Ken Ham's Blog, page 411

More “Uncertain” Sounds from the Church

I recently posted on Facebook a short article I wrote titled “An Uncertain Sound” because I’m concerned about the uncertain sound coming (1 Corinthians 14:8) from the church in regard to God’s Word beginning in Genesis. That’s because there is so much compromise with evolution and millions of years from Christian academics and Christian leaders. I want to bring to your attention another example of this uncertain sound, this one coming from a recent article series.

“At what point in the evolutionary process did humans attain the ‘Image of God’?” That question was recently addressed in the Southern Baptist Voices essay series put out by none other than …  BioLogos. This organization claims it wants to have dialogue about Genesis and the issues of evolution and millions of years, but in fact, they really tolerate all views except those who are adamant (as we are) about six literal days, young earth, no death and disease of man or animals before sin, etc.

In an attempt to have what they say is “dialogue [that] will bring greater clarity to the issues at hand,” BioLogos has invited Southern Baptist professors to write essays on various aspects of theistic evolution, to which BioLogos then writes response essays.

Dr. John Hammett is the author of the most recent essay in the series, titled “Evolutionary Creationism and the Imago Dei.” Dr. Hammett is the professor of Systematic Theology and associate dean of Theological Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, North Carolina).

The question Dr. Hammett attempts to answer in his essay is actually at the heart of the issue of adding evolutionary ideas and millions of years to Scripture. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” Genesis establishes clearly that we are made in God’s image—He created us in His image. We did not evolve into beings in His image.

But Dr. Hammett, unfortunately, does not stand on the authority of Scripture in Genesis and does not speak authoritatively about the importance of making God’s Word our starting point.

Instead, he writes, “In the area of science, to call me a novice would be a kindness, so to question their [BioLogos’s] evaluation of the scientific evidence for the evolutionary process would be inappropriate for me.”

What are the problems with Dr. Hammett’s statement? First, he implies that only a scientist can make judgments about evolution, which is a belief concerning the past. However, God’s Word in Genesis is a true record of origins, and any Christian can use what it clearly teaches to judge man’s evolutionary beliefs.

Second, he gives up the authority of Scripture and tries to argue using man’s ideas as his basis. Finally, Dr. Hammett, I believe, implies in the article that Christians cannot even understand or trust Genesis as an accurate record of historical science.

As Dr. Hammett continues his short essay, he writes, “It is at this point I wish to question whether or not it is possible for the image of God to be produced through the evolutionary process apart from the special intervention of God.” Dr. Hammett doesn’t state his position on Genesis. He may claim as a scholar he is just answering a “what if” question. But the very fact he would agree to argue this way, in my opinion, could be interpreted as allowing for the idea of evolution and millions of years. Regardless of his actual position, this is an “uncertain sound” indeed.

I have become increasingly concerned about the church (and our seminaries and Bible colleges) as I’ve read more about professors and church leaders. These are the people who are training our current and future generation of leaders and pastors—who are willing to compromise on Genesis and not take an authoritative stand on the clear words God has given to us in His Word. Such dialogue for the sake of unity, as BioLogos’s article series would seem to be encouraging believers to do, is not acceptable from a biblical standpoint. Really, BioLogos wants unity in regard to man’s fallible ideas about origins. But what we should be doing is ensuring we have unity on God’s Word and what it clearly teaches, and then judging man’s beliefs accordingly—not dialoguing about how the human soul could come about if evolution were true!

I want to challenge you to read my article, “An Uncertain Sound.” In light of the compromise that is happening among Bible scholars and the church, we need more people speaking out boldly about the truth of Scripture—authoritatively, unashamedly, and without compromise. We need to engage those who compromise God’s Word and challenge them concerning the truth of Scripture—not dialogue for the sake of supposedly tolerating various views but dialogue for the sake of correcting wrong beliefs!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Steve Golden assisted in research for this blog.

Dedicated to the Glory of God

On Friday, hundreds of AiG supporters who have also supported the Ark Encounter project gathered at the Ark property in northern Kentucky for a special dedication. Various people involved in the Ark Encounter project explained something about the property, the project itself, and what people will experience once the project is constructed and opened.

Dr. John Whitcomb, author of the ground-breaking The Genesis Flood book that started the modern biblical creation movement 50 years ago, gave a short talk about the event of the Flood and Noah’s Ark, and then prayed to dedicate the project and property to the glory of God.

Here are some photographs taken on that special day in Williamstown to give you a bit of a feel for this wonderful event.

This first photo is of Dr. Whitcomb and his wife Norma with me as we stand in the center of where the Ark will be built:

The other 11 photos were taken during this special time:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

How Can We Influence the Culture?

A popular department store chain (J.C. Penney) has caused quite a stir in the news lately with its new advertisement that embraces homosexual lifestyles. I posted the ad on Facebook recently, and I received mixed responses from believers and unbelievers.

But what does this “gay-friendly” advertisement teach us about the culture? I discuss the decline of the culture in detail in my book The Lie (a newly revised and updated edition is forthcoming this year, by the way). This advertisement is a perfect example of how ungodly behavior is becoming more prevalent in the culture.

In The Lie, I make the point that as the church has added evolution and millions of years to the Bible, it has essentially given up God’s Word as its starting point and embraced fallible man’s word. As a result of this biblical compromise, the church is not impacting the culture as it once did in our Western world because much of the church is being influenced more by the culture than it is by God’s Word. Once Christians start embracing millions of years (which includes death, disease, and suffering before the Fall) and evolutionary ideas (meaning we’re all descended from animals), they have decided that Genesis is no longer trustworthy. So why should the rest of Scripture be trustworthy? They have in reality taught this and coming generations that fallible man’s views can be used in authority over the Word of God.

In fact, we contracted with America’s Research Group a few years ago to examine the trend of how the church is not just losing the culture wars, but how it is also losing the coming generation. The results were published in Already Gone. Our survey found that young people who had grown up in churches that did not teach apologetics or that had adopted compromised positions on Genesis were more likely to doubt the authority of Scripture. Why is this? Because the church is arguing based on man’s fallible opinions instead of standing uncompromisingly on the authority of the Word of God.

When believers deal with issues in the culture that promote sinful actions or lifestyles, they must be careful to defend their views from Scripture—not just with opinions. If we operate from opinion only, we really have no more basis than secularists to say—in the case of this J.C. Penney advertisement—that a homosexual lifestyle is wrong. But if we turn to the Bible, the Word of the One who was there at the beginning, we find that in the Garden of Eden, God made one man and one woman (not two men and not two women) and theirs was the first marriage (Genesis 1–2). Taking other relevant passages into account (e.g., Matthew 19; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; 1 Timothy 1:8–11; Revelation 21:8), we can definitively say that “gay” marriage and homosexual behavior is wrong, based on Scripture.

One of the problems we have today is that when generations in the church are taught they can use man’s ideas about origins to reinterpret Genesis, why shouldn’t they then be consistent and use man’s ideas to reinterpret morality? We need to raise up generations who will contend for the faith by standing on God’s Word and judging man’s actions accordingly. Actually, to contend this way is to show love towards those whose behavior is unbiblical.

An article by Dr. Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, from Answers magazine offers a great summary  that explains what it means to show love when dealing with sinful issues:

To the homosexual, as to all others, we must speak in love, never in hatred. But the first task of love is to tell the truth, and the sign of true hatred is the telling of a lie. Those who genuinely love homosexuals are not those who would revolutionize morality to meet their wishes, but those who will tell them the truth and point them to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). (“More Than a Revolution,” Answers, December 8, 2009, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v5/n1/revolution.)

If we want to really influence the culture, we must start with God’s Word, the ultimate authority in every area of life, and we must be prepared to defend the faith (answer questions), share the gospel, and speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Thanks for stopping here and thanks for praying,

Ken

Another “Award”

I praise the Lord for the number of awards that AiG and the Creation Museum have received for advertising, videos, website, magazine, and other items.

This year AiG received the website of the year award (for the second time) from the National Religious Broadcasters.  Answers magazine recently received eight awards from the Evangelical Press Association, including (for the second time) the top award for Excellence. We have numerous trophies, certificates, etc. in our offices for the many awards received from both the Christian and secular worlds.

Well, this week we received what I believe is really an “award,” and I wanted to publicly acknowledge the staff involved.

Noah’s Café is an important part of the Creation Museum. The many thousands of people who visit the Creation Museum can obtain high quality food at extremely reasonable prices. Such quality and prices really does leave a great “taste” in people’s mouths.

Well, the biyearly Food Services inspection is always an unnerving event. AiG Food Services staff do their very best to keep food areas immaculately clean. They are very diligent to take extra precautions in keeping food at their correct temperatures, and they are careful to observe proper food preparation techniques and make sure we store food correctly.

