Ken Ham, the founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis-U.S., spoke last Friday evening to a packed Stratton Hall. Mr. Ham’s topic was “The Relevance of Genesis in Today’s World,” emphasizing the importance of Genesis both in evangelizing the lost and in teaching Christian young people.
Genesis in Evangelism
Pointing out the increasing secularization of American culture, Mr. Ham said, “It’s a transition from an Acts 2 culture to an Acts 17 culture.”
In Acts 2, Peter is preaching to an audience of Jews who already believe in one true Creator-God. Thus, he could begin with prophecies of the Messiah. In contrast, Paul in Acts 17 is preaching to an audience unfamiliar with the Creator-God. As a result, Paul starts his presentation of the Gospel by explaining that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth before moving on to the truths about the resurrected Christ. Mr. Ham urged his audience likewise to adopt Paul’s approach when sharing the Gospel in our culture.
BJU & Creation
BJU firmly believes and enthusiastically teaches a recent six-day creation as recorded in Genesis.
For Andrew Huish, a graduate student in the Seminary, this analogy was an important reminder for evangelism. “When we witness to people, we need to make sure that they understand the terms that we use, such as sin or God,” Andrew says. “If you asked the average person today if they knew about God, they would probably ask you ‘What God?’ The God of the Bible probably wouldn’t enter their mind.”
Genesis in Apologetics
Mr. Ham also related that some Christians today are questioning a literal interpretation of the creation account, from homes to churches to colleges. “The majority of Christian colleges in this nation won’t take a stand on a literal Genesis, as you do here at Bob Jones University,” he said.
And that compromise, according to Mr. Ham, is the very reason that some Christian young people are abandoning their faith. He said, “We have increasing numbers of people who have been led to doubt the history in the Bible, and so they don’t believe the Gospel based on that history.”
Looking to the Future
For Mr. Ham the solution to this problem is a revolution—a revolution in the way Christians share the Gospel as well as the way they teach their own young people. He challenged the audience to always be ready to defend the truths of Genesis because these historical truths are foundational to the Gospel and to Christianity itself.
Andrew came away from the presentation with a new resolve to communicate the truths of Genesis. “I need to make sure that my church people, as I go into ministry, are taught that we have to believe what the Bible says in Genesis,” he says. “I need to make sure that I’m not just encouraging [lost people] to believe in Jesus, to pray a prayer, but [that] they actually have to see themselves as created by God and fallen.”
Published October 3, 2012