{"id":29511,"date":"2022-05-09T00:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=29511"},"modified":"2022-05-17T23:23:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T23:23:03","slug":"at-a-popular-evangelical-tourist-site-the-ark-encounter-the-image-of-a-wrathful-god-appeals-to-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/at-a-popular-evangelical-tourist-site-the-ark-encounter-the-image-of-a-wrathful-god-appeals-to-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"At a popular evangelical tourist site, the Ark Encounter, the image of a \u2018wrathful God\u2019 appeals to millions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Susan L Trollinger<\/a>, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em> and William Trollinger<\/a>, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ark Encounter, an evangelical theme park located near Williamstown, Kentucky, has welcomed between 4 million and 5 million visitors<\/a> since its opening in July 2016. Hundreds of thousands more are sure to visit this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This theme park boasts a re-creation of the story of Noah\u2019s Ark from the Bible. As described in Genesis 6:14-16<\/a>, God directed Noah to build this ark to spare eight humans and a male and female pair of every kind of creature from the flood that God was going to unleash on the world as a punishment for sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As scholars of fundamentalism and creationism, we have visited the Ark Encounter multiple times. We have also written a book, \u201cRighting America at the Creation Museum<\/a>,\u201d about the ark\u2019s companion site, the Creation Museum<\/a> in Petersburg, Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we find particularly striking about Ark Encounter is that it is a tourist site devoted to emphasizing \u2013 with great specificity \u2013 the wrathful nature of God and the eternal damnation that awaits unrepentant sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Ark Encounter\u2019s argument?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Answers in Genesis<\/a>, the fundamentalist organization that launched Ark Encounter, and its CEO, Ken Ham<\/a>, Ark Encounter is a centerpiece of AiG\u2019s mission to \u201cexpose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas and bedfellow: a \u2018millions of years old\u2019 earth (and even older universe)<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, according to AiG, when Genesis 1<\/a> says God created the Earth in six days, it literally means six 24-hour days. Similarly, when the Bible says Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and gives details about their descendants and how long they lived, this is interpreted as recounting real history. And all of this means that, according to AiG, the Earth is \u201cabout 6,000 years old<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While scientists have estimated the Earth to be about 4.5 billion years old<\/a>, AiG counters by claiming that radiometric dating is not reliable<\/a>. Instead, they assert that the catastrophic biblical flood<\/a> created all the geological formations that make the Earth look ancient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few decades, this argument has become a doctrinal touchstone for many American evangelicals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An enormous structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We most recently visited the Ark Encounter on March 15, 2022. Measuring 510 feet (155 metres) long, 85 feet (25 metres) wide, and 51 feet (15 metres) high<\/a>, the Ark Encounter is, to quote one visitor we overheard, \u201cso huge!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After purchasing tickets that cost US$54.95 per adult<\/a>, we and other visitors boarded buses and made the ascent up a long hill. Getting off the bus, we walked to the Ark, keenly aware of how small we were in relation to this ginormous structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the Ark, visitors walk through three enormous decks, encountering rows of clay food storage containers, burlap sacks and animal cages. They observe over 100 bays featuring placards and digital animations that, among other things, go far beyond the Bible to explain Noah\u2019s training in shipbuilding, carpentry and blacksmithing. The same creativity applies to the various displays explaining how eight human beings on the Ark fed, watered and managed the waste of 7,000 or so creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The living quarters of Japheth (Noah\u2019s son) and his wife, Rayneh, aboard the Ark. Susan Trollinger, CC BY<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Visitors also walk through a life-size diorama of the plush living quarters of Noah\u2019s family, where they learn about the skills, gifts and interests of Noah\u2019s sons \u2013 details not included in Genesis. They also learn about Noah\u2019s wife and his sons\u2019 wives. The Bible never identifies these women by name, much less describes them. Nevertheless, the Ark gives them names, different ethnic complexions, biographies and even hobbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notwithstanding the occasional placard acknowledging that designers have taken \u201cartistic license\u201d with these dioramas, we couldn\u2019t help but notice how much of what is in the Ark is not actually found in the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But visitors to the Ark seem to embrace these dramatic additions to the biblical text. As religion scholar Paul Thomas<\/a> observes in his new book, \u201cStorytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and the Museum of the Bible<\/a>,\u201d the world created by the designers of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter satisfies the evangelical longing \u201cfor a time and place governed by biblical principles, even if that idealized time and place \u2026 never really existed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very angry God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AiG requires all Ark Encounter employees to affirm a 46-point faith statement<\/a>. They must agree, for example, that \u201cgender and biological sex are equivalent and cannot be separated,\u201d modern understandings of \u201csocial justice\u201d are \u201canti-biblical,\u201d and all humans \u201care sinners\u201d and \u201care therefore subject to God\u2019s wrath and condemnation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This emphasis on the overwhelming wrath of God is perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Ark Encounter as a tourist site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A placard inside the ark explains that, by AiG\u2019s calculations, there were anywhere from about 150 million to 20 billion human beings at the time of the biblical flood. Susan Trollinger, CC BY<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Genesis 7:16<\/a> states that, as the flood waters rose, God slammed shut the door into the Ark. Once shut, all the humans and animals on the other side of the door were doomed to drown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a placard displayed at Ark Encounter, there may have been upwards of 20 billion people on Earth at the time of the Genesis flood, a number that would have included children and infants, not to mention the unborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another placard asks, \u201cWas it just for God to judge the whole world?\u201d The answer: \u201cSince He is the one who gave life, He has the right to take life. Secondly, God is perfectly just and must judge sin. Third, all have sinned and deserve death and judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A model of a door that God is believed to have closed as the biblical flood waters rose. Susan Trollinger, CC BY<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Remarkably, Ark Encounter has placed a \u201ckeepsake photo\u201d placard near the door that, in the Ark\u2019s depiction, sealed the fate of all those on the other side. As we have witnessed every time we have toured Ark Encounter, happy visitors line up to have their photos taken in front of this door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to AiG, this ancient divine slaughter prefigures a future divine slaughter. As the Ark Encounter website puts it<\/a>, \u201cGod will judge this wicked world once again, but this time it will be by fire \u2026 God always keeps His promises \u2013 judgment will come.\u201d According to AiG, we can escape this fate by believing in Christ, but for the billions (past and present) who have not or do not, the result is \u201ceverlasting, conscious punishment in the lake of fire (hell)<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As historian Doug Frank<\/a> makes clear in his 1986 book, \u201cA Gentler God<\/a>,\u201d this understanding of a wrathful God is alive and well in American evangelicalism. Frank\u2019s argument is supported by a 2014 Pew Research report that revealed that 82% of American evangelicals believe in a literal hell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of evangelicals visit Ark Encounter for all sorts of reasons, including, perhaps, its sheer immensity. That said, the message they get from Ark Encounter is clear and simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wrathful God has determined that those who do not accept Jesus as savior, those who are resolutely on the wrong side of culture war issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, will pay for their sin eternally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.<\/em> Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan L Trollinger<\/a>, Professor of English, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em> and William Trollinger<\/a>, Professor of History, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan L Trollinger, University of Dayton and William Trollinger, University of Dayton The Ark Encounter, an evangelical theme park located near Williamstown, Kentucky, has welcomed between 4 million and 5 million visitors since its opening in July 2016. Hundreds of thousands more are sure to visit this summer. This theme park boasts a re-creation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,2450],"tags":[2849,11786,4412,1829,2066,4817,3205,10235,11787,6610,8941],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29575,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29511\/revisions\/29575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}