Ken Ham's Blog, page 398

Low View of Scripture

You may have heard the news a few weeks ago, reporting on remarks made by U.S. Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia. Congressman Broun, in a speech at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia, said that evolutionary ideas, including embryology and the supposed big bang, are “lies straight from the pit of hell.” (To learn more, read Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell’s report in News to Note.)

Dr. Broun’s statements sparked name-calling and have upset many people who do not agree. Broun is a medical doctor, but many people who hold an evolutionary worldview didn’t like it when he called himself a scientist. But it’s absurd to say that a medical doctor is not a scientist, considering how much science they must study to earn medical degrees. But this sort of name-calling is not surprising. These secularists cannot tolerate dissent from evolutionary ideas and millions of years.

A response article appeared recently on the Huffington Post religion blog, written by Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor and author. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton disagreed with Dr. Broun. Before Hamilton began his rebuttal of Dr. Broun, he explained that he loves the Bible and studies it agreat deal before he preaches each week.

I have no doubt that Pastor Hamilton does studies the Bible. But, sadly, he still falls into the error of believing that evolutionary ideas can be mixed with God’s Word.

His argument against creationism is nothing new. He stated, “The creation story is placed at the beginning of the Bible not because God felt we needed a science lesson as a preface to the rest of the Bible. Instead it is a lesson in theology.”

So, how does Hamilton explain the early chapters of Genesis? Well, he views it as a lesson for humans—that we’re drawn to do the forbidden. “When we do this,” he writes, “paradise is lost.” Except there’s a problem with that statement—paradise is already long gone! It was lost when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

You know, if Hamilton thinks we’re living in paradise, he hasn’t taken a very hard look at the state of this sin-cursed world. So, really, Hamilton sees Genesis 1–11 as God’s version of a fable—it tells a story with a moral.

But if that’s true, then why did so many people in Scripture view Adam as a real person? And how did Adam, if he is just mythical, give birth to a son (Seth) who would also be an ancestor of Jesus?

Referencing Broun’s remarks about evolutionary ideas, Pastor Hamilton continued, “But to suggest that the creation story was intended to teach science, and that any scientific theory that contradicts these accounts is a lie ‘straight from the pit of hell’ is to misunderstand and misrepresent these chapters.”

God’s Word is clear in the creation account in Genesis. The creation of the universe and everything in it is explained as a miraculous creation by the power of the words of God in six literal days. It would be difficult to misunderstand that.

So why would Pastor Hamilton accuse Dr. Broun of misrepresenting Genesis? That’s simple—Dr. Broun expressed a view of God’s Word that conflicts with evolutionary ideas. But what Hamilton needs to realize is that any belief that conflicts with the creation has to be lie—otherwise, God’s Word can’t be trusted.

If there was no literal Fall, then there is no such thing as sin. And if we are not descendants of a literal Adam and Eve, then we didn’t inherit a sin nature, and there is no need for a Savior!

Hamilton went on to make a number of claims about why the Bible can’t be trusted, based on the Old Testament laws regarding slaves and the punishment of rebellious children, homosexuals, and adulterers. We have addressed claims like this before.

For further explanation, read the articles, “Doesn’t the Bible Condone the Killing of One’s Rebellious Child?” by Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell and “The Bible and Slavery” by Paul Taylor and Bodie Hodge.

Pastor Hamilton ultimately concluded by writing that when we read the Bible “carefully” (i.e., when we give up a literal Genesis), “we find that we can turn to its highest aspirations and its most profound and beautiful directives while still being able to appreciate and value the insights from science and other fields of study.”

As I’ve said many times over the years, biblical creationists do appreciate science—just not evolutionary ideas. Observational (or operational) science—which is repeatable, testable, and observable—does not require evolutionary beliefs to understand.

But Pastor Hamilton’s criticisms of Dr. Broun are nothing new or surprising. What is sad, however, is that Hamilton’s biggest problem with Dr. Broun seems to be that he has made the Bible the basis for every area of his thinking, while Hamilton has not. And what’s worse is that Pastor Hamilton—if he is teaching these views to his congregation—is leading his church into serious error.

Pastor Hamilton’s compromise with man’s religion of evolution and millions of years is the typical low view of Scripture that is so prevalent in much of the church today—sad!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

How Many Kinds?

