Answer Key for the Answers . . . with Ken Ham Study Guide
Special thanks to Rev. Larry Smith for his help in compiling these answers.
What are some theological reasons the Earth cannot be millions of years old?
The idea that the Earth is millions or billions of years old undermines the Bible’s message of sin, death, and salvation. The doctrine of Creation (based in Genesis) explains that one man’s sin led to the death, pain and suffering we experience today, whereas the anti-God doctrine of evolution and its stablemate, a belief in an “old Earth,” proposes the opposite: namely that millions of years of death, disease and struggle preceded (or even led to) man’s existence. If Genesis is merely myth, there is no basis for morality or any Christian doctrine. Since Genesis is true history, the foundation for Christianity is firmly established. See The “god” of an Old Earth.
What must occur in order for true revival to be realized?
Uphold the Bible’s authority from the very first verse, and tear down the strongholds of evolutionary/“millions of years” thought patterns (Isaiah 58:12), so that people will understand what sin is, what its consequences are, and why Jesus needed to die our on behalf.
The book of Genesis is:
a. The foundation of all Christian doctrine. TRUE
b. Historical narrative. TRUEc. The most quoted-from or referred-to book in the entire Bible. TRUE
d. All of the above. TRUE
The humanist, Thomas Huxley:
a. Agreed with theologians who reinterpreted Genesis. FALSE
b. Admitted that evolution was only theory. FALSE
c. Pointed out the hypocrisy of the theologians who reinterpreted Genesis. TRUE
Thomas Huxley was an ardent humanist. Huxley went around the world “preaching” evolution and putting down Christianity. But when he saw the theologians of the day accepting evolution and then adding it to the Bible (but still trying to defend Christianity), Huxley pointed out to these compromisers how inconsistent that was. He showed them that if they believed in evolution, they couldn’t believe in the doctrines of the New Testament, and would have to throw away the whole message of Christianity.
d. None of the above. FALSE
To understand Christian doctrine, one needs to:
a. Read the book of Genesis. TRUE
b. Believe the main parts of Genesis. TRUE
c. Believe and understand the book of Genesis, particularly chapters 1–11. TRUE
d. Believe those parts of Genesis quoted in the New Testament. TRUE
e. None of the above. FALSE
How does denying that God created in six Earth-rotation days lead to the crumbling of the foundations of Christianity?
Biblical authority and infallibility are called into question if God did not create in six Earth-rotation days as Genesis 1 clearly teaches. If the Bible is wrong when it speaks of God creating in six days, why is it not wrong when it speaks of the Virginal Conception or the Resurrection of Christ? The foundations of Christianity are based firmly in the words of Scripture, which state clearly that God created in six actual days.
How do we know the days mentioned in Genesis 1 refer to normal-length days and not long periods of time?
Biblical uses of the word day:
The Bible makes it clear that death is the penalty for our sin, not just the sin of Adam. If you accept the Bible’s account of history, then our sins—not just the sins of “the other guy”—are responsible for all the death and suffering in the world! In other words, it is really our fault—not God’s—that the world is the way it is. No-one is really “innocent.” (See Why Does God’s Creation Include Death and Suffering? for more information.)
As soon as Christians allow for death, suffering and disease before Adam’s sin (which they automatically must if they believe in millions of years), then they’ve raised a serious question about their Gospel message. What, then, has sin done to the world? According to Christian teaching, death is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23)—and this fact is the foundation of the Gospel! The whole message of the Gospel falls apart if you have this view of history. It also would mean that God is to blame for death. (See Why Does God’s Creation Include Death and Suffering? for more information.)
The clothing provided a covering for their sin, and provided a picture of what Christ would one day do when He offered Himself as the final covering for sin.
If one believes in millions of years, then this world has always been a deadly place. How can all things be “restored” to a state with no death, pain or tears in the future (Revelation 21:4) if there never was a time free of death and suffering?
Genesis teaches that when God made Adam and Eve they were naked. But sin came into the world, and sin distorts anything. Sin distorts nakedness. Immediately Adam and Eve knew they were naked, and they tried to make a pair of pants out of fig leaves. They still saw their nakedness. God came and killed animals and gave them coats. This was the first blood sacrifice. It was a covering for their sin. The same word for these animal-skin coats is used of the priest’s coat. It means a complete covering or “atonement.” We, too, are to wear clothes to cover our nakedness.
What are some problems associated with using the standard “design implies a Designer” argument for the existence of God?
Evolutionists will say: “Things have evolved to fit their environment, so of course they will appear to be designed” (even though this is circular reasoning).
Scientists get excited about finding stone tools in a cave because these speak of intelligence—a toolmaker. They could not have designed themselves. Neither would anyone believe that the carved Presidents’ heads on Mt. Rushmore were the product of millions of years of chance erosion. We can recognize design—the evidence of the outworking of intelligence—in the man-made objects all around us. Similarly, in William Paley’s famous argument, a watch implies a watchmaker. Today, however, a large proportion of people, including many leading scientists, believe that all plants and animals, including the incredibly complex brains of the people who make watches, motor cars, etc., were not designed by an intelligent God, but rather came from an unintelligent evolutionary process. (See Is There Really a God? How Would You Answer?)
How would you answer someone who claims there is no God?
What would you say to someone who claims the Christian must have faith to accept God exists?
The Christian faith is not a blind faith—it is
a logically defensible faith. This is why the Bible makes it clear
that anyone who does not believe in God is without excuse: “For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
” (Romans 1:20).
(See Is There Really a God? How Would You Answer?)
Natural selection results in a net loss of information in the genome—not a net gain, which is required by molecules-to-man evolution.