But every six months the phone call from the front desk comes, ”The Health Department is here for your inspection.”

Please don’t get me wrong; the inspection has never gone bad. In fact, the score is always very high. But our latest inspection resulted in a perfect score. With it came a written remark, “The facility is very clean and organized.”

The inspector even went so far as to point out commendable practices and left saying how easy the inspection was.

Congratulations to Cheryl Arthur and her staff for obtaining such an “award.”

Make sure you visit Noah’s Café when you come to the Creation Museum. And please congratulate the staff on their great work.

Other “Awards”

Yesterday at staff meeting, our HR director (and the respective Directors and VP) gave staff some special awards. AiG staff receive a special gift for every five years they have worked at AiG. Below are photographs of staff being presented with these gifts—one was for fifteen years! Yes, we have a very dedicated staff.

On Monday, in my blog, I congratulated the staff for obtaining fifth place in the workplace survey in which many companies from the Greater Cincinnati area participated. For a Christian non-profit to obtain such a placing is extremely significant. I was on the road speaking when the results of the survey came in. AiG also received the top score for ethics in the workplace!

Yesterday at staff meeting, I personally congratulated the staff. On the screen in the photograph is a picture of the full page advertisement we placed in the newspaper to congratulate our wonderful staff.

Thanks for stopping here and thanks for praying,

Ken

It Shouldn’t Be a Black and White Issue!

In yesterday’s blog post, I wrote about the election of  Pastor Fred Luter of Louisiana as the Southern Baptist Convention’s new president. We certainly congratulate Pastor Luter. He is a friend of AiG.

Pastor Luter’s election generated some interesting national news items and was described as “historic.” But why?

On Fox News, we read the following:

The Rev. Fred Luter Jr. was elected president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination on Tuesday at its annual meeting. He is the pastor at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.

The historic move comes as the denomination tries to expand its appeal beyond its traditional white Southern base.  (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/19/southern-baptists-elect-1st-black-leader/#ixzz1yMtaTH8t)

The reason this election was called historic really had to do with the shade of Pastor Luter’s skin! Why is this such a big issue?

No doubt there has been (and still is) prejudice and racism in certain churches across the USA—particularly in regard to what is called by many people an issue between those with “white” skin and those with “black” skin. In the past (and I contend this is still true in certain instances but less so), congregations have divided over the issue of skin “color” and what they call “race.”

I would like to suggest that such problems of prejudice and discrimination could have been avoided if the church had taught people the true history of the world as outlined in Genesis. From 35 years’ experience in this ministry, I have found that the majority of Christian leaders have not taught the Genesis history as they should have because of the influence of Darwinian evolution or millions of years. Many pastors and Christian academics compromise evolutionary ideas with Genesis—others just avoid Genesis (particularly the first eleven chapters) as they are confused because of what is taught in the culture concerning millions of years, evolution, big bang, etc.

As a result of such compromise that has been going on for many years (since the 1800s), or not teaching Genesis as true history, or avoiding it altogether, the church did not provide a correct foundation for dealing with racism and prejudice in the culture. In fact, many church leaders fueled this issue because of what they taught concerning supposed “races” of people—some supposedly being lower and some higher—based on Darwin’s ideas.

I contend that the church should have been leading the way in ensuring that racism and prejudice did not become such an issue, had it taught its people and society as a whole the true history in Genesis as God has had written down for us. Sadly, it has been the secular world that has been leading the scientific charge by doing real research (such as the human genome project) and finding out there is only one human race—based on the study of genetics (which was based on observational (operational) science we can all agree on).

But wait a minute! If we take God’s Word as written in Genesis, then we are all descendants of one man and one woman—Adam and Eve. That means there is only one biological race! Also, the biblical account of the Tower of Babel makes it clear that different cultures (people groups) arose from the one human gene pool as a result of groups separating from each other (because of the confusion of the languages). Thus based on Scripture, the church should have been teaching all along there is only one biological race—the human race! Or, we could say “Adam’s race.” In fact, God so loved the world that He sent His Son who stepped into history to be a member of Adam’s race. Since all people have sinned (in Adam) and therefore would be cut off from God, the eternal Son of God put on human flesh, thus becoming the God-man, the “’last Adam”—our relative—to die and pay the penalty for sin, and offer a free gift of salvation to those of Adam’s race. That’s why the gospel is for every tribe and nation.

Sadly, Charles Darwin in his book called The Descent of Man falsely claimed that the Caucasians were further from the apes than the Australian Aborigines (and certain dark-skinned people from Africa and so on). This did fuel a particular form of racism—that still lingers today and sadly, even in some churches.

In 1925, one of the biology textbooks (by Hunter) used in the public schools in America stated, “At the present time there exist upon the earth five races … the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.”

Many of the students who learned this wrong information went to church, but sadly, most churches didn’t teach the Genesis history as they should. No wonder some grew up in our churches with false ideas that fueled prejudice and racism. (By the way, we have never said that evolution causes racism, but evolutionary ideas have certainly fueled it.)

Not only is there only one human race (one biological race of humans), all humans have the same basic skin color. Research over the years has shown humans have one basic color because of a pigment called melanin. Melanin give us a brown color. Although there are some other pigments and other factors, all humans are colored people, but they have different shades of the one basic color.

I sometimes like to do an experiment at our conferences by placing a white piece of paper against my skin and then asking the audience if I am white! They laugh, realizing I am not. And if you placed a black sheet of paper against someone with very dark skin, you would find they are not black but a very dark brown. It is not a matter of what color a person’s skin is but what shade.

Remember that chorus we used to sing in Sunday school? “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white, all are precious in His sight.” Well for years this song has taught children an incorrect view of a human’s skin color. Really, we should change the words to something like, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, shades of brown from dark to light, all are precious in His sight.”

It doesn’t matter whether we are dealing with political elections or elections of presidents of church denominations; we should not vote for someone because they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, “black,” or “white”—as Christians we need to judge what people believe and teach against the absolute authority of the Word of God, and vote accordingly.

I challenge the church to begin leading the way in dealing with so-called “racial” issues in our culture by beginning with God’s Word in Genesis and teaching the true history of the world. That is, we are all descendants of Adam and Eve (we are all one biological race), but because of sin, there are now two spiritual races (the saved and the unsaved). And no matter the shape our ears or eyes, or the shade of our skin, every human being needs to understand that they are sinners in need of salvation. We have got to stop judging people by minor outside differences! Secular scientists have found the differences that set people apart are cultural, not racial. They have discovered that the differences in our outward appearance (such as eye shape, skin shade, etc.) represent a very small percentage of our genes!

Remember what happened when Samuel came to anoint the King?  He didn’t know it was to be David. But from what we read in Scripture, he looked at one of David’s brothers—he looked at his appearance—and thought he would make a good King. But what did God say to Samuel:

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

I congratulate Pastor Luter for his election as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. And why? Because He is a man of God who believes and teaches God’s Word as the absolute authority. And because he has shown leadership as per the qualifications of such a teacher and leader in the Scripture. I pray God will bless him as he leads the millions of Southern Baptists in reaching this needy world with the message of the authority of God’s Word and the gospel.

If you want to read more about the message of “One Human Race,” then I encourage you to read the following articles from the AiG website:

“One Race” by Dr. Georgia Purdom.

“Adam + Eve = All Skin Tones?” (This article includes a four-minute powerful animated video that details the fact all humans are one race and have the one basic skin color.)

I also direct you to the book, One Race, One Blood, and I have a one-hour video teaching on the topic of “One Race, One Blood” from my new Foundations series. You can find out more information about this video on the online store.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AiG in New Orleans

This week, AiG has a booth at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans. Here is a photograph of our booth as I was talking with people:

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So many pastors came and told us how thankful for AiG resources that they use in their church and have had a great impact on children, young people, and adults!

We praise the Lord for the opportunity to be invited to this convention so even more church leaders will be made aware of the Creation Museum and AiG ministry.

The big news coming out of the SBC annual meeting—which is being covered by all the major news outlets in the U.S. today—was yesterday’s election of Pastor Fred Luter of Louisiana as the SBC’s new president. We were honored to have Dr. Luter speak to our staff two months ago and tour our Creation Museum; see this blog post.

We also have talked about conducting a seminar in Dr. Luter’s New Orleans church next year, including a session on the topic of the “one blood” message of racial reconciliation—tackling the question: where did all the people groups (“races”) come from?

On my blog tomorrow, I will write more about the historic election of Dr. Luter.

Mount St. Helens Like You’ve Never Seen It!

From time to time, I alert you to special activities relating to biblical apologetics that occur outside the AiG ministry—especially those unique events that help Christians have a better understanding of the authority and accuracy of Genesis.

