In the book of Isaiah we read:
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!I was reminded of this verse when I read a secularist’s response to my recent blog on atheists and their claim of “child abuse” against Christians for teaching children about Christianity and creation. I encourage you to read my previous blog post and then read the response that was written to this:
Ken Ham lives in a prison of his own making. A dark narrow place where the light of reason and knowledge may never shine in. He teaches children that they are inherently evil and depraved from birth, and their only hope of avoiding being thrown into the Lake of Fire to scream forever in infinite agony is to debase themselves before an imaginary bronze-age deity and surrender their intelligence and autonomy as human beings. Evolution teaches us the great truth that all live on this planet is related, and connected to all other life. What a wonderful, uplifting thought - as opposed to believing a primitive just-so story about humans being created from dirt, or from the rib of a thing that was created from dirt. Depriving children of the opportunity for knowledge, keeping them ignorant and cowering from a non-existent old man with a beard in the sky, is most definitely child abuse in my book.There is much that could be said, of course, but I first want to point out that this person not only mischaracterizes and misrepresents Christianity, but excludes the real truth concerning what this person wants children to be taught.
Christians teach children that life is special—the God loves us with an infinite love—so much so that despite the fact we did rebel against our Creator (we sinned in Adam) and thus sentenced ourselves to being separated from a Holy God—Our Creator stepped into history to pay the penalty for our sin to save us from what we did to ourselves! And the gift of salvation is FREE—nothing we can do to earn it—but freely receive it! (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8.)
And what is the “wonderful, uplifting” message we are “depriving children of” by not teaching them they are just animals, evolved from primordial pond scum?
When Dr. Richard Dawkins (atheist and God hater) was asked for Beliefnet:
What are your thoughts about the despair some people feel when they ponder natural selection and random mutation? The idea of evolution and natural selection makes some people feel that everything is meaningless—people’s individual lives and life in general.He answered:
If it’s true that it causes people to feel despair, that’s tough. It’s still the truth. The universe doesn’t owe us condolence or consolation; it doesn’t owe us a nice warm feeling inside. If it’s true, it’s true, and you’d better live with it.What a wonderful message for the world! Life is meaningless and hopeless! So live with it! How is that for a wonderful meaningful uplifting message for children?
And in response to a question about the “after-life” and death—Dawkins responded:
I would say, “Don’t imagine for one second you’re going to paradise . . . . You’re going to rot in the ground.”What a wonderful uplifting message for readers—you are just going to rot in the ground! Of course, if people took Dawkins’s message seriously for the children of the world—that there is no purpose and meaning in life, and when you die, that’s it; you won’t even know you ever existed—then what is the point of living? Why not end it now and get it over and done with? And he (and others like him) accuse Christians of conducting “child abuse”?!
And let’s ask this question of the secularist who wrote that ridiculous response to my blog—is there any evil in the world? Actually, this person has to admit that if there is no God, then one’s morality is whatever one wants to make it to be. And yet, I am sure this person would condemn murder or child abuse—but if life is just chemistry and we are just animals, why is it “wrong” to commit any act one wants ultimately?
People need to wake up to the fact that the secularists have taken over the public education system and are teaching an atheistic, naturalistic, anti-God religion to generations of children. That is the ultimate child abuse—raising up generations of children to believe there is no God and they are just animals in a materialistic, mechanistic, evolutionary world. Thus, there is no purpose or meaning.
So, as it states in the book of Judges:
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:15).Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying, Ken
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.