For Once I Agree with Bill Maher!

I never thought I’d say this, but, for once, I agree with TV commentator and comedian Bill Maher! In a 2012 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, he interviews Ross Douthat, a Roman Catholic and a columnist for the New York Times. Now, Maher is known for blaspheming God and mocking Christians, which he did in his “documentary” Religulous. In fact, he deceived Answers in Genesis by giving a false name and coming under false pretenses to interview me. The segment featuring AiG in Religulous was a typical cut-and-paste job. (For more on what happened, see my blog post.)

But considering how the secular world is constantly challenging the authority of the Word of God, and also seeing the extent of major compromise on Genesis in the church, I thought it was time to revisit this Bill Maher interview program from April 20, 2012. In the course of talking with Douthat, Maher actually admits something that even some Christian academics and leaders deny: if we decide that one part of the Bible is untrustworthy, it hurts the trustworthiness of the entire book. Maher states just as much in the interview:

If it’s [i.e., the Bible] not 100% true, I would say the whole thing [the writings that follow Genesis] falls apart.

And you know, he’s absolutely correct! Here’s a man who is in open rebellion against God, who engages in blasphemy regularly, but even he can see the inconsistency of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible can be trusted. Sadly, the compromising Christian leaders and academics are helping Maher in spreading his hate speech regarding God’s Word.

Maher isn’t the first atheist to point out that if Genesis is wrong then the rest of the Bible falls apart. Atheist Richard Dawkins pointed out a few years ago that Christians who try to mix evolutionary ideas with Scripture, thereby essentially saying that Genesis is not trustworthy, were “deluded.” When asked if there was “a defining moment” when he decided he didn’t believe in God, Dawkins replied as follows:

Oh well, by far the most important was understanding evolution. I think the evangelical Christians have really sort of got it right in a way, in seeing evolution as the enemy. Whereas the more, what shall we say, sophisticated theologians are quite happy to live with evolution, I think they are deluded. I think the evangelicals have got it right, in that there is a deep incompatibility between evolution and Christianity, and I think I realized that about the age of sixteen.

What’s significant about these quotes is that professing Christians who accept evolutionary ideas and millions of years (such as those at organizations like BioLogos and Reasons to Believe) are teaching what Dawkins and Maher see as running counter to a belief in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. They don’t think that these compromised Christians are doing any good for Christianity. No, they see this sort of compromise for what it is: helping the atheists undermine God’s Word. Compromising Christian leaders are causing generations to doubt God’s Word—and this doubt leads ultimately to unbelief.

My message for Christian academics, church leaders, and every professing Christian is this: you can trust the Bible, and you can take God at His Word from the very first verse. If you doubt the truthfulness of the Bible, I urge you to read our series of web articles “Can You Prove the Bible Is True?” And I also encourage you to order our two-volume set How Do We Know the Bible Is True? You’ll find answers to your questions about the trustworthiness of God’s Word in these excellent resources.

I also encourage you to watch my new video presentation, “Rescuing Our Kids.”

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken