Engineering professor gives creation lessons, music group performs at new science museum in Tennessee

A Liberty University School of Engineering professor and School of Music singing group have collaborated with the newest and largest science museum in Tennessee dedicated to preserving the scientific validity of the Bible.

In June, Dr. Mark Horstemeyer, distinguished professor of engineering and senior fellow for Liberty’s Center for Apologetics & Cultural Engagement, delivered two presentations during the Wonders of Creation Conference at the Wonders Center & Science Museum in Dickson, Tenn., near Nashville. In March, the Liberty University Chamber Singers performed there as part of its Spring Break tour to Nashville, themed “All Praise Be to Thee.”

Opened in October 2022, the Wonders Center & Science Museum offers a hands-on, interactive experience that integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) into every exhibit and activity. It features more than 100,000 square feet of space covering astronomy, biology, geology, history, literature (including authentic 1,000-year-old Bible scrolls), paleontology (including animatronic dinosaurs), zoology, and other topics, as well as one of the top 10 planetarium experiences in the world and a 1 million-volt Tesla Coil show. The entrance to the museum has a 55-foot-long Camarasaurus dinosaur as its central figure and columns featuring computer-generated artistic depictions as well as the Scriptural account of the Seven Days of Creation.

Horstemeyer’s first presentation on “Creationeering Versus Science” contrasted human bones and monkey bones to demonstrate God’s functionality in design and refute the theory of evolution. Creationeering is a term Horstemeyer coined at Liberty referring to seeing the Creator through the disciplines and integration of science, engineering, and entrepreneurship. It is based on the mandate in Genesis 1:26-28 to govern creation wisely and ethically, reflecting God’s character.

In his second talk, Horstemeyer highlighted a long list of 17th- through 20th-century “Scientists/Engineers Who Believed in God.” He started by introducing Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal, and Robert Boyle, Puritans who fled religious persecution in Europe to come to America in the 1600s. He then discussed Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton, and Leonard Euler from the Age of Enlightenment in the 1700s, highlighted by the French Revolution and American Revolution, before speaking on the Age of Evolution in the 1800s, when scientists such as Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, George Stokes, Louis Pasteur, and Lord Kelvin made discoveries that confirmed God’s creative power.  He concluded with the Age of Science and Nuclear Age in the 1900s when John Ambrose Fleming, Robert Millikan, Albert Einstein, Werner von Braun, and Henry Morris, founder of the modern Creationist movement, propagated Christian concepts and emphasized faith and the power of prayer in their research.

“Modern science and engineering was birthed out of Christian thinking,” Horstemeyer said. “God gave revelations to His followers regarding knowledge, understanding, and inventions. A rational God created a rational universe … (and) because I am made in the image of God, I can understand the universe.”

With these prominent scientists being men of faith, Horstemeyer encouraged visitors to heed Hebrews 12:1 and run the race set before them with perseverance, knowing they were preceded and are still surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses for Christ, even among the scientific community.

Horstemeyer said he is working with the museum’s director and founder, David Rives, to incorporate Christian concepts into all of its exhibits, including the addition of a Creationeering room that will feature a Noah’s Ark simulator, a fossils exhibit focusing on those found on various mountain ranges after the Flood, and a human skeleton exhibit. The room would also include a display that explores ways to replicate God’s design in creation to help answer questions such as “What were God’s design objectives when He made the human skeleton, the earth, and animals?”

Examples of Creationeering include using properties found in the beaks of woodpeckers and horns and racks of rams and bison to improve absorption capabilities in athletic helmets and automobile bumpers. These are innovations he and his graduate-level students at Liberty have researched and developed, with patents pending.

Other presenters at the conference included representatives of the Institute for Creation Research in Dallas.

The Chamber Singers were invited to perform two concerts in the museum’s 450-seat Wonders Theater in the spring. The music spanned more than four centuries, with hymn arrangements and spirituals such as “Amazing Grace” and “Blessed Assurance.”

“The Wonders Center provided an outstanding venue for the ensemble,” said Dr. Thomas Lerew, associate professor of choral music & conducting. “The acoustics allowed the singers to perform a wide range of repertoire with clarity and nuance, and the setting created a meaningful connection between the performers and audience. For our students, the opportunity to present this program while on tour was both artistically rewarding and educational, allowing them to share music that reflected themes of praise, faith, hope, love, and redemption with audiences beyond the university.”