Ken Ham's Blog, page 456

International Training Seminar

Last night we wrapped up a week- long International Training Seminar.  Each year, as part of our worldwide ministry, we bring Christian leaders from other countries to the Creation Museum for a week's worth of  apologetics training.  Many of our speakers and researchers made presentations to this group.  The Christian leaders were equipped with resources to take back to their respective countries.  It's one of our ways of trying to spread the creation/gospel message around the world.  This year, countries represented were :  Kuwait; Brazil; Bolivia; India; Russia;  Jamaica.

Here are some ITS photographs taken during the week:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Conference of the Year

Last Opportunity to Register for a Discount!

Hurry! The "early-bird" registration discount for July's Answers in Genesis "conference of the year" ends April 15.

As we continue to prepare for the Apologetics Mega Conference, AiG supporters might want to register soon. If you register before April 15, you will still get the great discount for what is going to be a wonderful faith-strengthening conference.

This year our national conference will be held July 18–22, 2011 at Florence Baptist Church (just minutes from the Creation Museum and the Cincinnati Airport) in beautiful northern Kentucky. Our dynamic speakers include Dr. Charles Ware, Dr. Steven Boyd, Dr. David DeWitt, Dr. Joseph Francis, and more—including many AiG speakers. See the full list of dynamic speakers.

Even though our new 1,000-seat auditorium and multipurpose room at the Creation Museum will be open by July, in order to accommodate the expected numbers, we are holding the conference at this local church that seats around 2,000 people (with an overflow hall). Full-time conference attendees will be able to attend the Creation Museum throughout the time (at no extra cost).

More than ever, the church needs to equip itself to defend the authority of the Word of God and proclaim the gospel of Christ with renewed boldness. Join our speakers and me as we give you answers—which are based in Genesis—to help you repair the cracks of compromise in the foundations of our faith. Remember, free admission to the Creation Museum is included in the registration fee.

Speaking in Dayton, Ohio this Saturday through Monday

Dr. Jason Lisle and I will be speaking at an AiG conference from Saturday through Monday—including two student programs on Monday morning.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying.

Ken

Body of Evidence

Nearly 30 years ago, when I first came to the USA to speak at churches and conferences, I met Dr. David Menton in St. Louis. He earned a PhD in cell biology from Brown University. He served as a biomedical research technician at Mayo Clinic and then as an associate professor of anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine (St Louis). For almost two decades he has been profiled in American Men and Women of Science—A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences. Dr. Menton has lectured throughout the United States and Canada on the creation vs. evolution controversy.

When I first met him, he was a professor (teaching anatomy) at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Menton has been honored for his brilliance as a teacher. When I first heard him speak, I was amazed at his communication abilities. Here was a very qualified professor who could communicate aspects of anatomy and physiology at a level the whole audience could understand—in a quite entertaining way but also with a challenging biblical message.

When Dr. Menton "retired," he came to work full time with Answers in Genesis, and now resides in northern Kentucky. He presents fascinating workshops at the Creation Museum, and still speaks at conferences and churches. His presentations such as Fearfully and Wonderfully Made have been very popular, and DVDs have been purchased from all over the world. Dr. Menton now has quite a number of presentations on DVD. If you have never seen them, I urge you to obtain them.

We now have a new series of DVDs, entitled Body of Evidence, of Dr. Menton presenting his wealth of knowledge concerning anatomy for students and parents—in fact, for anyone who wants to be "wowed" by that amazing design of human body. You will be captivated as this PhD anatomist takes you on a journey through  the human body—from cells and tissues to the major organs and systems. See the incredible way that God has knit together our bodies. The series consists of eight DVDs with 16 programs:

Cells & Tissues
The Skeletal System
The Integumentary System (Skin)
The Cardiovascular System (Heart)
The Respiratory System (Lungs)
The Digestive System
The Urinary System
The Hearing Ear & The Seeing Eye

Today's teens and their families are inundated with the evolutionary worldview—from basically every area of life! Even many "Christian" textbooks include millions of years and other ideas that are the foundation of evolution.

To help right that wrong, Answers in Genesis joined HomeschoolChannel.tv (the American Family Association) to coproduce the new 16-part anatomy and physiology series Body of Evidence, featuring Dr. Menton of AiG. We are thrilled to be able to release Creator-honoring teaching by a man of such high professional reputation and strong Christian character. If you've heard him at an AiG conference, you've seen a master-presenter! This grandfatherly creationist scientist uses his special brand of humor to help make scary words and hard topics easy to understand.

