to, uh, to the view that pictures of Jesus should not be displayed.
18:23: I know that there are some who believe that that is a violation of the second commandment.
18:28: So you may not want that, but then again, probably don't want to go to the, don't want to go to the, to the arc or the creation museum, um, without that warning, because as you go through, there's going to be pictures of Jesus on the walls.
18:42: There's going to be pictures of him on the cross and things like that, especially the creation museum.
18:46: There's whole sections.
18:47: Uh, there's a new section they just put in about what, um, what life was like in the first century.
18:54: Uh, and so there's a lot of information, but there's a lot of pictures of Jesus.
18:58: So keep that in mind again, uh, that's not a particular position I hold on the second commandment.
19:02: I don't think that, that it's a violation to have a picture, a depiction of Jesus.
19:07: But again, that's a, that's a debate maybe for another show.
19:10: If you're interested in that, leave me a comment, tell me you want to talk about it.
19:12: Maybe you want me to have that discussion with someone.
19:15: Uh, if you want to recommend someone coming on the program, maybe you want to come on the program and talk about that.
19:20: I'm willing to talk to you about it, willing to have a conversation about it, but I want to move on.
19:24: So moving on, we've looked at the practical side.
19:27: You've got a lot of good information.
19:29: If you are a, um, if you're a young earth creationist, there's so much information here that's going to encourage and bolster your position, answers a ton of questions.
19:41: And here's the thing from a theological perspective that I would say is very positive.
19:47: Um, when it comes to answers in Genesis, the very positive thing that I would say about them is they have had a consistent message.
19:54: The first time I ever saw Ken Ham, he had black hair.
19:57: They'll give you how long ago that was because Ken Ham is bright white hair now, bright white beard.
20:02: Uh, but I saw Ken Ham years and years ago on a VHS tape.
20:09: And I remember that the message he gave was about the difference between a biblical worldview and a secular worldview and how those two worldviews are constantly battling one another.
20:23: And, uh, what was interesting is he just wrote a new book called divided nation.
20:29: And, uh, while we were at the Ark encounter, we got to see him give his presentation.
20:33: They have a huge learning center.
20:35: It's just this ginormous, uh, place where they have music playing and things like that.
20:41: You can go and listen to live gospel music and Ken Ham teaches there almost every day.
20:46: Uh, well, he was there teaching the day we were there.
20:48: And one of the things that he got up and gave us, he gave his presentation on his new book, divided nation.
20:53: And I, I sort of chuckled as I was listening to him, give this presentation because, uh, it was the same thing he said on that VHS tape that I listened to 20 years ago.
21:04: Uh, it was honestly the same material.
21:07: Now he did mention some things in this that weren't in that VHS tape.
21:11: He talked about critical race theory.
21:13: He talked about, uh, some other issues that were are going on into a transgenderism and homosexual marriage, things that are very important today that weren't as vital or as talked about or, or in the vernacular 20 years ago.
21:29: But the same argument was the same argument on both sides.
21:34: The argument was there is a biblical worldview.
21:37: There is a secular worldview.
21:39: And, uh, that's the way that the world is divided.
21:44: Those who take God's word, those who take man's word.
21:48: And, um, I'm thankful for that consistency.
21:51: I would say Ken Ham's message has been consistent all of these years.
21:55: Is he right about every single thing that he ever says? No, I think Ken Ham does have some views that I wouldn't necessarily hold to.
22:03: Um, but for the most part, I would say, I agree with him on many things.
22:08: And, uh, at the same time, like I said, he's consistent with his message.
22:12: So I'm, I'm, I'm thankful for that level of consistency.
22:17: Um, and, uh, again, he is without question, by the way, he's the CEO of the ministry of answers and Genesis, the, what the backing of all of this.
22:28: And what's interesting is if you sit and listen to what he's saying, if you sit and look at what they're doing, this is an apologetics organization that has created two theme parks, if you will, or to a museum and a theme park, if you want to say it like that for the purpose of presenting the gospel and defending the truth of God's word, as they understand it.
22:51: Uh, in fact, he said something in his presentation, which I thought was interesting.
22:55: He said, we are the number one Christian theme park destination in America.
23:00: And I was like, are there others really? Is this like, is this a thing? And so that's kind of funny to me is, is, is, is Christian theme park a thing? I mean, it is, but, uh, are there others that you're competing against? Yeah, of course you're number one.
23:13: And I don't think there's a ton of them, but it's just interesting.
23:17: Uh, they are, they know what they're about.
23:19: They are about defending their understanding of Genesis, uh, young earth creationism.
