I’ve
recognized this for a long time, and I was gratified to see Ken Ham tackle the
issue in almost exactly the same way I’ve “put it” in my own mind when thinking
about it. It’s just sheer logic. What is the issue? It is the accusation
against Christians, in particular home schoolers and young earth creationists,
that these people, by perpetuating their beliefs, are somehow the cause for
America’s lackluster showing in educational pursuits, among the general public
especially. But the problem with the accusation is that the vast majority of
people are not influenced by these teachings—creation, conservative
homeschooling, Christian theology. How can minority beliefs be to blame when
most people in the country receive 6 hours a day, 5 days a week of
government-approved education? Obviously if anything has the most influence, it
is this. So if America is poorly represented, wouldn’t the biggest influence in
education have the biggest share of the ‘blame’ for whatever the result is?
Logic would dictate that to be the case. Anecdotally, the home schooled kids I
ran into at college were invariably the best-performing and composed a larger
proportion of honors programs and scholarships than anyone else. And then there
are fascinating tidbits of information like this: subsequent to the impositionof mandatory public education, literacy rates in Massachusetts dropped and have never recovered. But this is unacceptable to those who want to believe
that the government provides for the people, and that Christianity is a net
negative force in culture. Why would they want to believe this? It’s simply
that having to admit the alternative would suggest the intolerable: that there
is a Creator, and if there is a Creator, there is a Lawmaker, who sets the
rules of earthly conduct, and if there is a Lawmaker, there is a Judge, who
will punish those who break His law, and that means that people have to choose
between undesirable punishment and undesirable denial of the things they want
to do (sin)—and so the bottom line reason of why anybody refuses to acknowledge
that Christian teaching is a good thing, or even that it is not a negative thing, is that they are
in rebellion against the Creator. Unsurprising then, that the foundation of the
recognition, as I laid out the steps to above, the doctrine of creation, is the
most-targeted doctrine of Christianity among academics and pundits who promote
government education and secular indoctrination. One such person who recently
targeted Creation was dealt with succinctly and wisely by Mr. Ken Ham of
Answers in Genesis: through constructive mockery. Here’s the link to the
article, followed by an excerpt:
Afterthought:
“Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don’t like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it.” – J. C. Ryle
~ Rak Chazak
Ken
Ham:
Percy
also states, “When we wonder why America is falling behind in science
education, it is because places like this are allowed to exist.”
I
had to laugh when I read this ridiculous, unfounded outburst. Think about
it—the majority of kids in the culture (including 90 percent of kids from
church homes) attend the public education system. This system threw out the
Bible, prayer, and the teaching of creation years ago. Evolution and millions
of years is taught as fact in the public schools. Public school textbooks arbitrarily
define science to not allow the supernatural from having anything to do with
the universe but insist the universe came about only by natural processes:
naturalism is atheism.
The
point is, if America is falling behind in science education, how could it be
the result of a place like the Creation Museum, the only major such museum of
its kind in the world (though there are a few small creationist museums)? The
majority of kids are educated by the public education system, and there are
numerous secular museums across the country that teach evolution and millions
of years as fact. Most science programs and documentaries on secular television
(e.g., Discovery Channel, History Channel, PBS, etc.) present evolution as fact
over and over again. And Percy thinks biblical Christians are responsible for
the nation falling behind in science education? His statement is laughable.
Afterthought:
“Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don’t like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it.” – J. C. Ryle
~ Rak Chazak
