Ken Ham responds to critics

I don’t NEED it either. In other words, my faith doesn’t rest on a life-sized Ark. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting, helpful, etc.

Using the same logic, Jim, someone could say, “I don’t need The Genesis Flood to buttress my faith. The Scriptures are enough! Don’t you believe in Sola Scriptura?”

Jim, again I don’t NEED it. That word has no relevance to my views on the subject. I didn’t NEED to go to the Creation Museum, but I found parts of it helpful and informative. I don’t NEED the books I am reading right now as I prepare each week to teach a class on Biblical Creationism on Wednesday nights here at my church, but I find them helpful and informative (as long as they match with Scripture!).

• Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis DVD series by ICR—using this as the discussion starter for the class each week, extremely well done and highly recommended
• Creation & Evolution: Compatible or in Conflict? by Jay Seegert
• Darwin’s Doubt by Stephen C. Meyer (an ID proponent)
• The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris
• As It Is Written: The Genesis Account Literal or Literary? by Kenneth L. Gentry

You are spot on.

Regarding whether it’s interesting or helpful, the only thing they can really do is to demonstrate a list of “kinds” and demonstrate adequate space for all of them. Other, bigger questions, like whether such a craft could float or stay together, whether it would take in enough air to sustain life, how wastes would be removed, and the like cannot be answered here. Moreover, when I visited the Creation Museum back in 2007, the place was full of analyses of how they thought it would float, weather heavy seas, get adequate ventilation, and the like. To argue they wouldn’t have liked to make the case is just to deny their history and the exhibits at the Creation Museum.

And no subsidies? They are subsidies in all but name, folks. They just happen to be paid after the place opens instead of being given prior to being built, and it’s the same way Wal-Mart has been pillaging small town treasuries for decades.

I’m all for Ken Hamm and AIG. Sure, I might do a thing or two differently, but they do an outstanding job.

When I get the chance, I’d love to visit their Ark. A replica makes it more real, lifelike, and can strengthen some people’s faith. It can also increase your understanding. As they say, a picture (replica) is worth a thousand words.

Apologetics will not win everyone to Christ, but it is a valid form of evangelism, and it will win some. I’m for all valid methods of evangelism.

I plan to get a small replica of the Ark to use from time to time at our church. Always liked “Show and Tell.”

My preacher brother Mark once marked off the dimensions of the Ark on his church property; that was pretty impressive.

David R. Brumbelow

Noah needed the Ark for about a year. Ken Ham, if our Lord delays His Coming, will need his Ark replica for a lot longer than a year.

The Ark replica will last a lot longer and be easier to maintain, if it is not floating in water. I can also be more centrally located. I see no problem with the Ark located on land.

David R. Brumbelow

Own a replica of Noah’s Ark:

https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/bronze-resin-ark-replica/?sk…

David R. Brumbelow

Bert, there’s something different about experiencing something in real life, that’s why they have museums in the first place. To see in person the size of the ark and walk through it, that is a different experience than simply reading about it. And people regularly ridicule how they could have fit all the animals on the ark, now you can visualize it in real life, rather than just read an illustration about box cars and sheep.

This sounds like I am some huge proponent of this thing, I’m not really—can live with or without it. Just don’t understand the need to attack it.

Bert, I’m wondering if you read Ham’s response and if you could address his actual points?

For the umpteenth time, I need to say that taxpayer/public funds have not been used in any way to fund the construction of our life-size Noah’s Ark opening July 7 in Williamstown, about 40 miles south of Cincinnati. All funds (i.e., bonds and donations) to build the Ark Encounter came from private supporters of the Ark project. Furthermore, the bonds purchased by our private supporters were nonrated bonds that were collateralized with a first mortgage on the Ark real estate and a pledge of project revenues, unlike the writer’s claim that these were “junk bonds” with no security. In fact, today there are several billion-dollar municipal bond funds that hold a significant amount of nonrated bonds that perform well.

The writer’s statement that the Ark Encounter “landed a series of local and state incentives worth $80 million over 20 years” is just flat out wrong. Yes, the Ark Encounter has the opportunity through Kentucky’s tourism incentive program to receive a future rebate of sales taxes that it generates at our theme park, up to $18.25 million over a 10-year period after it opens…

Ultimately, only visitors to the Ark Encounter pay the sales tax that generates the possible rebate, which is a performance-based rebate incentive that does not come from any other source or taxpayer funds. So when the reporter wrote that “the ark project is a lightning rod for its reliance on public tax incentives,” he is just flat out wrong….

Tax increment financing (TIF) is a tool to encourage new development and redevelopment. It allows local governments (and sometimes states) to capture the increases in taxes from a designated area (TIF district) generated by new development within the TIF district, and to use a portion of those increased taxes to encourage the new development or improvements within the TIF district. It is an incentive program that is widely used throughout the United States. Across Kentucky, several cities have used a TIF for landmark developments to facilitate new development, expansion, and renovation in their communities. These projects include Yum Arena, the Louisville Marriott Hotel, the downtown Bowling Green Project, and the 21c Lexington Hotel. Key projects in Northern Kentucky that have used TIF include Manhattan Harbour, Ovation, the Fort Mitchell Gateway Project (redevelopment of Drawbridge Inn site), and Ark Encounter.

