At the Creation Experience Museum, we love working with children. We enjoy pouring into school groups. We get excited when we see families uncover fossils, touch hissing cockroaches, and get questions answered. And yet, as much as we thrive on these interactions in the moment, we realize there’s something even more important going on: We’re helping people build a launchpad.
Smiling faces, nodded agreements, and glowing reviews are wonderful, but we recognize creation science is much more life-changing than that. You see, when people realize they can trust the Bible, that changes everything.
If God’s Word can be trusted in what it says about biology, geology, and history, it makes sense to trust what it says about God, morality, and salvation. If it gives an accurate, historical account of the first Adam, why not believe what it says about the Last Adam. Basically, the credibility of the first eleven chapters of Genesis set the tone for the credibility of the rest of the Bible.
But how does that make creation science a launchpad? Simple: When children start life with a firm confidence that the Bible is always true, and when teens step into school and life already carrying the answers to defend their faith, it sets a course for their lives. Rather than wondering if dinosaurs are real or if the Bible is false, they see where God’s Word speaks of the enormous creatures. Rather than looking at roadcuts and seeing millions of years beyond scriptural history, they see evidence of the biblical Flood. And rather than questioning whether there really is a God, they’ve settled that reality with logical answers and personal experience.
Taking it a step further, creation apologetics also enables young people to provide answers to those around them. Teens are no longer at the mercy of peer group consensus and social media influencers. They have a foundation. Children aren’t blinded by the “millions of years” lingo of books and television. They have a foundation. In college, they’re unlikely to turn away from what they’ve been taught. They have a reasonable, tested, and well-laid foundation.
Of course, teaching our children biblical history is nothing new. Psalm 78 says in part, “We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come … His wonderful works that He hath done … That the generation to come might know them … That they might set their hope in God” (vv. 4-7). Although this psalm is focusing primarily on the history AFTER Genesis, the principle and heart remain the same. Let’s pass it on to our children. The New Testament, also, is not without comment on this. Speaking to his son in the faith, Paul admonishes Timothy to continue in what he was taught, remembering that “from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Timothy’s early knowledge of the scriptures appears to have played a role in bringing him to Christ. So it is today.
If you’re a parent, grand- parent, teacher, older sibling, or anyone who ever interacts with children or teens, this is a big responsibility. It’s also a tremendous opportunity, one that’s full of exciting possibilities! What if the young people in your life really, truly believed the Bible? What if they were completely committed to following their Creator and Savior? What if they were passionate about sharing solid answers with a confused world? And what if God used you to bring that about? It’s an exciting picture to imagine.
Here at the Creation Experience Museum, we’re excited to be taking part in a work that does that. Children and teens are preparing to launch out into a life where uncompromised truth is desperately needed. As we give tours, dig fossils, and train interns, we know that we’re doing more than just telling stories and bringing smiles to children’s faces. We’re building a launchpad.
-Dalton Ford
Each summer, Southwestern Adventist University sends its excavation team to the Hanson Research Station in Eastern Wyoming to conduct a dinosaur excavation research project. This year, some of our team members had the opportunity to participate.
Among those with an evolutionary worldview, the belief that theropod dinosaurs evolved into birds has become very popular. So, are there dinosaurs at your bird feeder, and is this a problem for those who believe the Bible?
Each Branson off-season, we seek to upgrade our guests museum experience by continually evaluating our facilities and exhibits. This year was no exception!
The fossil record is full of mystery. Bones tell us what once lived, but rarely do they tell us how those creatures lived, fought, or gave birth. On rare occasions, however, the fossil record reveals a scene frozen in time. These fossils, preserved “in motion,” reveal not only fascinating glimpses of animal behavior but also evidence of sudden, catastrophic burial.
