Why We Do What We Do at AiG

My heart was heavy when our researchers reported to me about the stories shown on a CNN television special called Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers. This TV special looked into the lives of several atheists including a college student raised by Christian parents, a clergyman in a Christian denomination, a Harvard Divinity School student, and the leader of an atheist congregation who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. These stories represent real people who are living their lives according to the lie of atheism that they firmly believe, and truly their stories are heartbreaking for those of us who know the truth.

During the special, the parents of a college student and atheist activist said, “what our desire was for them . . . [was] that [our sons] grow up to be godly men.” But the story continues with, “Not far from home . . . on the campus of the University of North Georgia . . . the Gormley son has chosen a life without God . . . David Gormley is an atheist . . . He rejects almost everything his parents believe about God and religion.” Later on, the reporter interviewed a clergyman who has been a closet atheist for 15 years and yet continues to preach before his congregation every Sunday morning. He described the moment he realized he didn’t believe, “I was having a lot of turmoil with the church . . . and I was thinking about the upcoming sermon, and I thought, ‘I don’t believe this.’ And then I thought, ‘I don’t believe anything.’”

Sadly, stories like this are only increasing in America. In the TV special, CNN reported a statistic that we know all too well that “59% of people who grow up in a Christian home are going to walk away on some level. They’re either going to become ex-Christians or they’re going to become de-churched.”

At AiG we’ve conducted our own research and discovered that over 60% of our young people are walking away from the church and often the Christian faith across America. The research, published in my coauthored book Already Gone, details many of the reasons behind this mass exodus. Many young people are leaving the church because they have questions that have never been answered. They doubt the authority of God’s Word from the beginning and many are quitting the faith because of it. Likely many of the people featured in this special had the same kinds of doubts and questions but didn’t receive solid biblical and scientific answers to those questions.

This is why we at Answers in Genesis do what we do. We want to equip the church to stand on the authority of God’s Word from the very beginning and provide solid answers for the skeptical questions of this age. We pray that God will use us to help lower that almost two-thirds statistic and help bring people into the family of God by our unapologetic proclamation of the gospel.

And, praise the Lord, we often hear from people who have had their lives forever changed because God brought AiG resources into their lives. Recently I shared the story of a gentleman from the Netherlands who was seriously doubting the Christian faith. He had received teaching that compromised Genesis with millions of years and evolution, and he ended up leaving Christianity altogether. But, eventually, he found our website and was able to get solid, uncompromising answers to the questions that he had, and his faith in God and in His Word was restored. I encourage you to read his full testimony here. People all over the world like him are why we do what we do!

Sometimes it’s easy to get upset or frustrated with atheists, especially the aggressive, militant individuals. But we need to remember that they are people desperately in need of the grace of God just as we all once were. These are real people with real souls who will spend eternity somewhere. We need to compassionately reach out to these individuals with love and solid, biblical and scientific answers to their questions and objections. It’s likely that you know, live beside, or work with some of these secular individuals. I encourage you to look for opportunities to engage with them about the authority of the Bible and the precious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can watch the promotion of the CNN special here.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

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