Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:24 — 72.2MB) | Embed

Last month the Ark Encounter attraction, by Answers in Genesis near Cincinnati, announced they would build the Tower of Babel. Of course, this won’t be a replica, lest God confuse our languages even more, but an exhibit. We’re joined by Tim Chaffey, who’s not only an expert in biblical apologetics, but one of the architects who helped build the backstory of Ark Encounter.

Concession stand

1. This is a Nephilim-Free Zone. Genesis is about more than these speculations.
2. Yes, this episode will touch on creation/evolution, but mostly, the Flood.
3. We will assume a global flood here, accepting this is the best Bible reading.
4. If you disbelieve in the Flood, cool. Good for you. You can still be a Christian.
5. But you may simply have bad vibes about (over rational objection) to “creationism.”
6. Keep a fair mind. Healthy Christians can explore these issues in good faith.
7. Anyway, we assume literal creation and Flood, basing our imagination on these.
8. Still disagree? We end with this challenge: build your own Ark. A very tiny one.

Tim Chaffey, content director with Answers in Genesis, features in in a few Ark Encounter features, such as this video about Scripture’s reliability. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Introducing Tim Chaffey

Tim Chaffey is the content manager for the Attractions Division of Answers in Genesis. An apologist with a passion for training young people, he speaks regularly at the Creation Museum, camps, schools, and churches, and has authored numerous nonfiction and fiction books, including The Remnant Trilogy and The Truth Chronicles. Follow his website, Risen Ministries, and his Facebook author page.

1. How did you discover biblical faith and fantastic imagination?

• How did you get into defending six-day creation and a global Flood?

2. What’s it like making Scripture-inspired backstory for the nonfiction Flood?

• Stephen recalls the early AiG materials planning a Creation Museum
• Back then they even hoped to make, of all things, a replica Ark in the future.
• Now it’s real, and we explore how AiG and Ark Encounter create biblical backstory.
• How this project led to Tim Chaffey writing The Remnant Trilogy.
• How the Ark Encounter backstory differs from the Noah movie (2014).

3. What’s next for AiG and Ark Encounter, and how can Christians respond?

• How can the Tower of Babel exhibit address this persistent sin in the world?
• How can biblical truths of human origins motivate Christian imagination?

Delve deeper into Ark Encounter

• ArkEncounter.com, CreationMuseum.org, and AnswersInGenesis.org
• If you must have Nephilim, Tim Chaffey explores this in his 2012 article.
• Ken Ham, Sci-Fi Fan, E. Stephen Burnett, May 2013
• The Noah Movie: Our Detailed Review, Roger Patterson and Tim Chaffey, March 2014
• AiG’s Ark Encounter Is a Model for Christians Engaging Popular Culture, E. Stephen Burnett at Christ and Pop Culture, August 2016
• Behind the Scenes at Ark Encounter, Tim Chaffey at Speculative Faith, April 2018
• Flood Legends Rise From the Depths of History, Tim Chaffey at Lorehaven, summer 2018
• Ark Encounter Adds ‘Tower of Babel’ – Biblical Evidence: ‘We’re All One Biological Race’, Air1.com news, July 2021

Full immersion in biblical imagination

Ark Encounter designers used “ark-tistic license,” shaped by Scripture reading, to speculate about the Ark’s appearance and Noah’s family. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Perish all thoughts of sentimentalism: Ark Encounter designers pulled few punches in showcasing the sin of a pre-Flood world. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Ark Encounter designers imagined names, appearances, and even personalities for all of Noah’s family, including his three sons and their wives. (courtesy E. Stephen Burnett, July 2018)

Next on Fantastical Truth

What if your father died and made you emperor, but along with your normal kingly responsibilities, you also had to keep control of the sun? Then you learn the sun is fading and the gods might oppose your new marriage? That’s the story of Lani Forbes’s Mesoamerican-flavor fantasy The Seventh Sun, last seen winning several 2021 Realm Awards, and Lani will rejoin Fantastical Truth!

Sponsor: James R. Hannibal’s The Paris Betrayal from Revell Books

After an intelligence operation in Rome goes sideways, Ben Calix returns to Paris to find his perfectly ordered world turned upside down. A hit man ambushes him at his flat. French SWAT tries to hem him in. This is a severance. The Director has kicked him out into the cold. But why?

To find answers, Ben must seek the sniper who tried to kill him, the spymaster who trained him, the doctor who once saved his life, and the teammate who killed the woman he loved. And in the midst of this search, scouring Europe for his contacts, he must still try to stop a world-altering attack.

“Hannibal once again displays his dazzling prose and ability to keep even the more experienced readers guessing. Another gripping, high-octane book from one of the best thriller writers in the business.”

—Simon Gervais, bestselling author of Hunt Them Down

• James R. Hannibal: The Paris Betrayal
• James R. Hannibal’s episode of Fantastical Truth