23:25: And, uh, and that's what it's, that's what the whole thing is about.
23:28: So, uh, for a second, just think about this.
23:32: If you're a, if you are a, um, old earth creationist, if you go, you know, you're going to go and, uh, the, the purpose is going to be to challenge you.
23:45: It's going to be to challenge what you believe about the, the old earth versus young earth.
23:51: If you're a theistic evolutionist, uh, then, uh, this is going to be able to, the desire is to challenge you and to change your mind that without a doubt, that is their purpose.
24:02: That is their goal.
24:03: That is their desire.
24:04: And certainly if you're an unbeliever everywhere, we went, uh, where there was a show everywhere, there was a presentation.
24:11: There was a presentation of the gospel to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
24:17: Even in the snake show, we went to a snake show, which you, you, you know, me, if you know me, you know, that was not my favorite part.
24:28: Uh, it was awful, uh, to be in a room filled with snakes.
24:31: One, one girl, poor girl, she got pulled up on stage.
24:33: She worked there.
24:34: She was a answers in Genesis employee.
24:37: She got pulled up on stage.
24:38: Guy put 15 snakes around her neck.
24:40: He just kept putting one snake after the other.
24:42: Hey, I need a place to put this and he put it around and she was sitting there.
24:44: She had snakes all over.
24:45: I tell you what, that would, that, that, that is absolute torture would be torture for me.
24:50: I would have hated every moment of it.
24:52: Uh, she didn't seem like it bothered her too much, but Hey, everybody's a bit different.
24:58: So, you know, a lot of positives, except for the snake show, even though it was, but it was a good, good getting back there.
25:04: The snake show was fun, uh, for the kids.
25:07: My kids love snakes again, uh, odd to me, but they all think snakes are cool.
25:13: My, my daughter got to put a snake around her neck.
25:14: My son got to put a snake around his neck.
25:16: So excited to do those things.
25:17: Very happy.
25:18: And I'm glad they got to do it.
25:20: Uh, and I'm glad I was 15 feet away taking a picture.
25:23: And, uh, but the guy who gave the snake show gave a gospel presentation.
25:27: Now, was it reformed? Uh, no, no.
25:30: You know, again, I'm, I'm, I'm keep asking.
25:34: I'm a Calvinist.
25:34: I know what I am.
25:35: And I, and I can, and I can hear, uh, when someone's giving a gospel presentation, that's not necessarily coming from a reform perspective, but they're, but they're, they're calling people to repentance and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
25:47: That is the gospel presentation.
25:50: Um, you know, uh, but they, you know, there are going to be some things said that maybe don't agree with a hundred percent, but that is the most important thing and they're doing that.
25:59: So I was, was, was very happy with that, was happy with the consistency.
26:05: Uh, so those are the pros, you know, it was ultimately a very comfortable and enjoyable experience.
26:12: Um, the only negative I could say about the experience, I guess, would be that, you know, you don't have a lot of time, uh, when you're going through people sort of not being pushy, but sort of moving.
26:22: And as you're moving with the flow of traffic, you don't get to stop and read every sign and the people who do stop and read every sign back traffic up.
26:29: And so that's a problem.
26:30: So from a practical perspective, uh, by the books that I mentioned, uh, they're very helpful and they keep you from having to feel like you have to read every single thing.
26:38: Uh, and then you can sort of travel through the museum, seeing and experiencing what you want to see and experience, uh, and then get the information later.
26:46: And again, the shows are great.
26:48: Uh, everything's top-notch.
26:50: I don't know who they have doing their, uh, presentations and things like that, but it certainly seems very professional.
26:56: So a lot of positive theologically, if you're a young earth creationist, it's going to just reinforce what you believe and give you some answers to maybe questions you didn't even know you had.
27:07: Uh, but then, uh, if you're not maybe challenge you.
27:12: And, uh, so there's the positives.
27:14: Now let's look to the negatives.
27:17: And I want to, again, just sort of say, uh, as I was not being, uh, as I'm not, this isn't a paid advertisement for them.
27:27: This is also not an attempt to, to diminish them in any way.
27:32: The negatives that I'm going to give are my own opinion on their ministry and what they're doing.
27:40: And, um, let me, uh, let me just, again, say from the outset, when I talk about the cons, um, you know, it's, there are just some thoughts that I want you guys to have.
27:58: And here, here's the first one.
27:59: Um, when you, when you go to a place like this, there, it is a theme park, especially the arc is, is a park.
28:12: And, um, there's, there's going to be artistic license.
28:18: There's nothing wrong with artistic license.
