Big Bang Bust

Just this past week I was minding my own business and was watching the local news. It was the usual: arson on the south side, murder on the east side, traffic on I70, and of course the rocketing property taxes. You know, all of those stories that just make your heart swell being an American. Because my family was pretty entrenched in the television industry, I don't watch the news like normal people. I notice when the chroma key is off on the weather person, when the copy editor obviously did not do a spell check on the headlines, and how many times the floor director is not queuing the anchor to look at the right camera. I also pay a lot more attention to the commercials. After all, this was our bread and butter.

At this time of year, its heavy with car sales or end of summer clearances in the seasonal wares. "Get your pool installed at 1/2 off!" This is of course in addition to the ask-your-doctor variety of new pharmaceuticals that are ALWAYS targeted to the generation seeking to ease aches and pains of growing older and who are actually watching the news. Next month I predict more office supply ads and back to school themes. What was completely off the beaten path was the museum ad for a regional site in a neighboring state.

It was a creative ad with a lot of art showing things like the Venus fly trap and reeds and other nature kinds of things. And then the tag line showed: "Prepare to Believe." My jaw dropped open. The Creation Museum. Not even Utah would go this far. Even Thanksgiving Point has a great Dinosaur museum in Lehi, Utah that has NO MENTION of God, the Bible, or anything and it is owned by a very prominent Mormon influence. The Mormons are pretty set in their doctrine that Creationism is the way to go. No big bang. No evolution. Nada.

I couldn't help but let my curiosity get out of hand and go check the site. Front page: "The Creation Museum presents a “walk through history.” Designed by a former Universal Studios exhibit director, this state-of-the-art 60,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life."

Okey dokey. I then began to peruse other links on the site and found this:

Be prepared to experience history in a completely unprecedented way.

The state-of-the-art 60,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers. The serpent coils cunningly in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Majestic murals, great masterpieces brimming with pulsating colors and details, provide a backdrop for many of the settings.

The area within the museum has been divided into unusually configured spaces that allow for personal interaction with each of the 160 exhibits. Several parts of the museum, including the stunning forty-foot high portico with its cliff wall and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, flaunt open spaces and remarkable designs.

Walk through the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life, central to the garden, stretches out its branches, laden with ripened fruits. Come face-to-face with a sauropod, a dinosaur of incredible dimensions. His monstrous frame moves through the low-lying thicket as he grazes on plants. Introduce yourself to our chameleons. Examine bones, a clutch of eggs from a dinosaur, an exceptional fossil collection, and a mineral collection. Walk through the Cave of Sorrows and see the horrific effects of the Fall of man. Sounds of a sin-ravaged world echo through the room. Finally, see the sacrificial Lamb on the cross, and the hope of redemption."

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? I'm no Bible scholar, but I don't really remember it ever mention dinosaurs hanging out around the Cave of Sorrows or the Tree of Life.

All of a sudden, the thought of raising kids in Utah is seeming a lot more appealing. Sure its behind the Zion Curtain, but its out of the Bible Belt.