Ken Ham's Blog, page 449

Reaching Out to Southern Baptists

Answers in Genesis has the opportunity this week to promote our ministry at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist convention—being held in Phoenix, Arizona. We have a display on the Ark Encounter project, along with various resources we are giving away to pastors and other Christian leaders in attendance. We are handing out copies of our Already Gone and Already Compromised books, plus a variety of creation-apologetics booklets. It's all a part of our mission to equip leaders in the church.

Our two staff out there (David Chakranarayan and Jason Nave) have told me they have been blessed to hear testimonies from several people who have expressed their thanks for our ministry—enabling them to defend the Christian faith in today's world. A typical comment they heard goes something like this: "The ministry of Answers in Genesis has changed my life . . . our family's life . . . our church . . . " and so on.

Below are some photographs taken at the event:

Over the years it has been overwhelming to see the impact Answers in Genesis has had on so many Southern Baptist churches and their leaders. We want to say a big thank you to Dr. Johnny Hunt, former president of the SBC, and Dr. Frank Page, current SBC Executive Committee president, for enabling us to be in Phoenix. Did you know that the SBC denomination is the largest Protestant group in America (in fact, the world)? We count it a real privilege to be able to minister to this group of Christian leaders.

Christian Likens the Ark Encounter to a "Porn Shop!"

I hope you take the opportunity each day not only to read my blog to get some of the "behind the scenes" activities of our ministry, but also to read our lead article on the home page. In addition to some faith-affirming teaching, these articles often offer commentary on the news of the day—including what people are saying about biblical authority ministries such as ours.

Yesterday's lead article was a real stunner. Now, we are quite used to being attacked by atheists/humanists, but it can be shocking (but not necessarily all that surprising nowadays with compromise in the church that is so rife) that a Christian has used his blog to publically attack both Answers in Genesis and the Ark Encounter project. This Christian man totally misunderstood the nature of the Ark Encounter, and when confronted, he back-tracked. All sorts of interesting things happened as he made even more and more charges on his blog, which eventually led him to declare that the Ark Encounter is similar to a "porn shop." Incredible!

Even after being challenged by others to retract the "porn shop" comparison, he refused.

International Media

As many bloggers like the one above pretend to be serious commentators or journalists, I am happy to report that professional reporters continue to visit the Creation Museum from around the world. Yesterday, we had a reporter with the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad tour the Creation Museum and interview a staff member.

Galapagos Adventure—Day 7

Today Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff posted another blog entry from her adventure in the Galapagos Islands. Here is an excerpt:

Yesterday we visited Santa Fe Island and the Plaza Islands. We saw many different birds on Santa Fe including the Galapagos dove, Galapagos mockingbird, and the cactus finch. There are many tree-like prickly pears on this island, so there are a great number of cactus finches. They eat and nest in the cactus. It is amazing to think of God designing a bird to be able to utilize the cactus in a post-Fall world for food and a home.

The land iguana was probably one of the most prominent features of both Santa Fe and the Plaza Islands. They look very different from their marine counterparts. Land iguanas are a combination of yellow and black (one species on Volcano Wolf is even pink) and much larger than the marine iguanas. They are larger because their food source is plentiful, nutritious, and they don't have to expend as much energy to obtain it. They position themselves under the prickly pear cactus waiting for the pads to fall so they can eat them, spines and all! They also eat other vegetation which is still abundant at the end of the wet season. They don't appear in groups as the marine iguanas do for warmth, as they have the opposite problem of getting too warm. They will often hide under vegetation to cool down.

Visit Georgia's blog post to read more and see some photos from her trip.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

"Publish or Perish"

I recently received an email from a pastor in Australia who read our new book Already Compromised that details results of research conducted on what is being taught in Christian colleges in the USA. I found this pastor's comments extremely insightful—and urge you to read them carefully.

I also found his "publish or perish" comment very interesting. With so many Christian academics in our Christian colleges compromising with evolution and millions of years, many people have asked me why it is so.  The answer this pastor has given is what I have been told by many others, and it certainly fits with my own experience in meeting a number of Christian academics. I do believe the "publish or perish" syndrome, together with academic pride and peer pressure, really (sadly) explains much of this compromise so rife in Christian circles.

