Practical Creation Evangelism

When I first started teaching in the creation ministry, I would go to churches and speak on scientific aspects such as the age of the earth, the fossil record and other such topics. People showed some interest, but it certainly didn’t seem to stir them with the passion I had for the creation/evolution topic. And they always seemed to ask the same questions. (You should know them by now!) Where did Cain get his wife? What about the days of creation? How do dinosaurs fit with the Bible?, etc.

One day I read the book The Genesis Record by Dr. Henry Morris.1 It made me realize with a renewed vigor how foundational the book of Genesis was to the rest of the Bible. As I continued to read, it hit me that I really became excited when I came across an answer to one of the questions I had in my own mind.

It was then that I started to understand that I shouldn’t be just giving sermons on what I thought was important. I needed to understand the people to whom I was speaking. Where were they in regard to this topic? What do they think about Genesis? Why don’t they think it’s that important? Why do they have these questions? What makes them think this way?

I explained how Genesis was foundational to all doctrine and that Christians shouldn’t add millions of years to God’s Word—that this destroys the foundation of the gospel.

I then prepared a sermon to take all this into account. I called it my ‘Relevance Sermon.’ It was a 30-minute talk on why Christians should believe in a literal Genesis. I explained how Genesis was foundational to all doctrine and that Christians shouldn’t add millions of years to God’s Word—that this destroys the foundation of the gospel.2 I also began to answer questions like the one about Cain’s wife.

After the service where I preached this for the first time, I was astounded at the response. People seemed to rush out and ask for copies of the tape, and to buy lots of materials. I had finally communicated!

As the whole concept of creation evangelism has crystallized in my thinking over the years, I have developed many talks (and materials) to communicate to various groups of people we meet in our everyday life.

The following summarizes some of these groups, giving practical ideas on how to apply creation evangelism.

First of all, I identify a particular group of people. I then try to understand how they think. If their thinking is not firmly founded in God’s Word, then they will have major inconsistencies in their way of thinking. I need to identify those inconsistencies, and then carefully dismantle them and show them to be illogical. I then pray the Lord will use this to open their hearts to the truth of God’s Word.

Keep in mind that there are many more groups of people than this and some people have characteristics of more than one group. So there are, of course, many exceptions. These are then just generalizations based on my personal experience.

Each of the following diagrams represents a particular group of people.

The first diagram represents where each person should be in relation to his thinking. They start with the Word of God as their foundation, i.e. believing in a literal Genesis as part of this foundation. They have a Christian worldview—accepting Christian doctrines, knowing they are directly founded on God’s Word, and ultimately on Genesis 1–11. Their Christian worldview is, in essence, the pair of glasses they use in interpreting everything around them.

Sadly, I have found that most Christians are not in this group. Most people in our churches are in either one of the next two positions—or somewhere in between. If they are in one of these positions, I’ve found that they really can’t defend the Bible against the attacks of the age. The Christian leaders haven’t dealt with the ‘missiles’ from the enemy aimed at the Bible, and particularly Genesis.

The next illustration shows that on one side in the church we have Group 2.

This group represents Christians who believe the Bible is the infallible Word and even generally believe Genesis to be true. They believe in Christian doctrines. However, they don’t really understand how their Christian worldview connects to the Bible and ultimately to Genesis 1–11. They don’t really understand the concept of the Bible being the history book of the universe. This group would also include the classic ‘gap theorists,’ who believe God re-created everything in six days, after a gap of millions of years.3

For these people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. If there is no connection to Genesis, then there is no reason for believing in their doctrines. Because of this lack of connection, they can’t really defend them. They tend to tell their children that marriage is one man for one woman for life—but this is usually forced on them ‘from the top down’—not built foundationally.

2. These people usually have a wrong understanding of science. They, like most of us, have been indoctrinated to think scientists can prove the earth is billions of years old and that dinosaurs died out millions of years ago. This is one of the reasons why Genesis is not connected to their worldview. Even though they generally believe in Genesis, in reality that which they think is science causes them to divorce Genesis from the real world.

