I’ll admit it, I’m not a museum person. It’s just never been something I’ve enjoyed much. There are a few exceptions like contemporary art exhibits but milling around reading things with the pressure of knowing someone’s waiting on you to finish up so they can have their turn just doesn’t feel like a day of fun for me. So when my in-laws asked my family to accompany them to The Creation Museum in Kentucky, I wasn’t super pumped.
First of all we were lugging around a four-year-old and an infant. Second, having to entertain them in a place that appeared to be well out of their age limit seemed like a daunting task. So, needless to say, I didn’t arrive there with the best of intentions but it took me a mere amount of minutes to figure out that my preliminary expectations had been completely wrong.
The entrance to the museum is surrounded by a beautiful botanical garden. It’s a very peaceful walk from the parking lot to the museum. You can hear the birds chirping. Upon walking in we were immediately greeted by an indoor waterfall with animatronic dinosaurs and an aquarium. It was then that I realized we weren’t at your average museum, we were somewhere that was so much more. My inner kid came alive as I began to point out the huge mammoth skeleton before us and the various dinosaurs to our left and right. The exhibits begin by presenting facts and events that have commonly been used to support the theory of evolution. Each exhibit breaks them down and explains why they are simply just theories and don’t align with a Biblical view. Many are great at showing you how to think differently, like a scientist would, to see that most of these arguments don’t have any evidence to support them. They are simply crafted from speculation. These exhibits are followed by a large walk-through of the story of Adam and Eve complete with an immersive experience of animatronics. My husband shared a cool fact with me that some Imagineers from Disney actually helped put it together. My daughter loved this part and to this day can tell you a detailed version of it. It’s one of the most rewarding results of our trip, that my four-year-old really retained not only the story of creation but actually understands it. In fact, she’ll tell you that the world was perfect before the serpent tricked Adam and Eve into eating the fruit. Now everything is all messed up.
Other exhibits included the story of Christ, Noah’s ark and explanations of natural selection vs evolution. There was even an exclusive exhibit from The Museum of the Bible newly opened in Washington DC. Once you finish them all, you walk by a large lecture hall. We actually got to attend a lecture from Dr. Ken Ham, the founder of the museum, The Ark Encounter and Answers in Genesis on debunking the Big Bang Theory. Other famous doctors often speak there on various subjects that seem to spearhead the creation/evolution debate. And that’s not all, there are plenty of kids’ activities to enjoy including a Planetarium, dinosaur exhibits galore, zip lines and even a small zoo. All in all, there was something for our entire family. I walked away learning a lot and feeling my faith truly grow. So even if you’re not a museum person, The Creation Museum is definitely worth a trip. It will really open your mind and you might be surprised on the impact it has on your kids.
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Our Family’s Visit to The Ark Encounter
Read more of Jillian’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
