The youth in our churches have not been taught general Bible apologetics, much less creation apologetics.
My heart became burdened when so many young people came up to talk to me after I spoke to their group in California a few weeks ago. They said positive things about the talks, but some teens also stated:
I grew up in the church and thought we had to believe in evolution. You rocked my world.
‘I’ve grown up in church, but never heard this information before. Thank you, thank you.
I was taught Bible ‘stories’ for years in church. I’ve never heard answers like this. You’ve changed my life—thank you, thank you.
These young people seemed to be dedicated Christians who loved the Lord. At the same time, they had a shallow understanding of Christianity. They had no idea how to answer the skeptical questions of this age—questions that are intended to create doubt in people’s minds about the Christian faith. For children and teens in our churches, lacking answers can put them on a slippery slide of unbelief.
During the question time, these teens asked about the usual topics, like carbon dating, Cain’s wife, dinosaurs, etc. But there were also lots of questions like, “Why doesn’t God show Himself to us?”; “What about all the other books that aren’t in the Bible (like the Apocrypha)?”; “How can we know God exists?,” etc.
This Q&A session confirmed what I’ve seen time and time again throughout America: the youth in our churches have not been taught general Bible apologetics, much less creation apologetics (which are core in truly believing and defending the gospel). While most of these teens at the California conference seemed to be blessed by the “praise and worship” time, it struck me, based also on what I heard from their leaders, that these teens just didn’t have an in-depth understanding of the Christian faith.
After I spoke, and much to the surprise of the conference organizers, several hundred young people purchased thousands of our books, including those in the New Answers Book series.
Yes, I was overwhelmed at the positive response, but also burdened. I was reminded of how important AiG’s ministry theme is for this year:
“Standing Our Ground, Rescuing
Our Kids.” It’s based on Galatians 1:4
and that passage’s reference to rescuing
people from this “present evil age
.”
As I pondered our new theme as well as the young people I spoke to in California, I thought of four categories of “people rescue” that AiG is involved in:
Ken: I am so glad you are in this great work of the Lord. My son came home from college a while back and told me that two of his friends that he grew up with no longer believe in God because of evolution. [But] your work is helping to bring their hearts back to the truth … I wish your light was taught in all colleges.
The ministry of AiG, with all its various outreaches (including the phenomenal Creation Museum and the coming Ark Encounter) are set up to “rescue” as many people as we can from this present evil age.
I can’t wait for the full-size Ark to be built and then to see millions of people visit. They’ll be exposed to the message of the One who came to be our Ark of salvation, Jesus Christ, and to be rescued for eternity.
Let’s all remember to pray, as
Jesus taught us in Luke 11:4 (the
Lord’s Prayer), to “deliver us from
the evil one.
”
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.