As part of the evangelistic Ark Encounter project, AiG has engaged scholars to research how many actual animal kinds would have been needed on Noah’s Ark. It is important to understand that the word kind used in Genesis 1 seems to represent something closer to the “family” level of classification in most instances.

The scholars doing the research for this project are predicting from their research on living and fossil mammal, amphibian, reptile, and bird kinds that there may have been as few as 1,000 land animal kind represented on the Ark. As there were two of each kind (and seven of some—the clean animals), that would mean somewhere from 2,000–3,000 actual land animals were needed on the Ark. This number is much smaller than what people have been claiming over the years.

The first research paper on this topic, covering living mammalian kinds, was published just yesterday in AiG’s Answers Research Journal.  The abstract should give you a good idea of Dr. Jean Lightner’s conclusions:

Based on the methods outlined in Determining the Ark Kinds (Lightner et al. 2011), information on the class Mammalia was evaluated in an attempt to get a realistic estimate of what mammalian kinds would have been represented on the Ark. Examining information on extant species (those alive today), it was estimated that they represent 137 created kinds. Given the number of extinct mammalian families known from the fossil record, the actual number on the Ark could easily have been well over 300. This estimate is very low compared with those in the past. In evaluating the information, a number of important creationist research questions have been discussed. As further research is undertaken to address these, our knowledge of created kinds will be significantly advanced.

This is very exciting creationist research. I urge you to read the entire research paper, the first in the series on finding out how many land animal kinds there were on Noah’s Ark.

I do praise the Lord for AiG’s research department, headed up by Dr. Andrew Snelling. This department will provide us with tremendous information we can use to equip Christians to defend the Christian faith and answer skeptical questions of our day that are used to cause people to doubt the Bible.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

“Crazy” and now “Criminal”

Recently, I blogged about well-known Andrew Sullivan who appeared on ABC television’s special election edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos and said, “They deny that evolution takes place. I think that puts you in a crazy category.” See Are You Crazy? for my previous blog post on this subject.

What I see happening more and more is that those who oppose the biblical account of creation and believe evolution will try to malign creationists by calling them names—accusing them of being “crazy” or of “child abuse” (for some of my blog posts on this topic, see Origins and “Child Abuse” and also Who Is Really Conducting the “Child Abuse”?).

We have even been accused of promoting “terrorism” (see Incredible Charges that the Creation Museum promotes “Terrorism” and “Child Abuse”).

What we note is that these name callers and false accusers don’t give any logical arguments—they don’t give scientific arguments—because they can’t!

I think these opposers of God’s Word hope that if they malign Bible-believing Christians enough, maybe people will start to believe it.

Well, as my home country is Australia and my home city Brisbane, I thought you would be interested to see Australian secularists also involved in this name calling and maligning. They posted on the Brisbane atheists’ message board in a response to my blog post that reported on the recent ministry in North Carolina where we had thousands of children attend. One person posted the following on the Brisbane atheists’ message board about me and our ministry to teach children the truth of God’s Word:

I hope that sometime in the future this kind of deliberate misleading of people and especially kids can be treated as a criminal breach of the law, and those who commit such breaches are excluded from society permanently.

What these type of people are doing is damaging our species by inhibiting our ability to free our minds from superstition and the dream like notions of how we came to be and where we are going.

And to think that this idiot believes that all the research and evidence which proves evolution can be simply brushed away by the simple answer of “where you there”. How can you possibly deal with this type of person, they are psychologically ill and like all dangers nut casers should be put somewhere to reduce the risk of them harming others. (http://www.meetup.com/BrisbaneAtheists/messages/boards/thread/28290412/)

Note the lack of logical argument—the lack of evidence and the lack of scientific arguments. These atheists are so upset because they want to get your kids and train them to be atheists like them!

This reminded me once again of the importance of the AiG theme for the next two years:

Standing Our Ground
Rescuing Our Kids  (Galatians 1:4)

See Rescuing Our Kids to learn more about our theme.

Yes, we are going to be more aggressive than ever to rescue our kids from this present evil age:  “Who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4, NASB).