All things are suffering from the curse God placed on His creation, because of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:17–19; Romans 8:20–22). Mutations (copying mistakes) increase as genetic information is passed from one generation to the next. Speciation has occurred in the years since the Flood.
Creatures were to reproduce “after their kind,” so mice come from mice, lizards from lizards, daisies from daisies. Molecules-to-man evolution has never occurred, nor does it occur today. But organisms have a wonderful “built-in” genetic capacity for rapid change in response to environmental pressures—most easily observed today in isolated island environments.
Examples of rapid adaptation give us an insight into
how the Earth’s many vacant ecological niches were recolonized
after the Flood—a global event in real history. This event buried
the “world that then was
” (2 Peter 3:6). As the animals
left the Ark, multiplying to fill the Earth and all those empty ecological
niches, natural selection could easily have caused an original “dog
kind” (e.g.) on the Ark to “split” into wolves,
coyotes, dingoes, etc. Because there are historical records showing
some of these subtypes in existence only a few hundred years after
the Flood, this means that there had to have been some very rapid
(non-evolutionary) speciation. So it is encouragingly supportive of
Biblical history when such rapid changes are seen still occurring
today.
Because this was already a fallen world, the fossils record death, suffering and disease. Because it was a created world, the fossil record consists of the remains of some creatures that no longer exist, and some that still do, but no sequence of one type changing by stages into a totally different type, whether slowly or quickly.
Skeptics have used Cain’s wife time and again to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a true historical record. Sadly, most Christians have not been able to give an adequate answer to this question. As a result, the world thinks Christians cannot defend the authority of Scripture and, thus, the Christian faith.
Many skeptics have claimed that, for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” of people on the Earth who were not descendants of Adam and Eve. To many people, this question is a stumbling block to accepting the creation account in Genesis and its record of only one man and woman at the beginning of history—a record on which many Old and New Testament doctrines depend.
Defenders of the Gospel must be able to show that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve)—as only those people who are descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. Thus, believers need to be able to account for Cain’s wife and show clearly that she was a descendant of Adam and Eve.
She was either his sister or another close female relative.
No.
His brothers and sisters and other relatives.
Only descendants of Adam can be saved.
Evolution is not the cause of racism—sin is.
See Get Answers: Racism for ideas.
We are all “one blood”—all descendants of Adam, and therefore, all related. We need to view other people groups as our relatives who are in need of salvation.
In thinking about dinosaurs, one also has to talk about death (after all, dinosaur fossils are dead!)—and thus, the origin of death because of sin. This leads into a discussion of the Gospel.
As the topic of Noah’s Flood is discussed (a Flood that buried
billions of creatures including dinosaurs—and thus the main
cause of most dinosaur fossils), the vital matter of salvation can
also be covered. After all, Noah’s Ark is a picture of salvation
in Christ. Just as Noah had to go through a doorway to be saved, so
each one of us must go through a doorway—the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John 10:9: “I am the door. If anyone enters in
by Me, he shall be saved . . .
”
They are among the most mysterious of creatures when viewed outside of the Bible. People are naturally drawn to areas they do not fully understand. Evolutionary thinking about dinosaurs has contributed to a corrupt view in relation to dinosaurs. The word “dinosaur” (meaning “terrible lizard”) was invented in 1841 by Sir Richard Owen. This name can unjustly stereotype dinosaurs as something evil that is to be feared, which provokes the curiosity in people.
In the beginning, God created one woman for the only man He had created.
In the beginning, God created a man and a woman, not a man and a man.
As the knowledge is passed down orally, it is changed bit by bit. Further, some parents neglect to teach the next generation about God.
If we are only evolved pond scum, then there are no absolutes, and thus no reason to commit ourselves solely to a person of the opposite gender.
The Flood of Noah’s Day (approx. 4300 years ago) would have destroyed the Canyon if it had formed “millions of years” before the Flood occurred. It must have formed some time since then.
We would expect a world-wide flood to result in billions of dead things (i.e. fossils) buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the Earth. The majority of the fossils found around the world are a result of the Noah’s Flood.
Those who believe the Earth is millions of years old usually believe the Flood was a local event because a global Flood destroys the “evidence” (the fossil record/rock layers) of the “millions of years.”
The Jews were a creation-based culture, believing in the true God, understanding sin (having the Commandments), but by and large not accepting the message that Jesus Christ was the Messiah—this was their stumbling block. (See Road Work Ahead.)
The Greek culture was “evolution-based” (their philosophers taught an early concept of evolution; they had no idea of the God of Creation, as the Jews understood). They had no understanding of the meaning of sin or why death was in the world. They did not have the foundational knowledge to understand the Gospel. They thus responded by claiming that Paul’s message was foolish.
Generations of young people are being taken through an education system that is by and large devoid of the knowledge of God. They are being taught that the universe can and should be explained only by natural causes—nothing supernatural was involved. These people are being directed on to a road similar to the one the Greeks were on. This road detours them away from an understanding of the Cross, because it does not have the right beginning/history leading to the message of the Cross. Most of today’s students are really “Greeks” in their thinking, and thus respond to the message of the Cross as “foolishness.”
There are still those in our society who have been raised with foundational knowledge of Christianity, but have not yet received the free gift of eternal life.
To be successful in reaching today’s generations with the Gospel, like Paul in reaching the Greeks, these people need to be shown the way back to the true beginning of history (Creation, Adam and Eve, Fall, etc.), to get them onto the right road, so they will understand the message of the Cross. At the same time, the evolutionary humanistic propaganda these people have been taught needs to be counteracted.
It doesn’t reconnect the Bible with the real world, and doesn’t teach the children how to defend and uphold their faith.
So that we recognize it as authoritative in all matters it touches on.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.