What can I do?

[Editor’s note: As school, for many, is starting up again, we thought we would publish the following piece that was submitted by a student in a public high school, giving practical advice on how to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” according to 1 Peter 3:15. After seeing the detrimental effects that the belief in evolution has had on young people in this country, she started a creation club to show her fellow students that real science confirms the accuracy of Scripture. Be sure to visit our education section for help with starting a creation club of your own, information on online coursework, steps to becoming a creation scientist, and more.]

“Did you see that fight? One girl got thrown down the stairs!” Yeah, I saw it, and, in fact, I was the only one who attempted to break it up. But I see more than violence at my school. Drugs and alcohol are treated like party favors, and now couples going to prom not only make reservations for dinner, but they call for a hotel room as well ... and then abortion is discussed in health class like any other birth control. It does not take a 4.0 GPA to figure out that our schools are going down the tubes, but do you know what you can do to help change the status?

Let’s face it. Other students are not getting saved by us merely wearing a cross or WWJD (What would Jesus do?) bracelet, praying for our schools once a year at “See You at the Pole,” or mentioning a little Jesus here and there. During a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting, a guest speaker shared with us Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” Even there, someone near the front sarcastically called out, “We evolved.”

In our science classes we’re hammered with evolution, undermining the foundation for our faith established in Genesis. My classmates don’t believe that we were created in God’s image, and they reject original sin as well as our need for Jesus. We first have to show our peers that the Bible can be trusted, then there’s a chance of showing them their need for Christ and reversing society’s moral decay.

I understand that venturing out to change your classmates’ worldview can seem overwhelming, even frightening. But check out this quote by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice I came across:

All you have to do with the large, huge, and very frightening problems that we face is to make a contribution. If you focus too much on solving that problem, rather than just making a contribution to its solution, I’m afraid that you will become paralyzed at the enormity of the task and unable to do anything at all.1

In other words, start small. Pass out information at school about creation, along with some of Answers in Genesis’s resources. Actually, I’ve found that less is more. When I gave somebody too much to look at, two or three back issues of an AiG magazine and a book, they felt bogged down . . . and did not look at any of it. Just a single article on a topic of interest (i.e., dinosaurs, origin of the “races,” etc.) may be enough to grab someone’s attention.

Since I’ve started a creation club at school, AiG has generously donated 100 of six different Answers booklets. During my lunch period, I toted a bag of those and passed them out table to table. “You guys like free stuff?” With that question, only a few have declined or made a wisecrack about me believing in the Bible, but I’m just glad they’re receiving information.

And you know what? I’m seeing results. Kids started approaching me and asking for a copy of Evolution Exposed or a booklet when they saw my bag. One boy was looking at the What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? booklet in front of his friends and exclaimed, “I believed dinosaurs lived millions of years ago until I read this!” A few kids have also admitted that they would rather read Evolution Exposed than blindly swallow the evolution lessons in biology.

Honestly, this is a slow process. It would be unreasonable for us to expect drastic changes among a largely evolutionized student body overnight. But if you provide your peers with answers about the Bible, they’ll be more receptive when you share your faith, and one by one they might receive Christ, so that their Creator can start recreating their lives. Now that’s something you can do to make a difference at your school.