‘I have the Bible—what more do I need?’
by Ken Ham
At a recent major creation seminar, a woman who was obviously excited at what she
had heard was rather distressed by a conversation she had had with her husband earlier
in the day.
She had attempted to encourage her husband to attend this seminar that she thought
would be so vital. He refused to come, saying ‘I have the Bible, what more
do I need? I don’t need these evidences for creation when I have the Bible.
Why do I have to know what is wrong with evolution? The Bible is God’s Word,
and that is all I need.’
How to handle the objections…
‘I’ve learnt a tremendous amount today,’ the woman stated. ‘This
seminar has really helped my faith. Please tell me, how do I answer these objections
from Bill, my husband?’
I thought for a moment, and then asked her, ‘Do you and Bill have any children?’
‘Why yes, we have three children, eight years old up to 13,’ she replied.
I told her, ‘If your husband was in front of me right now, I think I would
say something like this to him.
‘Bill, I applaud your faith in God’s Word. That is very commendable.
In fact, the only way we can know truth is because we have a revelation from the
One who is truth. From the perspective of understanding what Christianity is all
about, you are quite right, the Bible is all we need.
‘However, as you are aware, people will challenge you and your children in
regard to this faith in the Bible. In fact, through the media and the education
system, children and adults are bombarded with evolutionary ideas. They are being
told there is no God. and that all life can be accounted for by chance random processes.
‘If we are honest, there is no way we can shelter our children from hearing
such attacks on the Bible. They may hear it from their teachers at school, friends
in the neighborhood, a television program, the local newspaper, a magazine they
pick up somewhere, a museum, college, or, sadly, even in some churches! No matter
how much you try to isolate your children from evolution, they will hear this teaching
now or later.
‘Bill, what are you going to say to your children (whether young, or grown
up), when they come and ask such questions as:
‘“Dad, I’ve heard that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago,
and this disagrees with the Bible, is this correct?”
‘“Dad, the majority of scientists say they can prove man evolved from
some ape-like creature, and that the story of Adam and Eve is not true—do
you have an answer for this?”
‘“Dad, the majority of people say you can’t trust the Bible because
it is just a religious book, but real science has proved that God did not create
the world the way it says in the Bible. Why shouldn’t I believe the scientists,
after all they did put man on the moon, and have made wonderful inventions like
computers?”
‘“Dad, where did the fossils come from? Do they fit with the Bible?
If Genesis is not true, why should I believe the rest of the Bible, particularly
when Jesus Christ quoted from Genesis? Is it true that there was never a world flood
like the Bible states in Genesis? Every museum I’ve seen states clearly that
all the scientific evidence proves evolution so why should I accept your faith in
the Bible?”
‘Bill, the problem is that while the Bible is, in a sense, all we need in
regard to understanding salvation, the Bible also tells us the following:
‘“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that
is in you, with meekness and fear” [I Peter 3:15].
‘“Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good”
[I Thessalonians 5:21].
‘In other words, Bill, Christianity is not a blind faith,
it is an objective faith—a rational logical faith based on
facts. It is not like the blind, subjective faith of the evolutionist. Although
we can’t scientifically prove our faith, because we can’t scientifically
PROVE anything in relation to the past, none the less, we can logically defend our
faith.
‘When men teach things that are contrary to Scripture, and endeavor to destroy
people’s faith in God’s Word, then we are commanded to oppose this.
‘“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ” ( II Corinthians 10:5).
‘For instance, the Bible declares that an event in the days of a man called
Noah occurred, in which the whole world was inundated with water—there was
a world-wide cataclysmic flood in the past. If this event really did occur, we would
expect it to leave some evidence on the face of the earth. We would expect to find
evidence of layers of water-deposited material, with perhaps millions of animals
and plants buried in those layers all over the earth. This is exactly what we find.
‘Of course, Bill, the evolutionists argue that these layers and dead things
(fossils), are great evidence for evolution. These people have written and said
much to ridicule the Bible’s account of the Flood. They vehemently oppose
those Christians who accept God’s Word on this matter.
‘However, good scientific research has shown that this evidence is not supportive
of slow evolutionary processes over millions of years, but catastrophic, rapid processes.
This of course supports (though it does not prove in the scientific sense) what
the Bible states concerning the flood of Noah’s day. Thus, by looking outside
the Bible, but starting with the Bible, we can give logical reasons to defend our
faith, and thus support the validity of the claim that the Bible is revealed truth.
‘Bill, when we understand the admonition to train our children (Proverbs
22:6), and the fact that children are easily “tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men
and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”
(Ephesians 4:14), we certainly need to be ready with answers when our children ask
us about creation/evolution. Really, we should have already given our children these
answers, knowing that this is where the attacks from the evil one are certainly
occurring.
‘Sadly, many children have rebelled against Christianity, because their parents
legalistically imposed Christianity on them, without giving them ‘a reason
for the hope that is in you. These children have heard “reasons” from
the evolutionists as to why they should believe in evolution, and thus they are
led to believe that the Bible is not true after all.’
Those questions above, hypothetically put to Bill by his children, are typical questions
that we in the creation ministry receive all the time. The point is: there are easy-to-understand
answers to these to enable Christians ‘to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.’
Needed: Action
Over and over, Scripture not only teaches truth, but commands us to take action
based on that truth.
In Genesis 1:28, we are told, ‘And God blessed them, and
God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth.’
Man was told to fill the earth, and to conquer and rule it. This ‘cultural
mandate’— as it is called, is a basis for human activity in studying
the earth, and using the knowledge gained for the benefit of the humans and animals
that inhabit it. This knowledge has led to technology in such fields as engineering,
agriculture, medicine, etc.
History is replete with examples of Christians starting schools, hospitals, and
developing technological advancements. It was God’s Word that was foundational
in their thinking, that enabled them to carry out these enterprises. These people
did not just say, ‘I have the Bible, that is all I need. I don’t need
anything else.’ Where would we be today if all Christians took that attitude?
James 2:20 tells us that ‘… faith without works
is dead’. It is one thing to accept God’s Word by faith,
but it is another thing to act on that faith and show forth its practical outworking.
Part of this is to ensure that we do not portray the Christian faith to our children
as just a blind faith. This is a major reason why so many children from Christian
homes today are turning their backs on Christianity.
There is no greater lie from Satan than that there is no God and that the Bible
is not truth. Today, this is the message, disguised as so-called ‘science’,
with which the world is being indoctrinated. We need to have (and there are) very
good scientific objections to this teaching. There is much evidence available to
counteract evolutionary ideas, and to support what the Bible states concerning our
origins. No Christian should bury his or her head in the sand on this issue—to
do so could result in our children accepting another faith, the real blind faith,
the faith of evolutionism and its logical consequence, humanism (‘man sets
the rules’).
The creation ministry is a vital ministry in the world today. The seminars, books
and videos provide invaluable resource material to enable all Christians to do exactly
what God through the words of Peter commanded:
‘But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you, with meekness and fear.’
Bill, if you’re reading this, you would be wise not to miss the next creation
seminar. But in the meantime, there are a lot of useful creation books for you to
read, important videos to watch, and a fantastic family creation magazine—actually,
it’s the one you’re reading—to subscribe to so that your children,
friends and neighbors will see a real, logical and unbending faith. A faith that
not only makes sense of the world, but gives real, true meaning and that sure hope
of eternity with the Creator—the Christian faith.
(Available in Finnish)
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