Responding to a Critic

I’ve been active in social media (blogging, Facebook and Twitter) for several months now, and have really enjoyed the interactions I’ve had with people. From time to time the skeptics and critics make comments, and I do my best to engage them and speak the truth from God’s Word. Recently, one such skeptic commented on my blog about the conference in Bozeman, Montana, that I spoke at a couple weeks ago. He reacted to these portions of my blog—here is what I originally wrote:

One young man (probably eight or nine years old) impressed me with his question of how to deal with the teaching of evolution in the public school which he attended. Since I have a daughter in public school, this question was very relevant to me. I told him to learn as much as he possibly could about evolution and to be the creationist in the class that gets 100% on the test about evolution! One can only defend their own position well if he or she knows the counter position well. I also told him to learn the counter arguments from a biblical creation perspective concerning what he was being taught (our Evolution Exposed series is a great tool for this—even for elementary age children with a parent’s assistance).

People were hungry for resources, and we sold out on many items. Two ladies told me that they wished they could take me home so I could answer questions when they had them. I told them the better idea (because I like my own home!) was to get equipped through our resources like books and DVDs and our website. Probably one of my favorite resources is the New Answer Book series. I told them that’s where I look when I have questions about geology, paleontology, and astronomy which are not in my area of expertise.

His comment:

Boom – two plugs for money into the pockets of Answers in Genesis! At $21.95 per head at the Creation Museum, surely AIG is pulling it in (but, to get in, you must leave your head at the door).

Later he stated:

That said, there are some FREE resources for science & evolution education listed in my sidebar, under Evolution & Science Education.

These types of ad hominem (attacking the person) attacks are very common by our critics. No comment or argument was given about the science I presented at the conference (just to clarify, the skeptic did not attend the conference, but all the presentations I gave are available on DVD—and I would be happy to send him free copies of the DVDs if he would like to view them). Interestingly, on his website, in addition to the free resources he mentions, he advertises an evolution DVD which is for sale on Amazon. This seems somewhat hypocritical in view of his complaint against me and AiG.

What the skeptic neglected to mention was the many free resources we have available on the AiG website. There are entire books, videos, articles, a magazine, and so much more. Articles published in our online technical journal, Answers Research Journal, are all free. Many times, articles in online science journals cost $20 to $30 to view and download. In addition, the admission prices we charge at the museum are comparable or less than many natural history museums (almost all of them are tax-supported, but we are not)—and at the Creation Museum you’ll see and hear the truth directly from God’s Word!

It is my prayer that this skeptic will take advantage of our many free resources and know that God’s Word is truth—and discover his need for Jesus Christ.