Our ministry friend Dr. Steve Austin has spent over 30 years studying the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington and its aftereffects. For information on how the eruption of that volcano in 1980 helped provide wonderful geologic evidence to support the Genesis Flood (like deep canyons and thick layers of rock), go to this article by another outstanding geologist, Dr. Andrew Snelling. Dr. Austin will be conducting a special hiking tour and lecture at Mount St. Helens on August 3 and 4. Dr. Austin and our friend Dr. Keith Swenson will be leading the activities. The hikes might be somewhat rigorous, but you will be able to see a part of the Mount St. Helens area that few people do. For example, you will have the opportunity to see the canyon area close-up because that requires an off-trail permit with a qualified scientist—and that’s just what Dr. Austin is!

For more information on these hiking trips into the blast zone of this famous volcano, plus the lectures that will be given the night before, go to www.donotbedeceived.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Only Silence from a Pro-evolution Church

Some of our readers will remember this church in Columbus, Ohio, and its pro-evolution views—and how it received a Templeton Foundation grant to hold talks on evolution and Christianity inside the church (and to reach students at the nearby Ohio State University).

A supporter, Rob, in Columbus has contacted the church several times over the months to suggest that an AiG scientist like Dr. Georgia Purdom speak at one of the church’s workshops. He did this because he noticed how the church website declares its hope that “healthy discussions will occur around each topic, and that all will come away from the workshops better informed about contemporary scientific issues that intersect with our Christian faith.” Furthermore, the church website states the purpose of Templeton Foundation grant “is to encourage conversations within congregations about issues that overlap science and religion.”

Yet Rob is being ignored—many times. The people at the church and university community are thus not being “better informed” because biblical creationists right now are apparently being excluded from this series at the church. Dr. Purdom, one of our scientists, is mentioned in The Columbus Dispatch article about the church series. Furthermore, Dr. Purdom earned her PhD in genetics at Ohio State, just a few blocks from this church, and our AiG supporter in Columbus suggested that she be a part of the church’s series.

As you look at the church website, notice the pro-evolution talks given by the senior pastor and an OSU biology professor (i.e., on evolution and natural selection and on the “Language Development in Apes”).

So much for a church declaring that it is in favor of “encouraging discussion,“ “diversity,” and “inclusiveness”! 

Praise the Lord for a Creationist Church

Praise the Lord for a church in Aurora, Denver, that uses AiG resources to teach its people and hosted an AiG conference this past weekend. It was such a blessing to get to know Pastor Ed Taylor, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Aurora.

Here is a photograph of Pastor Ed and me:

Many thousands of people (including hundreds of children) attended some or all of the eight sessions Saturday night through Monday night. I was overwhelmed with the number of children who came up to talk to me and thank me—and tell me they want to be a bold creation scientist and one day speak like AiG speakers or work at AiG!

Here are photographs of just some of those children:

AiG resources were extremely popular:

Here is a photo from one of the special programs for young people I spoke at as part of the conference:

I received many, many testimonies. I had one high school student tell me he thought evolution was fact from what he was taught, but he no longer believes in evolution. He was so thankful for the biblical teaching he received. I had a number of people tell me that AiG resources had a great part in the Lord saving them!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Workplace Award

A Great Staff!

For the second year in a row, AiG and the Creation Museum staff have been listed as one of the “Top Workplaces” in the Cincinnati area.  Last year we ranked number eight in the mid-size company range for the region, and this time it was number five!

I really do praise the Lord of the dedicated, sacrificial, talented staff who work at AiG. We try to encourage our staff in many different ways. This year, the leadership team decided to place an ad in our hometown newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, to congratulate the staff.

Click to view larger image.

The “Top Workplace” award is determined by the AiG employees themselves—they filled out a job satisfaction survey. We have 300 staff, and for so many of them to indicate that they are blessed to minister here is wonderful for me as the CEO to hear. I often say that our greatest tangible asset as a ministry is our incredible staff. Most of them could be employed elsewhere and be receiving higher salaries in the business world, but they want to be part of a ministry that proclaims the creation/gospel message.

Here is a link to the Cincinnati.com website, and as you click through the photos, you will find AiG listed as number five in the midsize company range.

Congratulations AiG and Creation Museum Staff!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Do Atheists Own the Dinosaurs?