28:20: In fact, when you, when you go to the arc experience, there's a whole wall of explanation saying we take artistic license and we know we're doing it.
28:32: We have to do it because the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what the arc looked like.
28:38: The Bible doesn't tell us exactly who this was or that was or how this worked or how that worked.
28:44: And so we have to, we have to, you know, our, our artists and engineers and, um, theologians and people come together to create this vision of what it might have been like.
29:01: And the danger I think is the, is, is that they're presenting something that it might have been like.
29:09: And I think some people assume this is exactly what it was like.
29:15: And it's just not that way.
29:17: This is not exactly what the arc would have looked like.
29:21: This is not exactly what the, uh, the way things would have been done.
29:26: Um, this is an idea of maybe how it could have been done possibly.
29:34: And again, you understand I'm throwing in maybe possibly all that.
29:39: Um, because, you know, there are some things that I would say could be anachronisms, uh, reading our current, uh, ideas into the past.
29:49: Uh, I'll give you a good example.
29:51: I posted a picture of my wife and I, we put our faces through, uh, this picture and it was a man and woman, I think it was supposed to represent one of Noah's sons and his wife.
30:01: And so it was my face and Jennifer's face.
30:05: And, uh, in the, in the, you know, you know, I'm talking about one of those, uh, things you put your head in and it makes it look like the picture.
30:11: If I can, I'll slide the picture in.
30:14: So that is a, um, I posted that on Facebook and in that painting of the person's body behind him is a box and it looks like a cargo ship box.
30:28: It's it's literally looks like it was built with two by fours.
30:31: And one of my friends who was, uh, being kind of funny out there's a shout out Matthew Henson, you know, who you are, buddy.
30:37: Cause you, you've been on the show a few times, Matthew Henson posted, he goes, isn't that nice that they got, you know, modern cargo boxes on the arc.
30:45: And I laughed and I said, yeah, that's an anachronism.
30:48: It's probably, uh, the, the, the, the arc probably didn't have, uh, cargo boxes that look like modern cargo boxes.
30:58: Um, and the idea, if you say that to somebody, if you say that to one of the engineers or one of the people there, they would probably say, well, yeah, they probably didn't look exactly like this, but they had to have something similar to this.
31:09: Therefore we're just going to use what people know so that they can see it and get the idea.
31:15: Yeah.
31:15: They had cargo boxes that were they made with two by fours where they made with two by six is probably not, not the way we do it.
31:20: They probably had a different way of doing it, but we don't know what that way is.
31:24: So we are, um, we're taking sort of an anachronism, taking something from now and sort of just placing it there as a placeholder, because we don't know what they would have done, what they would have used.
31:36: Um, another good example of this is as you go through the arc and you'll see this in the pictures in the video, there are animal feeders on all of the animal cages.
31:48: And some of the animal feeders are, um, look sort of like a modern chicken feeder.
31:54: We, my, my wife and I have chickens in our backyard and we have chicken feeders and, uh, sort of remind you of that.
32:01: Like you put food in the top and it sort of, and it funnels down into a, into a surface where the animal can eat out of it.
32:07: And as they eat out of it, the more funnels down.
32:10: And we've all seen little feeders like this, and that's the idea of these feeders.
32:15: They also had watering containers, which looked like if you ever, ever had a bird or hamster with a water container with a little spout that goes inside.
32:22: And there was hundreds of these, you know, if you walk around the arc, it's got all of these cages, small cages, mid-sized cages, giant cages, and they all had these feeders.
32:32: And, um, someone says, well, is this exactly what it looked like? Well, probably not.
32:37: Um, but we don't know exactly what, this is one way it could have been.
32:41: So again, one of my first, if you want to say it's a con, it's not really a con as much as it is a warning.
32:48: Don't go to the arc and say, everything was just this way, because that's not what they're saying.
32:56: And that shouldn't be what we're saying.
32:58: This is the idea is it's possible, right? Like I remember there was one section that really, it really got my attention because I thought it was very strange.
33:06: There was a section about fresh water and how they get fresh water on the arc.
33:12: And, um, there was a video of a, um, it was, it looked like a, it looked like a, um, well in the arc where waves would push water in, would push water up and the water would go up.
33:32: And through a, um, through what looked like a windmill shaped circular, uh, water catcher, and then would, would be distributed out among all of the animals in the arc through a series of what looked like, uh, like troughs that would just sort of spill water over into all of the animals, food dishes or food distribution containers.
33:57: And I remember looking at that thinking, wow, that's really neat.
34:02: But at the same time, it's kind of weird.
34:05: Um, is, is, is that what we really think Noah did? I mean, I, I, I believe the ancient world was sophisticated.
34:12: I believe man was created sophisticated.
34:14: I talked about this when I preached the Genesis, by the way, if you've, if you've not listened to my series in Genesis, especially on creation, I would encourage you to go back.
34:22: Uh, I do talk about the arc.
34:23: I do talk about, um, some of the things that I think happened on the arc.
34:27: Like for instance, I didn't see this mentioned at AIG, but I believe many of the animals went into an extended form of hibernation.
34:34: That way they didn't have to be fed as much.
34:36: They were able to survive, uh, like many animals do right now survive through the winter by sleeping through those times like bears and other things.
34:44: I believe that God could have used that to help them to survive.
34:48: But again, that's, if you want to hear those sermons, go back, listen to those sermons.
34:53: So again, I don't know that for sure.
34:55: I'm that's my, I, that's, that's an idea.
34:57: That's a thought, uh, that as I was preaching through the text, I remember reading that in a few commentaries, thinking it was a very wise idea.
35:04: And so I included that in my sermon, but again, I said, we don't know.
35:09: And that's the part that I would suggest that people consider.
35:15: We do not know all of the answers.
35:19: So we have to be careful with anyone who would say, well, yes, this is exactly what the arc looked like.
35:23: This is exactly how the animals were fed.
35:25: This is exactly how the fresh water came about.
35:27: This is everything.
35:29: Because when we start doing that, then I think we find ourselves in somewhat of a precarious place.
35:35: So there is my first sort of con.
35:39: And again, it's not super negative.
35:40: It's just something to watch out for, but be careful going and saying this is always exactly.
35:46: And in every way, how it ought to be or how it was.
35:50: Um, but now I want to get to the part that I hope you, I hope you're still with me because, uh, I know this show is probably going to run a little long today, but something else happened on the ship that, um, that really got my attention.
36:07: Uh, when I say happened on the ship rather happened on the trip really got my attention.
36:11: And it was between the event.
36:15: We, we, we were at the museum the first day, and then we went to the arc the second day.
36:20: Well, the, when you go to the crate, the creation museum is older than the arc.
36:25: So if you go to the museum, there's a whole section in the creation museum, which talks about the arc.
36:30: So the arc is at the creation museum, but not the full size.
36:33: It's just like a, there's a section where you go through and you have animatronic men building the side of the arc.
36:38: It's like one piece of the arc is there.
36:40: And so, uh, you know, this is, this is all happening.
36:44: Of course, uh, we, we, you know, at the, at the creation museum and we go there and we see it and we enjoyed it.
36:51: We had a good time, but we get back to the room and we're gathering the kids for our time of family worship.
37:00: And, uh, cause we did that even in the hotel, you know, have my guitar.
37:03: So we'd sing a song, we'd read some scripture and we talk.
37:07: And as we're doing our family worship, um, my son, JJ, who is five said, mommy, the arc is make believe.
37:21: And that startled my wife.
37:25: Uh, and she began immediately.
37:28: No, son, we don't believe the arc is make believe the arc is real.
37:32: And he said, but mommy, there's robots.
37:36: Those robots aren't real.
37:41: And so I, I said, son, you mean the arc we saw today? And again, that was creation museum.
37:47: So there's only a piece of the arc, but I said, I said, the arc we saw today, are you saying that's not really, cause yeah, that's not real.
37:55: And I said, that's true.
37:57: That is true.
37:58: What we saw today is make believe what we saw today is not real.
38:05: I said, but the arc itself is real.
38:08: What we're looking at is we're looking at a replica.
38:11: We're looking at a model.
38:14: We're looking at something that is not real, but the arc was real.
38:20: And, and that's the point that I, I want you to understand.
38:24: If you take small children to the arc encounter or to the creation museum, help them to understand that they are seeing models.
38:34: They are seeing, uh, they are seeing replicas of these things, but that these things are real or were real in their own time.
38:46: And because the last thing that I want my child to do or your child or anyone, the last thing I want to happen is for a child to consider the arc to be no different than pirates of the Caribbean.
39:01: And see, that's my one, if I could say a major con in the idea of having Christian theme parks is that most of what people think about in theme parks is fairy tales and make-believe when you go to Disney, you see the Disney princesses, everybody knows Cinderella and Snow White.
39:23: They're all make-believe.
39:26: And when you go to universal studios and you see all of the movies that are being displayed, uh, if you go and see the, uh, you know, the, the star Wars exhibits and the, and, and all these different things at Disney and, and universal has their, their Indiana Jones stuff.
39:43: All of this is make-believe.
39:46: And so by, by having a Christian theme park, it's imperative that we help our kids understand the difference that we are not presenting something here that is make-believe.
40:00: We are showing an idea of what could have been in real life.
40:07: What could the arc have looked like? Well, it could have looked like this.
40:11: And so that is an important distinction that needs to be made and something that I think would be good for every parent to consider, especially if you're taking small children to the arc encounter or the creation museum.
40:28: All right.
40:28: So that's my review of the arc encounter and the creation museum.
40:33: Now I want to ask for just a couple more minutes, cause I have a few things else I'd like to add as a close to today's program.
40:39: Uh, because there's a couple of things that I also did.
40:41: We had a long trip, you know, it was from Florida to Kentucky is, is not a short drive.
40:47: It was several hours, you know, in the car with our children.
40:49: Our kids did great.
40:51: A couple of things I wanted to just mention for fun.
40:54: You know, if you, if you don't want to hear this, it's fine.
40:55: You can go ahead and shut the program off now, but a few things to add for fun.
40:58: Number one, we visited Cincinnati, never been to Cincinnati before.
41:04: And, uh, let me just say this, Cincinnati, Chile, not good.
41:07: It's very weird.
41:08: If you're from Cincinnati and I just offended you, I'm sorry, but who in the world, why nutmeg and chocolate? It's weird.
41:15: Uh, you know, it's just odd.
41:17: I don't get it, but Hey, it to each his own.
41:19: And if you love Cincinnati, Chile, Chile, then God bless you.
41:23: But, um, no, uh, no, no, no, not for me.
41:26: Uh, we did go to skyline Chile though.
41:28: We went to the right in the center of Cincinnati.
41:30: That's what we did.
41:31: And by the way, if you're, if you are going to the arc or you're going to, uh, the, uh, creation museum, it's right near Ohio.
41:39: I mean, it's literally just 20, 30 miles to, to the state line to go over the Ohio river right there in Cincinnati.
41:45: And you can see, uh, the Cincinnati, we, we got to go by the Reds, uh, stadium.
41:49: There's the baseball hall of fame, all that stuff.
41:51: We didn't get to do the hall of fame, but we get, did get to see the stadium, a lot of cool stuff there.
41:55: But again, Chile in Cincinnati, very weird.
41:58: Uh, something else.
41:59: If you've never been to Bucky's, Oh my goodness, this, this play.
42:03: And again, not a sponsor of the show, but could be, I tell you what I, I, Bucky's is awesome.
42:10: And if you don't know what Bucky's is, Bucky's is a, is a convenience store.
42:13: That's the size of like a Walmart.
42:15: It's huge inside.
42:16: They got all kinds of, they have beef brisket.
42:18: They have, uh, drinks, which are awesome.
42:20: They have, they have Bucky's nuggets.
42:22: Let me tell you something.
42:24: I can do a whole show on how perfect a driving food, Bucky's beaver nuggets are.
42:30: So just keep in mind, if you're ever driving and you, you see a Bucky's stop and have a bag of beaver nuggets and tell them Keith sent you, they didn't get me anything.
42:39: And they'll, they'll think you're weird, but, uh, but, but I sent you.
42:43: Okay.
42:43: But last but not least, uh, you know, we did a lot of driving and we did, we spent a lot of time together.
42:49: My wife and I had some wonderful conversations, probably some of the best we've had in years because we took the time to sort of get away from Facebook, get away from social media, get away from having our phones burning up all the time.
43:02: And we spent time talking in the car.
43:05: And, uh, it was probably one of the best things for our marriage that we've done in a long time.
43:09: Uh, we took and talked for hours and we laughed and we, we had a great time.
43:15: So, uh, as I close today, I want to thank my church for giving me the opportunity to have a couple of weeks off to go and enjoy this time.
43:24: And, uh, I'm so grateful to pastor the church that I'm at and the people there and to serve with my fellow elders.
43:31: And I'm just so blessed to be able to do that.
43:35: We had a wonderful trip and I'm thankful to be back.
43:38: And I look forward to producing new shows every week here at conversations with a Calvinist.
43:43: Thank you for listening today to the program.
43:45: My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist.
43:49: May God bless you.
43:51: Thank you for listening to Conversations with a Calvinist.
43:54: If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe.
43:58: And if you have a question you would like us to discuss on our future program, please email us at calvinistpodcast at gmail.com.
44:07: As you go about your day, remember this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
44:13: All who come to Him in repentance and faith will find Him to be a perfect Savior.
44:18: He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
44:24: May God be with you.