Let’s do all we can to rescue our kids from the clutches of these atheists who, in their willful rebellion against God, want to take your kids to hell with them.

Let’s be diligent in teaching our kids the truth about God’s Word and the gospel, equipping them to defend the Christian faith in this “evil age.”

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Exposing the Lie

I was thrilled to see my revised, updated, and expanded edition of my book The Lie published recently. As the book has been in print for 25 years (which is phenomenal), we published this twenty-fifth anniversary edition.

This book is really the “textbook” of the Answers in Genesis ministry—it is the message this ministry is built upon (of course the Bible is the ultimate foundation of the ministry). The Lie really details why it is so important that Christians take Genesis as literal history and not compromise God’s Word with evolution/millions of years.

At a special dessert evening at the Creation Museum this past Saturday, a number of supporters came to hear me talk about the history and message of The Lie. They also participated in a silent auction. Here are some photographs taken during the evening:

Here I am with AiG staff member Jennifer Huff as I sign special hardcover collector editions of The Lie.

I am greeting one of our young supporters!

These are some of the auction items.

Before I gave my presentation, AiG VP Dale Mason interviewed me about how The Lie came to be written.

Here I am with the AiG supporter who won a 25-year-old first edition of The Lie (another was auctioned on eBay) and the number 2 of 1,500 hardcover copies of the twenty-fifth anniversary edition.

You can obtain a copy of this important book to the biblical creation ministry on the online store.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Are You Crazy?

Well, according Andrew Sullivan, if you don’t believe in evolution, you are “crazy.”

See the following description, which was taken from Wikipedia (understanding the limitations of this site—not necessarily accurate or truthful):

Andrew Michael Sullivan … is a British author, editor, political commentator and blogger. He describes himself as a political conservative, though he has been increasingly at odds with the Republican Party on many issues. His focus is U.S. politics but he frequently writes about culture and society.

Sullivan is a speaker at universities, colleges, and civic organizations in the United States. He has been a guest on national news and political commentary television shows in the United States and Europe. Born and raised in England, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts. He is an openly gay Catholic.

Recently, Andrew Sullivan appeared on ABC television’s special election edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

During the interview (involving a number of others), we read the following from the transcript:

IFILL: Thanks to the hurricane. But, you know, I’ve interviewed both Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. And here’s the thing. Neither of them come — I don’t like the words crazy and insane to describe people who are actually trying to put themselves forward to run for public office and represent people, because both of them are speaking to constituencies in their states, in Missouri and Indiana, who respond to what they say, who believe that life believes at conception.

So they don’t think what Richard Mourdock said was crazy. They’re not so — they didn’t like what Akin said about rape, women’s bodies shutting down, but they were willing to forgive him for it. And that’s why those races are closer…

STEPHANOPOULOS: And he’s not out of it right now.

IFILL: Akin is not out of it, and Mourdock is not out of it.

SULLIVAN: He’s crazy to believe that evolution is a lie.

IFILL: And you may disagree, but I’m talking about what it takes to get Senate candidates elected in these conservative states.

SULLIVAN: But I’m just saying, on the principles, they deny that evolution takes place. I think that puts you in a crazy category.

So there you have it. If you don’t believe in evolution, you are “crazy.” Of course, if people like Andrew Sullivan would actually attempt to defend molecules-to-man evolution, then we would see how bankrupt their religion of evolution really is. But such people say whatever they want—and because they have the ear of the secular media, they can publicly make such outlandish statements. It’s all a part of the continued maligning of Christians and those who believe God’s Word.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

It’s Not Too Late

It’s not too late to register for the 2012 College Expo.

On November 16 and 17, we will host 26 colleges and universities that hold to a young-earth, literal interpretation of the creation in Genesis.

Students and parents will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from these schools to help them in their decisions regarding higher education choices.

As we have seen and reported here many times, so many in the academic world want to discredit, compromise, or totally discount the Bible as the ultimate authority. It is a wise parent and student who seek colleges that will not destroy their faith. Parents and students spend many thousands of dollars on college fees—make the investment a wise one, as there eternal consequences!

The College Expo is absolutely free and includes free admission to the Creation Museum for students.

You can sign up at www.creationcollexpo.org.  (You can register at the door, but it would help us if as many as possible register online.)

