Answers in Genesis: A Conversation with Ken Ham

Episode Overview

In this episode of Ministry on the Margins, Josh Olds interviews Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, about his new memoir Miraculous: The Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis Story. Ham reflects on his upbringing in Australia, the founding of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter, and why he views Genesis 1–11 as the foundation of all Christian doctrine. Ham explains his belief in a young earth, his distinction between “observational” and “historical” science, and why he sees the debate as an issue of biblical authority rather than science alone.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Ken Ham explain why he believes Genesis 1–11 must be read as literal history.
• His defense of a young earth (~6,000 years old) and the flood as the source of the fossil record.
• Josh Olds pressing on why young earth creationism remains a minority position among Christians.
• Ham’s distinction between “observational” and “historical” science.
• Josh exploring whether making young earth central risks becoming a stumbling block to evangelism.
• Ham clarifying that young earth creationism is not a salvation issue but a matter of biblical authority.
• Josh highlighting how respected conservative theologians differ with Ham on this issue.
• Reflections on Ham’s memoir Miraculous and fifty years of ministry through Answers in Genesis.

About the Book

In Miraculous: The Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis Story, journey through the incredible true account of how God used a passionate Australian science teacher to launch a global ministry defending the Christian faith and proclaiming the very first verse.

From humble beginnings in church halls and school classrooms to the construction of the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter—two of the most powerful Christian attractions in the world—this is more than a biography. It’s the story of a calling. A story of controversy. And a story of God’s unmistakable hand in building a bold ministry that proclaims the truth of God’s Word to millions.

 

 

tl;dr

This interview summary has been edited and adapted from the original transcript.

Josh: Why is being a Young Earth Creationist important to you?

Ken: I want to get people to understand that I don’t believe in millions of years for the age of the earth or the universe. The reason I don’t is because of our stand on scripture. In other words, because of biblical authority.

Josh: Young Earth Creationism is a minority viewpoint in science and even in theology. Why do you feel like your position is not accepted – particularly by those who are not Christians?

Ken: Well, first of all, let me just say this. Christianity will always be a minority position, regardless…But I think for a lot of people, they’re confused over the issue of science….when a secular scientist gets up and says, science has shown the earth is millions of years old, or evolution is true, many people think, you know, I have to believe science because science gave us all this technology.”

Josh: This memoir encompasses the whole of your ministry. You’ve been doing this for 50 years. So where did all of this start for you?

Ken: I’ve been asked before, “When was the first time you heard of evolution?” Well, here’s the sad thing:  from a pastor in the church. I remember when we went to a church in a town called Serena, south of Mackay in North Queensland. We went to this Presbyterian church and the pastor got up and he gave a sermon on you can add evolution to the Bible. You can believe in evolution and say God used evolution. Well, my father was not happy. And we left that church over that. All of that sort of growing up impacted me in a big way, that we need to stand on God’s word.

Then when I became a school teacher in 1975, the very first lesson I taught, students said, “Sir, we saw you listed as a teacher in charge of the Christian group in the school.” I said, “Yeah.” “Well, how can you be a Christian when we know the Bible is not true?” “How do you know the Bible is not true?” “Well, because of what’s in our textbooks about evolution and millions of years.”

Josh: One of things I appreciated about this book is the way it gave a humanizing voice to the Answers in Genesis story. And I think it will help people who may not even agree with you to at least see that this is a human being that is behind this, and not just a set of principles or something that I’m in contradiction with. And the more that we understand people’s stories, the more we are able to have conversations, the more we’re able to listen to one another, and the less it becomes a culture war.

Ken: Well, you know, Josh, what you said there is very true. I mean, you know, there are people that have never met me that make all sorts of statements about me because they’ve heard things and so on. But if you can meet someone face-to-face and talk to them face-to-face and get to know them a bit, it totally changes the conversation. You know, you’re right about this book.

And, you know, our heart, ultimately our heart, and let me just say that, you know, the whole emphasis of our ministry is not, I know we started off talking about Young Earth and so on, but the emphasis of the ministry is not Young Earth. We do take that stand. The emphasis of our ministry, we want to see people saved.

Josh: Just so we are abundantly clear, do you see belief in Young Earth Creationism as a salvation issue?

Ken: Because we take such an authoritative stand on six literal days, young earth, and so on, then what happens is there are people and there are Christian, you know, leaders, seminary professors, and so on, they say, “Oh, Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis are saying that you’ve got to believe in a young earth and six literal days to be saved.” Never said that in my life.

The Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart God has raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved. It doesn’t say and believe in six literal days in a young earth, you’ll be saved. It doesn’t say that at all. And then people say to me, “So you agree, people can believe in millions of years or even evolution and still be Christians.” Oh, yeah, there are probably many Christians out there that do that. I’ve met many of them.

Josh: So why is the Young Earth Creationist position so integral to you and your ministry?

Ken: It matters because now we’re dealing with the issue of biblical authority. Do you take God’s word or can you trust man’s word and then reinterpret God’s word? And that’s the issue for us. The gospel is founded in Genesis and that history in Genesis. So we would say that if people don’t believe that history is literal history, you’re undermining the authority of the word of God. Now, people can believe things inconsistently, right? And they can believe that, you know, Jesus died on the cross for our sin because death was a sin. But at the same time, it’s accepting millions of years, then death was there before sin. And I would say that’s inconsistent.

Josh: From that theological aspect, though, you know, I’ve read a number of Old Testament scholars, theologians on the Genesis issue. The majority of Old Testament scholars do tend toward Old Earth.

Ken: Well, I’ve got many, many, many quotes where theologians, well-known theologians will say things like, now, just if you take just a natural reading of Genesis, it seems to say six literal days and Young Earth and so on. So you will find ultimately, when you ask these people, you know, we’ve grown up in a world where we’ve been indoctrinated by millions of years. And to me, it doesn’t matter who they are, if they claim they’re starting from scripture, ultimately, if you ask them a question and ask the right questions, ultimately, they will say dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, or yes, the universe is millions of years old, or they’ve been impacted that way. And my point is, maybe some of them don’t even realize because of that impact. That’s why they’re in a way forcing themselves to try to reinterpret scripture to fit that, even if consciously they don’t realize they’re doing it.

Josh: The late Norm Geisler – former President of the Evangelical Theological Society, helped found the Evangelical Philosophical Society – tended toward an Old Earth view. John Piper and Wayne Grudem – both Old Earth. Bill Craig – William Lane Craig – is a theistic evolutionist. These are all very prominent conservative, evangelical figures who are in lock-step with you on every other cultural issue. Their theology is conservative. Their outlook on culture is conservative. You know, you pretty much have the same ideas as them everywhere except for this one area. Why is this one area different?

Ken: Well, I’ll tell you why, Josh. Stand back and look at the big picture. In America, in the 1700s, 70 to 80 percent of the people went to church. Right now, less than 5 percent of Generation Z attend Protestant churches. There’s a catastrophic generational loss from the church. So for all of these theologians and academics and everything else, something catastrophic has happened. And the issue is more than just the age of the earth. The issue is naturalism and putting man in authority over God’s word. And what I would say to you is, generationally, when you start saying you don’t have to take Genesis as written here in this area, you can believe what the scientists are saying.

And wittingly or unwittingly, I would say these people, and like J.P. Moreland and Wayne Grudem, as great as they are in so many areas of theology, have been contributing to undermining the foundation of the authority of Scripture. 

Josh: Let me follow up with this. Let’s just say if young earth creationism is the one thing keeping somebody from being a Christian, they’re saying well Christians are anti-science because they believe the earth is only thousands of years old instead of millions of years old. If that is their one issue, then would we be better off saying, okay, believe millions of years if that’s what it takes for you to also believe in Jesus?

Ken: Well, I’m never going to say that to compromise God’s word, because then I’m compromising my foundation, but faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Josh: Last question for you. You’ve been doing this for fifty years. Are you going to retire? Is this book the capstone of your ministry?

Ken: My philosophy of retirement is the same as Moses, you know, he retired the day the Lord took him, so while I have strength, and while I’m able to speak, and able to do these things, to me, I continue doing what the Lord has called me to do. But this book, Miraculous, and the whole history of this ministry, and all the teaching points, and the battles, and everything throughout, to me is important, because, you know, we all get older, and we’re not going to be here forever, and I want to be able to pass on what I’ve learned to coming generations, so the younger generations will be raised up and can learn from that.

Josh: Well, Ken, I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to be on the podcast. Again, the book is Miraculous: The Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis Story. I’ll let you hold it up to the camera again, if you still got it there. It’s a big coffee table book, big heavy book. I only got the PDF version, but it’s full of pictures from Ken’s early life, his family, all the way through to the founding of the museum, the Ark Encounter and everything.

It’s the entire story. And I think that if you are someone who is a fan of the Creation Museum, you’re going to enjoy this. If you’re a critic of Ken and Young Earth Creationism, if you read this, you’re going to get a better understanding of his position, of his person.

It really is sort of the capstone, sort of a time capsule of the ministry to see where they’ve come from in the past 50 years and where they’re going to be continuing to go. So again, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.