We begin shipping the first sets of this wonderful new series later this month. Go to the product page, so you can see a sample segment and preorder the set of DVDs with study guide (they are also available individually).

The study guide contains questions that allow students to get the most benefit from the Body of Evidence DVD series. Detailed questions follow the order of topics presented and guide students to find the answers. The questions also serve as an outline for the course. Each student will want his or her own copy to maximize learning.

You can also obtain the study guide separately.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AFR at the Creation Museum

Last week, American Family Radio (AFR) broadcast live from the Creation Museum. AiG has had great relationship with this radio network and the American Family Association (the parent ministry of the radio network). We are thrilled to be able to partner with other similar organizations who stand on the authority of God's Word so we can equip and challenge Christians and reach more people in this culture with the truth of the gospel. The morning show was broadcast on more than 100 stations in the network. AFR broadcast live for two hours in the morning with Matt Friedeman last Thursday and then one hour in the afternoon with Marvin Sanders and Jim Stanley.

My segment on AFR has been archived as a video of the radio interview.

Here are some photographs from last week's live broadcast:

Mark Looy with AFR morning host Matt Friedeman

Dr. David Menton with Matt Friedeman

Matt Friedeman interviewing me

Dr. Tommy Mitchell, Dr. Terry Mortenson, and Steve Ham were also interviewed by AFR.

In Mourning

Answers in Genesis staff members are mourning the passing of two people.

Laura Strobl, who works in our graphics department, lost her husband Rik. The service was on Saturday. Here is a photo of Rik:

Ric Strobl

Also, Zelma Shinkle of northern Kentucky died recently at age 83. Her son Monte is a pastor in Missouri, and he has hosted me twice for conferences in his church. Zelma's daughter, Conte Flowers, is also a great friend of AiG, and her husband Danny—a pastor in our area—has spoken at AiG staff chapels.

Please pray for the families during these difficult times.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Do Two Nazarene Professors Endorse the idea that Rejecting Christianity Is More Viable than Believing Paul in the New Testament?

Well, read on and you decide:

Drs. Darrel Falk and Karl Giberson (both professors at Nazarene universities) are the president and vice president of BioLogos. This is an organization I have highlighted before in this blog because it is aggressively promoting evolution and millions of years to the church. For instance, BioLogos declares the following:

The BioLogos Foundation is a group of Christians, many of whom are professional scientists, biblical scholars, philosophers, theologians, pastors, and educators, who are concerned about the long history of disharmony between the findings of science and large sectors of the Christian faith. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. We also believe that evolution, properly understood, best describes God's work of creation. (http://biologos.org/about)

God's people need to be very aware of what is on the BioLogos website and what those who are apart of BioLogos are teaching. For instance, concerning an essay by Dr. Peter Enns (who was recently featured at the Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati), we read the following:

But why are all these issues important, exactly? Why invest so much time in trying to understand Genesis as the ancient Israelites would have, or in reading Paul in a non-literal way? In a new essay, Enns argues that Christians must engage in these activities, because ignoring the scientific and archeological evidence for evolution is not an option for believers in the twenty-first century. (http://biologos.org/blog/pete-enns-on-evangelicals-evolution-and-the-bible-moving-toward-a-synthesis/)

Now here are excerpts from that essay, and prepare to be shocked.  First, Dr. Enns shows clearly he does understand the importance of taking Genesis as literal history and as being foundational to the gospel. He also shows he understands that Paul is quoting Genesis, and the first Adam, as literal history—all connected to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. Enns states the following:

As the argument goes, for the analogy to have any force, the first Adam must be every bit as much an actual historical figure (not metaphorical, symbolic, mythical, etc.) as the second. The implications can be quickly grasped. Evolution demands that the special creation of the first Adam as described in the Bible is not literally historical. Paul, however, seems to require it. What purpose does the obedience of the second Adam have if not to counter the actual disobedience of the first Adam? If there really was no first Adam, from whom every human is descended, then there is no fall. If there is no fall, there is no true inescapably sinful condition where we are "dead" in sin (e.g., Ephesians 2:1ff.; Colossians 2:13). If we are not dead in sin, there is no need for a Savior. Christianity, for those who track with this line of thinking, seems to need the Adam story to be an essentially accurate literal/historical account of human origins. Hence, evolution can be acceptable in some a limited sense (micro-evolution), but when it comes to the origin of humanity (macro-evolution), it is completely out of bounds, for, if macro-evolution is true, then Christianity is false. The latter is unthinkable, therefore the former must be judged incorrect, regardless of how eager most Christians are to accept most any other scientifically supported theories about other natural phenomena. This is a conclusion drawn not simply by isolationist Fundamentalists, but by thoughtful, well-versed Christians.

