Noah’s ark of biblical proportions ready to open in Kentucky

The Ark will be open for 40 days and 40 nights beginning Thursday from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm to midnight. The long-awaited theme park based on th.

The exhibits inside the ark tell the story of Noah – alongside replicas of animals and dinosaurs.

In the future, Ark Encounter plans to add a Walled City, the Tower of Babel, a first century Middle Eastern village, a journey in history from Abraham to the parting of the Red Sea, a walk-through aviary, and other attractions.

A new amusement park featuring a huge wooden boat created to be a “life-sized” replica of the ship the Biblical patriarch Noah built to save his family and other land-dwelling animals from a worldwide flood that killed everything else on earth is set to open this week in Kentucky.

Critics say the ark will hurt science education.

Ken Ham, CEO of Ark Encounter, responded to critics of the project due to its Christian roots. During his media session this week, he took aim at those who criticize his group as anti-science and take issue with the help the park has received from local and state governments.

Ham said he expects the ark, made with 3.1 million board feet of timber, to draw at least 1.4 million people a year, including many non-Christians who still know the story well.

“The ark is to be a reminder, we build it as a reminder – it’s our 12 stones – to remind the coming generations of the truth of God’s Word”, says Ham. Scientists believe that dinosaurs went full on extinction some 65 million years before the appearance of first man but members of the ministry believed otherwise. He’s used money from private donations and bonds to complete the $100 million Ark Encounter. In his opinion, “people are waiting to invest because they want to see if after the flash and bang of the opening, what happens next”.

The biggest difference between the replica and Noah’s actual ark is that this boat won’t float.

Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, said on an NPR affiliate in Kentucky last month that two of the key reasons his organization chose the Kentucky site were the tourism tax incentive program and its central location that is within one day’s drive of two-thirds of the US population.

Opponents of the theme park told the AP it is a violation of separation of church and state. “What they’re doing is utterly ridiculous and anywhere else, I don’t think it would be allowed”, Helton said.

“Ark Encounter meets the definition of a tourist attraction, and it will absolutely impact the Kentucky economy”, she said.