The Consequences of CompromiseBy Ken Ham

 You know, I've said many times before that without a firm foundation in the authority of God's Word and strong teaching in apologetics, many of our children will leave the church by the time they reach college age. Well, David Montgomery, a geology professor at the University of Washington, recently released his book The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012). Now, I blogged about a short excerpt from his book a few months ago.In my earlier blog post, I pointed out the willful ignorance of Montgomery as he took his students on a field trip to a geological formation in Washington State. You see, he was willing to say that the formation showed evidence of a "Noah-like catastrophe," but he avidly denies that the Bible's history of the Flood is true!Well, I came across a quote in Montgomery's new book that was very telling. He explains that he was raised in the church-but in a church that did not rely on the authority of Scripture:

In Sunday school I learned that Bible stories were parables to be read more for their moral message than their literal words. The story of Noah's Flood taught mankind to be stewards of the environment-to care for all parts of nature, even as we bent her to our desires. Growing up, I was satisfied that Jesus taught how to live a good life and that science revealed how the world worked. (pp. 9–10)

Remarkable! So really, Montgomery was taught that the Bible is just a collection of stories with some occasional moral truths on "how to live a good life." No wonder he believes the Bible's history of the earth is just a myth. Sadly, what Montgomery was taught has become more the norm in the majority of churches these days!We have to rescue this generation from the lies of the evolutionary/millions of years worldview-and from churches that compromise on the authority of God's Word. In our book Already Gone, we presented research done by Britt Beemer and America's Research Group, which found why two thirds of children are leaving the church by the time they reach college age.What's the cause? Well, overall, the answer is the lack of teaching apologetics as well as compromised teaching from church leaders. The younger generations are not being raised to be able to answer the skeptical questions of the age, and they are told by many church leaders that they can believe in millions of years and evolution-so they begin doubting from a very early age whether they can trust the Bible. Professor Montgomery's statement is a perfect example of this-he was taught that the words of Scripture only influence morality and not how we understand the history of the universe and historical science.You know, it only takes one generation to lose a culture. Remember what happened after Joshua and his generation died? The Bible declares, "When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). Christian parents, I urge you to stand your ground and teach your children to defend their faith against the challenges that will inevitably come their way, and never compromise God's Word with man's fallible beliefs.Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,Ken