Not of This World

Not of This World

Credit to Dan Lietha http://www.danltoons.com

"If the world hates you, keep in mind, it hated me first." John 15:18

There are some days that I wake up, look through my Facebook feed, and shudder at the incredibly anti-Christian sentiments that permeate the world today. Most of this comes from related articles regarding things happening around the world to various ministries that I follow. It surprises me especially because those who are usually attacking these ministries are the same ones preaching "tolerance" for everyone. Of course the world's view of tolerance is to tolerate everything that is not Christian-related. We are called exclusivist and intolerant often as Christians, but it is really outside groups who are the least tolerant.

Christians are not new to this intolerance of the faith. Christ pointed out that a life of following him would come with the hatred from the world. It is the founder of our faith who preached its exclusivity. Christians simply explain in Biblical context Jesus's teachings on that matter. One ministry in particular who takes a huge amount of attack is Answers in Genesis.

I will start by saying I fully support what Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis are trying to do. From a Christian standpoint, his big point is pushing for the authority of God's word by looking to the creation account. Technically, as Christians, we need to believe in the form of this account that looks to God's ability to create ex-nihilo (out of nothing). Sadly, most Christians these days have adopted the religion of evolution to please man, and while acknowledging God's power in other things, refuse to believe He could have created the world in six literal days. 

Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis, seek to provide info to educate people on how this was possible, and how much of the scientific data out there these days is manipulated to fit into the environment that supports evolution. 

My point here is not to debate that (as I will dedicate a full blog to it when I do), but simply to say that people really lay into that guy. Atheists obviously consider his teaching of literal creation to children as child abuse. This is a huge exaggeration, and it is really more abusive to a child to deny them teaching about their Creator. Still, they pursue his ministry like rabid dogs, pouncing on every word he says. 

Ken started the "Creation Museum" located in the Kentucky area (http://www.creationmuseum.org), and is currently working on building a full scale version of Noah's Ark (http://www.arkencounter.com) which is a great idea for teaching and spreading God's truth. The misconception of the size of the ark and its purpose is commonly represented in all secular (and some Christian) references to it today.

What bothers me lately; however, is not so much the secular attacks, as it is the inside attacks. If a Christian wants to immediately alienate his or her Christian brethren, they need only suggest that God could have literally created the earth in 6 days. They need only suggest that, Biblically, man and all land animals dwelt together pre-flood (Dinosaurs). They need only mention that vegetation was man's primary food until after the flood as well. Genesis 9:1-3 records the first mention of God giving animals to man for food. If God said creation was very good, then there couldn't have been millions of years of death prior to the statement. We see the first real "death" when God sacrifice an animal to clothe Adam and Eve after they sin (a picture of Christ's ultimate sacrifice that would come later). These statements light a fire under people who have been trained to believe evolution as fact for the past few hundred years. Logically, information from a man a few hundred years ago, compared to divinely inspired information thousands of years old, presents what should be an obvious choice to the Christian (hint: It's not Darwin). 

Now, as Ken Ham points out, it is not a salvation issue to believe in evolution, or in an old earth. It is an authority issue. If we compromise on the age of the earth as recorded in Genesis, how can we trust anything else the Bible represents? We are talking about book 1, chapter 1, verse 1 being denied. If we throw out the intro, how will the rest make sense? We take many other things on faith, and God's word, why not this? If God couldn't create the earth in six literal days, doesn't that detract from his power? Do we believe ourselves so superior to God that we assign to him our ideas about the age of the earth? Clearly, many do.

I am all for not being legalistic, and not getting hung up on non-salvation issues. But even Christ has statements throughout his ministry that indicate the Genesis accounts to be true. One example is in the acknowledgment of Noah's flood as a real event. 

"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:37-39

An acknowledgment from the founder of our faith should be enough to take the Biblical account as true. Sadly, even those professing a relationship with Christ, love to ignore his statements on things that don't align with their particular worldview. This is where it becomes an authority issue. If Christ is our representation of who we as Christians are to imitate, would we not imitate his teachings during his time on earth? He certainly acknowledged Noah's Flood, Satan, Sin's hold on the world, Hell, and other important doctrines that get disputed within the faith all of the time.

The world has everything backwards, and Christians are usually the ones most aware of this. Lately, based on news and social media, it seems Christians are much happier to just go with the flow instead of standing against it. We applaud the gay athletes while condemning and mocking those willing to stand for God. We cry foul to ministries that promote creation, while believing that somehow God used our scientific theories to create His universe. We constantly put ourselves above God. When Christians begin to look like the picture in Romans 1:21, there is something wrong.

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave the mover in the sinful desires of tehir hearts to sexual impurity for degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worhsipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:21-25 (emphasis mine)

Christians should not be exchanging God's truth for man's lies. We should be looking to please God, not man. In doing so, we set ourselves up for the persecution and hate about which Christ taught, but we align ourselves with the one who has sovereign control. 

Aligning ourselves is what I want for my Christian brethren and myself. Too many people (including myself on certain issues) will ride the fence too often. Christians are called apart. We are different, and we think differently (or should). Our children should be raised with different values and concepts than what the world finds important. We must live in this society, yes, but we do not have to accept its creations as truth. We accept the word of our Savior and Creator. We do not bow to those like Dawkins and Maher because they can command a following. We do not give in to pressure to avoid clearly taught doctrines in favor of pleasing everyone. We seek to please God first, not man.

Our pastor mentioned some differences this past week about Biblical truth, spiritual conviction and personal preference. If I understand correctly it is something like this. A Biblical truth is that Christ was resurrected, or that adultery is always wrong. That is essential for all people. Juliet has a spiritual conviction against celebrating Halloween. It is essential for her, and she bases it on the conviction in her heart, but it may not be essential to all people. This represents a spiritual conviction. I am with her on it now, though I was reluctant at first. We should not force or argue with other Christians based on their decisions regarding our spiritual convictions. Finally, it is our personal preference to attend worship services that have contemporary worship music. The type of music we like to hear within the church is non-essential, and based on personal preference of those attending or listening. A better way of putting that might be that it is a personal preference for every Christian to only listen to Christian music. It is certainly helpful, but there is no real scriptural basis specifically mentioning musical styles. It is based on preferences, and maybe for some, a spiritual conviction. The point is that there are distinctions, but that Biblical truths are not debatable within the faith. There are some things that cannot be argued against based on personal preference. If God says it, it stands. 

 It is Biblical truth that God created the heavens and the earth, that is not just my spiritual conviction (Genesis 1:1). I feel spiritually convicted to accept that as fact and trust God's authority on the matter, and think other Christians should as well. It shouldn't have to be just a conviction for me, but for now it is. My heart goes out to ministries like Answers in Genesis, who do their best to get the message of the authority of the Bible and of God to the public, and to Christians who have discarded it. Ken Ham takes a ton of hate for his conviction and purpose in spreading the message of God's word as found beginning in Genesis and running throughout all of scripture. 

I use Answers in Genesis as a primary example because they are one of the most hated ministries out there right now. Their desire for children to put faith in Christ, not Darwin, is met with all kinds of attacks. Thankfully, their Ark project has been given the go ahead by their state and areas, so with God's help, more people can visit and learn about Biblical creation truth. 

The attack campaigns from various groups who are admittedly against some Christian values continue daily. Their soapbox is held above any plea by Christian organizations for fair treatment. Pastors who take a stand on Biblical issues lose privilege among our nation's elite, and are traded for more "liberal" theologians. 

It isn't just the Creation issue, but it does start there. If we cannot even take God's authority in the first part of scripture, why should we take his word on anything after that? This leads to some dangerous conclusions about the faith, and ultimately takes away from Christ. When we trade God's word for man's, we cannot grow in our faith. If we are to be professing Christians, should we really be working ourselves against Christ?