Ken Ham & Bill Nye: What We Need to Remember Going into the Debate

A rigorous, robust debate can be a good and even helpful thing. Two opposing sides purposely positioned to give a respectable appeal to their position and to allow the other side to respectfully counter the arguments with hopefully substantial and thought-provoking data.

However, the debate that many of us will watch tonight between Ken Ham, President of Answers In Genesis, and Bill Nye, known as “The Science Guy”, and a reputable science educator and television host, is one that can easily overstimulate both sides of the so-called Creationism/Evolution debate if we’re not careful.

Here’s how…

Christians know the truth about creation because we believe that what God has revealed in His Word is true, like everything else in Scripture. It is at this point where we differ vastly from an unGodly world. We also don’t expect the world to come to grips with this as our society as a whole has become very good at pushing God out of the public discourse altogether, though we constantly strive to convince the world that it needs the saving grace of Jesus Christ from sin and its eternal consequences.

That being said – that we believe what God said in Scripture is true – we must remember one thing: Creation, quite simply, was a miracle. Creation can’t be proven empirically because none of us were there. Creation can’t be proven by science at all because the Creation of everything as we know it was an unrepeatable event.

Science is the diligent study that uses systematic observation and experiment. Clearly, science can’t touch the Creation event.

Can science reveal the wonders and complexities of the world and universe and how they function? Absolutely. But this is merely man articulating in finite ways, the infinite splendor of God’s creation. Science is only here because God gave us something to work with. It will always give us even more ways to be in awe of God.

Ken Ham may be able to give stunning evidence as to how impossible it is to believe evolution and how we can only be enraptured with the glorious God of Heaven and Earth, but he will not be able to prove Creation. Additionally, let’s say that Ham has an off day…a Bronco’s kind of day…and can’t execute one sentence without fumbling something. This may win Bill Nye a rhetoric award, but it has no bearing on the facts of science, or the firm, fixed facts of Scripture.

We must not get caught up in the emotion of rhetoric and eloquence. We must discern the truth.

Additionally, believing God is an act of faith that is granted to us (2 Pet. 1:3).

 

“Faith comes from hearing,” the Apostle Paul says, “and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). And as the author of Hebrews states, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen” (11:1).

Not only did Moses pen the account of Creation by the inspiration of God, but the Psalms recognize it as well:

“The world and all that is in it, you have founded them. The north and the south, you have created them” (89:11-12).

“He commanded and [the moon, shining stars, highest heavens, waters above the heavens] were created” (148:5).

Even still, listen to God’s blistering remarks to Job, proving again that only God knows the history of the Earth:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements […] Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone” (38:4-6)?

About 70 creation-specific, humbling verses later, Job replies, “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth” (40:4).

It doesn’t matter how well Bill Nye or Ken Ham articulate evidence. Creation or evolution won’t be proven tonight, but I do know that Ken Ham is seeking to show that one must not sacrifice their intellect in order to believe God’s account in Genesis. This is something that is worth talking about because too often, people think you have to ignore science to believe in God, but that can’t be further from the truth.

Real science will never be at odds with Scripture, but it will also never be able to comprehend supernatural miracles. Science has always had a limit. Though we can see smaller microbes now and further galaxies than ever before, there has never been a wall we have reached where the beginning of all things is understood. We will never get there. It goes forever. Scientists will always have a job.

Science is helpful for us in very practical ways, but our infinite God created science. Science does not create Him.

Let us remember that this debate will not satisfy the age-old debate of who God is. It will not put an end to the momentum of either side, but hopefully God will be glorified tonight by the faithfulness of Ken Ham to point us to Scripture and to show us that what we can observe and experiment will only confirm our faith in our glorious creator God even more.

Pray for Ken Ham tonight.

For the live stream of the event, follow this link: http://debatelive.org/