THE BIBLE – IS IT TRUE OR IS IT TRUTH?

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“Is the Bible True? Or Is It Truth?” by Scott Pinsker The article pokes fun at those who read the Bible “literally,” specifically calling out the global flood account as “pretty farfetched.” But the reasons he gives for why “the story of Noah is a tough nut to crack” are the same skeptical objections Answers in Genesis (AIG) and Creation Ministries International (CMI) have addressed for years!

A picture of the life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark built at Williamstown, Kentuck by Answers in Genesis (AIG). It was opened in 2016.

Here are the objections author Scott Pinsker raises, followed by a short answer with links to AIG articles on these topics.

  • Objection: How could Noah bring “every animal on earth” onto the ark, including “1.05 million insect species, 11,000 birds, 11,000 reptiles, and 6,000 mammals”?
    Answer: He didn’t need to! Follow the link to the full story, but the short answer is he only needed land-dwelling, air-breathing animal KINDS (not species)—less than 7,000 animals total!
  • Objection: The fossil record proves there couldn’t have been a worldwide flood.
    Answer: Actually, it shows the opposite!
  • Objection: Regionalized flora and fauna prove there couldn’t have been a worldwide flood.
    Answer: To answer this objection you need to understand the biblical concept of kinds.
  • Objection: Noah would’ve had to bring freshwater fish into an onboard aquarium or they would’ve died out.
    Answer: This fails to understand the differences between the preflood world and our world and, again, the concept of kinds. Besides, the account in Scripture states only land animal kinds were on the ark.
  • Objection: Noah would’ve been required to take 2,000 species of termites on the ark, and surely the wooden vessel wouldn’t survive that.
    Answer: But Noah perhaps didn’t need to bring insects on the ark, and even if he did, he wouldn’t need all those species!
  • Objection: Noah could never have cared for so many animals.
    Answer: Well, he didn’t bring tens of thousands of animals onboard the ark! He easily could have cared for the few thousand he needed to bring.
  • Objection: Why didn’t Noah bring innocent babies onto the ark instead of having them perish in the flood?
    Answer: God offered a means of salvation, and everyone except Noah and his family rejected it and therefore kept their children from receiving it as well. Besides, only God determines what is right and wrong. How can a human being determine morality without a basis in an absolute authority?

It’s rather frustrating to see skeptics—Christian or otherwise—mock the Bible for so-called “petty flaws” that thoughtful Christians have addressed for years! Just a few minutes of research on AIG or CMI sites would’ve shown that there are plausible answers to these questions. And yet he just repeats the same tired objections he’s heard from equally uninformed skeptics.

Why does he raise all these objections? Well, it’s to supposedly bolster his main point:

There are infinite ways to interpret the Bible. The Bible is about God, after all, and everyone’s image of God is different: My mental image of God differs from yours. And if we can’t even agree on the starting point, it’s going to be next to impossible to agree on all the twists and turns in the Scriptures.

The historicity of the Bible is a tricky topic—one that’s rife with recriminations, allegations, and declarations of faith. . . . Couldn’t an all-powerful, all-knowing God just as easily create a Holy Book that’s historical AND moral? Then why must it be one or the other? Why not both? Only God Himself knows for sure.

If only God himself knows, wouldn’t it behoove us to look at what God has said about his own Word in his Word and take it as written? One verse in particular immediately comes to mind:

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me“. John 5:46

Jesus tells his skeptical audience that they would believe his words if they believed the history written in the Old Testament because it all points to him. God recorded history, not just to teach us some “special wisdom . . . that can transform your soul,” but to point us to the Lord of history, Jesus Christ.

He also gave us his Word—history—for our instruction, so, we can know right from wrong and how to think biblically. Consider that, after refreshing his audience on some Old Testament history, Paul writes:

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did“. 1 Corinthians 10:6

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come“. 1 Corinthians 10:11

God’s Word is both, historical and filled with spiritual truths—not because I say so, but because God himself says so! (And he would know—he authored it after all! See 2 Timothy 3:16). And besides, Genesis is written as a historical narrative and is treated as such in the New Testament.

