An article in Creation Ministries International’s Prayer News (April 2014) caught my eye. It was entitled: “ ‘Teaching creation is child abuse’? A response to rabid atheist claims.” In this well-written article, Gary Bates exposed their tactics and answered their unscientific claims.
Teaching creationism has been called “child abuse” because it is withholding information from children. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Creationists like Bates and those of us at AOI, do not support withholding information about evolution from children. Rather, we advocate teaching them the whole story, helping them to really understand both the scientific method and the evolution model and teaching them to recognize the underlying presuppositions and philosophical implications of the origins debate. We want students to learn to think critically, to ask good questions, to evaluate data, and to differentiate between facts and assumptions.
We advocate teaching students to distinguish between operational (experimental) science and historical science, and to learn to recognize what type of science is needed for various types of questions. We encourage them to test competing models, to examine the strengths (and weaknesses) of each, and to evaluate how they fit with real, objective evidence. In addition, we encourage them to research and think deeply about the logical and historical consequences of adopting each viewpoint.
It is not creationists, but evolutionists who withhold information from students. From preschool to university, they are taught a one-sided, biased evolutionary worldview. They are not given the opportunity to examine anything else, or even to hear about the weaknesses of the evolution model. God has effectively been banned from the classroom under the guise of “neutrality,” which is not really neutral at all. If anything is intellectual child abuse, this one-sided, biased approach would seem to qualify.
One has to wonder: if teaching creationism is seen as “child abuse,” how long will it be before teaching about God, even at home, will be labeled as such? You think it couldn’t happen? Open your eyes. Think again. In the communist Russia not so long ago, teaching children about God was strictly forbidden and could result in fines, punishment, and removal of children from the home. In some countries today, you can be killed for teaching the Bible to children. We need to wake up and turn the tide, taking a firm stand on the truth of Scripture; teaching children to be wise, discerning, and bold; speaking the truth in love to a lost and confused generation.
(For more information on this topic, check out Creation Ministries International – creation.com.)
Mary Jo Nutting
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2 Comments
Children are not told that the Genesis 1 creation was destroyed. God did not create again.
We are not created in the image of God as Adam was. Good destroyed all life.
The physical earth-soil on our planet is derived from the original Genesis. It is created.
Children are taught that only God can create. That is a sad start in this horrible world.
Passages in the Bible indicate that after the Fall, man is still said to have God’s image and likeness. See Genesis 9:6, 1 Corinthians 11:7, and James 3:9. Keep in mind that man was not destroyed at the Fall or during the later Flood (most but not Noah’s family). Also this image of God was greatly marred by man’s rebellion at the Fall. Although we should reflect God’s image, this Fall made it that we do not fully reflect God’s true image but a marred view. The only one who would be an exception to that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the (exact) image of the invisible God” as it states in Colossians 1:15 and Hebrews 1:3. He alone, is worthy for us to put our Hope, Faith, and Trust in for eternal salvation!
Unfortunately, today we can only see the world and the life in it that has been affected by the fall. This is a marred and scarred version of God’s original creation. There is hope in Christ of seeing beyond that. In fact, when we are in Christ, we are a new creation as it says in 2Co 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Dave