Is Creation a Side-Issue?
To answer this question, we need to understand what is truly at stake in the creation/evolution debate. While creation vs. evolution is not a salvation issue per se, it does have a major impact on the way the next generation views the Bible and its saving Gospel message. It is estimated that 90% of Christian parents send their children to public school, which means that they are spending on average 1,260 hours in school every year. Beyond that, they are also spending between one and two hours working on their homework every week-night, which means they are doing an average of 270 hours of homework a year. And what do they do when they are done with homework? They flop down in front of the big-screen! A Telegraph article in October 2012 entitled “Children ‘spend more time watching TV than at school’” declared that “By the age of seven, a child born today will have spent a full year glued to screens.” Compared to the one hour per-week which most Christian young people spend in church, it is statistically clear which of these institutions has the most influence in the lives of Christian young people: the secular education system and media.
From the time students enter kindergarten to the time they graduate college, they are bombarded with unbiblical ideas about the history of the world, such as evolution and millions of years, and are challenged almost daily with questions such as "How can you trust the Bible?," "Isn't the Bible just myths and fairy-tales?," "Why would a perfect God allow for death and suffering in His creation?," "How can you believe in Adam and Eve when science has proven evolution?," "Doesn't radiometric dating disprove the Bible's timeline?," "Don't fossils and rock layers prove evolution and long-ages?," "How could Noah fit all of the animals on the Ark?," "Where do dinosaurs fit into the Bible?," "Where did Cain get his wife?," and so on. While many of these are questions which all believers have about their faith, many of them are raised by skeptics in order to undermine faith in the Word of God.
On the one day of the week in which Church leaders have influence on the minds of young believers, we need to be giving them strong, biblical answers to their questions, showing them that the Bible can be trusted in all things, even in matters of science and history. We need to be equipping them to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," and to "always be ready to give a defense" of their faith. Unfortunately, this is not what the Church has been doing. Rather than showing young believers that God's Word is authoritative and truthful in all areas, a majority of church leaders have taught their congregations that evolution and millions of years are scientific, so God's Word must be made to fit with these man-made, fallible ideas. Unfortunately, this creates even more doubt in the minds of young believers, and causes them, like Eve in Genesis 3, to question God's authority and the truthfulness of His Word. By the time most Christian young people reach college age, their unanswered questions and doubts about the truthfulness of God's Word leads them to disbelief and rejection of Genesis, and many times, the whole Bible, including its saving Gospel message. Jesus Himself said, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)
So, creation vs. evolution and the age of the earth is a side-issue not worth discussing, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. This (and the next) generation of church-goers need to be given answers to their questions, so that they will have a strong faith rooted in the authority of Scripture, and so that they will be equipped to then share the Gospel with those who call on them to "give a defense" of their faith in Christ. We need to shown that the Bible can be trusted in all areas, even in the origin and early history of the universe, so that they will, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." (Colossians 2:8)
From the time students enter kindergarten to the time they graduate college, they are bombarded with unbiblical ideas about the history of the world, such as evolution and millions of years, and are challenged almost daily with questions such as "How can you trust the Bible?," "Isn't the Bible just myths and fairy-tales?," "Why would a perfect God allow for death and suffering in His creation?," "How can you believe in Adam and Eve when science has proven evolution?," "Doesn't radiometric dating disprove the Bible's timeline?," "Don't fossils and rock layers prove evolution and long-ages?," "How could Noah fit all of the animals on the Ark?," "Where do dinosaurs fit into the Bible?," "Where did Cain get his wife?," and so on. While many of these are questions which all believers have about their faith, many of them are raised by skeptics in order to undermine faith in the Word of God.
On the one day of the week in which Church leaders have influence on the minds of young believers, we need to be giving them strong, biblical answers to their questions, showing them that the Bible can be trusted in all things, even in matters of science and history. We need to be equipping them to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," and to "always be ready to give a defense" of their faith. Unfortunately, this is not what the Church has been doing. Rather than showing young believers that God's Word is authoritative and truthful in all areas, a majority of church leaders have taught their congregations that evolution and millions of years are scientific, so God's Word must be made to fit with these man-made, fallible ideas. Unfortunately, this creates even more doubt in the minds of young believers, and causes them, like Eve in Genesis 3, to question God's authority and the truthfulness of His Word. By the time most Christian young people reach college age, their unanswered questions and doubts about the truthfulness of God's Word leads them to disbelief and rejection of Genesis, and many times, the whole Bible, including its saving Gospel message. Jesus Himself said, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)
So, creation vs. evolution and the age of the earth is a side-issue not worth discussing, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. This (and the next) generation of church-goers need to be given answers to their questions, so that they will have a strong faith rooted in the authority of Scripture, and so that they will be equipped to then share the Gospel with those who call on them to "give a defense" of their faith in Christ. We need to shown that the Bible can be trusted in all areas, even in the origin and early history of the universe, so that they will, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." (Colossians 2:8)