It really has been amazing to see the atheist blogs and twitter posts going crazy about AiG’s billboard campaign. Just to refresh your memory, here are a few of the twenty different billboards that have been placed across the country:

I note that the secularists are really upset that the Creation Museum uses dinosaurs. They act as if creationists have no right to use dinosaurs—they only belong to the secularists. Why do they get so upset? Why do they get so emotional about this? Well it’s because they know kids love dinosaurs and the accuse us of using dinosaurs so kids will want to come to the Creation Museum—well of course we do that! Kids and adults love dinosaurs, and we use them deliberately in our advertising! However, the secularists use dinosaurs to try to convince children there is no God and that evolution and millions of years are fact! We use dinosaurs to tell adults and kids the true history of the world from the Bible.

One secularist website stated the following:

The catch is, as you can see from the ads, there is no information so most people think they will be going to a natural history museum, with standard mainstream scientific information about dinosaurs. What you get, instead, is the young-earth creationist message that dinosaurs and humans coexisted on the landscape which, as Barry Lynn points out, is “only true in the Flintstones.” ( http://scienceandcreation.blogspot.com/2012/06/ken-ham-coming-to-billboard-near-you.html)

Well lets analyze this:

“There is no information so most people think they will be to a a natural history museum, with standard mainstream scientific information about dinosaurs.” Interpreted, this statement is saying that people won’t be going to a museum that teaches evolution and millions of years—which is not scientific information in the sense of observational (operational) science—it is the evolutionists belief! And regarding the claim that “there is no information,” actually, I thought the words “Creation Museum” sort of gives it away. The word “Creation” is more than a hint! Not only that but we give the Creation Museum website address—and what is the first thing one reads when they go to www.creationmuseum.org?

You will read this:

The state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers. The serpent coils cunningly in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Majestic murals, great masterpieces brimming with pulsating colors and details, provide a backdrop for many of the settings.

The bottom line is these secularists are intolerant of Christians, and they don’t want freedom of religion. They want kids indoctrinated with their religion of atheism, evolution, and millions of years. They want to stop Christians having the freedom to teach God’s Word! They are intolerant!

I like what another Christian leader put on this website:

In a word, evolution is taught everywhere, and yet the evolutionists are still not satisfied with their near monopoly. In addition, evolution is funded by billions of dollars of our tax dollars. What evolutionists are most upset about is that they have not captured the minds of every school child they’ve been indoctrinating for indoctrinating since 1925. Consider this:

On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth [February 12, 2009], a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they “believe in the theory of evolution,” while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don’t have an opinion either way.

These numbers have not changed much over the years. “Today, 46 percent of Americans accept [the creationist] explanation for human existence, a negligible change from the 44 percent who said they agreed with it in 1982, according to Gallup polls.”

These numbers aggravate evolutionists to no end, and I’m glad to see it. Evolutionists hate competition. They are afraid that their tightly controlled theory will be questioned. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)  captured the spirit of their fear: “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere,”[1] including billboards questioning the theory of evolution. (http://godfatherpolitics.com/5663/evolutionist-dont-like-billboards-that-question-evolution/#ixzz1xv2eT7Oh)

Praise the Lord the billboard campaign has generated so much publicity! The fact that the secularists are so upset tells me this is a very successful campaign.

CHEC (Christian Home Educators of Colorado) Conference

Here are some photos taken at the CHEC conference where I spoke Thursday through Saturday. We had lots of great feedback!

Here is a photo of Richard Lawrence, one of the authors of AiG’s elementary and middle school science curriculum explaining the curriculum to a homeschool parent:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Creation Answer Book: More Questions Than Answers

When the new book by Hank Hanegraaff titled The Creation Answer Book was published recently, I asked one of our research team, Steve Golden, to review it for me. It was so disappointing to see such a respected Christian leader take the stand he has on Genesis. Here is the review for your consideration:

Hank Hanegraaff (Christian Research Institute) recently released his new Creation Answer Book. Unfortunately, Hanegraaff raises more questions for readers than he answers—and his embrace of millions of years, death before the Fall, and a non-literal interpretation of Genesis is apparent.

Hanegraaff supports his belief in millions of years by appealing not to the Bible but to the “book of nature” (i.e., to what uniformitarian scientists say is true of the world around us). This error is becoming all too common among believers; interpreting Scripture in the light of evolutionary ideas elevates fallible man’s ideas above God’s Word.

Of course, Hanegraaff denies that biological evolutionary ideas are accurate, but he has no problem with cosmological evolutionary ideas. The “book of nature,” according to Hanegraaff, shows through the measure of star light and other points in cosmology that the universe came into existence “somewhere between 10 and 20 billion years ago” (p. 103). He claims, based on the layers in ice cores, that the earth “is at least hundreds of times older than the age presumed by young-earth creationists” (p. 101).

What are Hanegraaff’s particular views on Genesis and the creation account then? Hanegraaff believes the framework hypothesis, a view that claims the days of Genesis are a literary device and not literal days. (Dr. Bob McCabe and Tim Chaffey refuted the framework hypothesis in an article available on the Answers in Genesis website. See also McCabe’s fuller treatment in chapter 8 of Coming to Grips with Genesis and his even longer treatment in his two-part seminary journal article—see part one and part two.) Hanegraaff writes, “given the sophistication of the literary genres employed in Genesis, one is immediately alerted to a deeper purpose within the narrative. Rather than mining Genesis for all its wealth, fundamentalist fervor seems bent on forcing the language into a literalistic labyrinth from which nothing but nonsense can emerge” (p. 65).

A literal reading of the creation account amounts to “nothing but nonsense”? Professor Stephen Boyd has shown overwhelmingly that Genesis 1:1–2:4 is a historical narrative and must be interpreted accordingly—and such a reading fits with how the rest of Scripture treats Genesis 1–11. (For a layman’s summary of Dr. Boyd’s research, see Don DeYoung, Thousands . . . Not Billions, Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2005, pp. 158–170 and for Boyd’s own research see his more technical chapter 6 in Coming to Grips with Genesis.)

And with a belief in millions of years comes death before the Fall—or does it? Hanegraaff claims in one chapter that he “cannot abide animal death prior to the fall as consistent with a ‘very good’ creation” (p. 105). And yet, just a short while later, following William Dembski’s book, The End of Christianity, Hanegraaff uses the idea of two allegedly different types of time (God’s time and man’s time) to argue in favor of death before the Fall! He writes, “There is little difficulty conceiving of a transcendent God who predestines natural evil to precede the fall even though the fall is the necessary cause of the evils that precede it” (p. 128). In other words, Adam and Eve were living out the consequences of sin before they had committed any sin! See Dr. Terry Mortenson’s critique (PDF) of William Dembski’s attempt to wed millions of years of natural evil with the Fall.

Hanegraaff also addresses the issue of dinosaurs, claiming that Behemoth and Leviathan were not dinosaurs at all but “personifications that illustrate a metaphysical reality”—or symbols of the spiritual world. And what other notable figure is merely a symbol to Hanegraaff? The serpent in the Garden of Eden. According to Hanegraaff, the devil did not manifest himself at all:

In short, Eve was not deceived by a talking snake. Rather Moses used the symbol of a snake to communicate the wiles of the evil one who deceived Eve through mind-to-mind communication—precisely as he seeks to deceive you and me today. (p. 64, emphasis mine)

There are at least three problems with Hanegraaff’s argument:

There is no indication in Genesis that the serpent is a symbol. The symbol idea comes from a belief that Genesis was influenced by ancient Near Eastern myths—as Hanegraaff explains in his book.
If the Satan was not in the garden as a serpent tempting Eve, then what did God curse in Genesis 3?
If the serpent was merely symbolic, then why did Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:3 and John in Revelation 12:9 treat the serpent as part of literal history and identify it with Satan?

Amidst all the inconsistencies and theological problems in The Creation Answer Book—which are too many to cover here—Hanegraaff also denies the global Flood, arguing instead for a local Flood. Beliefs like these are the direct result of allowing man’s word (e.g., evolutionary ideas) to become the authority over God’s Word. When we deny a literal historical reading of Genesis 1–11, the text loses its meaning entirely, and one can reinterpret it to support any idea one wants rather than discovering what the Holy Spirit intended for us to learn from His words. We also imply that Jesus and the apostles were wrong when they clearly took Genesis 1–11 as literal history and as foundational to the gospel, the biblical view of marriage, and the final redemptive work of Christ at His second coming. And those are serious matters that every Christian should be concerned about!

I certainly agree with our reviewer—these are serious matters indeed. I pray many Christians will engage Hank regarding this matter for the sake of biblical authority. Also, you may be interested in this article where we examined the Christian Research Journal issue on origins, which previewed this book.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken