How the heck did we all get here?
Tonight, both passionate evolutionists and young-earth creationists tuned in to watch a live debate between the infamous Bill Nye the Science Guy and Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis. The gentlemen sought to debate the question, “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” Though many topics were addressed and discussed, Mr. Nye and Mr. Ham seemed to agree only on one thing: using a MacBook Pro. Evolutionists would say that’s evidence of being more highly evolved while Calvinists would say that’s having “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.”
Regardless of their union on the Mac v. PC debate, their opposition in the Creation v. Evolution debate sparked interest nationwide and abroad. For example, on Twitter alone, #creationdebate was used over 150,000 times, Bill Nye was mentioned over 100,000 times, and Ken Ham was mentioned nearly 70,000 times.
All of these tweets were posted within hours of the debate, indicating that this conversation is far from pointless. However, I’ve found that this topic has become bigger than it should be to Christians in the United States, so much so that its importance is nearly equated to that of Jesus, Himself.
This is a tragedy.
The Problem with Creationists
We’re delivering the wrong news. Sadly, my young-earth creationist brothers and sisters can sometimes proclaim the gospel of a young earth rather than the God Who not only created the earth but also laid His life down for it. Yes, their intentions are good but instead of dying on the hill of Calvary, they’re laying their life down on another, less-important hill.
Christians: the good news of Jesus is what we should be standing on, not a young earth.
If anything, we should be dialoging with our evolutionist friends about their views just as Jesus and Paul did with the people of their day. Apply that to your life today. Text your friend, buy them a cup of coffee, and just listen. After taking the time to understand their view, you will find that they are missing one key ingredient.
The Problem with Evolutionists
When I was a kid, I loved playing with dominos. For hours, I’d craft intricate patterns and trails that went all over the living room just to watch them all fall down in a matter of seconds. It only took one finger to push the first domino; from then on, the whole process was triggered.
Evolution is a process; nothing more, nothing less.
Evolutionists explain the process of dominos falling down but are yet to identify the finger that triggered the first domino. In other words, they are missing an initiator, a beginner, a creator, etc. Sound like Someone we know?
What Really Matters
This is where our open and understanding relationship comes in. If we are quick to listen and slow to rebuttal, we develop a trust with those whom don’t know Jesus; this relationship is the means that allows us to speak Truth into their lives.
God is Who really matters. I could care less if one of my students believed in evolution; I actually told them that last week. My aim, hope, and prayer is for them to love Jesus. We aren’t saved by our faith in a young earth but by our faith in a great and mighty God Who died on our behalf. His great commission was for us to make disciples of Him in all the earth, not to make young-earth creationists.
What really matters is the gospel. Yes, other theological discussions are important but they are not the hill that we’re called to die on.
For more resources regarding Christianity and Science, Creation and Evolution, check out Dr. Alvin Plantiga’s talk, “Science and Religion: Where the Conflict Really Lies” or BioLogos.
Tyler A. Saldaña 
Great blog and great points all around. I completely agree. I think the creation debate is important… To a point. If your theology rests on holding to a strict 6,000 year time frame, you will inevitably find yourself on shaky ground. Great domino analogy. Science proves that life cannot come from non life… You can test that in a lab. Where is the devine spark? When the moderator asked Ken, “What would it take for you to change your mind?” I was hoping he’d say “If someone could prove that Jesus Christ did not raise from the dead, I would change my mind. That one truth is the lynchpin holding my faith together.” Of course… She sort of smiled and said “nothing” (face palm)
I agree with what you are saying and I also believe in young earth age. Allow me to qualify that though; I don’t place young earth over Jesus or the Gospel at large but I believe it because that is what I see in the Bible and I see that as being consistent with the rest of scripture. To me it isn’t about young or old earth age but about the inerrancy of God’s Word. I believe that a major problem we have today is lukewarm Christians that say “I believe in Jesus and that’s enough” but they don’t show that belief in their daily lives, in other words they are fruitless and faith without works is dead. The creation argument isn’t one of salvation but inerrancy of the Bible. And the argument of inerrancy can be a slippery slope; if we pick and choose, add to and subtract from the word then the foundation of what we are sharing with non-believers can crumble quickly. I agree that we should get caught up on rabbit trails but we must decide to take the Bible as a whole or not. If you accept Jesus then you simply must accept the words of Jesus and he referred to Genesis (Matthew 19), by Him all things were made (John 1:1-5, Colosians 1:15-18), and to believe other wise is lukewarm (Revelation 2:15-16).