Here is a brief look at all seven chapters contained in GOD versus The Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Whose Side is Science On?

1 The Cleveland Museum of Natural History: This chapter takes the reader on a tour inside the Museum and describes many of the scientific exhibits. I’ve also   reprinted a report I wrote in September of 2004 which gives a detailed description of the Museum’s annual “Members Appreciation Night” get-together. That evening Museum members were taken on a “behind the scenes” tour of areas (labs, storage rooms, animal living quarters, etc.) which are off limits to the general public. I certainly found it interesting and I’m sure you will too.

2 The Big Bang: The Museum promotes the belief that approximately 12 1/2 billion years ago there was absolutely nothing in existence; no space, matter, time or energy. Out of this nothingness there eventually emerged a gigantic element-rich universe which, over billions of years, organized itself into an entity chock full of trillions of stars and planets making up the finely tuned system the cosmos is today. All of this was supposed to have taken place without the involvement of any Deity. However, as the reader will learn, this is not what all scientists believe.

3 The Origin of Life: According to the Museum, “Life” on earth got started between 3 and 4 billion years ago through processes involving immense periods of time and blind chance. The “building blocks of life” may have come from outer space or emerged from a chemical rich “primordial soup” here on earth. In either case, the first life forms were very simple, but eventually evolved into more and more complex animals until, finally, evolving into human beings. This all occurred without any intervention from a Supreme Being (God). However, as is the case with the fantastic claims of the Big Bang Exhibit, there are plenty of scientists today who disagree with the view the Museum is promoting and, in this chapter, these scientists present compelling evidence supporting the Bible’s Genesis six-day creation account.

4 Dating Methods: Natural history museums around the world use a variety of dating methods to prove the earth is old enough to support the theories of cosmological, geological, and biological (including human) evolution. Radiometric dating gives ages of millions and billions of years to rocks; carbon-14 dating shows human and animal bones to be tens of thousands of years old; and the counting of varves (sedimentary rock layers) point to canyons and riverbeds supposedly millions of years old. But, as the reader will learn, there are several problems with the accuracy of these dating methods, which is why many scientists do not believe them to be a reliable means of telling the ages of certain bones, rocks, or rock layers.

5 Dinosaurs: These amazing creatures have always fascinated people. They biologically evolved over millions of years into the unusual and, at times, gigantic beasts their fossilized skeletons portray (some even evolved into modern day birds). They went extinct tens of millions of years ago and never lived as contemporaries with mankind. The Museum promotes all of these beliefs wholeheartedly. However, not all scientists agree with these statements and the evidence they present contradicting the Museum’s views is most interesting.

6 Apes To Man Evolution: I believe this to be one of the most important chapters in the book. Since its inception, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has promoted mankind as just a modified form of animal who evolved from an ape-like creature over millions of years. The exhibit claims that humans and the African great apes (gorillas and chimpanzees) shared a common ancestor who existed about 4 million years ago. The Australopithecines (the most famous being “Lucy” whom the Museum has on display), dating back approximately 3.5 million years, are biologically linked to our current human species. Such beliefs, according to the Museum, are scientifically supported by the fields of Comparative Anatomy, Paleontology and Biochemistry. However, as the reader will discover, many scientists believe the theory of human evolution is based on an abundance of scientific imagination as opposed to actual scientific data. What we believe concerning our ancestry is very important. Whether choosing to accept an evolutionary relationship with an ape or believing one is made in the image of God, the choice we make will contribute greatly in determining how we think and act in our daily lives. That's why I believe this chapter is one of the most important to read.

7 Thinking We‘re Apes Leads To Ape-Like Thinking: The reader will learn how destructive evolutionary thinking can be. Quotes from highly educated evolutionists clearly show how a non-belief in God, coupled with a strong adherence to human evolution, only serves to bring out “the darkness evolution casts upon the human mind.” What these men have to say is frightening. It’s clear that the acceptance of human evolution by a large segment of the scientific community has produced the most devastating results for the human condition in the past 150 years.