Don’t hold the line—advance it!

Defending the faith requires forward action

sxc.hu/asifthebes

by Gary Bates

Originally appeared in Creation Extra, December 2012.

We all recognize that our culture today is not Christian. If we are totally honest, it’s primarily antichristian. The buzz word ‘tolerance’ is really just an excuse for ‘intolerance’ of Christianity and the promotion of secularism. Where Christian thought and morality once prevailed, the agenda seems to be to remove the last vestiges of Christianity from society.

Is this over the top? Well, consider how much of the public space, i.e. our public schools/universities, our courthouses, our media etc. no longer allows for the endorsement of the Christian traditions and foundations that originally made our Western nations the leaders in science, commerce, sanitation/health and so on. The erosion of this Christian foundation has occurred due to a loss of biblical authority. That is, the Bible and the Christian faith is just viewed as one of many philosophies that people have—even to the extent that an occultic practice such as witchcraft can be viewed as a legitimate alternative religion.

Origins

Origins is the subject where the rubber really meets the road. The Bible, unlike many false religions, makes some pretty profound statements right up front. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. “In the beginning” indicates that He existed before the things that He made. He exists outside of the space-time universe that He made. This implies He is more powerful than anything He made. In short, He is the Creator of everything. As such, he has a right to say what happens with His creation and the creatures in it. But in a ‘tolerant’ society it is not politically correct to say what is wrong or right, and on CREATION.com we’ve featured some rather shocking articles as to what people are campaigning for as normal behavior: see Is God watching?, for example.

No fear of God

The Bible also speaks about the major cause of this abandonment. It is sin. There is most certainly nothing new under the sun as a wise man once said (Ecclesiastes 1:9), and indeed, we’d have to go back to origins—the book of Genesis—to define the origin of sin. And the major justifying excuse for mankind wanting to do what is right in its own eyes (sin) is evolution. After all, people think that if science can show the Bible to be wrong when it comes to origins then:

• There is no Creator and we are just the result of a long series of chemical reactions that determine our desires and behaviors.
• There is no Creator who owns the universe, so each person has the right to act in any way they think is best for them.
• Moreover, if the first book of the Bible is wrong then it would be illogical to believe the rest of it.

In short, there is no eternity and ultimately no Creator to be accountable to, and no need to obey any of His alleged laws anyway. Right and wrong become matters of personal choice—not universal absolutes.

Moreover, why does one need a Savior if sin is not what Genesis says it is? Sin is rebellion from the Creator, living one’s life as if God does not exist. That is certainly how most of the world lives today. Regardless of those who sadly attempt to reconcile the godless mechanism of evolution (and its antibiblical history of death and bloodshed before sin) with the Bible; to the general population the Bible is not authoritative! (And let’s not forget that just about everyone has been taught or exposed to the idea that evolution is an irrefutable fact at some stage in their lives.)

Advancing the line

I’ve heard many Christians say things like “We need to hold the line on biblical authority.” But mistakenly they accede to secular ideas (like evolution) while trying to hold to the central tenets of the faith/Bible at the same time. They often think that such appeasement will give Christianity more appeal. But how many souls is that method winning to the Kingdom? One of the ways to grow the Kingdom and restore the respect that the Bible once had is to be proactive. In short, we need to advance the line and retake lost ground. We can do this by going on the ‘offensive’, seeking to demolish (2 Corinthians 10:5) in people’s minds the opposing foundation of evolution on which the humanistic belief system is built. This is because this false foundation undermines the fundamental doctrines of sin and soteriology (our need for a savior).

December is when many celebrate Christmas. Regardless of what position one may take on Christmas celebrations, there is no doubt that most people equate it with the time that Jesus (the Creator) incarnated as our Savior. It is a time when many give gifts, so why not start advancing the line by giving someone a creation resource? It opens many eyes to the truth of Scripture. Angela C. wrote:

“My acceptance of the theory of evolution and its incompatibility with Genesis kept me from Jesus for most of my adult life. I fear there are many more like me out there. CMI’s battle against these Darwinian lies is to be commended. I salute you.”

The reality is that people will not search for this information by themselves. So, once again we need to be proactive in providing it to them. So, please join us in advancing the line by disseminating life-changing creation resources, or if you’ve read and benefitted from just a few of the thousands of articles on this site or our publications, or have watched some of the wide ranging videos we have onsite, then please consider supporting the work by donating even a small amount to help us continue.