Parents attending with their student also receive a special offer of a $10 ticket price to the museum.

Participating schools include the following:

Appalachian Bible College
Arrowhead Bible College
Bob Jones University
Calvary Bible College & Theological Seminary
Cedarville University
Dayspring Bible College & Seminary
Emmaus Bible College
Fairhaven Baptist College
God’s Bible College
Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Jackson Hole Bible College
Kentucky Mountain Bible College
Liberty University
Maranatha Baptist Bible College
Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary
Mid-Continent University
Montana Bible College
Northland International University
Ohio Christian University
Patrick Henry College
Pensacola Christian College
Piedmont international University
The Master’s College
Verity Institute
Welch College
Word of Life Bible Institute

Attend our second annual College Expo to meet representatives from 26 colleges and universities that uphold a literal, young-earth worldview. This free event is held on November 16 and 17, 2012. Register at www.creationcollexpo.org.

We’ve Reached the 100,000 Mark

Good news! We now have 100,000 “likes” on the Answers in Genesis Facebook page. To celebrate 100,000 “likes” on our Facebook page, we’re offering a huge discount on three of our most popular eBooks! Purchase all three for only $3.99! (Total savings is $21.98.)

The New Answers Book 1
The Answers Book for Kids
Deadly Disclosures

Use this link, and these three eBooks will be added to your cart in our online store (offer expires November 2, 2012).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Foolishness of Evolutionists

“Professing to be wise, they became fools,”  (Romans 1:22).

I couldn’t help but think of Romans 1:22 when I read a ridiculous article on the NPR website supposedly connecting evolution with the coming election.

The article was introduced this way:

As part of NPR’s coverage of this year’s presidential election, All Things Considered asked three science reporters to weigh in on the race. The result is a three-part series on the science of leadership.

And then we read this foolishness:

Voters could learn some things about choosing a leader from a fish. Or a chimp. Or an elephant.

Oh really now. But then again, if these scientists really believe all plants and animals and humans are related—then of course they would believe this nonsense!  And that is what it is—nonsense!

The article also states:

“One common property we see in animal groups from schooling fish to flocking birds to primate groups is that they effectively vote to decide where to go and what to do,” Couzin says.

When one fish heads toward a potential source of food, the other fish vote with their fins on whether to follow, he says. And this highly democratic process helps animals make decisions as a group that are better than those of any single member.

Successful animal leaders know they can’t get too far ahead of their constituents, Couzin says.

“They seem to simply reconcile their own goal-oriented behavior with this tendency to align with others,” he says. “Because if you don’t tend to be influenced by others, you then leave the group behind, and you may get eaten by predators, or you lose the benefits of group living.”

Findings like this are relevant to humans because we carry a lot of evolutionary baggage with us into the voting booth, Couzin says. And when it comes to leadership, he says, we are most like animals that live in groups and depend on cooperation to survive. And these groups tend to pick cooperative leaders . . . .

I just can’t wait to read the other articles in this series!!

Yes, Romans 1:22 certainly describes these people.

Let me tell you how I believe one should vote:  We shouldn’t vote for someone because they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, “black” or “white”—or whatever—as Christians, we should judge what a person believes against the absolute authority of the Word of God, and then vote accordingly!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

International Christian Leader Visits

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to speak yet again at the Word of Life conference facilities in beautiful upstate New York, with AiG’s Buddy Davis providing the music.

Word of Life is focused on reaching young people around the world with the gospel of Christ and discipling them through camps, Bible Institutes, and local churches. Jack Wyrtzen founded this worldwide ministry about 70 years ago. I can’t believe this visionary has been gone for more than 20 years.

The former director of Word of Life Fellowship, George Theis (serving as director 1991–1999), came to the Creation Museum recently. He is best known for expanding Word of Life internationally, with ten new locations, for a total now of 44 countries where Word of Life ministers.

AiG speakers have given presentations to the Word of Life Bible College students each year for about 20 years now. We also have conducted many AiG conferences at the Word Of Life Inn (as we did just a few months ago). We highly value our relationship with this Bible College that stands on the authority of the Word of God beginning in Genesis.

The photo below, taken in the museum, shows George, his wife Joan, their grandson Lucas (of Argentina), and me.

