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A Museum Guide for the Creation-Minded

  • Felice Gerwitz Contributing Writer
  • Published Jun 08, 2006
A Museum Guide for the Creation-Minded

I have often been asked why I do what I do-that is, write, publish, and speak to anyone who will listen about creation science. In fact, one person was perplexed, to the point of asking me with a sigh, "What's God got to do with it?" What indeed?
My God is intimately involved in everything I do. If He is the God who knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30) and knit me in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13), then He obviously is not a God who stands by and idly watches. Looking at nature is one of the ways to marvel at the awesomeness of God's creation. Psalm 111:2 states, "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them" (NKJV).
While I believe that God is the origin of our world, I don't believe that either creationists or evolutionists know all of the answers. Unfortunately, this can be a very heated subject. People often react angrily, as if anyone who believes in creation is uneducated. Yet, there are many with doctorate degrees who believe that creation is indeed the truth and evolution is not proven.
Regrettably, as we listen to anything remotely scientific in the mass media we are led to believe that evolution is a proven fact. Many Christians have lost their faith due to evolutionary science. Others believe they need look no further than what they reading secular textbooks. Even those nurtured in loving Christian homes have been swayed. So we must educate our children, ourselves, and anyone else who will listen about the fallacies of evolutionary thinking.
One of the best ways to teach about creation is through field trips. But before taking a trip, learn some basics. Creation involves many scientific principles, but it doesn't have to be dull. It can be fun!
The Big Bang Theory states that billions of years ago an explosion began creating the universe, which continues to expand outward today. Try this simple activity with your children to demonstrate the weakness of that theory. Ask the question "Can order come out of disorder?" Have the children hypothesize (guess the outcome) and write down their answers. You may want to use the scientific method (see www.mediaangels.com for a free downloadable copy).
Place a handful of wooden craft sticks into a small paper lunch bag. Blow into the bag to inflate it with air. Hold the bag away from your body and pop it. Shake the sticks onto the floor. (If the experiment works well, a horrific pop will sound and the sticks will scatter all over the floor, to the delight of your children!) Observe. Did order come out of disorder? (I have had intrepid children who secretly arranged the sticks into the shape of a house, boat, etc. When I see this, I explain that "intelligence" was at work.) Order does not come out of disorder.
Education is the key. There are many fun field trips you can take with your children. When we traveled to Washington, D.C. and visited the Smithsonian Museums, the Natural History Museum caused much discussion when our children turned to us and asked, "That isn't true, is it?" Heads turned to look at us. We gave a brief lesson and moved on. We critically analyzed everything to see where the truth has been skirted and the "evidence" stretched.
When we are armed with knowledge and an understanding of the evidences for creation and against evolution, museums can show that there really is no evidence for evolution. Begin by reading the creation account in Scripture (Genesis 1-11). Explain that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Creationists vary in how many years old they believe the earth actually is, but a safe bet is anywhere from 6,000 to 15,000 years old. No one can definitively prove that the earth is billions of years old. All scientists can do is hypothesize. 
Children should understand the difference between observed facts and evolutionary speculations from unobserved history. Translated, this means that when you see a beautiful display in a museum, replete with hanging moss, multicolor dinosaurs munching on vegetation, a meandering stream – you get the picture – know that this is an imaginary scene and that the plaques by such displays are written with an evolutionary bias.
For example, one plaque stated something to the effect that life "just happened," yet this "fact" has never been proven. Scientists don't know how life began. They can hypothesize, but then it is, at best, a guess. We know by the Word of God that He created the world as stated in Genesis. We take this on faith, yet by observing nature we are affirmed by order everywhere we look.

Following is some information for making a museum experience enjoyable:

  1. Be gracious. Being a Christian means showing our Christianity by example. If a curator talks in terms of millions/billions of year, eye contact and a slight negative shake of your head to your children will suffice.
  2. Evolution presupposed that the universe can into being by random chance without any outside intervention or intelligence over eons of time, assembling energy into mind-blowing complex systems. There is no proof for this speculation.
  3. The universe did not come into being from nonliving chemicals. It is a fact that life only comes from life. No matter what the museum display states, nonliving chemicals creating life has never been proven. 
  4. Man was created in the image and likeness of God and did not evolve from primitive man. Neanderthal man was a human who was believed to have a skeleton deformed by arthritis, yet you will see his likeness in many museum displays leading people to believe we evolved. No transitional ape-to-man fossils have ever been found. The "missing link" is still missing.
  5. We are not products of countless mutations. While man did descend from one common set of parents (Adam and Eve), our ancestors were not amoebas. Microscopic creatures can be amazingly complex and lead one to believe in an intelligent designer.
  6. Adaptation is not evolution. Creatures may adapt to climate or other environmental concerns, but they are still the same creatures. The peppered moth has been hailed as an evolutionary miracle. It turned from white to black, but it still remained a moth. 
  7. Animals breed after their own kinds. There is variation within each kind, but animals are true to their own species. A dinosaur can not turn into a bird as some believe. The Archaeopteryx (means "ancient wing") was hailed as an evolutionary link between a dinosaur and a bird. This creature is a bird (albeit a very strange looking one) that is now extinct.
  8. Age dating has its imitations. Carbon-14 dating, potassium argon dating, and magnetic anomaly dating are usually mentioned as reliable sources of estimating the age of an object. Many variables need to be considered in all types of age dating that affect their reliability.
  9. Just because something happened in the past doesn't mean it will happen in the future. Many evolutionists believe that what is seen today can be mathematically extrapolated backwards, and therefore, they speculate about what happened in the past. There were no human eyewitnesses to creation. (That is, except Christ, who referred to Genesis many times in the New Testament.)
  10.  Fossils are found all over the world. The right conditions are required for a fossil to be preserved rather than to disintegrate). The large number of fossils found worldwide suggests a catastrophic event. Creationists believe that many fossils were buried before they had time to decay and that this was due to the worldwide flood.

There are many evidences that support creation. Christians never need to fear science. True science will only support and confirm God's Word. For this we will be eternally grateful.

Resources
Answers in Genesis
(www.answersingenesis.org)

  • A Is for Adam and D Is for Dinosaur by Ken and Mally Ham
  • Creation Adventures Team for middle school and up; fun entertainment with incredible information

The Creation Research Society
(www.creationresearch.org)

Creation Studies Institute
(www.creationstudies.org)

  • Yearly Creation expeditions and fossil float trips.
    • Creation Adventure Series-video and DVD family adventures; fun for little children to get an introduction to complex ideas and a good foundation
  • Tracker John Series, including A Trip to the Ocean

Media Angels, Inc.
(www.MediaAngels.com)

  • Creation Study Guides: Creation, Geology, Anatomy, and Astronomy by Felice Gerwitz and Jill Whitlock
  • Truth Seekers Mystery Series TM- action, adventure, mystery, and suspense; novels that teach creation.

Website articles
(all available at www.irc.org)

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Felice is owner of Media Angels, Inc. and an internationally recognized author and convention speaker. Her curriculum is featured in Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Pics for Homeschool Curriculum. She is co-author of The Truth Seekers Mystery Series with her homeschool graduate daughter, Christina. Sign up for a free online newsletter, download free samples of her products, or learn more about her books at www.mediaangels.com.  Email Felice at felice@mediaangels.com.

Originally appeared in the 2006 April/May edition of Homeschooling Today Magazine.