3. All these problems result in there being no foundational connection for the next generation. Their children grow up in the church being taught the Bible is the Word of God. But at the same time, they are not given answers to evolutionary teaching. In fact, they are probably told it’s okay to believe in millions of years. The Bible is portrayed to them as separate from their everyday thinking. They may accept doctrines like marriage, but they have no basis for knowing why—except that it’s in the New Testament. Ultimately, however, they can’t give foundational reasons as to why homosexual behavior, for instance, is wrong.

On the other side in the church, we have Group 3.

This group believes the Bible is the Word of God, but they also have no problem adding evolutionary teaching to the Bible. These people may be theistic evolutionists4 (God used evolution) or progressive creationists5 (God created millions of species over millions of years) or some other compromise position. They accept major Christian doctrines, but they can be more liberal in the way they apply them. Many, in fact most Christian college, Bible college and seminary students—along with their professors—are in this group.

For these people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. They not only have no connection for their doctrines, they have no basis for them. The theistic evolutionists, for instance, allow God to use evolution to form man. But this destroys the foundation of marriage which is built on the fact that Eve came from Adam’s side. The progressive creationists (like theistic evolutionists) allow millions of years of death, bloodshed, disease and suffering before sin. Thus, the foundation of the atonement and the restoration is destroyed. Even though they may hold to Christian doctrines, they do so inconsistently, for they don’t have a real basis for them.

2. They also have a wrong understanding of science. They equate evolutionary teaching with science. So, there is a need to teach them that the science that put man on the moon can’t be used to directly observe the past. Scientists don’t have the past to study. Evolution and its teaching of millions of years are really just beliefs. 6

3. They therefore not only have no foundation for the next generation, they have the wrong foundation. At least Group 2 has the right foundation—even if Christians don’t understand the connection. However, this group has problems connecting their foundation to doctrine. There are a variety of positions concerning which parts of Genesis are literally true. But ultimately, without a literal Genesis, there is no foundation for any Christian doctrine.

With this group, I have often found that their children will quickly depart from the faith. From my own experience, I’ve discovered that the children of those in the church who ardently compromise with evolution/millions of years teaching, and are not given answers to defend the inerrancy of Scripture, often have little, if anything, to do with the church. There are numerous humanists who claim they once attended Bible-believing churches, but rejected Christianity because of evolution.

For instance, read this testimony of a Harvard professor:

As were many persons from Alabama, I was a born-again Christian. When I was 15, I entered the Southern Baptist Church with great fervor and interest in the fundamentalist religion. I left at 17 when I got to the University of Alabama and heard about evolutionary theory.7

Or read this report of an 87-year-old man in North Carolina who was aggressively pursuing legal action to have the Ten Commandments removed from a county courthouse:

He was raised a Methodist in Indianapolis and went to church regularly as a child and teenager. ‘I believed all this God stuff,’ he said. ‘I was a good little boy and all that [expletive]. In school, we opened every morning with the Lord’s Prayer. That was big stuff.’ That changed when he attended Purdue University in Indiana. After taking physics and chemistry, he began to question the veracity of the Bible. In particular, he doubted how the entire world could have flooded in the days of Noah’s Ark. … Where … did all that water come from?8

Obviously he wasn’t given answers to defend the events of Genesis when he went to church. Now, at the end of his life, he was fighting with all his might against the Word of God.

The children in Group 1 tend to stay in the church—although in a few generations they will begin to lose their Christian heritage if they aren’t taught how to defend the Bible in the light of the attacks from secular humanism.

Once we understand where these people are ‘coming from,’ we need to construct a program to communicate to them by dealing with these inconsistencies. Whenever I preach in a church for the first time, I assume that I will have people from Group 1 through Group 3, and various stages in between.