Then he states this:

With this in mind, we can see that the ultimate issue for many7 Evangelicals is very specific. Which is right—what evolution tells us about human origins or what Paul tells us about Genesis? Deep Christian commitments lead one to read Paul with utmost seriousness, but scientific sensibilities do not allow one to dismiss evolution. This is the conundrum, and, as I see it, there are essentially four options before us:

1. Accept evolution as valid and embodying tremendous explanatory power, and reject Christianity on the whole as untenable;

2. Develop a true scientific model, open to peer review, that supplies Christian theology with a first pair of some sort and so reconcile Christianity and evolution;

3. Rethink the biblical origin story and related passages so as to synthesize Christianity with scientific reality;

4. Accept Paul's understanding of human origins as scientifically accurate and reject evolution.

The second option is somewhat problematic …

The fourth option is untenable as members of the human race in the twenty-first century. Ignoring the scientific and archaeological evidence is not an option.

The first option, rejecting Christianity, is more viable than the fourth and does not suffer from the ad hoc posture of the second, but it is certainly not the necessary one. Another option remains, the third listed above: synthesis. In my opinion, it is with this third option that our intellectual energies are most profitably expended, and that should be the focus of future theological and hermeneutical work.

Read this last paragraph again. Note, "The fourth option is untenable as members of the human race in the twenty-first century."

And also note,  "The first option, rejecting Christianity, is more viable than the fourth . . . "

And what is the fourth option?  "Accept Paul's understanding of human origins as scientifically accurate and reject evolution."

Thus, in this essay, Enns is saying that "rejecting Christianity is more viable" than accepting "Paul's understanding of human origins as scientifically accurate and reject evolution."

Wow!

This is the sort of teaching a number of Christian academics are endorsing, and sadly, it is beginning to infiltrate Christian colleges more and more.

Our new book Already Compromised is going to really wake up the Christian public regarding the compromised teaching rampant in Christian universities. Find out more about this book (and preorder it), which will be available May 1.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Warning All Christians

Over the past year, we have seen an increase in the number of accusations from secularists that what AiG teaches children is "child abuse." This term of "child abuse"' is being used more and more in general about Christians teaching their children. These secularists are not only intolerant of the absolutes of Christianity (despite their frequent calls for what they call "tolerance"), but they are intolerant of Christians. We have seen much name calling and personal attacks in recent times. Certainly the absolutes of Christianity are intolerant of the secularists' moral relativism, but as Christians, we should not be intolerant and hateful of the person who has these views.

It is amazing to me how inconsistent these secularists are. On the one hand they accuse Christians of attacking them personally, when it is really their beliefs we disagree with (because of God's Word). Yet they turn around and attack Christians beliefs and attack Christians personally.

Here are just some of the links to previous blog posts where I discussed this issue:

Abusing Children
More and More Kids Learning the Truth About Creation, Dinosaurs, and Genesis
Does a Group Called "Free Inquiry" Really Want "Free Inquiry"?
"Woe to Those who . . . Put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness"
Letter Wars
Teaching Sunday School and Child Abuse

Recently, I was reading an article published by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). I want to bring your attention to this article (even if you are not a homeschooler—this article is a warning for all Christians), as we need to understand what the secularists are up to. There is no doubt they are out to persecute Christians. Below are a couple of quotes from the article.

Concerning what the secularists are now arguing, in their "Home School Court Report" they state the following:

Christian homeschooling parents are effectively transmitting values to their children that the elitists believe are dangerous to the well-being of both these very children and society as a whole.

What are those values? Homosexuality is a sin. Men should be the leaders of their families. Jesus is the only way to God. All other religions are false.

I could go on. But what the elitists really mean is the set of religious beliefs that they label as fundamentalist Christianity.

