Christians should know candidates' views on creation, says Ken Ham

[Soldier4Christ]

Christians should know candidates' views on creation, says Ken Ham

The president of the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis says Christians should know and be concerned about the views of presidential candidates when it comes to the debate over evolution and creation.



In different forums this week, both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were asked their views on evolution. On Monday, Democratic candidate John Edwards said he believes in the theory and does not see that as conflicting with his professed Christian faith.

"I think a belief in God and a belief in Christ, in my case, is not in any way inconsistent with that because the hand of God was in every step of what's happened with man," he replied. "The hand of God today is in every step of what happens with me and with every human being that exists on this planet."

The following day, during a debate featuring the GOP contenders, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was one of three who said they did not believe in evolution. Huckabee, who is an ordained Baptist minister, was asked if he believed in a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, which states God created the universe in six days.

"Whether God did it in six days or whether he did it in six days that represented periods of time, he did it -- and that's what's important," the former governor responded. And regarding evolution, he remarked that "if anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to it."

Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, says it is important to know how anyone running for office, including presidential candidates, views the story of creation.

"If you're going to believe in the God of the Bible, you're going to believe in creation," says Ham matter-of-factly. "That has implications because the Bible also talks about marriage being one man for one woman. The secular humanists understand that and they know that.

"In other words, if you believe in the creator God of the Bible, then you're accountable to him and he's the one that sets the rules and decides what's right and wrong."

In Ham's opinion, a candidate's worldview -- not just their view on evolution or creationism -- is important. "The Bible makes it very, very plain that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he," he says. "And we need to understand that your worldview comes out of the particular beliefs that you have that are foundational to that. And of course, when it comes down to whether you believe the Bible or you believe that man is just an animal and rose by natural processes, there's a big difference there."

Ham says the creation movement, with resources such as the recent opening of AIG's Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, has caused many to challenge the teachings of evolution. According to a recent Newsweek poll, 73 percent of evangelical Protestants said they believe God created humans within the past 10,000 years.

[Soldier4Christ]

I couldn't agree more.

[Greg F]

I am not sure that I am going to take a man reading the Bible with a calculator and adding up the years in it overly seriously -- in other words I don't hold to the young earth theory as a Biblical truth.  The Bible uses numbers symbolically very often and to me the mechanisms and laws God used to create and maintain all things are left largely undescribed in the Bible.  A scientist once said that "The simplest model of the universe is the universe." Every other model leaves something out . . .

Remember the "missing link?"  That is a serious scientific argument.  Paleontologists don't find one species gradually becoming another species in the fossil record.  It's not there. The pictures they make of one thing slowly becoming another thing are not accurate -- the links between picture 1 and picture 2 and picture 3, etc., are missing. Dawkins and the like, supporters of natural selection, have had to respond to this lack of fossil proof (they make up an unproven story of a species being trapped in a small area, becoming a different species, and then suddenly spreading -- all without proof -- they haven't found the bones in that small area).  I believe a type of natural selection has been "proven" within species  -- we see chihuahuas that have been bred down originally from wolves, probably by man, so incredible change in creatures is possible within God's plan.  But the idea that the species line has been jumped by natural selection is unproven and seems to have strong evidence against it if the bones are any indication.

As far as politics goes, we do not want to back the politicians we support into unnecessarily declaring their position on non-political issues if it hurts their ability to be elected.  The bulk of the world has been trained that natural selection is an absolute truth, which is a ridiculous lie, even in scientific terms.  Nonetheless, we should help "our guys" win elections -- not force them to cast pearls before swine and be rended by the loss of an election.  And we should be "wise as serpents" in the political arena.  Flame away!

[Soldier4Christ]

I am not sure that I am going to take a man reading the Bible with a calculator and adding up the years in it overly seriously

Perhaps you should. Anyone that has done a serious study of Genesis will see that the days mentioned there are indeed 24 hr literal days. When the Bible uses the word day as in meaning an age, a longer duration of time, it is very obvious that it is doing so. Just as it obvious when it means a 24 hour period that it is also obvious, especially if one investigates the original texts and usage of the Hebrew language. There is much already written here on the forum about this that you can find in the Bible Study area under Biblical Creation vs. Evolution. (This is not a debatable subject on this forum.)

You mentioned "natural selection" within a species. The only thing that has been "discovered" there that has resulted in changes is what is known as devolution, the loss of genetic material, not the gain of it.

As far as politics goes, not knowing where an individual stands on religious matters of any sort (including Creation) is the reason that we have laws being formed that are taking God out of the public and causing secular garbage to be taught to our young children in schools.

[Greg F]

There is much already written here on the forum about this that you can find in the Bible Study area under Biblical Creation vs. Evolution. (This is not a debatable subject on this forum.)

I'll take a look. There's a lot of threads I'm interested in.  I think that the issue of natural selection is a different issue than the age of the earth.  To my reading, the Bible doesn't give us the age of the earth but does tell us how creation occurred.

[Soldier4Christ]

The Bible does indeed give us the age of the earth. It takes quite a bit of study to see it but it does give it to us.

The subject of natural selection does play a part in the age of the earth. It is the argument of natural selection that is just one idea that is used by many to validate the erroneous idea that the earth is millions or billions of years old.

The following post is just one that touches on the "days".

http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=6658.msg199449#msg199449