Creation Science Rebuttals

       Popular creation science speaker Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis (AiG) recently published an article on their website with the title Decontaminating our Children.  The basis of the article is that our children are exposed to evolution, and they must be protected from this false teaching, through the use of the new DVD resource that the article is meant to advertise.

Evolution is Not the Enemy

       Whether or not evolution is true makes no difference to the creation account found in Genesis.  You can be an old earth evolutionist, and believe in Genesis literally, accept the Bible as inerrant, and have salvation in Jesus Christ.  It is a shame that young earth creation science ministries do not recognize this. The motto at the top of the Answers in Genesis website is “Upholding the authority of the Bible from the very first verse.”  What they don’t realize is that Old Earth Ministries (and Reasons to Believe) does the same thing, but we believe in an old earth.  Young earth creationists do not have a corner on the market when it comes to supporting Biblical authority…although they would have you believe that.
       Let’s look at some of the misconceptions presented in this article.  First, Answers in Genesis clearly has a burden to reach children with the truth of God’s word, as they claim.  However, what they are doing is laying a foundation that will cause more people to abandon the Christian faith.  This claim may astound you, but let’s look at it more closely.
       Ken Ham states in the article, “...that for young people who go to church, somewhere between 70–90% abandon the church after they graduate from high school.” Of course, he attributes this to the negative affects of the teaching of evolution.  However, the “real” cause is not the teaching of evolution…it is the blind acceptance that our young people are told they must have in the young earth creation science model.
       From a young age, we teach our children that the earth is young.  When they study these subjects for themselves in high school or college, they see that evolution, astronomy, and geology teaches that the earth is old.  They are left with a decision to make…blindly follow the teachings of the Bible, and discard modern science…or abandon the Bible and accept science.
       When these problems are presented to young earth creationism proponents, and they don’t have answers, the standard answer is that the Bible is the final authority.  If you don’t accept it, then you don’t accept a young earth.  No wonder our youth are leaving the church…they are being driven away by the contradictions they see.
       It does not have to be this way!  Instead of driving people away from the church, we can keep them there by teaching them correctly in the first place.  You can accept the fact that the earth is old, AND be a Christian.  You can believe in an inerrant Bible, and uphold it’s authority, AND believe in an old earth!  Old earth Christians can believe in evolution (theistic evolution), or they can reject evolution (progressive creationists).

The Bible Supports an Old Earth

       The Bible says in Job 12:8, “Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee.”  And in Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”  God says “Look at creation…you will see me.” 

       When scientists look at our world and universe, it clearly says that it is billions of years old.  These verses work, and they testify that the world is billions of years old.  It is regrettable that young earth creationists refuse to honestly examine God’s creation.  They have made a mockery of these two verses.  If our young people, when they get to college, decide that the earth really is old, and they see the message proposed by the church that the earth is young, it is no wonder that they are leaving the church!  We have pre-programmed them to leave!
       Ken Ham says “The response of these precious children (to whether or not they have heard about evolution or “billions of years”) demonstrates the incredibly effective job the “world” has done in brainwashing generations of young people with false, faith-shattering ideas that have caused so many to reject the Bible (and the gospel message!) as true.”  Yes, the world is teaching these things, but they are doing so after following the advice (without realizing it) of Job 12:8 and Romans 1:20.  The scientific truth of billions of years is not “faith-shattering”…the truth is that parents who exclusively teach a young earth are unintentionally setting up their children to fall away from the faith.

Who Needs Decontamination?

       We don’t need to “decontaminate” our children from evolutionary theory.  If Job 12:8 and Romans 1:20 are true, they will see God in a creation of billions of years.  We need to “decontaminate” the church of the idea that young earth creation science is the only option. AiG claims to “wholeheartedly believe God’s Word beginning in Genesis.”  So do I! Yet I believe in an old earth…one that completely agrees with God’s word, including Job12:8 and Romans 1:20.
       Finally, Ken Ham mentions the often used argument of “Were you there?”  Young earth creationists use this against old earth believers and non-Christians, saying that we could not possibly know that the earth is old because we were not there when it was created.  To Ken Ham I ask, “Were you there?” Young earth creationists were not there either!  Such an argument has absolutely no value for either young earth or old earth creationism.  They should add this to their list of arguments that young earth creationists should not use.

Conclusion