by William Trollinger
In my last post, I highlighted the ways in which the Noah family featured at the Answers in Genesis (AiG) tourist site, Ark Encounter, bears remarkable similarities to Commandant Höss and his family, who (as dramatized in The Zone of Interest) happily lived in a beautiful house adjacent to Auschwitz. At Ark Encounter, Noah and wife and three sons and their wives are happily and stunningly unconcerned by the fact that, according to AiG, outside the walls of their big boat up to twenty billion people are drowning. And visitors are encouraged to join the Noah family in their moral obliviousness by taking “keepsake photos” at the door that, according to AiG, God shut tight just as the waters were rising and the drowning was commencing.
Of course, Young Earth Creationists (YECs) need the global Flood as their explanation for why the Earth is not ancient, as the year-long Flood created the geological formations (e.g., the Grand Canyon) that make the Earth look old when it isn’t. That is to say, it makes sense why YECs would create a tourist site that highlights the Flood.
But what is not clear is why they need to make the absurd claim that up to twenty billion human beings drowned in this Flood, nor is it clear why (using “artistic license”) they need to create a little family that is so morally vacuous that they can play music, read books, and eat good food in the midst of a divine genocide.
It’s not clear, until one realizes that, when it comes down to it, the message of Ark Encounter is not simply about the global Flood that supposedly proves the YECs to be right. That is to say, the main message of Ark Encounter is not simply about the past. Instead, it is also about the future.
This all becomes clear when one enters the “Fairy Tale Ark” exhibit, where all sorts of Noah’s Ark books are displayed, many or most of which are children’s books. Through a series of placards, visitors are instructed that these books are “deceptively cute” but “destructive,” as they “disorient” the reader, “disregard” God’s Word, “discredit” the Truth, and – in their portrayal of “cute animals and a fun boat ride” – “distort” the message. In short, these books are in the business of “defaming God’s character”:
By treating Noah’s Ark and the Flood as fairy tales rather than sobering reminders of divine judgment on a sin-filled world, these storybooks frequently trivialize the Lord’s righteous and holy character.
In case all of this is too subtle, there is the red-orange serpent looking at you while wrapped around this message:
If I can convince you that the Flood was not real, then I can convince you that Heaven and Hell are not real.
Heaven is an after-thought (at best) at Ark Encounter. The point is Hell. And as the folks at AiG see it, if you have trouble accepting the notion that a “righteous and holy” God drowned up to 20 billion human beings (including children, infants, and the unborn) – if you struggle to wrap your head around this sort of genocidal God – you might also doubt the notion that there is a God who is planning to subject billions of humans to eternal torment. On the other hand, if you believe in the notion that God drowned up to 20 billion human beings (again, including children, infants, and the unborn), then you should have no trouble believing that God is quite capable of consigning billions of human beings “to conscious and everlasting punishment in the lake of fire (hell)” (proposition #45 in the AiG Statement of Faith).
In the end, this is the point of Ark Encounter. And there’s no point in thinking about all those who will be tortured, forever. They deserve it.
(Note: Check out Paul Braterman’s 3 Quarks Daily piece about Ark Encounter, “Toilet Train Your Tyrannosaur.” Yes. Toilet training.)
Indeed. And your keepsake photo in front of The Door is documentary evidence that you are among the saved.
Thanks Paul . . . but I am afraid that the folks in the big boat would strongly disagree!
Every religious tradition has a myth of a great flood. In some that flood was that out of which the earth sprung, perhaps on the back of a turtle. In others, like Christianity and Judaism, it is genocide to cleanse the earth of the sinful and unworthy. Frankly, I don’t believe it is anything more than a myth, no god is so pissed off at humanity as to wipe it from the face of the earth.
Actually it’s not true that every religious tradition has a Great Flood myth. Certainly those arising out of the middle eastern traditions do. In other cases documentary evidence reflects post contact missionary influence. Of course given that societies, especially the agricultural civilizations most likely to preserve written scriptures, often live beside rivers experience with flooding would be common and reflected in tales, but those are not necessarily equivalent to the world destroying myths of the Middle East. Conflating these diverse traditions only plays into the hands of creationists who use such notions to “support” a historical world flood.
Thanks, Michael, for your good comment. You are so right that YECs use diverse flood stories as part of their case for a ‘historical world flood.