We have developed a number of materials to deal with these groups:

1. The Genesis Solution film is of myself (with some well-done animation for illustration) preaching a message that deals with each of the inconsistencies listed above.9 I explain what science is and what it isn’t. I also show how all doctrines are founded in a literal Genesis, and the problems when Christians try to add millions of years to the Bible. We explain how important it is to build Christian doctrines from the foundation up. Evolution is shown to be a religion, and the social consequences of evolution are then discussed (also available as a book).

   Today I rejoiced with the angels in heaven when my son David prayed that his name would be in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We had read A Is for Adam through for the third time when he asked if his name was written in there. Then he wanted to pray. We made a note in the front of his Bible as a reminder.

   We love the books and videos from AiG. Thank you and God bless you.

   — K.H.
   Australia

   I have found that once I’ve preached this message in a church, many people will immediately see the importance of Genesis and often change their position to reject millions of years and accept God’s Word as written. But this change ultimately depends on their attitude to the Word of God. If they really want to believe God’s Word and really want to let God speak to them through the language of the Bible, they are more likely to respond positively. Sadly, academic peer pressure is one of the big stumbling blocks I’ve found with people holding higher degrees—they are often not prepared to take God at His Word in Genesis. We try to have this film shown in as many churches as possible before we run a seminar in an area, for we find it increases seminar attendance by up to 70 percent. Once Christians realize how important this topic is, they want to know more and have their questions answered.

2. My book The Lie: Evolution has the same basic content as the above film, but in more detail.10 There are many churches that have used this book as a Bible study program for teenagers and adults. The teacher could use The Genesis Record as the teacher resource.11

3. The Answers Book answers the most-asked questions on creation/evolution and the book of Genesis: Cain’s wife, ‘races,’ gap theory, dinosaurs, and many more.12 This can also be used as a Bible study for teenagers and adults.

4. Creation: Facts of Life is an important resource book that deals with the major so-called ‘scientific’ evidences for evolution.13 Dr. Gary Parker, a former evolutionist, used to teach these evidences—now as a creationist, he knows how to refute them. Thus, this book deals primarily with the science question.

5. For children, our books A is for Adam14 and D is for Dinosaur15 are set up with copious teacher notes in the back to teach all the above concepts not only to children, but teens and adults as well.

6. Answers in Genesis video set.16 This 12-part video series (with a detailed study guide) is a complete video seminar dealing with the biblical and scientific aspects of the origins issue. This is excellent to show to teens and adults.

7. The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved! is an excellent publication that teaches Christians how to think like a Christian (i.e. putting on those biblical glasses) from Scripture.17 This is then applied practically to dinosaurs, thus teaching young people and adults that they can apply their Christian worldview to every area.

There are, of course, many other resources that can be used. The Answers in Genesis ministry and other creation ministries are available to help further with recommendations for materials (see our address section).

Group 4: This group predominantly represents an older generation (what we would probably call ‘the sixties generation’—the generation which saw prayer taken out of the public schools in America), who were brought up in the culture when it was still rather Christian in philosophy. They usually have a Christian ethic. Mostly they believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. They believe in right and wrong. For many of them, evolution is fact—they see it on TV all the time. They probably wouldn’t even question the earth being billions of years old. They tend to be interested in the supernatural, and are worried about the morality of the younger generations. They even believe in God—but they seldom have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

For these people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. They don’t understand that they are holding a Christian ethic in a totally inconsistent way. They may believe in the Christian doctrine of marriage—but why? On what basis would they explain to their son, for example, that living with a woman who seems to be desirable at the time is not right?

   In other words, these people have no logical reason to give their children as to why marriage is one man for one woman for life—and why the rightful place for sex is only within marriage. This problem exists for all Christian-based beliefs they may hold to. This inconsistency can be pointed out time and time again. Why do they believe in right and wrong? Who determines what’s wrong? Isn’t it just your opinion? Why should their children accept the same morality?