This pastor also makes a comment about why those who are trained for ministry haven't really thought through the issues of biblical authority starting in the book of Genesis (because of intense indoctrination from their colleges), and thus why compromise is so rife through the leadership in so many churches.

This pastor, in the short email below, really sums up many of the issues. I urge you to read this and then pass it along to your pastor (I have deleted sections to keep his identity confidential):

[I obtained] a copy of  "Already Compromised" which I read with interest as I lectured at [a university] before training for the ministry.

. . . your book did underline what is the real issue: Bible and Theological teachers and their view of Scripture. If ministers are compromised by their teaching in Theological College, their preaching and teaching will be weak and ineffective. Many realizing their inadequacy turn to the quick-fix [solutions]  [and elevate] the place of experience, [which] automatically downgrades the supremacy of Scripture. This is happening in the so-called evangelical churches of the Baptist denomination in Australia and it began when they sent their brightest students for post-graduate study to Seminaries in the U.S. that had already drifted from the high view of Scripture.

If your next book was based on a survey of Theological Colleges, I would read it with great interest because I am sure that is where the real problem exists -- and the Appendix of "Already Compromised" really showed that.

In academic circles we face huge pressures. The "Publish or Perish" syndrome almost forces academics to produce something new and novel – which can be disastrous in Theology. Those with Ph.D.s are taken as experts in all aspects of their field, but that is not so. Almost all Ph.D. theses are in a very narrow field and so when these people come to teach, they reproduce what others have written. There is a tremendous problem of pride among Tertiary [College] teachers who revel in the devotion of adoring students keen to please them and do well. Hence it is a brave student who, for instance, takes a stand against evolution.

I found Theological Education to be by far the most demanding of studies I have undertaken. The curriculum is packed – far more than that I taught to my graduate students at Uni[versity]. The result is you do not have the time to think or question what is taught, hence error can easily be assimilated. It takes years of Bible study to test what has been taught and even then the pressure of the ministry leaves little time for real evaluation.

Thank you for your book and the stimulation I gained from it.

– Pastor D., Australia

Why not obtain a copy of Already Compromised for yourself and for your pastors?

Galapagos Adventure—Day 6

Today Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff posted another blog entry from her adventure in the Galapagos Islands. Here is an excerpt:

Today we visited the island of Floreana. It is also one of the oldest islands and has some 50 peaks, each of which represents an inactive volcano. It's hard to imagine this beautiful lush landscape once consisting of tons of molten lava.

Floreana is famous for having the first post office in the Galapagos Islands. A large wooden barrel serves as a post office that was first set up by whalers to get messages back home. No internet or phones in the 1700s! They would simply put a letter in the barrel with a name and location of where it needed to go. Then another whaler would come along and look at the letters and if he lived in close proximity to where it needed to go would take it with him back home. Apparently it worked very well and the tradition continues today with people putting postcards in to be picked up by others and mailed home. I picked up one that I will send to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Visit Georgia's blog post to read more and see some photos from her trip.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

It's Coming Soon

No, this is not some end-of-the-world prediction! We're just alerting you to the fact that our major Answers in Genesis conference of the year is coming in about a month.

The Apologetics Mega Conference, July 18–22, will be held just 20 minutes from the Creation Museum—and about 10 minutes from the Cincinnati Airport—right here in beautiful northern Kentucky. We'll be gathering at the excellent new facilities of Florence Baptist Church, conveniently located off I-75 and south of Cincinnati. This beautiful facility has a 1,500-seat auditorium and large lobby, as well as other rooms needed for such a conference.

If you've ever attended one of AiG's national conferences, you know you'll be equipped and strengthened in your faith—plus be alerted to the state of the culture and the church as it relates to biblical authority. This year we have outstanding guest speakers who will provide you with in-depth teaching, as well as all-new presentations from AiG's own lineup of gifted speakers.

