The "Least of The Apologists" Eternity In-Christ Airport Part 1: Age of The Earth Debate

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“The Least of the Apologists”
Keeping the Peace at Eternity In-Christ Airport
An Apologist Remixes Pilgrim’s Progress

Part 1: 
Christian Apologetics In Cambodia
My name is Darryl and I truly am the “least of the apologists.”  I’m not even close to being in the same class as C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, William Lane Craig, Ken Ham, Hugh Ross, Hank Hannegraff, or many other apologists.   If you wrote a list of all the Christian Apologists starting with the most popular, my name would appear at the bottom of the list.  I’m a small time missionary/apologist in Cambodia. I don’t have a lot of education, only an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola.  I don’t have a big organization.   My whole ministry, International Fishers, fits on a desk, that I share with my wife, which is located, in the guest room of whatever house we happen to be renting in Cambodia.  As far as I know, I am the only full-time trained apologist in Cambodia (I welcome more because the fields are ready for harvest here!).  The Christian community in Cambodia is so small that I have authored or co-authored two of the three books related to Christian Apologetics ever written or translated into the Cambodian language.  The Christian community in Cambodia is so small that I teach Christian Apologetics at the Bible schools sponsored by the Presbyterians and the Assemblies of God.  I also advise and provide free materials to other missionaries, churches, organizations, and denominations.  At the moment, I am trying to help some Methodists here who have just lost six of their female church members to a cult from Korea and one of their Bible School students has recently converted to Islam. The greatest thing about this is that I am able to teach exactly the same things in all places and this is bringing unity to the Body of Christ here. 

For me, Christian Apologetics should be about revealing and repairing the foundation that all true Christians have built our faith on.  You see, here in Cambodia, we don’t have the luxury of dividing and fighting with each other because Christianity makes up less than 2% of the population and could be crushed with a word from powerful people.  Despite this, Christianity is growing (9th fastest in the world).  I believe that the growth relates to Jesus’ prayer, “ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”  The unity of Christians is a powerful testimony that God can bless with growth.  

Being a Christian apologist is a lot like being a security guard at an airport.  Normally we would call Eternity In-Christ Airport other names like the Body of Christ, the catholic (universal) church, the family of God, or The Kingdom, but for today, let’s just call it (EIA) or the airport.  

Age of The Earth Debate
The Entrance Pathway: The airport’s entrance is a long straight pathway that begins at the Creation Gate, runs over the foundation of Scripture, and ends at three layer security check point:  1. The death of Christ for our sins.  2. His burial in the tomb. 3. The resurrection.  Those who in this way receive their First-Class ticket on Heaven-air.  All tickets are First-Class.  Everyone who comes into the airport must follow this pathway. The tickets are free to the passengers who genuinely believe but they were purchased at an exorbitant price by Jesus Christ.  Ticketed passengers can enter the airport by checking in at the Salvation-counter. 

As a security guard at the airport (an apologist), I spend most of my time defending the Creation gateway, the Scripture foundation, and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ checkpoints from attacks.  I also work to fill in any pot-holes and clear away all the unnecessary obstacles between the potential passengers and the Salvation-counter.  

There are many other security guards, who much better at defending the Creation Gate than I am.  Ken Ham and his team from Answers in Genesis, work the day shift.  I have learned a lot from him and his team.  Dr. Hugh Ross and his team from Reasons to Believe, guard the gate during the night shift.  Dr. Ross is an astronomer so he likes to look at the stars at night so he must enjoy staying up late at night.  On their own, these two guards are very effective in protecting the Creation Gate from anyone who try to tear it down with ideas that the universe, earth, nature, and humans were not created by God, but merely happened by chance over billions of years.  

The problem is that during the shift-changes Ken Ham and Hugh Ross and their teams keep arguing with each other about how far it is between the Creation Gate and Jesus’ cross.   Ken Ham says it is only a few thousand centimeters while Hugh Ross says it must be billions of centimeters.  They both agree that the Creator made everything, but when they are arguing with each other, this is when the enemies can make the most effective attacks on the Creation gate.  Sometimes, they can even use the time when these two great guards are arguing to even attack the Scripture foundation or other things deeper in the airport.  

I really wish these two security guards and their teams would be able to either agree or even agree to disagree on issue of the length of the pathway.  I believe that if they stood shoulder to shoulder that they could pretty much block all of the attacks on the Creation Gateway and then we could really begin to repair the damage caused by Darwin.  This is important because without the Creation Gateway, I can’t figure out how anyone could get into the airport.  Hugh Ross’s ministry taught me a lot about the fine-tuning of the universe that prove that it and everything in it must have been created.  It couldn’t have happened by chance.  I tend to agree with Ken Ham’s estimate of the age of the earth, and I have learned to look at science through the lens of the Bible.  

I just wish there was some way for these two ministries to focus their energies on defeating the actual enemies instead of each other.  I guess it doesn’t hurt to wish… does it?  In my humble opinion, if people don’t have a personal relationship with the Jesus Christ, the one WHO created the universe and everything in it, including us humans, we can’t go to heaven.  However, if someone has a perfect knowledge of WHEN creation happened, but they don’t know the WHO, they are still lost in their sins.   In Cambodia, we keep things simple. More and more people are developing personal relationships with the one WHO is the Creator.  When we get to heaven, I’m sure He will tell us exactly WHEN, He created.  Until then, I think we should treat the Young Earth, Gap, and Day-Age theories as what they are—theories.  As the evidence comes in to support or weaken, each theory we should note it and apply it, but we shouldn’t fight about it.    I know the age of the earth is very important, but I just can’t say that it is the most important thing in the world.  

Next time, we will visit the Salvation Check-in Counter where we will discuss the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate that seems so important to Christians in the USA.  Click Here for Part 2. http://www.internationalfishers.com/blog/the-least-of-the-apologists-eternity-in-christ-airport-part-2-calvinism-vs-arminianism-debate

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