Quoting Catherine Ross, a law professor from George Washington Law School, we read in this HSLDA report:

"Many liberal political theorists argue, however, that there are limits to tolerance. In order for the norm of tolerance to survive across generations, society need not and should not tolerate the inculcation of absolutist views that undermine toleration of difference. Respect for difference should not be confused with approval for approaches that would splinter us into countless warring groups. Hence an argument that tolerance for diverse views and values is a foundational principle does not conflict with the notion that the state can and should limit the ability of intolerant homeschoolers to inculcate hostility to difference in their children—at least during the portion of the day they claim to devote to satisfying the compulsory schooling requirement.3"

They quote her further with the following:

"If a parent subscribes to an absolutist belief system premised on the notion that it was handed down by a creator, that it (like the Ten Commandments) is etched in stone and that all other systems are wrong, the essential lessons of a civic education (i.e., tolerance and mutual respect) often seem deeply challenging and suspect. If the core principle in a parent's belief system is that there is only one immutable truth that cannot be questioned, many educational topics will be off limits. Such "private truths" have no place in the public arena, including the public schools.4"

The report from HSLDA continues:

And, finally, Professor Ross tells us what she thinks should be done about us, in addition to imposing testing requirements and all manner of academic regulation.

I propose that we add to the civics education goals of the state, including lessons on mutual respect for diverse populations and viewpoints as a mandatory curricular requirement. As I observed above, some homeschoolers doubtless are committed to diversity, and this requirement would not conflict with their educational agenda, but this is not the group that concerns me. Imposing curricular requirements about respect for diverse viewpoints will be seen as undermining the most authoritarian conservative homeschoolers—those who believe in an absolute truth which forms the basis of the education they provide their children. Unfortunately, the unavoidable counterpart of a belief in absolute truth is that other belief systems are mistaken at best, and at worst, evil.5

This is not just a concern for homeschoolers but a warning for all Christians.  I highly recommend you read this report (it was published at the end of 2010). The report has much more alarming information and also references the various quotes etc., so you can also do further research if you need to.

Read the entire article on HSLDA's website. I also encourage every homeschooler to connect to HSLDA.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Saturday at the Creation Museum

Over 2,500 people poured into the Creation Museum yesterday (1,000 more than the same day last year). Many museum visitors browsed our special homeschool curriculum display. It was a very busy day! Here are some photographs taken yesterday:

Portico area

Main Hall

Meeting people in the room we set aside for the curriculum display (four photos):

A group of students from Concordia University in Chicago (a Lutheran university)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Susan Wise Bauer, "Why Paul Would Have Flunked Hermeneutics"

Yes—that is the subtitle of her review (written in 2006) of Peter Enns' book entitled Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. The full title of her article was "Messy Revelation: Why Paul would have flunked hermeneutics."  By "hermeneutics" here she means a class that would study the principles used in properly interpreting the Bible (from the Greek word hermeneuo, which means to interpret or translate).

Susan Bauer is well known in homeschool circles. A number of homeschoolers have used her books—and have heard her speak at the 'Great Homeschool Conventions' over the past few years.

Dr. Susan Wise Bauer is an English professor of writing and American literature at The College of William and Mary. According to a bio we have read, she holds a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, a Master of Arts in English and a Ph.D. in American Studies from The College of William and Mary. She received her B.A. from Liberty University.

She is well known for authoring The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. She also authored a four-volume world history series for children entitled The Story of the World, published by Peace Hill Press (which she founded).   She co-authored The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, that established Bauer as a central figure in the modern classical education and home education movements. She ocassionally writes reviews for Books & Culture—a publication of Christianity Today.

Recently, I have written items dealing with the content of the curriculum created by Dr. Peter Enns (from BioLogos) as part of a homeschool curriculum.  I detailed quotes from Dr. Enns' Telling God's Story, A Parents' Guide to Teaching the Bible, (Charles City, Virginia: Olive Branch Books, 2010). This book is intended to be used in conjunction with the first year book in the series Telling God's Story. Peter Enns states:  "I have been working on a Bible curriculum for Olive Branch Books, the religious instruction imprint of Peace Hill Press founded by well-known author, historian, and homeschooling guru Susan Wise Bauer."

For my previous items on this curriculum go to:

http://www.facebook.com/aigkenham#!/note.php?note_id=187216417990499

http://www.facebook.com/aigkenham#!/note.php?note_id=187124177999723

Bauer's review of Enns' book (a book that led to his dismissal from the faculty of Westminister Theological Seminary in Philadelphia) has the shocking headline, "Messy Revelation."  I presume this is because Peter Enns (see the first link above) basically calls the Bible a "mess"—something like a child's room.

Nowhere in her review is there any negative statement about the book.

Bauer states concerning Enns' book:

The uniqueness of the Old Testament as a piece of literature has been seriously dented by the discovery of more and more ancient texts that predate (and anticipate) biblical forms. Creation story, flood story, prophecy, proverb: all of these were in use in Mesopotamia long before the first biblical book was penned.

Such a belief concerning ancient texts together with his acceptance of evolution and millions of years are really the foundation that strongly influences how Enns views Scripture.  And Enns and Bauer seem not to have considered that the truth and even text of Genesis 1-11 was known and preserved by Noah and his family before any of the Ancient Near Eastern literature was written.  The toledoth ("these are the generations of") verses that occur 11 times in Genesis tie the whole book together as a unit and the second one in Genesis 5:1 ("This is the book of the generations of Adam") strongly indicates that there was writing at the time of Adam and that the pre-Flood history was taken on board the Ark and preserved till Moses incorporated it into his writing of Genesis under the inspiration of God's Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).  The fact that the ANE literature predated the first book of Moses (Genesis) does not mean that the text (or at least the accurately preserved oral tradition) of Genesis 1–11 was not in existence before the ANE texts were written.

Bauer continues in her review:

So how can we claim that the Old Testament—and it alone from all the texts of that pre-Christian age—is divine communication from God to man? It's an interesting question, but it turns out to be small potatoes compared with the next problem that Enns, professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, sets before us: It seems as though the Old Testament was also puzzling for Matthew and Luke and Paul. In fact, from where we sit, it looks as though the apostles were lousy at exegesis.

Wow!  The "apostles were lousy at exegesis."  And she has already stated in the subheading "why Paul would have flunked hermeneutics."

In the review, she states:

Enns gives us a number of startling New Testament passages that use the Old Testament by wrenching the original words violently out of context and even altering them … In other words, Matthew is shamelessly proof-texting, in a way that would get any student enrolled in Practical Theology 221 (Expository Skills) sternly reproved.

Further on, Bauer states:

Changing the words of Scripture to suit your own purposes? Paul wouldn't get past the first week of New Testament 123 (Hermeneutics) like that. He is breaking every rule of thoughtful evangelical scholarship, which holds that the proper way to approach inerrant Scripture is with careful grammatical-historical exegesis: painstaking analysis of each word of the Scripture and its relationship to other words, the setting of the sentence in the verse, the verse in the chapter, the chapter in the book, and the book in the historical times of its composition.

Of course Paul breaks those rules, Enns says; they are our rules, not Paul's. Inspiration and Incarnation offers us passages from such extrabiblical texts as the Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Biblical Antiquities in order to show that, far from doing something extraordinary and super-apostolic, Paul and Matthew were doing exactly what most of their contemporaries did. Both apostles had been trained by the scholars of their day, the so-called "Second Temple" period, to come to a text looking for the "mystery" beneath the words: the deeper truth that an untrained reader might not see. Both of them came to the Old Testament already convinced that they knew what that mystery was: the incarnation, death, and resurrection of God in Jesus Christ.

Later on in the review she states:

Nevertheless, Enns is willing to plant his feet on the slope and stand there long enough to ask two disturbing questions. The first is this: Are we really saying that the apostles used an interpretive method that was not particularly inspired, and which in the hands of many Second Temple scholars led to enormous distortions of the original texts? And that this "mishandling" of the Old Testament produced, somehow, an inspired and trustworthy New Testament? Enns' answer to this is an unequivocal yes. "This makes revelation somewhat messy," he writes, "but … it would seem that God would not have it any other way. For the apostles to interpret the Old Testament in ways consistent with the hermeneutical expectations of the Second Temple world is analogous to Christ himself becoming a first-century Jew."

Bauer then explains:

In other words, the God who spoke to man through Christ also speaks to man through Scripture, and in much the same way: he enters into our world and uses our own cultural patterns to reveal himself. We cannot insist that there is a separate, ahistorical, all-divine message in any part of the Bible that somehow triumphs over all contemporary thought and custom. This, Enns writes, is a modern version of the ancient Docetic heresy, which held that Christ only seemed human. "What some ancient Christians were saying about Christ," he writes, "… is similar to the mistake that other Christians have made (and continue to make) about Scripture: it comes from God, and the marks of its humanity are only apparent, to be explained away."

I know of no orthodox Christian who thinks that "the marks of [the Bible's] humanity are only apparent, to be explained away."  The Bible is fully human and fully divine in its composition (and therefore without error), just as Jesus was fully human and fully divine in His natures (and therefore without sin).  So Enns has erected a straw-man argument here.

Later, Bauer concludes:

This means, unfortunately, that we cannot cling to the comforting notion that grammatical-historical exegesis is a kind of high road to truth. Like the Second Temple exegesis of Paul and Matthew, it is a method—the method produced by our own time and place. Like the Second Temple exegesis, it can produce both truth and error. "Our own understanding of the Old Testament—and the gospel—has a contextual dimension," Enns writes. "As subjective as this sounds, it is nevertheless inescapable… . If any of this is troublesome, it may be because we have not adequately grappled with the implications of God himself giving us Scripture in context."

At the end of Bauer's review, she states:

I do have to stand face-to-face with the Old Testament and its excessive, contradictory, harsh, alien texts. Enns encourages us to recognize the Old Testament for what it is: the anteroom of the Incarnation, the practice ground where we are brought nose-to-nose with the true difficulty of believing that God ever came to earth.

The Old Testament has "excessive, contradictory, harsh and alien texts"?  That is certainly not an orthodox Christian view or Jesus' and the apostles' view of the Old Testament.  Really—I believe the correct "review" of Enns' book (which when understood does mean he has a different view of inspiration from that held by orthodox Christians down through the centuries including us at Answers in Genesis)  can be summed up  by Bible scholar Moises Silva:

If we refuse to pattern our exegesis after that of the apostles, we are in practice denying the authoritative character of their scriptural interpretation—and to do so is to strike at the very heart of the Christian faith.

– Silva, Moises. 1983. "The New Testament Use of The Old Testament: Text Form and Authority," in D.A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, eds. Scripture and Truth. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, p. 164.

Bottom line—this book strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith!

How we need to pray for the church to return to the authority of the "God-breathed" Word. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Battle over Adam

As those of you who regularly read this blog know, I recently wrote some blog items about John Walton from Wheaton College and Peter Enns from BioLogos.

John Walton does not regard Genesis 1 as an account of material origins, but one of the creation of the so-called "Cosmic Temple."

See these links:

http://blogs.answersingenesisorg/blogs/ken-ham/2011/02/18/wheaton-college-and-false-teaching-in-tennessee/
http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2011/02/20/the-genesis-flood-the-battle-still-rages/

Peter Enns regards Adam as a metaphor for Israel (and that the apostle Paul got it wrong in the New Testament thinking Adam was a real first man).

See these links:

http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2011/03/15/another-compromiser-speaking-at-homeschool-conventions/
http://www.facebook.com/aigkenham#!/note.php?note_id=187124177999723
http://www.facebook.com/aigkenham#!/note.php?note_id=187216417990499

Well, the "battle over Adam," which really is a battle over the authority, inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture, is going to be heating up. We received an email notification from the office of Christianity Today, a magazine that is certainly not known for standing with conservative biblical Christianity (as it once did). The email stated:

I wanted to give you a heads-up about the cover story in our June issue of Christianity Today. We are going to be doing a Cover Story on the theological controversy regarding the historical Adam (whether Christians need to believe he was a historical figure or not, especially in light of new findings in genetic science).

The reason for the email notification was to solicit advertising of products that may relate to this subject. It is going to be very interesting to see who the authors of the articles are in this issue and what products are advertised.

Friends, we are in a battle in the church today—and it is a battle over the authority of the Word of God. Regardless of how some would try to frame it, the recent occasion of AiG and me being canceled from a particular type of homeschool convention is really a part of this battle that is going to be raging like never before.

I believe the release of our new book, Already Compromised (you can pre-order online) is very timely and much needed. There is very strong teaching in this book that calls the church and Christian schools back to a literal Genesis—and to a literal Adam.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Who Did Moody Bible Institute's Student Council Invite?

As we continue to look at the compromise on Genesis with millions of years and evolution that is so rife in the church, I was saddened to find that the student council at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago had invited a well-known group in for an "old earth creation workshop."

The group who was invited on campus on February 25 and 26 this year is called "Solid Rock Lectures."

Who is Solid Rock Lectures? Well the subheading on their website states, "Understanding Evidence for Old Earth Creation and its Biblical Basis."