   These people also don’t realize that the foundation they hold to, evolution, actually is the foundation upon which their children can justify their views on marriage and sex. As we discussed earlier in this book, the foundation of evolution provides the justification for someone to defend abortion, premarital sex and the other social ills.

2. Thus, these people have the wrong basis for their worldview. If they allow their children to believe in evolution, then it’s fully consistent for their children to abandon the morality of their parents.

3. This group also has a wrong understanding of science. Like all the groups, they have been indoctrinated to believe that evolution is science. This needs to be counteracted.

4. The parents among them have laid the wrong foundation for the next generation. And those in the next generation usually abandon Christian morality altogether.

Most of those in Group 4 probably attended church or Sunday school at some time in their life. Some of them may even have been regular church attendees, for it was the social thing to do. They may act like Christians, but they aren’t truly born again. These people tend to believe that if they go to church and help others, God won’t keep them out of heaven.

There’s something else I’ve noticed with members of this group—they tend to ask questions about Cain’s wife and the other common questions detailed earlier. Personally, one of the reasons why I believe these people don’t ultimately believe the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, Word of God, is because the church never gave them the answers.

When I was in Phoenix some years ago, I read a letter to the editor in the local newspaper from a man over 70 years old. He said he stopped going to church when he found out he couldn’t get an answer as to where Cain got his wife. I found out his phone number and called him and gave him the answer.18 He was speechless. I prayed he would now reconsider his views about the Bible.

A friend of mine told me about something that occurred next door to him. His 80-year-old neighbor, Bill, was obviously in some trouble. My friend went to him to find out what was wrong. He was having pains in his chest and other symptoms that made it obvious he was having a heart attack. The ambulance was immediately called. My Christian friend had been trying to witness to this man for months. So, he pleaded with Bill to trust the Lord.

Finally, Bill said (and remember, this is while he’s having a serious heart attack), ‘Well if you believe the Bible—where did Cain get his wife?’ If it wasn’t so serious, this would be very humorous. This again stresses to me the importance of giving answers. Sadly, the church has not given these basic answers and many have drifted away.

I’ve found with this group that books like The Answers Book can be of great help in opening doors. Some of our videos (like the Answers in Genesis set or some of the other ones dealing with science) can be very useful in challenging them. This group will often watch a video if it’s left with them. Also, our witnessing books, What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?, Where Did Cain Get His Wife? and Is There Really a God? can be great to give to them.19 There are many other resources available to effectively communicate with this group.

Group 5: This group is made up of university and high school students (or young adults) that are more than likely the sons and daughters of Group 4. For them evolution is fact. They have, by and large, rejected Christian morality. They’ve grown up in a culture where sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion are the norm. Many have emotional problems from abuse during their childhood. They are hurting and don’t know how to find healing from this hurt. Many have an intense sense of shame as a consequence of problems in the past. They don’t understand what true love is (as Christians understand it). Even those that have gone to church tend to believe in millions of years of suffering before Adam. They can’t put it all together. But, at the same time they are crying out for answers. Whenever I give a lecture at a secular university or public school, I have this group in mind.

For these young people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. They assume science can prove the past. They, too, like the other groups, have a wrong understanding of the nature of science. This is why the first part of my lecture to this group deals with what real science is and what it isn’t. Once they comprehend the fact that the very science that builds our technology can’t be used in the same way to investigate origins, they begin to listen.

2. Their understanding is that evolution is science. They need to grasp that both creation and evolution are belief systems. They have been indoctrinated to believe that creation is religion but evolution is science. The late evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould made this a staple argument.

3. They have no understanding that their belief in evolution connects to their entire worldview. It is very difficult to try to get them to see the relationship between evolution and abortion, for instance. This is why I don’t bring this up until there has been much discussion on points 1 and 2 above. They don’t really understand the nature of their thinking. They are like ‘Greeks’ in the sense that they think very differently from their parents (and certainly from Christians). To them, the death and suffering they see around them is part of what life is all about.

