A few years back I found the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose State Park and I was enchanted at the chance to stand in an actual dinosaur footprint. On the way there I noticed the Creation Evidence Museum, 3102 FM 205, Glen Rose, Texas 76043. Well this Texas trip I went back to check out the museum because I think it is good for me to explore different view points and a fair number of folks must believe in creation because there are two US museums devoted to this topic. This one in Glen Rose is the smaller of the two. The 27 million dollar Creation Museum in Kentucky has a full size replica of Noah’s Ark! In fact this article, based on a Gallop poll, states 46% of the US adult population believes in Creationism (God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so).
General impressions:
- The 45 minute introductory video by the museum director, Carl Baugh, walked the audience through many of the museum’s exhibits. If I wasn’t such a skeptic (thanks dad) I would have found it very convincing. Wikipedia suggests that there is controversy around Mr. Baugh’s theories.
- I’m learning that I didn’t really understand the theory of creationism. The video suggested that the earth, animals, dinosaurs, people and all was put into place in seven actual earth days. Charts were presented. The science was explained. Biblical passages were quoted.
- I really enjoyed many of the exhibits. I like dinosaurs and there were a few to see. I like the Noah’s ark story and there was a really large model of the ark. I like models.
- The people that worked there were sincerely nice.
- The museum was well maintained and the bathrooms were clean.
- Nobody preached at me.
- Per the museum’s information dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time and the earth is about 6,000 years old.
- I had trouble getting my head around dinosaurs being on Noah’s ark (let’s just assume that there really was a Noah’s ark). So I read up on it. The logic is that some of the larger dinosaurs were taken as babies, so not so big at the time. And many of the dinosaurs actually were little. And the water dinosaurs didn’t need the ark. You can see the dinosaurs on the ark in the model (go ahead, look)
- But what happened to the dinosaurs under that scenario?! One article suggested that they tasted like chicken and were a food source. Well ok then.
- I liked the holiday decorations on the t-rex head.
- There was a Pulsed Magnetic Field (PMF) unit which looked like a long tube. The sign on it stated in bold, all cap, underlined, red letters “Our magnetic field unit is not turned on at any time during public visits to the museum. You are not under the field’s influence at this moment!” Well, I hadn’t really been worried about it. There was a glass pane missing and I’d think it would have to be a sealed unit to work. I’d kind of like to know the last time it actually was turned on.
- The full size replica of the Guttenberg was fascinating.
- I had no idea that Tom Landry was so very involved with Creationism. He was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys when I lived in the Dallas area. There is a larger than life size statue of him at the museum. It is next to a statue of a native American. Mr. Landry was also featured on the video.
So there you have it. I’m glad I went. It certainly didn’t convince me of creationism, but I came away with a better understanding of what it is and why people believe it. There were a bunch of children there and this information is being presented as fact.
The museum costs $6 a person (5 and under are free). Their website is here. Personally I think that no matter what you believe, it is worthwhile to visit. I gained interesting insights.