Egypt is one of a few countries that do not have a flood myth despite being located along the Nile River. This is something creationists have failed to explain without resorting to outright denial and unfounded, made up stupidity every time they showcase some selected Flood myths that were likely fabricated by Christian missionaries visiting certain remote areas of the world.
Thanks Peter for your very good comment. And I am afraid that the folks at Ark Encounter do not take kindly to the idea that drowning all but eight people (out of twenty billion) is not in keeping with God’s character.
In a culture with stunning theological and political illiteracy, fear sells.
Lies sell, too. Which is why all those propaganda TV channels like Fox News and Newsmax and YECs’ putrid attractions are raking in millions of dollars from gullible people who believe all their lies to keep their propaganda businesses going.
Everything Ham claims about all those story books about Noah’s Ark he keeps in his “Fairy Tale” section has absolutely no bases or foundation in all his claims about them. He made the whole thing all up entirely out of thin air, just so he won’t have to deal with any parts of the versions that says God is merciful and compassionate, especially towards those inside the ark, rather than judgmental, destructive, and vengeful. It’s just the way for Ham to omit verses from the Bible that says God is love, patience, kind, forgiving, etc. because it won’t fit into the YECs’ version of God only being judgmental, vengeful, merciless, cruel, violent, etc.
BTW, what Ham said about those Noah’s ark books is actually projection. What Ham accuses those story books of is what Ham’s version is entirely made up of. That’s projection right here.
Thanks much, Rod and Sherry. Alas, fear and lies do indeed sell.
Its malicious and laughable to draw any connection between historic Christian ideas on noah and the Jewish holocaust. This is the best you can deo? lets ask everybody for thier vote.
The bible is clear that god judged mankind as evil and thus allowed a flood to destroy them. Save Noah etc because he alone was nopt evil. Thats the story, thats the accusation, judgement, punishment. All bible believers must consent it was just. I consent to it badsed on the Genesis story. It was not 20 billion. probably hundreds of thousands at most. they calculate by mong living people then constantly reproducing. This was gods decision and who are anybody to say he is wrong. nopbody in christiandom ever did. If one believes its a true story and true that god is just and God judged then its right and has my consent because its Gods decision. likewise the bpassover, Canaan conquest, and many nother things. finally remember us dying is a punishment by GOD. It was not natural. Attacking gods moral status and his people, Christians, is absurd and unintelligent and immoral. reject the story but not say even if its not true its still making God a bad guy. Nope.
Robert, I am afraid that you missed the analogy I was making, which was between the historical Höss family who lived in a house next to Auschwitz, and the Noah family at Ark Encounter, which, according to Ark Encounter, was as unconcerned with the slaughter outside the boat as the Höss family was regarding the slaughter inside the death camp.
As I think you know, the 20 billion number comes from Ark Encounter, not from me. And your argument is very similar to the argument made by the folks at Ark Encounter, i.e., since it was God who decided that all these people (including children, infants, and the unborn) needed to die, then the decision was thus just and moral.
By the way, I am also a Christian.
The comparison us bit morally or intellectually just. I never heard of this german family but seemingly they were aware of unjustified killing. noah and family knew the killing by water came from God. it was justified by gods moral laws. The people were evil. yes it includes babies and thats always difficult to judge because they are innocent. the answer there is they were saved in heaven. in fact seemingly came out better then people who become adults and are not saved. Yes uts unlikely Noah etc were happy. Yet this is about The claim mgrol is unjust and has no right to punish. As if mankind is more just. nope. If god said they were evil and deserved death then its just and all mankind must consent. historic cHristiandom did and does. Those people were evil in their imaginations of thier heart. that was the charge. I give my consent to thier destruction because God said so and is right. Hard with kids but thats explained. I see no reason to associate Creationists with the genocide in europe a hundred years ago. its below the belt. mAybe Ham etc could of done it a wee bit better. I only discovered this blog from another one recently who said you were accusing, they agreed, the creationists with consent to genocide. The meuseum is a winner and its dumb and bad and hopeless to accuse them of bad stuff.
Robert, again, my post is about how Ark Encounter’s fictional portrayal of Noah and family (almost nothing in the “Family Quarters” section of the Ark is in the Bible) has significant resonances with the historical Höss family. According to Ark Encounter, the Noah family had a great time in the Ark while outside, according to them, up to 20 billion people are drowning. Did the folks who put together this exhibit never consider that they were creating a morally vacuous family? Again, it’s a fictional portrayal.