25 Jan 2013 by Adeline Lum-
On 24 January 2013, I attended Glad Tidings Assembly, Klang from 9 am to 1 pm for the Advanced Creation seminar by Joseph Tan.
Ever since his return from a one-week training at the Creation in Museum and Answers in Genesis with his wife (Debra), Joseph is passionate about equipping believers that the Bible is a reliable and trustworthy book that explains our origins and history.
Young and old listened attentively to Joseph as he discussed how the Bible is relevant and logical, substantiated with facts. People had been careful in keeping Christianity strictly within religion, segregated from science.
Joseph shared that children in church grow up confused because of the conflicting information of the biblical worldview and the secular worldview. For example, the young-earth creationist believe that the earth is 6000 years old according to the the Bible (if one day in Genesis Chapter 1 was taken as 24-hours timespan literally), while secular education claimed that it is 4.5 billions years old. In this instance, interestingly, radiometric dating method used currently clearly did not work on rocks of known age, but it is assumed to work in rocks of unknown age. Hence, the reported age of fossils dating to millions of years is questionable.
The main reason Pastor Vin, pastor of the children ministry, invited Joseph to conduct both the Basic Creation Seminar, ran last year in August, and now Advanced Creation Seminar is that the church want to introduce and has started the 'Answers for Kids' Bible Curriculum' in Jan 2013. This is a 30-lessons apologetic program for children aged 7 and above.
They see the importance of equipping the children and helping them to develop a truly biblical worldview, and provide answers to questions children have about their faith, the Bible, matters of origins, science and history especially in relation to Genesis 1 to 11. Pastor Vin shared that they want to be proactive in giving voices to questions children might have but do not know how to voice the questions.
Since these creationist views are rather new to most adults, parents and teachers, Pastor Vin shared that they need to be first introduced to these truths and 'missing gaps' too. Thus, the Basic and Advanced Creation Seminar were ran.
“Children have the most inquisitive minds!” said Joseph.
They would ask questions such as: Does extraterrestrial beings exist? What happened to the dinosaurs? Why did the book say that the earth is billions of years old? How do different human races come about if all of us come from Adam and Eve? Can Noah’s Ark really fit in those animals? And this seminar was designed to address as many of these topics possible.
Even older adults would wonder about questions like these, especially when our non-believing friends who would pop the question, “How do you know the Bible is true?” And a popular debate we hear from time to time is evolution versus creationism.
Another example of an interesting question answered by Joseph is, how do we get different groups of people with unique shades if all of us come from Adam and Eve?’
“Sometimes, Christianity is viewed as a western religion because paintings and pictures would depict Adam and Eve as fair-skinned. But is that true?” asked Joseph who showed the audience the video below.
Watch this video to find out how groups of people with a variety of shades can come from Adam and Eve!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmsBWMhpBd0
The seminar was very fruitful, as the audience learned how the Bible is true historically and logically. After Joseph ended his seminar, everyone felt convicted to equip oneself more with the biblical view of the world.
After all, we are asked to ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have’ (1 Peter 3:15).
If you have more questions, please visit http://www.answersingenesis.org/
For those who wish to know more about creation apologetics or book for a speaking engagement, and they can register on the website below:
Note: Joseph Tan is also the founder and consultant of Good Monday Consulting, whose mission is to resolve conflict and reduce stress at work, at home and in life by focusing on the root cause of character and developing core strengths. You can contact him at joseph@goodmonday.com.
Leave a Reply