More than ever, you need to be equipped to defend God's Word! This conference is ideal for those who have been to an AiG seminar but want more hours of Bible-affirming teaching. Now, if you've never been to an Answers in Genesis seminar or have never visited the Creation Museum and its teaching exhibits, you won't miss a beat. Suggested ages are 13 and up, although we've been amazed to see even younger children (even eight- and nine-year-olds) attend and benefit at our conferences.

And what a wonderful lineup of speakers:

Dr. Charles Ware, President, Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, Indiana
Dr. Steven Boyd, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, The Master's College, Santa Clarita, California
Dr. David DeWitt, Professor of Biology/Chemistry, Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia
Dr. Joseph Francis, Professor of Biology, The Master's College, Santa Clarita, California and Liberty University Online
Tim McKenzie, President and Founder of the On Every Word ministry

Additional speakers from Answers in Genesis: Dr. Jason Lisle (astrophysicist, author, and speaker), Dr. Terry Mortenson (theologian, historian of geology, author, and speaker), Dr. Andrew Snelling, (geologist, author, and international speaker), Dr. Georgia Purdom, (molecular geneticist, wife, mother, and speaker), Mike Riddle (educational specialist, and speaker), Dr. Tommy Mitchell (physician, author, and speaker), Dr. David Menton (professor emeritus, Washington University School of Medicine, and speaker). I will also speak.

Attendees will also learn more about the Ark Encounter, located 25 miles south of the church (and also situated off I-75), with groundbreaking late this summer. Sorry, but tours are not allowed on the Ark's property at this stage.

It's not too late to register online for the Apologetics Mega Conference (though that online deadline is drawing near) at www.2011megaconference.org or call 1-877-244-3370.

I hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The End of an Era

AiG had a special chapel this past Friday to honor retiring AiG Board of Directors' member, Dr. Mark Jackson. Dr. Jackson was unable to be here in person, but joined us live on the phone. He officially retired on the day of he and his wife Irene's 62nd wedding anniversary (and yes—we sent them some flowers to commemorate this special event).

AiG board chairman, Pastor Don Landis, led the special chapel time, recapping Dr. Jackson's special role on the board and some of the positions he has held at various times of his life. For instance, Dr. Jackson has travelled to 75 countries preaching the gospel. He has gone to teach people and help missionaries in parts of the world most of us would not be prepared to go. Dr. Jackson was a leader of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches for many years, and also served as president of the Baptist Bible College in Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1986.

Here is a photograph of Don Landis as he talked to Dr. Jackson on the phone in our SFX Ttheater:

Dr. Jackson then gave a wonderful challenging devotion to the staff, as his last official duty as a board member. You can hear this 10-minute devotional as well as comments from myself and Pastor Don Landis at

Dr. Jackson Farewell.

After Dr. Jackson addressed the staff, Don then presented him with this plaque:

The board of directors also unanimously voted to make Dr. Jackson a "'board director emeritus."

Yes—it is the end of an era—but we praise the Lord for the opportunity we have all had to get to know this great man of God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Psalm 51

This past week during our Thursday chapel, the AiG staff were blessed to sit under the teaching of staff member Steve Fazekas.






He spoke about Psalm 51 as a part of a series of chapels being presented by different staff members.  I encourage you to listen to this presentation as you will be blessed by this great teaching—and—you will also be thrilled to learn more about the biblical knowledge and dedication of a typical AiG staff member.

You can listen to the audio

Steve Fazekas staff meeting.

Ark Park Could Break Ground in August

Here is a good news article about the Ark Park (one minor correction ,though–it should be I-75 not I-71; perhaps that will be corrected soon by the paper):

It begins:

Groundbreaking for the $172 million Ark Encounter project could be as early as August, now that tax rebates for the attraction have been green-lighted.  The approval of incentives virtually assures the project will be built on the Grant County site identified by developers at a December press conference in Frankfort."

