Charles Pierce called it “batshit crazy.” Other commentators might use more sedate language, but the basic message is the same: For most of us, the fixation on dinosaurs among the young-earth creationists at Answers In Genesis (AIG) is intensely puzzling. And now we have a new wrinkle: A hotel in Japan is bringing Ken Ham’s dinosaur dreams ever closer to fruition. Will YECs notice? Will they care?
Just like old (pre-flood) times…?
To people like me, AIG’s insistence that dinosaurs and humans lived side-by-side is the most egregious and shocking example of their YEC anti-science obliviousness. Of course, if the earth is only about 6,000 years old, humans and dinosaurs would have had to have lived at the same time. But it is such an intensely counter-mainstream notion that you’d think AIG would be a little quiet about it.
No need to go all the way to Japan. They’re all over Kentucky…
They’re not.
Visitors (like me) to the Ark Encounter are impressed right away by the many exhibits featuring domesticated dinosaurs. If I understand AIG’s thinking correctly, they make such a big deal about dinosaurs because they hope dinos can serve as “missionary lizards.” As AIGster Buddy Davis explained,
Dinosaurs and the truths that they share about God’s creation, man’s sin, death, the Flood, and the Ice Age can be used by Christian young people and adults to share the gospel with unbelievers. These missionary lizards uphold the authority of Scripture, and they can be powerful tools in sharing the salvation message, which should be the ultimate goal of every Christian.
As non-Christians hear the biblical explanation of dinosaurs, many have been, and will be, challenged to listen to the rest of what the Bible states. We rejoice that many have been won to the Lord using the true history of these missionary lizards.
I can’t imagine that any secular folks or non-Christian religious people really have been converted to YEC by these missionary lizards. I can’t help but wonder, though, what Ken Ham and his AIG colleagues will make of this dino hotel:
The front desk staff are a pair of giant dinosaurs that look like cast members of the Jurassic Park movies, except for the tiny bellboy hats perched on their heads.
The robo-dinos process check-ins through a tablet system that also allows customers to choose which language—Japanese, English, Chinese or Korean—they want to use to communicate with the multilingual robots.
The effect is bizarre, with the large dinosaurs gesticulating with their long arms and issuing tinny set phrases. Yukio Nagai, manager at the Henn na Hotel Maihama Tokyo Bay, admits some customers find it slightly unnerving.
This might be a stretch, but is it possible that the hotel might become a YEC tourist attraction? That YECs might flock to the hotel to see what it must have been like to cavort with dinosaurs before the flood?
I Love You but You're Going to Hell 