Change the Culture?

What is your real motivation at AiG? Are you political activists? Are you trying to get creation taught in the public school classroom? Does your ministry aim to change the culture?

These are just a few of the many questions I’ve been asked by the secular media over the years, and particularly during the media blitz surrounding the opening of the Creation Museum last May.

In these interviews, I made it very clear that AiG’s thrust is to uphold the authority of God’s Word as we not only provide answers to the questions of skeptics, but also preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and see people won to the Lord.

At Answers in Genesis, we understand that the very Christian culture we once had in America (and the once-Christianized culture of the West in general) has become increasingly secularized over the past few years.

AiG helps the church understand that this societal change occurred from the foundation up—that is, instead of the culture generally being founded on the teachings in God’s Word, generations were eventually taught instead to exalt autonomous human reason and build their worldview on that foundation.

And what has been the basic and most successful mechanism for this secularization of the culture? Over the decades, millions upon millions of Americans, one person at a time, have been indoctrinated to believe in the idea of evolutionary naturalism and millions (billions!) of years, and thus to doubt and ultimately disbelieve the Bible as true history.

As generations began to reject God’s Word as reliable and authoritative, they began to consistently build a secular worldview based on moral relativism.

As this change occurred, many such secular humanists moved into positions in education, the government, legal systems, etc. The worldview they had adopted determined how they would vote in passing laws, establishing curricula, making moral choices, and so on.

Proverbs 23:7—“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Matthew 12:34—“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

The culture changed from predominantly Christian in its worldview to increasingly secular in America (and predominantly secular in Canada and Europe).

As people repent, are converted to Christ, and are then taught to build their thinking consistently on God’s Word (and as Christians are challenged to de-secularize their own thinking and build a Christian worldview), then they can make an impact on d culture.

After all, God’s people are told to be “salt” and “light” (Matthew 5:13-14)—and thus affect the world for good. Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

That’s why I often explain to the secular media that the ministry of AiG and the Creation Museum is to preach the gospel and hope to see people converted to Christ, and thus be “salt” and “light” in their daily living. As these people find themselves on school boards, are elected to local government, or obtain influential positions in the media, their worldview will govern the way they vote or they may then affect changes.

The AiG ministry is providing answers to the skeptical questions of our day that cause people to doubt the Bible’s historicity. And in this era of history the most-attacked part of the Bible’s history is Genesis chapters 1–11. When people understand that they can trust the history in the early chapters of Genesis, they can better understand and be more responsive to the gospel—the gospel that is based in that history.

AiG’s aim is not to change the culture. Changing the culture is a by-product of a much bigger and more eternally significant goal. As one life at a time is changed, each of those Christians can have an impact on the culture for the glory of Christ.

So, this is what AiG and the Creation Museum are “on about”—and what we believe every Christian should be doing: presenting and defending the life-changing gospel message to see lives changed for the glory of God.

So our theme for AiG this year is: “Impacting the culture, one life at a time.”