The Ark Encounter’s Biggest Exhibit: A Double Standard

 

Introduction

Ken Ham has built his public ministry on a clear refrain: we must “stand uncompromisingly on the authority of God’s Word” by reading Genesis “as it is plainly written” and avoiding “adding man’s ideas” to Scripture. (1, 2) In Stop Trusting Man’s Word: Genesis and Compromise (DVD, 1:12:59), he says:

“Obviously what I’m saying to you is, what the church is doing is taking outside ideas [i.e., man’s word], adding to Scriptures… It’s undermining biblical authority.”

Yet this critical standard, it seems, does not apply to AiG itself — or to its own attractions.       

About That Massive Disclaimer…

Step inside the Ark Encounter and you’re met with a wall of text explaining that much of what you’re about to see is speculative or plausible artistic license. (3) And that disclaimer is there for a reason: the attractions are not a “plain reading” of Genesis, but a sprawling, imaginative reconstruction (one might even dare to call it an interpretation). The exhibits include:

• Invented backstories for Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters‑in‑law — full biographies never mentioned in Scripture. (The backstories and additional details for Noah and his family featured in the Ark Encounter, including the names of the women on the ark, are actually drawn from a historical fiction series — The Remnant Trilogy — by Tim Chaffey and K. Marie Adams.)

• A convenient profession for Noah as an experienced carpenter/shipbuilder.

• An invented ‘antediluvian’ script — which is in fact nothing more than English recast in fictional glyphs, created by AiG graphic designer James de Leon and oriented right‑to‑left to echo Hebrew’s directionality.

• Depictions of the antediluvian world featuring:

• Dinosaur poachers wiping out triceratops herds for their horns.

• Gladiatorial combat involving humans, giants, and Carnotaurus (a theropod dinosaur). (4)

• Towering temples with child sacrifice to a snake‑headed god. (5)

• Detailed engineering features — ventilation systems, waste disposal, food storage — none of which appear in the biblical account.

Many of these details — and plenty more — are on full display in this video tour with Ken Ham and Tim Chaffey.

What the Bible Actually Says

Here’s the entire construction brief for the Ark from Genesis 6:14–16 (ESV):

“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.”

That’s it. No blueprints. No linguistic lexicon. No backstories. And when it comes to the antediluvian world, Scripture gives us even less:

• It mentions the Nephilim and “mighty men of renown” (Genesis 6:4) — a hotly debated passage worthy of its own article.

• It tells us that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” and that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

• It records that God “regretted that he had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6).That’s the extent of the description.

In other words, none of the elaborate scenes above have any textual basis. The biblical account offers no details from which to build the fleshed‑out pre‑flood civilization depicted in the Creation Museum. Which means AiG had a blank canvas — and chose to fill it with a narrative drawn from a work of fiction (Tim Chaffey's Remnant Trilogy) and content tailored to fit modern sensibilities: endangered species, child sacrifice, violent entertainment, and pagan idolatry, all packaged as biblical history.

The truth is, the “biblical parameters” are so minimal that filling a life‑size ark and its surrounding world requires… well, a lot of filling. And AiG has taken full advantage of that creative leeway — while still claiming to uphold a “plain reading” of Scripture.

The Core Contradiction

When Old Earth Creationists, Theistic Evolutionists or biblical scholars use ancient Near Eastern context, genre study, or original language analysis to clarify Genesis, Ham calls it “compromise” and “man’s ideas” undermining Scripture. (6, 7) Yet AiG’s own attractions take liberties on a far greater scale — imagining entire societies, technologies, and character arcs from thin air.

The disclaimer doesn’t solve that problem; it highlights it. It’s an institutional cope: “Yes, we’re adding fictional content, but it’s okay when we do it so long as we give a disclaimer.” When others bring in outside knowledge to challenge rigid YEC readings, they’re accused of unbiblical thinking. When AiG adds dinosaur gladiatorial arenas and speculative ark engineering to sell tickets, it’s presented as biblically grounded ministry.

Conclusion: Why It Matters

Artistic license in itself isn’t the villain here — lack of consistency is. The Ark Encounter’s very need for a massive disclaimer is the silent testimony that AiG does not actually practice the “plain reading” standard it demands of others. They read between the lines whenever it suits them, and ignore those spaces when it doesn’t. That double standard doesn’t just weaken their argument against critics — it erodes the credibility of their entire stated mission. If Christian ministries can fabricate “facts” on the spot and present them as historical truth in a museum setting without a shred of historical or biblical evidence, they stand in the same credibility gap as Ancient Aliens or any other conspiracy franchise. Apologetics ministries must, to the best of their ability, stand on truth — even when it costs them clicks, tickets, or applause. Otherwise, they’re not defending the faith; they’re curating a theme park attraction. And the moment our defense of the Bible depends on bending the rules to draw a crowd, we’ve already abandoned the very authority we claim to uphold.