Next year, we will be launching more initiatives to reach teens and children with apologetics teaching and the gospel—to rescue them from the secularists who want to capture our youth for their religion of humanism and atheism. It has been great to partner with Word of Life over the years in presenting biblical truths to thousands of young people.

Find out more about this Bible-affirming ministry at www.wol.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Will He Debate?

A number of people have asked Answers in Genesis if we would be open to the possibility of debating the TV personality known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy” (of PBS TV and the Disney Channel)—after Nye’s harsh anti-creationist video went viral on YouTube.

At last count, over 4.8 million people have watched him make a number of misrepresentations about the creationist position. We posted our own rebuttals to YouTube (“Bill Nye, Creationism is Highly Appropriate for our Children” and “Ken Ham Responds to Bill Nye ‘The Humanist Guy’”). We did publicly challenge Bill Nye to a debate on my blog, but we have also made a formal invitation.

I wanted to let you know that a few weeks ago, we sent a letter to Mr. Nye in Seattle (and also to his agent in New York City), suggesting that he participate in a creation-evolution debate. You see, we had heard through a nationally known reporter with the secular media that Mr. Nye had agreed in principle to debate with one of our PhD scientists. The reporter told us that Mr. Nye’s had indicated that if his expenses would be covered, he would seriously consider a debate.

In our letter to Nye, we suggested that the debate theme could be something like, “Which model of origins, creation or evolution, is confirmed by observational science?” (and we have offered him the opportunity to come up with an alternative topic). We also proposed that our debate advocate be Dr. Georgia Purdom of AiG, who holds a doctorate in molecular genetics. And we added that the debate would not necessarily be limited to biological topics, which is Dr. Purdom’s field. We are awaiting Nye’s response.

We have also recently heard suggestions that high-profile theistic evolutionists be invited to debate AiG, including Dr. Karl Giberson, formerly of BioLogos and Eastern Nazarene College. He has often had AiG in his cross-hairs. In a recent commentary in Huffington Post, he took a swipe at Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia, who rejects evolution. He also wrote negatively about AiG and me in that  commentary.

We can be hesitant about debating a person like Giberson who calls himself a Christian (while being an evolutionist) because such a debate might make secularists happy to see Christians arguing again. But because the theistic evolutionists are becoming more and more aggressive, and their views are infiltrating Christian colleges, seminaries, and leading churches, I think it’s time we engage more of these compromising Christians in a very public way. It doesn’t have to be Dr. Giberson. He would be a logical first choice because of his constant anti-creationist writings, but we would welcome the opportunity to consider debating any well-known theistic evolutionist.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Join the Auction!

The auction for my book The Lie (which benefits our future evangelistic Ark Encounter project, with a full-size Noah’s Ark) ends this Saturday! If you’d like to place a bid, visit the eBay auction page. The winner of the auction will receive the following special gift package:

1987 first edition of The Lie: Evolution inscribed by me to the winning bidder (or to whomever the winner requests).
2012 twenty-fifth anniversary limited edition of The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years inscribed by me to the winning bidder (or to whomever the winner requests). This will be copy number 3 of 1,500 copies.
Two tickets to the Creation Museum.
Two tickets to our Stargazer’s Planetarium.
Dinner for two with my wife and me at the Creation Museum’s Noah’s Café. (Note: Dinner date to be determined according to mutual schedules; transportation to the Creation Museum and lodging not included.)

The online auction will close on Saturday evening, October 27, at 7:00 pm. During that evening, you’re invited to attend a special free dessert at the Creation Museum. I’ll be signing copies of The Lie and giving a talk on the history of our message at Answers in Genesis.

If you would like to have dinner with your family at the museum this Saturday, Noah’s Café will be serving a delicious roast beef dinner beginning at 4:30. The doors to Legacy Hall open at 6:00 for the dessert, and dessert will be served at 7:00. Furthermore, there will be a silent auction for a second gift package (the same as above—the winner will receive copy 2 of 1,500 of The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years).

To RSVP for the dessert, call (800) 350-3232, ext. 406. Today, October 24, is the deadline for reservations. I urge you to attend this special event celebrating 25 years of sharing the truth of God’s Word from the very first verse.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken