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My wife and son and I traveled to Kentucky recently to see the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.
For the uninitiated, the Ark Encounter is a full 1:1 reproduction of Noah's Ark, and the Creation Museum is a facility devoted to creation apologetics from a scientific perspective. The 1:1 replication of Noah's Ark is possible because the literal dimensions of the Ark are dictated to Noah by the Lord in Genesis chapter 6. At sixty-two years of age, you'd think by now I'd know better than to expect secular people to be interested in the things of God. But no, of course I was disappointed when I shared my trip with people at work. To be fair, no one is required to care about anything someone else cares about. That's not really the point. In particular, 'the world' by default rarely ever gives thought to the Lord, much less anything surrounding or related to Him. Most responses were some variation of: "The what? Ark what? What's that? That's in the Bible? What do you mean "Ark?" In Kentucky? You mean like the little boat I heard about in Sunday school?" etc. As I've alluded, I probably should have expected all this disinterest, but none were quite as disturbing as the response I received from someone I once considered a good friend. Of all the people I work with at my day job, I've only invited one to be a guest in my home through all the thirteen years I've worked there. Ironically, it was this particular person whose response was the most negative. Right after I began explaining the trip and how wonderful it was, his initial response was: "Oh, does your son like that kind of thing?" It wasn't clear what he meant, so I asked if he meant museum kind of thing or religious kind of thing. He indicated the latter. Add to that the you-can't-seriously-believe-all-that-Bible-stuff look on his face, and I pretty much lost any further interest in talking about the trip with him. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions about everything. This is a core aspect of the gift from the Lord of free will. I just think the arrogance of assuming that worshipers of the Lord are ignorant dupes is sad and depressing. Of course both 'sides' think they're correct. The difference is though I strongly disagree, I respect my former friend's decision to reject the sovereignty of the Lord. In contrast, my former friend confidently assesses me as ignorant and deluded, despite thirteen years of evidence to the contrary. |