Beware of anti-evolutionism?

by Ken Ham, president, AiG–USA

September 15, 2000

I must warn you about a very alarming trend affecting many areas of Christendom today. Now this may shock you, but I’m greatly concerned at the “anti-evolution” philosophy that is prevalent in certain Christian circles.

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But aren’t we at Answers in Genesis against evolution? Well, we certainly battle against the “molecules-to-man” idea regarding life’s origins that has permeated so many people’s thinking. However, Answers in Genesis ultimately is an organization that upholds the authority of God’s Word, the Bible—Thy word is true from the beginning (Psalm 119:160).

In other words, being “anti-evolution” is in a sense a side-effect of proclaiming the truth of the Bible beginning with Genesis, its foundational book. We are not just telling people there is a Creator, but more importantly that we all must believe God’s written revelation to man, which gives us the history (in Genesis) to enable us to understand who we are and how to correctly interpret the universe around us.

Over the years, ministries like AiG have done a great deal to educate the public concerning the problems with Darwinian evolution, its billions of years, and so on. As a result, compromise positions that have used the word evolution (such as “theistic evolution”) have become unpopular. More and more Christian leaders want to be seen as “anti-evolution,” but sadly still hold to billions of years, the big bang, etc.

Recently I heaved a heavy sigh of disappointment when I heard Mike Trout, James Dobson’s announcer, highly recommend a book for teenagers on the creation/evolution issue entitled It Couldn’t Just Happen at the end of a recent Focus on the Family radio program (an interview between Dr. Dobson and Phillip Johnson). This book is also listed in the master book-list of Focus on the Family as one that “offers solid, biblical answers to questions about the Big Bang Theory, dinosaurs and much more.”

My heart sank as I pictured thousands of eager moms and dads buying this book for their children. And what would they learn?

1. Noah’s Flood could be local or worldwide—we can’t know for sure.

2. The days of creation could be ordinary days or millions of years—we can’t know for sure.

3. The Earth could be thousands or billions of years old—we can’t know.

Now, children will learn from this book that God created, and that life did not evolve by naturalistic processes. However, they will also learn that you don’t have to believe all the words in Genesis as written. In other words, this book is “anti-evolution,” but ultimately it undermines biblical authority.

I believe this is a major problem with the church today—so many Christians will not believe the clear words of Genesis. This sends a signal to the next generation that one can use outside influences (like a belief in millions of years) to reinterpret Scripture. The more that subsequent generations accept this, the more they will do this with the rest of the Bible, such as morality. One would expect to see increasing acceptance of the world’s teachings on abortion, homosexual behavior, and the like.

Isn’t this what we are already seeing now? You see, it’s not what we are against that counts—but what we are for!

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