The city of Williamstown established an 898-acre TIF district to provide local incentives to Ark Encounter and other projects that may develop as a result of the Ark Encounter project. (Ark Encounter will only receive TIF district incentives from the taxes generated on the property that it owns and develops). The city and Grant County each support projects, with the TIF district providing a pledge of 75% of the new incremental increase in real estate taxes for a 30-year period. No existing taxes were impacted.

At the time the TIF district was established, the total taxable assessment of the 898-acre district totaled only $3.89 million, and it produced $5,611 in county taxes and $10,662 in city taxes. Ark Encounter will increase the taxable assessment of the TIF district by over $75 million dollars. Even with the 75% increment of the city and county taxes pledged to Ark Encounter, the city and county will annually generate thousands more in taxes than they would have if Ark Encounter had not been built. The net annual increase in new taxes to the city will be $58,125, and to the county will be $27,375, and these amounts do not include the increased amounts from tangible property taxes or other taxes the city and county will receive.

The local taxing entities over the life of the TIF will generate millions in new taxes as a result of Ark Encounter.

In addition, the other local taxing districts in Grant County—schools, library district, and so on—will receive 100% of the increased taxes as those taxes are not pledged to the TIF district. Therefore even though some of the increased taxes will be used to reimburse the Ark Encounter for its capital costs, the local taxing entities over the life of the TIF will generate millions in new taxes as a result of Ark Encounter, to the great benefit of Grant County residents.

I don’t know about you guys, but I am going to enjoy eating at Emzara’s Kitchen and snacking on some nice chicken tenders. I think it would be just like what Noah’s wife would have setup on their ark. I hope to visit the gift store and purchase a real replica of the ark.

In my opinion, anyone can do anything they want with their money. This is a free country. With that said, I find this type of attraction as being only a step away from the money changers in the temple. While there will be some Bible messages available, I don’t see this as the proper route to evangelism. This was a large sum of money that was raised through private bonds in which the donors are receiving financial compensation that is being generated by ticket sales that are driven by things like zip lines, gift shops, petting zoos, and other attractions that have nothing to do with the gospel. This will primarily be visited by Christians and home school groups with probably a smattering of individuals who are unsaved who may look at it out of curiosity. While Ken Ham may not be getting profits, the bondholders are. These bondholders are probably Christians, churches, maybe AiG families and other individuals looking for tax-free interest payments. I would like to see how many people are really saved, or how many individuals who have never heard the gospel are being addressed through this $30+ million dollars. I really struggle with how this aligns with both the instruction and practice of spreading the gospel in the New Testament. $30 Million would have paid for 500 students to earn a 4 year degree at a bible college and plant a church. Instead it is going toward lining the pockets of bondholders, many who might not even be Christian in the first place. God doesn’t need the Ark Encounter to reach a single soul, and if he did need Disney Park Attractions, it would have been outlined in Scriptures. We need to train people to spread the gospel and we need to present the gospel, in as simple of a practice as Christ did at the well.

If the one and only purpose of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were evangelistic, you might have a point.

I’m just curious, have you been to the Creation Museum?

(And again, I’m not a staunch defender of AiG..I don’t donate, have only been to the CM once…)

Greg, they’re generating new taxes like any business, but why should a newcomer to town get the tax exemption, but not established businesses? No matter how you cut it, TIF and sales tax exemptions are subsidies.

To draw a picture, Kentucky sales tax is 6%, of which AIG is getting 4.5% back. Profit margins in retail (e.g. Walmart) are 3-5%.

Bert, the newspaper article is not making a case against TIFs in general as you are, but rather that they are being used in this particular case. They are inconsistently outraged about the use of these tax incentives, as they’re not arguing against it in principal, just that shouldn’t be used for any religious entity. To achieve their agenda, they are using misleading headlines and articles making it seem that AiG received direct government subsidies to help build the thing, which is just false.

[Greg Long]

If the one and only purpose of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were evangelistic, you might have a point.

I’m just curious, have you been to the Creation Museum?

(And again, I’m not a staunch defender of AiG..I don’t donate, have only been to the CM once…)

The purpose of both of these institutions as claimed by Ken Ham, AiG and their respective websites is to equip Christians and evangelize the lost. The benefit of these institutions to the State, as explained by Ken Ham is that it will create jobs and bring revenue and profit into the surrounding communities. So I don’t think I am way off. It is clear that there is a big push that this helps evangelize the lost. I don’t need a $30 Million amusement park to equip myself or my family to understand what the gospel says about the ark.

I have not been to the Creation Musuem.

I am a defender of AiG. I appreciate much of what they have to write and what they have done. I just don’t think this is being a good steward of God’s money, nor do I feel that this is the proper way to equip the saints or evangelize the lost. There is not a single Christian that will be better equipped to shared the gospel or a soul won on things like cafe’s, petting zoo’s or zip lines. Much of what is presented at the attraction while not necessarily conflicting with the Scriptural account, cannot be claimed to be the Scriptural account in the Bible. We don’t know exactly the dimensions of the ark, nor what it looked like. The ark was not built by Amish craftsmen, the carved animals are ideas of what may have existed during this time (but we don’t know with certainty), we don’t know who Noah’s wife was (but AiG has chosen to use an apocryphal account of her name), we don’t really know what their living quarters looked like while on the ark…… while those are great things to ponder they are not really rooted in the true Scriptural account, leading to some careful discussions that should be had with our families after visiting this attraction, identifying what was truly Biblical and what was presented to give us an idea of what might have been.