Climate Change and Aliens?

What do climate change, evolution, and aliens have in common? Well, according to comments by the author of a study reported in Christian Today, evangelicals are hesitant to embrace science because we (supposedly) deny all these things. But is this true? Are creationists science-deniers?

Science vs. God’s Word?

The author of the study, Joshua Ambrosius, does what many evolutionists (such as Bill Nye) do when he wrongfully equates science with climate change and evolution, saying, “Evangelicals have been hesitant to recognize the discoveries of modern science—from evolutionary origins to climate change.” Notice how he claims evangelicals are supposedly hesitant to support science—but how did he get that? It’s because many people with a secular worldview believe science and God’s Word are incompatible, meaning they think that if someone disagrees with evolution or the secularist reasoning for why climates change, then they are against science. But this is simply untrue. Creationists are not against science! We love science. What we are against are the worldview-based interpretations of the evidence.

What we do want people to understand is what the word science means! That’s why in the debate with Bill Nye I spent time explaining the meaning of science.

You see, there are two different kinds of science. Observational science works in the present and is testable, repeatable, and observable. Historical science deals with the past (origins) and is not directly testable, repeatable, or observable. With historical science, the worldview you approach the evidence with is going to determine how you interpret the evidence. Secular scientists start from the perspective that man is the ultimate authority and determines truth, but we start from the view that the Bible is God’s Word and provides the true history of the universe. So we both reach different conclusions when we look at the evidence.

Also, in the debate with Bill Nye, I included video clips of biblical creationists who are world renowned scientists—to make the point that creationists love science! We are not against science! But creationists do explain the difference between historical and observational science—but secularists don’t do this because they want people to have a wrong understanding of what the word science means.

Creationists Do Not Deny Climate Change

Now, I would like to address the claim that creationists deny climate change. No matter how many times we say that we do not deny climate change, secularists continue to say that we are climate change deniers. Actually, I saw evidence of this propaganda here in Australia. We were recently in a store in the city of Brisbane, Australia, and the sales lady was talking to us about the heat wave here and cold in the USA. She said, “And people say there is no climate change”—the secularists have spread their propaganda! We’ve had worse heatwaves and droughts in Australia. Sadly, the secularists continue to indoctrinate others with their misleading message across the world.

I want to emphasize that we do not deny climate change. Even Bill Nye continues to spread the false charge against us that we supposedly deny climate change! What we do deny are the worldview-based assumptions behind the interpretations of what causes climate change. Climate change is observational science (we can observe it by recording measurements), but it needs to be interpreted as to why it’s happening—and your starting point determines your interpretation. Starting from the Bible, we know that there was a global Flood a few thousand years ago that completely changed Earth’s surface and climate, and that the earth is still settling down from this catastrophe. So we should expect there to be some variations in climate change, but this is not alarming and is not the direct result of modern human activity. That’s why when I was interviewed live on the Piers Morgan show on CNN after the debate (with Bill Nye sitting beside me) and was asked, “Why do you deny climate change?”—I answered that I did not deny climate change and went on to say that climates have been changing ever since the Flood.

However, if you start from man’s idea that climates have been stable for thousands of years and are beginning to change since the advent of modern man, then you reach the entirely different conclusion that climate change is not normal and that modern human activity must be directly responsible. Your worldview determines your interpretation!

Did God Create Aliens, Too?

Ambrosius then goes on to say that "The data show that this overall attitude extends into space.” He said that his study showed that regular church attendance, belief in the authority of Scripture, and a belief in creation all “exert a negative effect on support for space exploration.” He then goes on to mention me and my comments regarding how fruitless it is to search for extraterrestrial life. Now, creationists are not against learning more about outer space or against space exploration. After all, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Space exploration has resulted in many wonderful technologies being developed. But searching for extraterrestrial life is a completely different matter. Whether or not you believe life exists in outer space depends on your worldview and your starting point. If you start from man’s word that life is the result of random chance evolution, then you expect life to have evolved elsewhere in the universe. In this worldview, Earth isn’t special, so life couldn’t possibly have evolved only on Earth. However, if you start with God’s Word, then Earth was specially designed for life (Isaiah 45:18) and is the focus of God’s attention, so we shouldn’t expect to find intelligent life in outer space. I said the following in a blog I wrote earlier this year:

And I do believe there can’t be other intelligent beings in outer space because of the meaning of the gospel. You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation. One day, the whole universe will be judged by fire, and there will be a new heavens and earth. God’s Son stepped into history to be Jesus Christ, the “Godman,” to be our relative, and to be the perfect sacrifice for sin—the Savior of mankind.

Jesus did not become the “GodKlingon” or the “GodMartian”! Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God’s Son remains the “Godman” as our Savior. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that we see the Father through the Son (and we see the Son through His Word). To suggest that aliens could respond to the gospel is just totally wrong

An understanding of the gospel makes it clear that salvation through Christ is only for the Adamic race—human beings who are all descendants of Adam.

Therefore, I do not believe in the existence of aliens. I do not believe they go to heaven or hell, because I do not believe they exist!

Really, the search for extra-terrestrial life has had a benefit for creationists! The more the secularists search for alien life, the more they find no evidence of such anywhere in the universe. This is just what we would predict based on the Bible’s account of origins and an understanding of the gospel.

Biblical creationists do not accept evolution, intelligent alien life, or the old-earth-based assumptions behind the claims of climate change alarmists (though we do recognize that there is climate change!) because we do not accept the humanistic worldview behind these ideas. It all depends on your starting point! The evidence does not speak for itself; it has to be interpreted in relation to the past. Your interpretation depends on your starting point of either God’s Word or man’s ideas. As Christians, we need to accept God’s Word beginning in Genesis and not compromise with man’s ideas about the past. Man is not the ultimate authority—God is! After all, God was there and since He does not lie (Titus 1:2), we can trust that He has given us an accurate account of Earth’s history.

And yes—because of the effects of sin, the curse and the Flood—we will continue to witness climate change until the Lord comes!

I encourage you to read our article on climate change today that refutes the idea that we deny climate change; we believe science actually confirms it! Read the article for details.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.