They go on to state the following:

Young people raised in many churches are told that the Bible teaches a recent six-day creation, and that evidence for an ancient earth or evolution is weak. When confronted with the actual evidence in college or later in life, they often experience a crisis of faith. The scientific evidence [for an old earth] is so overwhelming, many determine it must be their faith that was mistaken.

Questioning non-believers likewise face a monumental obstacle to faith when told that to accept Christ, they must reject what seems to be reason itself. Tragic stories like these are what motivated the development of these Creation Workshops. It is our conviction that an honest study of both Scripture and nature not only leaves ample room for the legitimacy of modern scientific theories, but that the agreement between God's written and natural creations can be breathtaking!

This again affirms how important it is for people to read our upcoming book Already Compromised, which will be released May 1. This book details research into what so many Christian colleges and universities are actually teaching our young people—the results are revealing and shocking. Compromise (particularly in Genesis) permeates much of the Christian university system.

One of the goals of the book Already Compromised is to warn parents (and students) that just because a college professor, president, or whomever on campus claims they believe in the authority and infallibility of Scripture, does not mean they take Genesis as literal history—as they should.

For instance, in the Moody Standard (the student newspaper of Moody Bible Institute), Feb 15, 2011, concerning the Solid Rock Lectures, we read the following:

These professional geologists acknowledge the authority of the Bible and the legitimacy of modern science.  One of the speakers . . . said, "We are Christians, first and foremost, committed to the authority and infallibility of Scripture."

One of the speakers mentioned in this Moody Standard newspaper is well-known to AiG. He has contacted us many times, and talked to various of our researchers and speakers. We have been very patient with him, but he will not really deal with the numerous biblical authority arguments we have presented him. In fact, on a number of occasions, he has found out where an AiG speaker will be making presentations at a church, and then has contacted the pastor to warn him about us. He has tried to get that church to let him come and speak to the congregation to convince them not to believe what AiG is teaching (which what we present is based solidly on Scripture).

Knowing how these people work, I found it sad to see this newspaper concerning one of the sessions state, "This session will include ways to test the reliability of dating methods and examples of how arguments get twisted in the creation debate."

Having read material from these speakers, we know how they try to indoctrinate people against the position on Genesis that AiG holds—that is, taking Genesis chapters 1-11 as literal history, just as Jesus and the apostles did—and just as the vast majority of Bible-believing Christians did for the first 18 centuries of church history (as the scholarly research in AiG's Coming to Grips with Genesis has shown).

Here is a copy of the actual program that was to be presented at Moody Bible Institute:

The particular emphasis of the Solid Rock Lectures is to get Christians to believe in millions of years and not believe in six literal days of creation just a few thousand years ago—and a global catastrophic Flood at the time of Noah. There is no doubt such anti-biblical beliefs have been responsible for putting a stumbling block in the way of so many young people, as such a position clearly undermines the authority of Scripture.

How we need Christian institutions to take a stand against the pagan religion of millions of years (yes, it is a part of the pagan religion of atheism to explain life without God) and stand uncompromisingly on the authority of the Word of God—from the very first verse.

Now, this conference was sponsored by the student council at Moody, not the administration. However, when I spoke at a chapel at Moody a number of years ago (through the efforts some of good AiG friends), a "disclaimer" was given to the students and staff just before I spoke (i.e., AiG's views were not necessarily those of Moody's). I did meet a Moody professor who stood ardently with Answers in Genesis, and there may be more professors like that on campus. However, I have been told by people close to Moody that most of the Moody staff would probably not support AiG's position on Genesis.

It was the idea of an earth millions of years old—introduced back in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and popularized by deists and atheists in their attempt to undermine Scripture—that opened the door for Darwinian evolutionary ideas to take hold. Secularists have to have millions of years, or they can't even begin to propose the belief in evolution for the origin and development of life. That is why they are so emotional about the idea of an earth millions of years old. Sadly, Christians have been intimidated to accept an old earth, thus compromising God's Word and unlocking a door for the next generation—the unlocked door was that someone can take man's fallible ideas from outside the Bible and reinterpret Scripture. Subsequent generations push this door open further and further, until there is a great loss of biblical authority in the culture. That is what has happened in our Western world, and it is happening across America. Such compromise in the church has been a great contributing factor that has resulted in two thirds of young people leaving church. This has been documented in the book Already Gone, published in 2009.

I urge all of you to get the new book Already Compromised, as soon as it is available. You can preorder here from the AiG online store.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken