Ushering in the New Year with Dinosaur Meat and a Big Plate of Ken Ham!

It’s a new year. Some of my “New Year’s Resolutions” for my blog will be (A) to finish posting my series on “The Ways of the Worldviews,” (B) to start posting more posts regarding Biblical Studies, and (C) to get back to the occasional post about Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, and Young Earth Creationism.

This past I’ve taken a break from Ken Ham for what should be obvious reasons. The previous two years were spent researching YEC and AiG, and writing a book on it. I need to “cleanse the palate” so to speak. In addition, ever since the opening of the “Ark Encounter,” Ken Ham has spent most of his Twitter-time either in simple promotion of his attraction or re-posting past AiG articles, many of which I have already written my own posts on.

Ken Ham Begins His New Year Angry About Media Dishonesty
This morning, though, as I was thumbing through my twitter-feed, I came across an interesting tweet by Ken Ham—actually, FIVE tweets about the SAME thing, all posted within the same hour. Apparently, it was something Ken Ham was quite upset about.

He linked an article by the Washington Post that was about an upcoming movie by Morgan Spurlock about young earth creationism. In the article, it mentions Ken Ham. Essentially what the article said was that young earth creationists (aka “creation scientists”) argue that (A) dinosaurs and human were created on literally the sixth day of time itself, a mere 6,000 years ago, (B) therefore, they lived on earth at the same time, and (C) that it was a worldwide flood during the days of Noah, about 4,000 years ago, that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.

Well, if you read Ham’s twitter responses, it will become abundantly clear that Ken Ham was not happy with the article. Here’s what he wrote in each of his FIVE tweets within the SAME hour:

1. New Year’s Resolution: How about media like @washingtonpost resolve to research & write accurate articles, NOT like:
2. I challenge @washingtonpost to show ONE instance where @arkencounter supposedly says Dinos died out during Flood!
3. Will @washingtopost correct false claim attributed to @ArkEncounter re Dinosaurs & Flood?
4. Hey @washingtonpost we at @ArkEncounter have NEVER said Dinosaurs were wiped out during Flood-get your facts right
5. Novel idea for a New Year’s Resolution: media do research and write accurate articles instead of usual inaccurate agenda driven ones

And, with each tweet, he linked the actual article that you can read here: Now there’s a theory that dinosaurs were wiped out in Noah’s flood.

I Was Perplexed
Needless to say, I was initially perplexed. I have read countless articles by Ken Ham and the folks at Answers in Genesis, and that’s pretty much what they claimed. For the most part, the article seemed to be quite accurate, so Ham’s objections seemed just bizarre. After all, when I actually visited the “Ark Encounter” last summer, I saw many displays (like the one shown here) that clearly show dinosaurs perishing in the flood, while Noah’s ark was sailing off on the waters.

So how could Ken Ham claim the article was inaccurate and was making false claims?

But then it hit me: technically, Ken Ham is correct. Technically, AiG does not claim that ALL dinosaurs went extinct in the flood. So let’s set the record straight as to what AIG claims, after all, they’ve written extensively about this very issue. If you want to read some of their articles for yourself, here are just a few:

1. What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?
2. How Did Dinosaurs Die?
3. The Extinction of Dinosaurs

Setting the Record Straight
In a nutshell, though, here’s what these articles will tell you: (A) dinosaurs and human were created on literally the sixth day of time itself, a mere 6,000 years ago, (B) therefore, they lived on earth at the same time, and (C) that it was a worldwide flood during the days of Noah, about 4,000 years ago, that caused most of the dinosaurs to go extinct.

Do those points look familiar? They should, because that’s exactly what the Washington Post article said…with one exception. AiG doesn’t claim ALL dinosaurs died off in the flood, just MOST of them. After all, as is clearly displayed all over the place at the “Ark Encounter” and Ken Ham’s Creation Museum, AiG claims that Noah actually took various pairs of dinosaurs on his Ark, along with all other land creatures. So obviously, those dinosaurs that were on the Ark survived the flood!

And then AiG claims something else (something the Washington Post didn’t mention): due to the drastic climate change that took place as a result of the flood, a singular ice age occurred shortly after Noah and the animals (including dinosaurs) came out of the Ark, and that singular ice age lasted for approximately 200 years or so. It was during that time that the remnant of dinosaurs that came out of Noah’s Ark eventually became extinct. As you can see with the pictures provided, I’m not making this up: it is on full display at the “Ark Encounter.” 

So: Dishonest Media or Manipulative Hamean Trick?
When I was in high school, there was a tremendously popular Christian singer in Evangelical circles named Steve Taylor. One of his songs was entitled, “Guilty By Association,” a song that shined a big spotlight on the sleazy televangelists of the 80’s, and their manipulative tactics to raise money for themselves. One of the stanzas goes like this:

It’s a Telethon Tuesday for “The Gospel Club”
“Send your money in now or they’re gonna pull the plug!”
Just remember this fact when they plead and beg:
When the chicken squawks loudest, its gonna lay a big egg!
You could be smelling a crook, you should be checking The Book,
But you’d rather listen than look…the implication, guilty by association.

Now, let me be the first to say that I don’t think Ken Ham and AiG is doing the same thing as Jim Bakker and the PTL Club. But that line about the chicken squawking loudest laying a big egg just popped in my head as I read Ken Ham’s tweets about the Washington Post article. It was a whole lot of squawking over something that wasn’t really an inaccuracy or intentional deception at all. I mean, okay: technically the Washington Post was wrong to say that Ken Ham claimed that all the dinosaurs went extinct 4,000 years ago in Noah’s flood; but realistically, Ken Ham and AiG does, in fact, say that most of the dinosaurs died off in Noah’s flood, a mere 4,000 years ago, and then the rest of them went extinct within 200 years after that due to the one, single, solitary ice age in history, that lasted all of 200 years!

Do I need to clearly state that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that supports the claim that there was a single, 200-year-long ice age that happened roughly 3800 years ago? I’ll be quite honest, setting the record straight regarding what AiG really does claim makes them look even more ridiculous.

So Why the Squawking?
But why the flurry of tweet objections within the span of one hour? I don’t think Ham is really wanting to set the record straight. He doesn’t try to clarify what AiG really does claim. He just says, “Look out! The Washington Post, and all the secular media, is dishonest! They’re lying about me! They’re lying about AiG!”

And why does he do this? It’s because he’s pushing a particular narrative that he, as a Christian, is being victimized by the secular media, and that AiG is being attacked because it is defending the Bible. He’s trying to scare Evangelicals so that they will donate money to his “Ark Encounter” and Creation Museum, pure and simple.

Let’s be clear: the Bible doesn’t say dinosaurs and human beings were created on the sixth day of time itself; it doesn’t say dinosaurs and human beings lived together a mere 6,000 years ago; it doesn’t say Noah took dinosaurs on the Ark with him; it doesn’t say dinosaurs almost went extinct in the flood; and it doesn’t say a singular ice right before the time of Abraham finished the dinosaurs off.

The Bible doesn’t even mention dinosaurs at all—and that’s okay. That doesn’t mean the Bible is untrustworthy or wrong. IT JUST MEANS THE BIBLE DOESN’T MENTION DINOSAURS. The Gospel does not hinge on whether or not the Bible mentions dinosaurs, no matter what Ken Ham claims or squawks about. But I can guarantee one thing: the big egg that Ham does eventually lay is going to be a rotten egg.