“Test of FAITH”—Well Named? A Warning!

As time goes on, I notice that it’s not just secularists who are trying to win the hearts and minds of our children to their unbiblical beliefs. Sadly, even professing Christians who have compromised with evolution and millions of years are also trying to instill a mistrust of God’s Word in our kids, particularly through curricula that claim to teach our children to think critically—but in reality, they indoctrinate them into evolutionary ideas. And the Test of FAITH’s new homeschool curriculum is no exception.

I’ve mentioned the Test of FAITH in a prior blog post, but I thought it would be important to warn you about the curriculum they’ve released. Available as a free PDF download from the organization’s website, their homeschool curriculum claims that it will help students strengthen their critical thinking skills and their faith in God.

And in a way, it is a “test of faith.” This is because this curriculum would certainly test the faith of your children in relation to God’s Word. The curriculum undermines the authority of the Bible! Please don’t subject your children to such a Bible undermining program. Teach them the Word of God without compromise.

The introduction to the curriculum makes the position of the authors clear: “The Test of FAITH DVD and the related Introductory Course for Homeschoolers aim to complement these materials by exploring Theistic Evolution, which is the most commonly held view among Christians working in the sciences” (p. 4). Just because theistic evolution is the most commonly held view doesn’t mean that it’s in line with God’s Word. Majority opinion does not determine truth!

The authors base their conclusions about theistic evolution on the faulty assumption that the Bible is not trustworthy.

The Bible was written in a pre-scientific time and does not speak directly to all the issues that new technologies and scientific ideas raise. (p. 4)

The authors use the term “pre-scientific time” in a derogatory manner (i.e., they likely believe that God told them only what they could understand about the creation, and therefore none of the account can be trusted). They also don’t distinguish between observational and historical science.

One of the featured interviews in the accompanying DVD is with John Polkinghorne, a former professor of mathematical physics and an ordained Anglican priest. In the DVD, he is touted as an “authority” on science and religion. He divides the Bible and science, saying, “I think science tells us how the world works, but religion tells us there is a meaning and purpose, something being fulfilled in the unfolding of the history of the world. So I need both those perspectives if I am truly to understand the really rich and remarkable world in which we live” (p. 16).

Polkinghorne and the other academics interviewed for this curriculum do not believe that Genesis is accurate in its account of creation. For them, Genesis only teaches theological concepts about God and man—not literal history as it actually does!

As is usual with such compromising material, the whole curriculum confuses observational and historical science. But here we even have a scientist mixing observational science (testable and repeatable) with historical science—beliefs about the past and origins (not testable or repeatable).

When it comes to the origin of the universe (historical science), we must look to God’s Word for answers—from the eyewitness account of the Creator. Unproven, untestable conjecture based on man’s fallible ideas won’t do. We need the Word of the only 100% reliable witness—the Creator God.

The introduction closes, “Above all, the goal of Test of FAITH is to encourage and reassure you that Christian belief has what it takes to pass modern science’s ‘test of faith’” (p. 4). Since when does God’s Word have to pass any of science’s “tests”? Professing Christians should be looking at observational science to see if this confirms man’s beliefs such as evolution (which it does not) or God’s Word concerning Genesis (which it most certainly does).

All this error I discussed above is in just the one-page introduction of the curriculum! Imagine what the rest is like.

The Devil is out to win over our children, and we must prepare them for the “tests of faith” that secularists and believers who have compromised with evolutionary ideas will bring their way. This curriculum does not pass the “test of faith.” It is a curriculum that fails the test, as it fails to stand on the authority of the Word of God beginning in Genesis.

Really, I think the curriculum should be named “Question Your Faith.” I believe it will cause many children and adults to stumble as they will end up questioning their faith in God’s Word!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

(Steve Golden assisted with the research for this blog post.)