K.I.S.S. (Keeping It Super Simple)

We all have to deal with them. Some people (like my wife) seem to love them! Notepads with lists and tasks checked off, Excel sheets populated with reams of data points, and environments carefully decorated and coordinated with everything in its place.

It all seems to delight those melancholy-minded among us who wish to collect and collate, analyze and examine, probe, ponder, and postulate everything down to the most granular level imaginable. And I suppose for those not so seemingly worrisomely wired, we should probably simply thank our Heavenly Father that he created those among us that are gifted this way, as—if left to those more like me—it would likely be a very messy world indeed! Whether “meta” or “micro” minded, both ways of looking at life are definitely important.

However, the phrase “some people can’t see the forest because of the trees” wasn’t simply invented to make us more “big picture” types feel better about ourselves. It speaks to a mindset that causes some people to be so caught up in the minutia of the moment that they often ignore what should be of most important consideration.

Polishing the Brass

Another older saying that encapsulates the notion is “don’t bother polishing brass on the Titanic,” which, if you know the ship’s story, speaks volumes to the idea of focusing on what’s critical to the situation you find yourself in.

The concept is simple: the ship is sinking, so even though things might be messy, doing anything other than activities focused on saving lives would be insane. But if we’re honest, how often do we all find ourselves doing things that make us feel better but are simply a waste of time in the big picture?

Majoring in the Minors

Similarly, I often see well-meaning churches, situated within this godless society we now find ourselves in, focused on a wide variety of good activities that might be keeping people busy, but they are making little real-world impact in culture. In a big-picture sense, the church isn’t affecting the world to any significant degree whatsoever anymore, but the culture sure is affecting the church.

Studies continue to show that 70% of young people from Christian homes that attend state-run schools abandon the faith of their parents—with this current generation being the most godless the West has ever seen. There might be a lot of polishing going on, creating a few shiny spots here and there, but Titanic is still sinking.

What’s Your Problem?

Often the biggest hindrance is simply not understanding the real problem. People sometimes tend to overcomplicate things and miss the point. Some think that the root issues the church is facing are just overwhelmingly complicated, intricately detailed, tortuously convoluted, and frankly, just too difficult to understand and untangle for the average mind.

But in fact, it’s all rather simple.

The reason the Christian church has lost its position in culture over the last 200 years is because of the erosion of biblical authority. It isn’t because the cultural elite have rejected God’s Word that we live in the moral mess we do; rather, it’s because the average person thinks the Bible can’t be trusted as plainly written.

We have gone from a culture that overwhelmingly believed in the God of the Bible and the morally lawful precepts contained within Scripture, to a secular, man-centered society that has overturned and done away with almost all of God’s laws in a very short time. And this couldn’t have happened by accident. So how was it accomplished?

Communicate a Simple Message Effectively

Obviously, changing an entire cultural mindset was a monumental task. And it required a potent strategy consisting of two essential components.

Firstly, having a clearly articulable and easily understood message speaking to the most foundational issue possible was obviously the most persuasive approach, creating massive impact and influence and producing the widest ripple effect in the shortest time possible.

Secondly, having ongoing, effective mechanisms to carry such a mind-altering message to the masses and constantly reaching the next generation of thinkers was also essential, as these young generations are the most malleable in their viewpoints vs. the older generation who are more set in their ways.

So, let’s analyze these two components to see how it was done so simply and effectively.

The Message: Evolution Is Scientific Fact

All thinking people have three big questions about life in general, and formerly, most people in the West saw the Bible as the primary place to find answers to these questions, which are:

1. Where do we come from?
2. What’s the meaning of life?
3. What happens when we die?

How you believe these questions are answered is very important in shaping your worldview. And because of its foundational nature, your answer to question 1 (the question of ultimate origins) will directly affect how you will answer questions 2 and 3. And when you think about it, there are really only two reasonable answers to the first question. Either the universe created itself, or it didn’t!

Now, if the universe created itself, then there must be a natural, evolutionary way to explain everything we see. And if it didn’t, then there must be a Creator. (Some try to mix those two together and say that the Creator used evolution to create, but it just ends up making this “Creator” seem redundant.

For the average person, it’s either creation or evolution. Western culture formerly accepted the God of the Bible and the creation account in Genesis as its answer to question one. However, the story of evolution has been accepted overwhelmingly now in Western culture. How?

The Mechanisms: The Education System and Media

By far the most effective tool for teaching the story of evolution has been the state-run public education systems established throughout the West and increasingly throughout the world, which ensure the vast majority of young people will be taught evolution at their most impressionable stage of life.

And by disguising its inherent atheistic philosophical nature by declaring it as a scientific study, it was disingenuously granted special protection for long enough to be considered legitimate scientific theory instead of being critically scrutinized. It’s a veritable intellectual “sacred cow” now, simply portrayed and assumed as established science among our educational institutions.