In the end, the author asks the question: “Do you believe the Bible is true—that every word and every claim should be taken 100% literally? Or do you believe the Bible is truth—that there’s a special wisdom within the Scriptures that can transform your soul, but truth comes in many forms, and you’ll have to work at uncovering the meaning for yourself?” (emphasis original)

I’ll simply let the Scriptures answer that question: “Your word is truth“. John 17:17, “The sum of your word is truth“. Psalm 119:160, “Let God be true though every one were a liar”. Romans 3:4

God’s Word is truth because it is true—if it isn’t true, then God is a liar and therefore the Bible is not truth. You can’t have one without the other! And to clear up yet another misconception, we don’t take the Bible “100% literally.” We read the Bible naturally, according to genre, as it was meant to be read!

TORNADO OF MORAL RELATIVISM

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How can we be sure our children won’t be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14)?

Our grandchildren are growing up in a whole different culture to us. They are going to have to deal with issues that we didn’t have to, what can we do?”

We need to first understand what happened. We need to deal with the foundational issue. It started 6,000 years ago in a garden. Satan said to Eve:

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3

Note what the apostle Paul says: The devil is using the same method on you, on your kids, on your grandkids, as he used on Eve to get you to a position of not believing the authority of God’s Word.

The Genesis 3 attack—“Did God really say?” And notice the next part, “And you will be like God.” You decide the truth for yourself. That is one of the problems we see through the whole Bible.

What is the method? To create doubt regarding the Word of God. It is an attack on the Word of God.

Here is the problem, our sinful nature leads us to trust man’s word rather than God’s Word. We want to be our own god and decide right and wrong for ourselves. Our churches need to be laying this foundation and teaching people about our sinful nature and understand the fact of what happened was this . . .

A battle began between two religions about 6,000 years ago, Man’s Word vs. God’s Word. It is the same battle today, the same in Luther’s day, and the same in Peter and Paul’s day. It is the same battle, and it hasn’t changed. The method by which that battle occurs does change through the years, but not the actual battle.

There is no neutral position Jesus makes it clear.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Matthew 12:30

People have this idea that if you do not mention the Bible, when it comes to abortion or gay marriage and many other issues, then you are being neutral. But if you do not have the foundation of God’s Word, that means you only have the foundation of man’s word and that means you’ve already lost the battle.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock... And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” Matthew 7:24,26

If you reject God, you suppress the truth.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20

Public education is not neutral. If the system is not for Christ, then it is against Him. So we send our kids there for five hours a day, all year long, and what do we do at home? What is the church doing? We need to be equipped to answer the following questions and God has raised up ministries to provide this information: Creation Ministries International http://www.creation.com and Answers in Genesis http://www.answersingenesis.org

Sadly, most Christians cannot answer even the basic questions. Test yourself with the following questions.

How do you know the Bible is God’s Word? Where did the Bible come from? Who put the Bible together? Why are there those books in the Bible and not other books? Do you believe in God? Where did God come from? You believe in an eternal God? How do you explain that? Who made God? Did someone make God?

Answers in Genesis have built a life-sized Noah’s Ark at Cinncinatti in the USA. They can provide you with all the evidence you need to show that the Biblical worldwide flood of Noah’s day occurred.

Stop trusting in man, put your trust in God. People love the praise of man rather than the praise of God.

CAPTAIN OF BOEING’S STARLINER BARRY WILMORE A SPEAKER AT ANSWERS IN GENESIS

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After several delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule officially launched its first-ever manned flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is on its way to the International Space Station. Among the crew on board is Captain Barry “Butch” Wilmore, a Christian and a biblical creationist! And Captain Wilmore isn’t just on board—he is commanding this historic flight!

Before Captain Wilmore blasted off, he stopped, wrapped his arms around the support group preparing him for the launch, and prayed with them. His brother also prayed at the “wave by” a few weeks earlier.

The Starliner will orbit earth before arriving at its destination, where the crew will run many tests and Captain Wilmore will complete a spacewalk to do some maintenance on the ISS before returning home. On the return, the capsule will not land in water—instead, a parachute will slow its entry, with airbags landing it in the desert of Arizona. This important flight is designed to test the Starliner and qualify it for use.

As they prepared to leave, Captain Wilmore was telling everyone about Answers in Genesis (AIG), the Ark Encounter, and the Creation Museum and how everyone needs to schedule a visit! Barry Wilmore is a regular speaker at AIG.

Praise the Lord for men like Captain Wilmore, who is very open about his faith and his stand on the truth of God’s Word, beginning in Genesis.

ANSWERS TO THE LATEST SO-CALLED SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION

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The videos being produced by both Creation Ministries International (CMI) http://www.creation.com and Answers in Genesis (AIG) http://www.answersingenesis.org are brilliant and they need to be promoted and used.

In the first video, Don Batten answers many of the common arguments used to criticize a Biblical worldview. Can I suggest you use this video clip when ministering to family and friends. CMI is producing many of these clips for use on social media: particularly YouTube and more recently TikTok.

The following video is one produced by AIG each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. It addresses current events from a Biblical worldview. For example, NBC is promoting in June (Pride Month in the USA), a video on Queer Animals suggesting that of all the animals only humans have a stigma towards being queer. After all, what can be more natural than following who you are? AIG does a great job showing the absurdity of this view.

ANSWERS IN GENESIS – A BIBLICAL AUTHORITY MINISTRY

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Ten years later Ken Ham reflects on his debates with prominent atheist Bill Nye. The article is titled “What Was the Most Important Thing Said at the Nye Debate 10 Years Ago?” This is an extract from the article featured in Ken Ham’s blog on March 16th, 2024.

Our supporters know that Answers in Genesis has always been a ministry with an emphasis on biblical authority and the gospel. Now, we certainly deal with issues of the age of the earth, fossils, and so on, as they are used to attack biblical authority in our day. The emphasis is on apologetics, providing people with answers to the questions of the day that really attack and undermine God’s Word. But we never divorce what we present from the truth of God’s Word and the saving gospel message. And so many have told me this came through clearly at both debates with Bill Nye.

There was one time in particular during the second debate at the Ark—when I was presenting the gospel clearly to Bill Nye—it was as if he let his guard down and acknowledged our desire was to see him saved for eternity. But then the brick wall went right back up.

In a way, he reminded me of the account of the rich man coming to Jesus as recorded in Mark 10 and Luke 18. This man asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. At the end of the conversation,

He [Jesus] said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Luke 18:22–24

He just couldn’t give up the things of this world. I’ve thought about this concerning Bill Nye. For him to turn from the world to Christ would mean he’d have to give up his TV fame, his secular friends who would no doubt scoff and scorn him for his conversion, and so much more. Humanly speaking, it would be so hard for him to do this. Yet, as Jesus stated for us all to be reminded of, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36

As I have said many times, issues like evolution, abortion, gay marriage, LGBTQ, and gender are all the same problem—the problem of building one’s worldview on man’s word. They are just different symptoms of this problem. And being the same problem, they all have the same solution—believing the truth of God’s Word and trusting Christ for salvation.

That’s why for me it’s always been vital for the Answers in Genesis ministry (including the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter) to be bold about the truth of God’s Word and the gospel.

Yes, we provide a lot of answers to scientific and biblical questions, but just like at the debate, there’s no point doing this if we are not pointing people to the most important message of all—the message of salvation.

Answers in Genesis will always be a biblical authority ministry, boldly and uncompromisingly standing on God’s Word, equipping with apologetics, and presenting the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Your prayers and financial support are vital to the ongoing ministry of AiG. They enable us to continue to proclaim the truth of God’s Word and the saving gospel message to countless people who desperately need to hear it, as well as to inspire and equip Christians to be bold in their faith.

