Why speak out when no one will listen?
Why put yourself out there if no one is likely to be persuaded
and you might risk looking like a fool?
Why go public when even other Christians are trying to hush you up
and some accuse you of doing more harm than good?
As I watched last night’s debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye, which centered on the question, “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era,” I asked these questions.
Ken Ham certainly has a large following but today he’s likely to be skewered in the press by masses of secularists and Christians alike.
Why put one’s self through that?
What’s the point, especially knowing the minimal likelihood of persuading Bill Nye the science guy to suddenly conclude that God created the earth in seven days?
I can think of a lot of reasons.
ONE: It’s good for people to see someone so convinced of a truth they’re willing to go this length to present it. There’s too much of “well, we can’t really know, can we” thinking going around these days. It discourages the pursuit of answers to hard questions and encourages lazy thinking.
God asks us to love Him with all our strength, heart, soul, and MIND. Healthy believers are curious about God and seek to really know and understand Him. Too many of us have settled on being soft-minded rather than rigorously pursuing the answers to hard questions.
TWO: Asking hard questions ignites curiosity, provokes debate, drives people to think, to study, to look something up. This is good. God is the truth and we want to encourage questions that inspire others to seek Him. So much better than having someone blindly accept our answers is to spur them on to seek Him on their own.
(I thought it was particularly interesting that as the debate went on, Bill Nye repeatedly came back to a question that wasn’t scientific in origin but spiritual and personal. He kept asking, “If your thinking is true, Mr. Ham, what happens to the billions of people who don’t believe the Bible? What is to come of them? What happens to me?” That question wasn’t about science it was about life and end of life. It’s a powerful question to ask and it was a revealing byproduct of the debate that that’s where Mr. Nye kept landing.)
THREE: It’s good for the Christians worried that Ken Ham will make it harder for Christians to be accepted and respected in modern society to see a man who clearly isn’t worried about that issue at all. We shouldn’t be. We should be concerned about being loving and speaking the truth but being accepted or respected doesn’t buy us as much traction as being empowered by the Spirit of the Living God.
Seeking the approval of society in order to have our message heard isn’t even good marketing these days. Advertisers now are more likely to be provocative and confrontational in order to get their message to go viral. More often than not, we get our place at the table by showing up, not by waiting by the mailbox for our invitation.
FOUR: God isn’t afraid of us. Do you know that? He’s not afraid that one of us will ask a question He can’t answer nor is He worried that one of us will discover something that will reveal Him as a fraud. We represent Him well as believers if we aren’t afraid of these things either. We shouldn’t cower behind the curtains avoiding public discussion and debate like the Wizard of Oz.
There were questions both men asked last night that have me thinking today and wanting to study more and pursue more information. I think both of them, at times, sidestepped a question or two and now I want to know more. That’s a good thing.
It doesn’t rattle my faith in a living God. I trust that He’ll be behind every answer I find and pursuing the answers is one way of expressing my love for Him.
If my husband stops being curious about me or decides one day he already knows all he needs to know about me, that will be a sad day when I’ll be worried our love has grown cold. It’s the same in our relationship with Jesus. We should always be pursuing a deeper understanding of God – He’s infinite, complex, beautiful, amazing, and many-faceted. Presenting debates like the one last night motivates people to explore Him and that is powerful because many of them will encounter the truth.
In the book of Acts, Stephen makes an amazing speech, testifying to the truth of Jesus Christ. At the end of that speech, they stoned him to death.
The writer, though, notes that Saul was holding the coats of those who threw the stones. He heard Stephen’s testimony and witnessed his martyrdom. He probably thought Stephen was fool.
His initial response was to persecute others who believed like Stephen so at first, it would look as though Stephen testified in vain.
But later in His life, Saul encountered Jesus and became St. Paul, one of the leaders of the Body of Christ. I imagine that after his conversion, Paul reflected back on Stephen’s speech and it bore fruit in him at the proper time.
Paul, too, became a fool for God. I believe there’s no higher vocation.
We stand up and speak because it’s our calling to bear witness to the truth and it’s an act of love for our Lord and for those who embrace the lies of this age.
God will never let this work be in vain whether it happens on a live-streamed debate podium or over a lunch table at the office, in a letter to the editor of a small town paper or on a Hollywood film screen.
Find your voice, loved ones.
Find your courage, in Christ.
Stand up and testify to the truth you know and if you don’t know much truth – pursue it – it will fuel your courage to find it.
Is Ken Ham a fool? I aspire to be such a fool as he.
How about you? Come be a fool, as well.
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Great Post Lori I loved how you drew people in with the title 🙂
That was based on the science of “shocking broca.” 🙂
You know what I loved the most? Ken Ham’s unflinching adherence to the Bible. Unapologetic. The real fool was Bill Nye 1 Corinthians 2: 14 states, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” Bill Nye proved the truth of that statement as he is a pure “naturalist,” he cannot learn or see the truth before him, regardless of his claim. That is truly the greatest folly of them all.
I am actually very impressed with Mr. Nye for accepting the invitation to debate. He, too, is being skewered by people who would normally have been in his corner today. I pray that his question about “what happens to me” drives him to seek the answer.
Right with you. Excellent post.
Me too. That’s just what I was thinking as I read your posting. Loved it.
Sorry, Lori, but Ken Ham is misguided both scientifically and theologically. Agree it’s good to stand up for what you believe, even if thought a fool. But to stand up with needless dogmatism for a position that is neither biblical nor scientific (and certainly not the center of Christianity) just affirms what many think of Christianity: we’re dogmatic idiots afraid to question ancient beliefs. I know that’s not you, you do raise many excellent and deep questions. Nor is it a fair evaluation of many Christians. But I think we are called to be more open to questions and to NOT be needlessly dogmatic. In my mind this is both a large part of Jesus’ message to the religious establishment of his day and a large part of what got him crucified.
I agree at the end that Mr. Ham could have explained more of his answers rather than repeatedly referring to the Bible (though it’s sad that so many others dismiss the Bible altogether). But, I believe that Mr. Ham didn’t own all the dogmatism of the night. For a scientist to completely discount the notion of a higher power is just as dogmatic as constantly referring people to “the book.” I thought both men raised some very interesting questions that deserve study. Mr. Nye made many assumptions and never addressed the question of the variations in dating methods. Mr. Ham never addressed the old trees or ice blocks. Mr. Nye was very close minded about the possibility of Noah’s skills, especially in light of the technological accomplishments of numerous ancient cultures and he refused to admit that Mr. Ham’s prediction that we would discover all humans trace back to one race rated as a prediction. Mr. Ham is right that we all need some humility about the fact that none of us can say we KNOW what happened in the past but I don’t see that humility on the part of the scientific community. We can draw some reasonable conclusions based on current science but methods are always changing. DNA science has overturned many courtroom verdicts that purported to “know the truth based on the evidence” based on the current science of the day.
Actually, when DNA was discovered, it was found that taking specimens from people all over the world, it was determined that there is a single strand in everyone that tells that we all have one common ancestor. Noah would be that person. Science discovers so much that confirms the bible. God reveals what He wants us to know, when He wants us to know it. Faith accepts what science cannot prove. There’s no need to “argue” the facts of the bible. One day “every knee shall bow” and recognize that Christ really is the Messiah, El Shaddai. MOMMA
I’ll be a fool with you Lori!!!! Great points made after the debate. 🙂