A Response to the Ken Ham / Bill Nye Debate
By Matthew Zuk
First of all I would like to praise God for giving courage, wisdom, grace and clarity of thought to Ken Ham. We must always remember to give God the glory for all of our accomplishments as everything we have; all of our gifts, talents and abilities come from our Creator God who made us in His image! I thought that Ken did a phenomenal job of standing firm on the authority of God’s Word and he presented the Gospel at least four to five times throughout the debate. He stayed on message and presented his position very well throughout the night. He remained gracious to Bill Nye and did not resort to ad hominem arguments to tear Bill down. Ken maintained composure regardless of what Bill said and simply stayed on the message that there is only one absolute authority: God, and only one door to salvation: Jesus Christ.
It is important to remember that it is not our job to “win” debates when we are talking to unbelievers. They are blind to the truth and so no matter what evidence we bring up it will never convince them. They will always find some way to refute the evidence we present, even if our evidence is conclusive and their points make no sense.
Romans 1:18-23 “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. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Emphasis added)
These verses explain how we should expect the unsaved world to interpret the knowledge they receive. All people know that God exists, however they reject Him and exchange serving Him with serving themselves and other created beings. They exchange the Creator for the created, the infallible with the fallible, the righteous with the unrighteous, the perfect with the sinful, and the infinite with the finite. As believers we see how absurd this exchange is, however these verses explain that the people who reject God and suppress the truth have become futile in their thinking. I think last night’s debate was a great example of this; no matter what Ken said, Bill would always reject it for what he considers “real science”, even if it has no basis. He would rather reject logic than accept God, and thus, as Paul in Romans states, he was futile in his thinking.
This is why we cannot convince someone with evidence to accept Christ; only the Holy Spirit can change an unsaved person’s heart. He must change their desires and open their eyes to see the truth. And what is the truth? They are sinners who deserve eternal torment; they are hopelessly lost and cannot obtain salvation through works of their own. Only the sacrifice of Christ by the grace of God can save them and that all they need to do is put their trust and faith in Christ and repent of their sins.
Our mission whenever we speak to unbelievers is to properly represent Christ and to present them with the only means to their salvation: the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We need to present the truth. That is our message, that is what we have been commanded to carry out to all ethnicities.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is our purpose, to go out and reach people with the Gospel and to hold the Word of God as the supreme authority. We are to do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) and I would like to thank Ken Ham for striving to reach this goal, for being a leader in taking a stand on the authority of the Word of God and for recognizing he can only achieve this through God’s grace and strength! Pray for Ken and all of the staff at Answers in Genesis and pray that God will open the eyes of Bill Nye and those who have rejected the truth. And praise God for all that He has done; He is truly awe inspiring!
Read more of our debate responses:
By Matthew Zuk
First of all I would like to praise God for giving courage, wisdom, grace and clarity of thought to Ken Ham. We must always remember to give God the glory for all of our accomplishments as everything we have; all of our gifts, talents and abilities come from our Creator God who made us in His image! I thought that Ken did a phenomenal job of standing firm on the authority of God’s Word and he presented the Gospel at least four to five times throughout the debate. He stayed on message and presented his position very well throughout the night. He remained gracious to Bill Nye and did not resort to ad hominem arguments to tear Bill down. Ken maintained composure regardless of what Bill said and simply stayed on the message that there is only one absolute authority: God, and only one door to salvation: Jesus Christ.
It is important to remember that it is not our job to “win” debates when we are talking to unbelievers. They are blind to the truth and so no matter what evidence we bring up it will never convince them. They will always find some way to refute the evidence we present, even if our evidence is conclusive and their points make no sense.
Romans 1:18-23 “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. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Emphasis added)
These verses explain how we should expect the unsaved world to interpret the knowledge they receive. All people know that God exists, however they reject Him and exchange serving Him with serving themselves and other created beings. They exchange the Creator for the created, the infallible with the fallible, the righteous with the unrighteous, the perfect with the sinful, and the infinite with the finite. As believers we see how absurd this exchange is, however these verses explain that the people who reject God and suppress the truth have become futile in their thinking. I think last night’s debate was a great example of this; no matter what Ken said, Bill would always reject it for what he considers “real science”, even if it has no basis. He would rather reject logic than accept God, and thus, as Paul in Romans states, he was futile in his thinking.
This is why we cannot convince someone with evidence to accept Christ; only the Holy Spirit can change an unsaved person’s heart. He must change their desires and open their eyes to see the truth. And what is the truth? They are sinners who deserve eternal torment; they are hopelessly lost and cannot obtain salvation through works of their own. Only the sacrifice of Christ by the grace of God can save them and that all they need to do is put their trust and faith in Christ and repent of their sins.
Our mission whenever we speak to unbelievers is to properly represent Christ and to present them with the only means to their salvation: the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We need to present the truth. That is our message, that is what we have been commanded to carry out to all ethnicities.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is our purpose, to go out and reach people with the Gospel and to hold the Word of God as the supreme authority. We are to do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) and I would like to thank Ken Ham for striving to reach this goal, for being a leader in taking a stand on the authority of the Word of God and for recognizing he can only achieve this through God’s grace and strength! Pray for Ken and all of the staff at Answers in Genesis and pray that God will open the eyes of Bill Nye and those who have rejected the truth. And praise God for all that He has done; He is truly awe inspiring!
Read more of our debate responses:
- An Answer to the Mysteries - Analea Styles
- Drawing Worldview Conclusions - Pastor Don Landis
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