4. Usually, among this group, suicide is prevalent. Because of the foundation they have (even though they don’t understand how this connects to their worldview), they don’t see much purpose and meaning in life. This is why they tend to be preoccupied with sex and drugs—these are experiential things to fill the spiritual void in their lives. Even if they went to church at all, they’ve not been given any real answers.

5. These people are usually shame-driven instead of guilt-driven. They recognize many of their failings—they know they do wrong (their conscience tells them, according to Romans)—and they are emotionally hurt from what has happened to them. Many feel ‘dirty,’ but don’t know how they can be ‘clean.’ They have no solution because they don’t understand sin. They will not understand God’s love until they understand human origins as given in Genesis.

There are numerous materials available for this group.20^,21 Sometimes a more technical book might be needed—other times a layman’s book. But overall, I always remind people that it’s God’s Word that will not return unto Him void. I’ve often found that after dealing with their inconsistencies, by then showing them that I can defend God’s Word authoritatively, and presenting the full gospel (e.g., creation, sin and death, and resurrection) and the change it can make in their life (no more shame), many are interested. They are not used to hearing someone speak with authority in regard to what life is all about.

Group 6: This group mainly consists of what I call the ‘academic elite.’ They would include professors at secular colleges and leaders of humanist groups. They would usually claim to be atheists (or at the very least agnostics—there really are very few practicing atheists). They reject the God of the Bible and are anti-Christian in philosophy. In my opinion, most of them know that evolution is their religion, but they claim it is science. Many know that they have an a priori commitment to materialism. Morality is relative to them.

For these people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. They have no basis whatsoever for standards of right and wrong. Even though they know this, they can’t live like it. They have to accept some things as good and bad, or right and wrong. They can even be very moral people. Thus, one needs to challenge them in regard to the view of ethics they hold on how they can justify this as correct. Eventually, they must come to the conclusion that we do things by consensus if there are no absolutes. However, if they state that there is no such thing as absolute truth, ask them if they are absolutely sure!

2. They assume that evolution is absolute fact. But this could only be so if one knew everything there was to know about everything. In essence, therefore, they are assuming infinite knowledge. They may not have thought this through, but in reality, this is what they are saying. Therefore, they need to be confronted on this. Ask them: ‘Do you have all evidence to prove conclusively there is no God?’ Ultimately they have to agree they don’t. At least this can be a foot in the door with them.

3. They have redefined science as evolution. When talking with them about science, one would have to ask them to carefully define what they mean. Like all the other groups, they have equated evolution with science. But it can’t be the science that provides our technology. They need the same approach as the others: a lecture on the philosophy of science.

4. They have no mechanism for evolution. Materialistic, mechanistic evolution doesn’t work. Many scientists have shown that natural selection and mutation (both popularized as the major mechanisms in the evolutionary process) do not add new information into the genes of an organism. Real science has shown there is no mechanism to make evolution work. There are some excellent books written by scientists that deal with this topic in detail. 22

5. Because there is no materialistic mechanism for evolution, they are lacking something to make it work. Many are now realizing they need a super intelligence to impose information on the system. They don’t want the God of the Bible, so they will begin opting for some mystical element as a God substitute. This position is becoming increasingly popular in our culture.

6. Because of this lack of a mechanism, they therefore can’t provide a complete foundation for the next generation (their students, or the society as a whole). Thus, the next generation will try to fill this gap.

I have found that the books referenced in point 4 above, ones that deal with information issues, are vital to effectively communicating to this group.

Group 7: I believe this group represents where our culture is heading. In my opinion, it is probably the hardest group to reach. These people are the products of our universities and public education. They are now starting to get positions of power in the government at local and national levels. As they are the products of the influence of Group 6, they have provided the mystical element they need: the universe (or nature) is ‘god.’ This is all part of the New Age religion that is sweeping the world. Of course, in one sense it’s nothing other than a form of Hinduism, but because it’s been birthed in our Western culture, it’s often entwined with our scientific mindset.

