We'll venture the guess that somewhere on the Internet, someone is commenting on the good taste involved in a project like this. We lack the interest to research fully the relationship between Ark Encounter LLC and AIG and Mr. Ham personally. We note that on the Ark Encounter web site one first encounters a scale to indicate the capital needed to launch the project as compared to the money raised. As we blog, the money raised amounts to 1/2 of 1% of the need.
We note also the answer to the FAQ, "Why are you building an ark?" which we quote in its glorious entirety:
Through the construction of a massive full-scale Noah’s Ark, the Ark Encounter will present America and other nations with a reminder about the Bible’s account of the Ark.
Many of the same talented team members that built the successful, high-tech Creation Museum are returning for the Ark Encounter. This new project is positioned to become an attraction that will capture the world's attention.
So, as described by its initiators, this is a global publicity stunt. Noted.
The SWNIDish curiosity now wonders what the future will hold. Will the project succeed? Will it never go forward? Or will it be initiated and prove to be a drag on the ongoing existence of AIG, perhaps even the cause of its demise?
Theme parks nationally are not doing so well. This one sounds lame to us, though we are admittedly no fan of Mr. Ham and his not-for-profit exploits and no longer of an age so much to enjoy such experiences even when they aren't lame.
But the cycle of organizational development that reaches a point of over-expansion and threatens ultimate collapse is very well known. Despite its claim to Christian orthodoxy, we judge the operations of Answers in Genesis to be built on sand, especially in terms of biblical interpretation but also in terms of mission and business model. So when the rains come, we wonder whether the Ark will sink AIG.
9 comments:
I thought AIG was too big to fail.
Hmmmm, the deluge narrative as a theme park. That's an interesting concept. I wonder if they will make it "biblically accurate" and include terror-filled families screaming helplessly or thousands of floating corpses. Maybe one lucky family per day can be allowed to take shelter inside the replicated ark while the others are relegated to pounding on the door and begging to be let in as the water rises all around them. That would help to reinforce the judgment/faithful remnant motif that Genesis' author was going for. Once again Mr. Hamm misses the point altogether.
Maybe Hamm could get Al Gore to underwrite the project if he promised him a room onboard to escape the polar icecap melt.
Oops. I guess it's spelled "Ham".
SWIND may have to correct, but isn't Ham the guy that says if you don't believe in a literal 6-day creation, that he trotted out the "you are not a Christian/going to hell" narrative?
Correct, Tom. Ham is the founder/president of Answers in Genesis, which uses various means, notably its celebrated Creation Museum in Hebron, KY, to promote the notion that either God created the world in six 24-hour days about 6000 years ago or the entire Christian faith is false. And while he may not formally affirm that people like SWNID are hell-bound for their dissent--even allowing his assistants to invite the likes of SWNID to address the organization's employees devotionally--he comes mighty close to doing so when he devotes at least as much of his organization's resources to arguing with other Christians as to promoting a theology of creation to the outside world.
Add Ham to the list of people who believe the Word of God, but are mad about it.
WHAT!? Ken Ham is a good Christian. The ark is totally true. I'm not impressed by your comments.
OK, I came here late, but will comment anyway. What bothers me is that someone is making an amusement park out of a historical moment that was and is an example of God's wrath. It is like making hell houses at churches. We will be mocked for this by the atheists. I wanted to leave this comment on their site but did not find the link.
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