Evolutionary ‘programming’ and the stumbling block of thousands of years
Unwitting ‘indoctrination’ creates stumbling blocks
Originally appeared in a CMI newsletter, September 2014
Even more than our opposition to evolution, many people find it unbelievable that we believe God created the universe in six 24-hour days, some 6,000 years ago, as the Bible plainly teaches.1 There is almost a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to the idea that the earth’s history encompasses only thousands, not billions of years. This can be confusing and frustrating for people who are trying to witness.
What we have to remember when we’re teaching on this subject is that people are ‘programmed’ with the billions-of-years story, little by little nearly every day. This starts in childhood, as they see documentaries that claim to reconstruct the ‘lost world’ of the dinosaurs, or how an ape-like ancestor gradually changed over millions of years into the species we are today. Places like the Grand Canyon show evidence of vast geological processes, which mainstream geologists argue only take place gradually over millions of years.
A person’s foundational worldview will cause them to interpret all reality through that lens. When you consider the impact of this day-after-day programming without any dissenting voices, it is unsurprising that by adulthood many see billions of years of history as an unassailable truth. And so they react to the arguments for a young earth with incredulity and even anger. It’s the fruit of a type of indoctrination that we’ve allowed the world to shape us with, to condition us into believing a particular worldview.
There is such incredulity that we regularly receive messages we could not print in our family-friendly publications; accusing us of lying and spreading propaganda for financial gain (of course, our supporters know that this could not be further from the truth). People rarely respond to the actual information, but with emotional outbursts that show a huge dedication to the worldview that they have unwittingly built up over the years.
Part of what CMI does is help to dismantle these false views with sound creation information. But the heart of our ministry is to help children before these anti-biblical ideas become the foundation for a secular worldview, as is increasingly happening today. After all, isn’t it better to form the proper foundation and structure of a child’s worldview instead of working to undo an entire fully-fledged false worldview?
And, so what is the best way to reach the children? It might surprise you to hear that the best conduit is to first reach the parents. This is in line with God’s design for the family—and when a parent consistently presents creation information from a young age to help counter the evolutionary messages from schools and the media, that child has a much better chance of staying in the faith, because they will be able to ‘give an answer’ for the hope they have.
Don’t wait until it is too late
CMI has no position on where parents should educate their children. There are numerous factors that parents have to consider when making educational decisions for their family. But what CMI does is to encourage parents and help them instill the proper biblical worldview in their children. As part of this it is essential that we also teach children what to expect—that is—the opposing worldview they will encounter in the media and public education. This is because the reality is that regardless of where our young ones are educated they will be exposed to the aforementioned mantra of millions of years and evolution. We provide numerous resources that will help immunize young ones, such as books and DVDs and even a dedicated Parent’s Corner section of our website. Parents only need to take a little time each week with their children to educate them in this crucial battleground of origins. In a book called The Harsh Truth about Public Schools, Christian educator Bruce Shortt wrote:
“Contrary to what many Christians have been led to believe, there is no such thing as a ‘neutral’ education. All education is religious and conveys a worldview, and there is no more important decision that we make as parents than how we educate our children … The overwhelming majority of children from evangelical families leave the church within two years after they graduate from high school … ”2
The reality of changed lives
Sometimes we receive messages from parents who have not been equipped, whose children are now doubting the faith in which they were brought up. Sadly, our speakers hear this all the time. The good news is that it’s never too late to become equipped with answers and become engaged in this area. For example, Kevin B. told us:
“Thank you so much for this ministry. I am a biology student that will soon be graduating. Like most, I was brought up in public schools that taught the evolutionary worldview. There seemed to be no room for Genesis in it and so I began to doubt the Word of God. There were no answers to be found in my church and the Christians I knew just wanted to ignore my questions. Or they would tell me to just have faith. It didn’t make sense to me. If it was all true then reality should reflect that. So I fell away from God … Then I discovered CMI and suddenly I had resources that confirmed my suspicions that atheistic naturalism could not be true. If only I had the answers when I first began to ask! God bless this ministry. I use a lot of the information to show people in my sphere of influence that, not only is trust in God’s Word reasonable, but it is essential!”
Your support of CMI is essential to help us keep the life-changing information coming in its various forms via books, DVDs and our comprehensive website. Why not consider subscribing a child, grandchild or friend to our Creation magazine? You can now add a digital version and share it with family and friends on up to 5 separate devices.
Also, if you wanted to start teaching more at home our Parent’s Corner has some helps.
References and notes
- Cosner, L., How does the Bible teach 6,000 years? Creation 35(1):54–55, January 2013 Return to text.
- Author shares harsh campus realities, wnd.com/2005/02/28769, 7 February 2005. Return to text.
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