I recieved this comment from a reader and I wanted to share the discussion with you. Please note that while we disagree, I appreciate that he is willing to comment! My reply follows, what do you think? What's your worldview?
Erm, if Ken Ham quotes such a high percentage of children turning away from the faith of their parents, then perhaps this is because of the tin-foil-hat wearing variety of Christian faith that Mr Ham espouses.
I see a direct correlation between well meaning but scientifically ignorant parents who teach their children that dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark, and teach this 'fact' as a bolster for their Christian faith (precisely the purpose of the Creation museum Ham has opened), and children who then go on to examine these beliefs intelligently and critically and conclude that, since a belief in dinosaur/human cohabitation is the worst kind of benighted nonsense, that maybe what their parents said about God aint too convincing either.
This correlation should be as obvious as anything. I work at a Christian School and am raising my own four year old boy to be a strong Christian. We reject young earth creationism outright as scientifically, factually wrong, and therefore, poisonous to Christian faith if served alongside the Gospel. Perhaps, one day you will see this and your kids will thank you for it.
Besides, Ham is an egomaniacal bully who has fraudulently ripped off a sister Creation ministry in Australia, now the subject of legal action that has Ham angrily hanging up on Christian publication journalists who dare to ask him about it: read some more at
http://duoquartuncia.blogspot.com/2007/06/answers-in-genesis-lawsuit.html
and
http://www.christianfaithandreason.com/june_creationmag.html
You are wrong to give Ham any credence or respect.
Sir,
I appreciate you commenting on the blog. I think it's great that you are being pro-active in teaching your son your beliefs. It is what I am trying to encourage, that parents are pro-active rather than reactive in training their children.
Mr. Ham was not the only speaker who commented on that statistic and I think we can all observe in our churches and in families we know, that many young adults are leaving their Godly heritage. I do think that in fighting between Christians only damages our young people further instead of teaching them to learn to agree to disagree.
On the belief that God didn't create the world in 6, 24 hours days, I will respectfully disagree. I believe in a young earth. God was the only one there when the world began so I will have faith that it was done in the way in which He said it happened. Hebrews 11:3 says " By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what was seen was not made out of what was visible." and Heb 11:6 " And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." I personally want to fall on the side of faith that God is omnipotent and all powerful and the creator of all things. from your comments, I think that you are saying that you believe God created the earth but not in 6 days and that evolution may have been a part of that process. I know this is a very popular belief amongst Christians (some of my own friends believe this as well) and I respectfully disagree. I think that dinosaurs did co-habit with people and that God created them on Day 6 and I believe that when Job 41 talks about a Leviathan it's a dinosaur. I think it comes down to your worldview. How you see the world and your beliefs about it. My worldview comes from the Bible first and foremost and I pray that's my children as well. It's not what I say or what experts or scientists say that matter to them, it's God's word that counts. Everything must go back to what God says on the matter. I hope my kids will even question my words and hold them against the word of God to form their worldview.
For more information on worldview and how it seeps into our belief system you can check out the WorldviewAcademy.org and Summit Ministries at summit.org.
Thanks again for the comment and discussion. I appreciate it and I pray we both continue to seek God in all these matters.
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It does not surprise me to hear more and more Christians trying to blend evolutionary thought with Christian beliefs. I would take it even further saying many Christians are blending secular humanism with Christianity. Most Christians have been exposed to nothing but secular humanism for their entire education. "You send your child to Rome and you are surprised to see them come back as Romans." V. Bockham. So it comes as no surprise to see folks trying to resolve what they have been trained with in school and what the Bible says. Lk 6:40. It also has filtered into the Christian school systems per this thread.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen anything to prove evolution from one species to a different species. It doesn't exist. Perhaps folks should spend more time investigating/proving evolution as a valid? theory. I have read there is growing trend with this even in the public school systems without even mentioning intelligent design (secular humanist way of saying God's creation) because evolution is not able to be defended the more we know about the universe and humans. This is just part of the world system attack on Biblical Christianity, from even those within the church. We have debates on homosexuality saying we (as humans who continue to gain understanding - humanism) know this is biological and should be embraced not labeled as sin.
The Bible is the foundation of our faith. It is the inspired word of God. It is accurate and can hold its own against all arguments against it. How do I know this? Because God said so and has revealed Himself through the Word and graced me with faith in Him. If I cannot stand on every word as truth, I cannot stand on any word as truth. We are finite creatures of an infinite Creator. It is pure humanism to say we cannot believe what our Creator says in His revealed Word.