And while some may have escaped public schooling through various alternative methods, virtually no one has escaped widespread media influence, which is the second mechanism that has brought the story of evolution to the masses.

Media has a massive impact on culture, although many somehow believe they are largely immune to its messaging. But be realistic, the average 30-second Super Bowl commercial is now costing companies approximately seven million US dollars to run (and that’s besides whatever amount it took to create), and they aren’t paying that rate because the ad doesn’t work. No, they are willing to make that kind of expenditure because they realize it influences enough people over time that they will recoup and surpass that amount.

Similarly, the story of evolution is embedded in almost every aspect of media now, reflecting the state school’s evolutionary curricula verbatim. So, the “evidence” for evolution constantly seeps in and just seems overwhelming to the average person who, for the most part, accepts it uncritically.

The Result

Many in the West now have a different way to answer the three big questions in life mentioned previously. An example came from atheist Dr. William B. Provine (now deceased), former professor of biological sciences at Cornell University.

His original quote encapsulates his answers to all three questions (broken up here to show them with more clarity).

His answer to question one (Where do we come from?) was from an atheistic, evolutionary standpoint.

Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear. . . .

And so, his answer to question two (What’s the meaning of life?) reflected that.

There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind.

What then was his conclusion regarding question three (What happens when we die?)?

There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either.1

See how simple that was for Professor Provine to articulate? Evolution is fact = the Bible is wrong and there is no God, no meaning to life, and no afterlife.

Want another example? Here is a quote from a 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV production promoting the story of evolution, discussing the same thing.

Once we believed we were unique, blessed with a soul and lovingly created by God in his image and likeness. Today, evolution says we are just a product of natural selection, the descendants of primitive bacteria, not the children of God.2

Still not convinced? Well, atheist Richard Bozarth couldn’t have summed it up more succinctly than he did in an article titled “The Meaning of Evolution” in American Atheist magazine where he said,

Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. . . . If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing!3

The simplicity in the strategy is undeniable. For most people, the equation is easily understood. Evolution = No God.

Well, Actually . . .

Much ink has been spilled and hours of dialog been spent where Christian brothers and sisters have attempted to explain how we shouldn’t be so dogmatic about the origins issue or how that, “actually, there are many ways to explain evolution and millions of years in a biblical timeframe while keeping the integrity of the gospel message.” How it “actually doesn’t affect Christian theology” or “actually, a plain reading of Genesis isn’t required for our Christian doctrines to stand firm,” etc. “Well, actually” this, and “Well, actually” that.

Some want to discuss cultural factors, some focus on various theological positions, many devote hours to worship-style analysis or talk about how churches just need to make the gospel message somehow more “appealing” to modern audiences, as if the topic of origins isn’t really “the issue” today.

However, although many would object to the simplicity with which I am stating this, the fact remains that ever since evolution began to be taught as fact and science in the West, biblical authority has waned dramatically.

And the acceptance of evolutionary storytelling by pastors in churches, by professors in Christian colleges and seminaries, and Christian authors and teachers has only degraded the average person’s respect for the authority of God’s Word.

K.I.S.S.

To keep it super simple:

1. The book of Genesis (particularly chapters 1–11) is the seedbed of all Christian doctrines.
2. Most people (even many Christians) don’t believe Genesis as plainly written.
3. Therefore, people don’t believe the Bible/Christian doctrines are authoritative.

Still don’t believe it? Watch once again how easily the atheists explain it from their perspective.

It becomes clear now that the whole justification of Jesus’ life and death is predicated on the existence of Adam and the forbidden fruit he and Eve ate. Without the original sin, who needs to be redeemed? Without Adam’s fall into a life of constant sin terminated by death, what purpose is there to Christianity? None. . . . What this all means is that Christianity cannot lose the Genesis account of creation. . . . Christianity is fighting for its very life.4

We need to face the facts: until the church reestablishes biblical authority by restoring confidence in its foundation (Genesis), all the brass-polishing in the world won’t make a lick of difference if it’s eventually submerged in a sea of relative thinking that not only rejects Christian-based morality but the very gospel message itself.

Details Are Important

Of course (even I have to admit), once the big picture has been established, the details are important. It’s like looking at the cover of a puzzle box so you can reference what you want to eventually put together with all of those little pieces you have in front of you.

In the same way, reestablishing biblical authority (by being able to defend and proclaim the truth of Genesis) will require being able to understand and explain many detailed aspects of the creation/evolution debate—to yourself, your family, and the doubting world around you. How do you explain dinosaurs? Radiometric dating? Fossils? The different (so-called) races of people? Etc.

However, by studying and explaining all of these (and more) under the umbrella of biblical authority, you will end up with a cohesive, consistent metanarrative of biblical history from creation to the cross that will honor God’s Word and make sense of his world. And you can do this with confidence as you trust the Word of God from the very first verse.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)