There are, of course, some good Christian books written about the New Age movement. (But be discerning—not all are useful.) There are many things to learn in order to be able to communicate with this group. Nonetheless, evolution is in reality foundational to their thinking. Thus, the same basic arguments used for Groups 5 and 6 should also be applied here. Obviously, if one can get them to see that evolution doesn’t work, they should be challenged. Of course, they can always revert to ‘nature’ providing a way, but then they have to defend this logically.

For these people, I have summarized the inconsistencies in their thinking as follows:

1. If ‘god’ is nature, then how can ‘god’ be both good and evil, health and disease, full of joy and suffering? The universe seems very contradictory. It’s only the Bible that explains why this is so. The Bible not only explains the origin of evil but also the reason for the existence of death. Because this group of people is interested in supernatural things, sometimes they will listen when you argue authoritatively from the Bible. However, sometimes they will accept what you say and yet accept what they believe at the same time. Because truth is relative, they live in the world inconsistently anyway. They are happy to live illogically and inconsistently.

2. Like some of the Greeks, they believe that a god is part of the creation. Thus, arguments about ultimate causes are important. Again, using information issues, one can give a defense of a Creator outside of (but responsible for) the creation, in contrast to their Creator being a part of the creation.

   Some of them, based on their evolutionary beliefs that there is no real distinction between man and animals anyway, are active advocates of animal rights. Many are vegetarian and oppose any animals being killed. Some go so far as to wear masks in case they might kill something (e.g. inhaling microscopic creatures). However, they can’t avoid killing creatures in this world, yet another inconsistency in their logic. And who determines whether a bacterium is of more or less value than a dog? Who knows if some mutation in a microorganism or worm might not lead to a new evolutionary sequence? Actually, if all evolutionists were consistent, they should have such a movement as a ‘Save the tapeworm society.’ Just because an organism causes a disease which is inconvenient for us, does that mean we should kill it? Maybe in the grand scheme of things from an evolutionary perspective, we should leave it alone! Perhaps humans should be prepared to die out and let something else evolve to an even higher state?

   One should always try to push evolutionists to the logical conclusions of their presuppositions.

3. Like many of the Eastern religions, tradition overrules reason. No matter how you reason with them, the religion they’ve chosen usually overrules what they hear. However, as discussed earlier in the book, we must do our best to reason with them, and then leave it to the Holy Spirit to convict and convert.

When witnessing to such people, as well as giving answers, we need to be like Christ and ask pertinent questions. We should always be thinking in terms of the inconsistencies in their logic. Then we should ask a question that deals with this. If one can get a person to see how inconsistent they are, this can be a tremendous challenge for them to rethink their position.

At one seminar, a young man came up to me and said, ‘I’m an atheist. As an atheist I don’t believe in any absolutes. In fact, we can’t even be sure of reality. To be honest I can’t even prove I’m here.’

‘In that case, why are you even asking me any questions?’ I replied.

‘Good point,’ said this young man.

‘What point?’ I stated.

‘Maybe I should go home,’ he said.

‘Maybe it’s not there,’ I retorted.

‘Good point,’ he replied.

‘What point?’ I exclaimed.

He smiled and said, ‘I’ll think about it.’

At another seminar, a young man came up to me and said, ‘Well, I sat through your talks, but I still believe in evolution and the big bang. I don’t believe in God. I still think we got here by chance.’

I replied to him, ‘Well, if you evolved by chance, then your brain evolved by chance—if your brain evolved by chance, then your processes of logic evolved by chance. If that’s true, you can’t be sure your logic evolved the right way. Son, you don’t even know if you’re asking me the right questions.’

And his reply? ‘Can you tell me the name of the book you just recommended?’