You can read the rest of the article at:  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110610/NEWS0103/106110327/Ark-park-could-break-ground-August

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Drove Home Three Main Points

As I was checking out links on the internet yesterday (I receive "alerts" when the name of Answers in Genesis pops up on websites), I came across a scathing report of the recent presentations I gave at the Homeschool Convention in Naperville, Illinois. However, then I realized the report was written by an atheist who attended the lectures. Therefore, such mocking, scathing comments are to be expected.

Then I was sent a link to a report that was posted on Examiner.com, which is (as a staff member informed me) a user-generated news website. Basically, anyone can create a city-specific column and write articles. For instance, I could create an Examiner column page called "Creationism in Kentucky" and write about creationism in Kentucky—or whatever I felt like writing about Kentucky events and issues.

There are several writers/contributors who write about Answers in Genesis. I was interested to read an article by a Tim Ryan, who wrote about my Naperville presentations. He calls his column "Oswego Christian Apologetics Examiner." (He's from the Chicago area.). The article did a good job of summarizing the points of my presentations, so I thought it would be good to reprint a section of his article below and then link to the entire article.

The author wrote:

Ham drove home three main points throughout most of his presentations at the conference: the difference between operation science and historical / origin science; the myth of neutrality; and a proper understanding of the evidence or data relating to the origin of the universe and all life. To expand on each of these concepts, Ham explained that operation science uses the so-called "scientific method" to attempt to discover truth, performing observable, repeatable experiments in a controlled environment to find patterns of recurring behavior in the present physical universe. For example, we can test gravity, study the spread of disease, or observe speciation in the lab or in the wild. Both creationists and evolutionists use this kind of science, which has given rise to computers, space shuttles, and cures for diseases.

Historical or Origin science attempts to discover truth about the past by examining reliable eyewitness testimony (if available); and circumstantial evidence, such as pottery, fossils, and canyons. Because the past cannot be observed directly, assumptions greatly affect how these scientists interpret what they see. People need to realize that the debate between creationists and evolutionists is not about operation science, which is based in the present. The debate is about origin science and conflicting assumptions, or beliefs, about the past.

The myth of neutrality — no one is neutral. Every system of thought must begin with a set of assumptions and is, therefore, not neutral. Everyone comes to the table with a pre-existing worldview or belief structure about the world around them that influences how they interpret the evidence before them. This myth encompasses the belief that people, particularly scientists, are neutral and simply follow the evidence wherever it leads. This is not true. All people look at the evidence with their "worldview glasses" on so to speak — this especially true with regard to the origin of the universe and all life.

Ham's third point is that there is only one set of scientific evidences or data that the atheist and theist both share. For example, it is not as if atheist evolutionary scientists have one set of data and the creationists have a different set of data and these two data conflict with one another. Rather, we all have the same data and the dispute is over how best to interpret and understand that data. At its root, the conflict is a battle between worldviews—a creationist's starting assumptions (God exists, a biblical worldview) and an evolutionist's starting assumptions (no God, an anti-biblical worldview).

All of us, whether theists or atheists would do well to understand these crucial points.

It's good to read an article where the writer actually does accurately sum up what I said. Yes, they were the three main points I wanted to drive home, and I urge all of you to understand these. You can read the entire article at this link.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Hispanic Outreach to Our Region

The special chapel speaker for our staff last week was Pastor Edgar Moralesjude, a Hispanic outreach pastor in our region of Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati area. (He works with Erlanger Baptist Church.)

Originally from Bolivia, Edgar shared how he became a Christian and how he is now engaged in helping run three churches in the area where the services are held in Spanish.

We donated a set of our Spanish-language DVDs to him. This is a set of six talks that I videotaped in Mexico a few years ago and someone did a simultaneous translation into Spanish (quite a remarkable feat!) Find out more about this Spanish Creation Mini-Series in our online bookstore.

To reach Edgar's ministry, go to www.erlangerbaptist.org/edgarmoralesjude.

New Exhibit Being Installed

Here is a photograph of a section of a new exhibit currently being installed at the Creation Museum. This display will inform people about all the various ministries that are part of Answers in Genesis, Creation Museum, and Ark Encounter. The entire exhibit should be installed by the end of this month.

Galapagos Adventure—Day 5

Today Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff posted another blog entry from her adventure in the Galapagos Islands. Here is an excerpt:

As I write this blog, it is morning and I'm looking out my cabin window at what seems like an endless sea of blue. Yesterday we visited Española, the southern- and eastern-most island. It is also the oldest of the islands and is covered in vegetation. We were greeted on shore once again by Sally Lightfoot crabs and sea lions. Many of the sea lions were nursing young. . . .

As we watched the sea lions and marine iguanas, very curious birds began to appear at our feet. They are the hood mockingbird. Mockingbirds were a favorite of Darwin when he visited the islands. According to our naturalist, the mockingbirds have a type of symbiotic relationship with the marine iguanas. They eat parasites and insects off the iguanas and serve as an alarm system if they spot a Galapagos hawk. The iguanas cannot make noise to warn each other about danger so the birds do it for them. When the birds screech in a certain way the iguanas know there is danger and will quickly run for cover.

Visit Georgia's blog to read more and see some photos from her trip.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

A Challenge from a Chancellor

Yesterday, Answers in Genesis was privileged to host a very special visitor: the Chancellor of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. Bob Jones III visited the Creation Museum and also spoke to the entire AiG staff during our chapel time.

You can listen below to the challenge Dr. Bob Jones gave our staff:

Dr. Bob Jones III at Answers in Genesis

Here is a photograph I had taken with "Dr. Bob" (as he is often called) after chapel and inside the museum's Main Hall:

At lunchtime all the Bob Jones University graduates who work at AiG, together with their families had lunch with Dr. Bob. Bob Jones University is one of the "feeder" universities for prospective staff for various departments in the ministry of AiG and the Creation Museum.

Bob Jones University is one of a few institutions that take a stand on the authority of God's Word beginning in Genesis and are thus on our special website www.creationcolleges.org.

The Galapagos Adventure

Over the next few weeks, Dr. Georgia Purdom will be sharing details of her Galapagos adventure, with great photographs and some great teaching. I will link to her blog as she publishes these special entries from her Galapagos trip. Here is today's post:

http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/georgia-purdom/2011/06/08/galapagos-adventure-day-4/

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Believing in a Literal Adam and a Literal Fall Makes Us a Cult?

Unbelievable! But now those groups like AiG who stand on a literal Genesis, with a literal Adam and Eve and a literal Fall, are being called a "cult" on a Christian website in the United Kingdom!

Just recently, I wrote an article about an article in the June edition of Christianity Today entitled, "The Search for the Historical Adam." This article quotes a number of Christian academics who do not believe it is important to believe in a literal Adam and Eve, or even a literal Fall. The author of this article states the following:

So, is the Adam and Eve question destined to become a groundbreaking science-and-Scripture dispute, a 21st-century equivalent of the once disturbing proof that the Earth orbits the sun? The potential is certainly there: the emerging science could be seen to challenge not only what Genesis records about the creation of humanity but the species's unique status as bearing the "image of God," Christian doctrine on original sin and the Fall, the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and, perhaps most significantly, Paul's teaching that links the historical Adam with redemption through Christ (Rom. 5:12–19) . . .

I've said many times over the years that once people begin to reinterpret God's Word in Genesis to fit in the supposed millions of years and evolution (remember the warning in 1 Corinthians 11:3), then that will have an effect of causing doubt in subsequent generations—which leads to unbelief.

Certainly we are seeing that happen, and it is true that the Adam-and-Eve questions are "destined to become a groundbreaking . . . dispute" in the 21st century. But really, it is the age-old battle (beginning in Genesis 3) over the authority of the Word of God.