Be assured your financial support will be used to “contend for the faith” so we can do all we can to see people saved for eternity. And please remember to pray especially for Bill Nye this month and for all the different aspects of the AiG ministry.

I’m so grateful for your prayers and support—they enable AiG to reach millions for Christ every year, just like my debate with Bill Nye did 10 years ago. Thank you for being a part of our family.

Since Martyn Isles joined AIG as CEO, and I saw the results of his recent tour of Australia with Ken Ham for the “Living in Babylon” series, I strongly recommend Australians to support this ministry. 10,000 attended the meetings in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne and many connected online. Martyn announced at the meetings that he is committed to see 6 million John’s gospels delivered to homes in Australia. This is on top of the 1 million delivered to homes during his time with ACL. Please make sure you hear the messages delivered by both Ken and Martyn at these four Australian meetings you will then want to make sure others do as well. Go to answersingenesis.org › outreach › living-in-babylon

“WOKE” CULTURE IS AN ATTACK ON THE WAY GOD ORDERED AND DESIGNED CREATION

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The new CEO at ANSWERS IN GENESIS (AIG), Martyn Isles explains how AIG will address the issue of woke ideologies.

To be “woke” simply means to be awake. Awake to what? Awake to all the kinds of oppression in society that used to go unnoticed because they are hidden in the “system” we’re living in.

But what is the “system” which is so oppressive? Well, woke ideologies say that things like marriage are part of this system of oppression, or the gender binary, “heteronormativity,” the ethnicities of people, and so on.

They actually think that we can destroy these realities and be less oppressed as a result! But these realities are not “systemic oppressions.” These realities are just, well, reality! They are God’s creation design and order.

Thus, woke culture is an attack on creation. Hence, the answers are in Genesis, because Genesis 1–11 is about God’s design and order in creation. It specifically addresses the things that wokeness attacks.

Right now, there is a wave of compromise sweeping the Western world, including America, on all these woke issues. A generation is being taken out of the church, believing Christianity is bigoted, hateful, and oppressive because it believes in God’s creation order and design.

This woke critique is causing pastors to compromise and the world around us to reject the Christian faith.

But Genesis shows us the connection between how things are made and how we must therefore live. It answers this woke critique by describing realities—like males and females, the fact of only one “race,” marriage, family, and so forth—and then showing that these realities hold the key to understanding our world and living wisely.

Genesis shows that the very things wokeness attacks are for our good!

For the past five years, I have been teaching Australian young people about the connection between Genesis and the woke ideas they are being confronted with. This teaching always had a major impact on them and fortified them in their faith.

Seventy of these young folks have just visited the Ark Encounter to participate in our brand-new, 10-day Catalyst program. They came all the way from Australia just to be there.

Young people are hungry for answers. We’d like to build more housing so that we can run these programs year-round—the demand from around the world is huge.

But Catalyst is only the beginning.

Answers in Genesis is going to focus on equipping this generation with the answers they need to confront the woke era in many ways.

Consider the issue of identity, which is a huge concern these days. People are asking “Who am I?” with no reference to objective truth—whether that be the gospel, the Word of God, or the scientific facts about how we are made. They are left to be governed by their feelings, looking to their sinful hearts for meaning.

This identity question not only leads people into a false view of themselves and of life but is also the basis for identity politics and so much woke activism.

We are addressing this at Answers in Genesis. Right now, our exhibit designers are planning out an identity exhibit at the Creation Museum. It will be near the world-class Fearfully and Wonderfully Made pro-life exhibit.

Martyn and Ken Ham are in Australia for the “Living in Babylon” meetings in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane. If you can get along to one of thses meetins. I will be at the Adelaide Meeting next week.

When Martyn was with ACL, with many loyal supporters, they distributed one million John New Testaments to Australian households. Martyn would like for AIG to pick up the mantle and get another six million John New Testaments out. AIG will need volunteers to help with this task. If you feel called to help contact http://www.answersingenesis.org.