Canyon exhibit installation and more on the debate

CANYON EXHIBIT UPDATE

Installation of exhibits at the Creation Museum is ramping up. The main part of the Grand Canyon exhibit has now been installed (see photographs). It still needs a lot of work, as the opening date is only about 16 months away---but it is so thrilling to see things taking shape.

NEW "JOISEY" (JERSEY)

I am now in New Jersey (or "Joisey", as some of the locals say it), ready for the AiG conference this weekend. Our staff and volunteers spent most of the day setting up. We are expecting at least 2,000 children for the K–6 program Friday morning. There has been a lot of interest in this seminar, so we are expecting quite a good crowd for the entire program. We shipped in nine pallets of books/DVDs, etc.—so we pray people will be motivated to get this material and influence their family, friends and the culture.

AUSSIE BLOG RESPONSE

It is always thrilling to receive emails from my homeland (Australia). Yesterday, we received the following:

I know how busy you must be, Ken, so though I have often thought of writing, I never have before. I have constantly wanted to thank you and all the AIG staff for the great work you are doing. Many people have said it much more eloquently than I could, but I have appreciated it for years and years.

I have been blessed in having attended visits from yourself [and others] in Charters Towers at different times over the last couple of decades, besides getting all the information in the magazine, journal, mail outs, and of course, in more recent times, the website. So thank you for that important bit.

But also, I do so much enjoy your blog - I guess mainly because I am originally from northeastern Ohio, and now here in Charters Towers, and you went from Brisbane to southern Ohio. So I avidly read your comments on the weather, customs, etc there besides taking in your words about our Lord and His creative work.

STAFF MEMBER HOME WITH THE LORD

Today we learned that Karen Herzog, AiG staff member, went home to be with the Lord. Karen has been with the ministry for a number of years but had been on disability because of her sickness. Mally and I and other staff members will be attending her funeral on Monday afternoon. As a staff, we will continue to uphold the family in prayer—as we have been doing.

MORE ANKERBERG DEBATE SERIES FEEDBACK

Dr. Russell Humphreys, from the Institute For Creation Research, sent me a copy of a letter he sent to John Ankerberg after viewing the first program of the eight-program debate series between myself and Dr. Jason Lisle and Dr. Walter Kaiser and Dr. Hugh Ross. (If you haven’t viewed the program, you can at Ankerberg.org.)

Dr. Humphreys wrote:

Is Walter Kaiser the best theologian you could get for the old-earth viewpoint in the latest debate? If so, I have to conclude that the old-earthers' Biblical case must be almost non-existent.

First, it was very unscholarly of him to dismiss the two most respected Hebrew lexicons with a flippant, "Too bad for Brown–Driver–Briggs and too bad for Koehler–Baumgartner!" In doing that, Kaiser was setting himself up as the supreme authority, above other Hebrew scholars. It is dishonest of him to expect the audience to accept his raw, unsupported, self-proclaimed authority for the validity of his claims.

Second, his main claim this week was very weak. He asserts that Genesis 1:14, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night," positively means that ordinary-length days did not exist before that. The obvious point is that God defined the word "day" in Genesis 1:5 and used it several times before the fourth day. Kaiser did not explain why God would use that term, along with other similar terms, to describe something that was not really an ordinary day. If "context is king," as Kaiser said, then the context of day/night, light/darkness, evening/morning, and "day" plus a number would require that the first three days also be ordinary-length days.

That would require an alternative interpretation of Kaiser's key verse, Genesis 1:14. Kaiser did not seem to even realize there might be one. The most obvious one is simply that in verse 14, God was setting up a more permanent arrangement for marking off time than the original source of light He provided on the first day. (By the way, Psalm 104:2 hints that God Himself was the original light source.) In fact that is the way that most believers understood that verse---until the nineteenth century, when scholars like Kaiser began to feel the need to accommodate their views to scientific fads and fashions. I wish Kaiser would frankly admit that is what he is doing.

In other words, Ken Ham won the day easily. Though I'm rooting for Ken, I wish that Kaiser could at least put up a better fight.

All I can say is I was very disappointed with Dr. Kaiser’s position and many of the statements he made. Everyone can decide for themselves what they think by viewing the programs.

Please pray for the New Jersey conference this weekend—it will be a busy time for all of us.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ken