I see this battle heating up across the world. Recently, a Christian website in the United Kingdom posted an article in which Answers in Genesis is called a cult for believing in a literal Adam and Eve and literal Fall. You need to read excerpts from this article for yourself—you wouldn't believe someone was saying such things if you just heard about it second hand. You see, because Answers in Genesis takes a stand on a literal Fall of man, then we are a cult. But this destroys the real understanding of sin—in that it is really a concept that is supposedly needed to be understood differently in different generations! Read this for yourself. Here are excerpts:

. . . In fact, the differences between ancient Hebrews and modern Americans are about as far apart as one can imagine – it seems crazy to think that the Genesis writers were delivering a commentary that we could interpret scientifically five or six thousand years later. So the mainstream Christians (who make up the vast majority) find that their opposition from both sides largely consists of a similar, and pretty incompetent, group. In that sense there is a further commonality between atheists and fundamentalists in that both seem oblivious to the power of the mythological narrative and all its broad resonances, and both only seem able to view the more complex subjects through an over-simplifying lens of black and white.

You'll find in the cases of early Genesis, the answer is nothing at all. In fact, it's fairly obvious that the reverse is true – were it a literal event it would diminish much of the power of the concept. That's the key word – 'concept' – you see, a concept is a thought or an idea belonging to the mind by taking the generic form of being abstracted from various particulars within the sphere of sense-data. They must realise that sin and being fallen apply here, and that they are not literal objects that can be touched or felt – they are implicitly concept-based, just as pride or happiness or generosity are concepts that are known by what they amount to in the context of literal scenarios.

As those who read the recent very poorly reasoned article from fundamentalist Gary Burchnall would have seen, the language employed by the likes of the Answers in Genesis cult [emphasis mine] directed at theistic evolutionists is the same sanguinary and abrasive language they use on atheists too . . . .

Furthermore, if you can entrap gullible acolytes with creationist mantras that claim the necessity of an alternative to 'naturalistic' science, then you can probably get people to open up their wallets and purses too and invest in movements like Answers in Genesis and the Discovery Institute; institutions that lie to children about the natural world, and peddle distortions on just about every important subject. They are a minority cult-type organisation [emphasis mine] for which the majority of Christians are forever apologising or having to put the record straight. All this fits nicely for them into a set of sleight of hand tricks where genuine ignorance and delusion become entangled with the desire for power, control, prestige and leadership influence.

The patterns are all too familiar – they resemble the sectarians and the cults [emphasis mine] in thought and in behavioral patterns, and I guess that before long those who can manipulate others find themselves adopting all sorts of tactics that they would find quite contemptible in any other group environment.

Thus, the mainstream Christian is really up against it because both atheists and creationists make their living by distorting the true picture of scripture by adding spurious literalism to parts of the Bible that the vast majority of their fellow Christians realise are not to be taken that way.

Furthermore, there is another important point, about which I have written a chapter in one of my books – about how the word of God is not static, but dynamic. One thing is quite clear – one isn't required to take Genesis literally in order to recognise the power of its concepts; just about every Christian I know has no trouble appreciating sin and salvation through the grace of Jesus, so clearly seeing Genesis non-literally hasn't impeded Christians' clarity on sin and the need for a saviour. That fundamentalists place so much emphasis on something that has no bearing on people accepting Jesus shows the first fault – but there is more, because I can formulate a question for which they have no answer, and it takes the following form;

What is added to the reality of sin and falleness in a literal historical Genesis act or event that would be absent in a mythological or allegorical Genesis expression?

By imputing a literalism or a physicalism to sin there is the question of the difference between perceptions and conceptions . . . .

Now non-perceptive aspects of reality are different – they are not physical objects that can be seen or touched or smelt – they are implicitly conceptual because they take the form of an idea or a mental abstraction. So take the concept of sin or goodness or generosity or love or beauty or sublimity – each of these falls into the category distinction of being implicitly conceptual, because they are not shared experiences in the same way that sense-based observations are shared, and they are not 'common sense' friendly. They elicit meaning throughout shared experiences, because they are concepts that have significance conferred upon them in commonality of experience, and communication of those experiences. For that reason it makes no sense to talk of sin being more than a concept.

. . . So all this talk of the importance of a literal Genesis is moonshine, because it fails to take from the account the most powerful part of the story – the power of the concept and its reification in actionable form throughout one's journey with Christ …

And, of course, to contend that evolution militates against our being sinful or fallen is nonsense – it should be so obvious really. Any evolved being is going to be in a fallen state when fallenness is qualitatively measured against God. We cannot legislate sin or wrongdoing or imperfection out of the system; and of course even the angels bow to Jesus as Lord. But there is a bigger failing of literalism, and we just mentioned it – to stubbornly accept it as a real event and deny its broader conceptual implications is delimiting, because it shuts off the Christian from one of God's key plans for His word – its dynamic development in conceptual form throughout the spread of Christianity in every age, right up to the present day. Not only will God resource His wisdom in contemporary context by having His Holy Spirit help us invest new meanings in the concepts, He will use the present conceptual developments to plant seeds for those unborn folk that are to follow. It is no surprise that this faulty application of literalism where it isn't warranted is yet another pattern that emerges in both creationist and new-wave atheist alike.

For the same reason that we find the true significance of sin in the power of the concept, we find the true significance early Genesis in the power of the concepts it elicits. To try to package all that power into a literal Adam and Eve is simply to divest it of conceptual power, and in doing so, you unwittingly attempt to rob scripture of some of its spiritual gravitas . . . .

So, a literal event for the Fall of man is destructive? We have to believe in sin as a concept, and not a literal event?

Oh, by the way, look at the state of the church in England: it is all but spiritually dead. I've ministered in England about 15 times now and have met with countless church leaders there. I've seen for myself that this once-Christianized nation is pagan. Most of the next generation doesn't even believe in God. Yes, that is the outcome of this heretical teaching, which sadly not only pervades the church in England but is also infecting the church now in the USA. Sadly, academics like Peter Enns and those from Calvin College (and others as quoted in the Christianity Today article) are leading generations of church leaders to undermine the authority of the Word instead of standing uncompromisingly upon it as we must do!

And I need to make a comment about the "cult" characterizations. Sadly, it's becoming a frequently used tactic nowadays—even in Christendom—to brand a person or group as a cult when it has an opposing view. It's another form of ad hominem argument—tear down and demonize the opposition by engaging in name-calling. What a pity that a Christian would resort to this. (Now, Answers in Genesis may criticize the teachings of a Christian who clearly compromises, but that is not an attack on the person.)

You can read this shocking article in its entirety at this link.

There are numerous articles on the AiG website that refute the false teachings found in this UK article. Rather than listing them here since they are readily available on our website, I thought that instead I would list many Bible verses to remind us to be like the Bereans of the book of Acts and search the Scriptures to see if these things be so:

Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it': 'Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. (Genesis 3:17)

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)

so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56)

If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, (Job 31:33)

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14)

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:14)

We certainly need a new reformation in the church—to call believers back to the authority of the Word of God beginning in Genesis.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

New Documentary on Creation/Evolution

Since our Creation Museum opened over four years ago, we've welcomed 300–400 different media representatives here (about 100 during grand opening week alone). During our first year, a documentary producer, Michael Suglio, videotaped Dr. Jason Lisle and Dr. Georgia Purdom of our staff for his creation/evolution documentary, The Struggle for Existence. Several other documentary producers have also filmed here.

In his documentary, Mr. Suglio looked at two museums: the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (about five hours from us) and our Creation Museum, and how the museums have a different interpretation of the scientific evidence regarding origins. The documentary has been released and won a documentary award at the Ivy Film Festival at Brown University (Rhode Island).

Although I have not seen the film, I understand from one of our staff members that Mr. Suglio attempted to be as balanced as possible in his documentary, and we applaud his good effort. He largely allowed spokespersons from each museum to present their views. Two years after he toured the Creation Museum and interviewed some of our staff, Mr. Suglio graduated from Case Western Reserve University (also in the Cleveland area) in 2009.

You can read a review of his film at this website.

For the film's official website, go to www.thestruggleforexistence.com.

By the way, the Creation Museum recently ended its fourth year of operation, and once again we had over 300,000 visitors a year, as we have done the past three years (in 2007–2008, we were blessed with over 400,000 guests).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken