The Lie: Evolution

Rating:
Summary: Faith biulding
Review: Just reading Ken Ham's book was enough to biuld my faith in God,the Creator,and that in itself should be all that matters.None of us were witness to how it all began,but any discoveries,either proved correct or incorrect,about the Earth's origin,just bring us another step closer to the truth,which we probrably won't find out about untill we're dead.

Rating:
Summary: Evolution,no; Old-Earth,yes
Review: I agree with Ham that man didn't evolve. Most Christians do. But most are now seeing that Earth wasn't created in 6 days. Ham is one of many who think an old-Earth means we had to evolve. It does not in anyway. The Bible supports an old-Earth no matter how hard Ham tries to explain around it. If Christians were to study the science God created and what the bible rally says, they will find that it does NOT support evolution but DOES support an old Earth.

Rating:
Summary: General
Review: This book provides an extremely *basic* overview of the issue--it is not a book dealing with the scientific issues whatsoever. But that is not the purpose of the author, at least in the view of this reader. It offers a good introduction to the importance of the doctrine of creation to the biblical world view.

Rating:
Summary: This book is available at AIG if not here.
Review: Quite enlightening on the issue of Evolution. Of course the Evolutionists are going to hate this expose'.

Rating:
Summary: Truth Does Not Always Hurt
Review: Ken Ham has delivered a potable document defining the sheer evil of evolutionary thought and consequent disintegrating effect it is distilling upon modern society.

In clear concise chapters Ham lists the cogent issues confronting all who are struggling with the importance of the Creation vs. Evolution debate, which continues to this moment.

As recently as January 13, 2005, a Georgia Federal judge ruled in favor of removing stickers from school science textbooks which stated, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact." The ruling stated, "Criticism of evolution is an endorsement of religion."

Ironically, Ham exposes the theory of evolution for the religion without fact it has always been, while at once neatly retrieving Science to its' objective state.

Ham freely admits Creation is also religion but ably demonstrates the revelations continuing to pour forth from the scientific community in support of a universe consisting of intelligent design.

Paul warned of a future time when, "they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,". {II Thessalonians 2:10-11.}

Although this passage is in reference to the coming Anti-Christ, there is little doubt that society as a whole is being offered, under the guise of evolution as science, yet another stepping stone to that fast-approaching day.

An excellent companion volume is "The Early Earth," an introduction to Biblical Creationism, by Dr. John C. Whitcomb.

TL Farley,
author,
When Now Becomes Too Late

Rating:
Summary: Strong words of truth!
Review: The book is well done!!!!I also have studied his videos and workbook "Answers in Genesis". This set of videos with the book "The Lie" have transformed must of my understanding of creation. Why does he say "God sets the rules"? DNA did not just happen by chance!! DNA tells us we were created by design. Because of my study I found that: Eyewitness: Jesus who lived on the earth, is the only eye witness to the beginning of the world; we can trust him. Ken Ham tells us to start with the Bible, not with mans ideals. Colossians1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. 16 Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see-kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him.(NLT) God did not make sin, that was man's doing, man wanted his own way and this caused all death, wars, murders, sickness, and etc. That is way God's son, Jesus had to come and fix it, by paying for our mess on the cross. John 3:16 Jesus is also creating a new world that will not have sickness, death, pain, or etc for all that believe in him. John 14, Revelation 21 and 22.

Rating:
Summary: Completely fails to convince that evolution is a "lie"
Review: I read this book over Christmas and was completely surprised at how incredibly weak it was as an argument against evolution. In coming here to write this review, I'm pleased to see so many people in agreement that the book totally misses the mark.

To its credit, the author says quite clearly (with a table, no less!) that he is biased against evolution. Of course in the same place he claims that all scientists are biased in favor of evolution and plainly states that no one can be unbiased... go ahead and figure out that one for yourself. While I appreciate his honesty, I don't think it lends his argument any credence.

The argument, as others have noted, is that evolution must be a lie because to accept it would mean that the Bible is a lie or (at least) fallible. Since all good Christians believe in God and the Bible is the word of God, the Bible wins out against any mamby-pamby theory - end of argument. Of course you may wonder why the book doesn't end after 10 or so pages as this argument seems to be easily concluded in a paragraph. Ham continues his "argument" with further attempts at reason by pushing the 'evolution is only a theory' line, most specifically stating that it can't be proven because no one was there to witness it. He backs this up with by defining scientific method as something that can only exist in a laboratory in the here and... really, it's pretty ridiculous. He then goes on to insist that evolution is actually a religion on its own, and a false religion at that.

One of my favorite characteristics of his "argument" is his experiences from his lectures where people try to question or contradict him and he craftily rebukes and rebuts their statements. When one naysayer tries to say that he's being unfair and that, if he expects people to consider his argument, he "must" consider that evolution may be possible, Ham shuts them down with the supreme logic that it's unfair of them to consider that he might be wrong or to question himself - ah, unfair vs unfair. In another, he argues with someone who says science keeps progressing and that there's no way we can ever know everything that, since we can't know everything, we won't know for sure if evolution could be a lie. Ah... clever boy, that Ken Ham!

I will say there are some fun little illustrations and a few graphs, etc. to fill some space. They don't really do much convincing (and many actually serve to make his argument even weaker, honestly) but they are entertaining and will make the rest of the reading a little more palatable. One of my favorites is one that pushes his "no one was there" argument with a scientist standing over a bag of bones making statements that he believes that two dinosaurs must have been fighting while an artist paints the picture... pathetic in its logic against evolution, but entertaining.

Honestly, this book is a great read, but great only to show the lengths to which one will go to attempt to prove their point without really having an argument. I also noticed most of the favorable reviews here following the same pattern of quoting the Bible and saying God is always right in their support of creationism. Saying people are biased and pouting about how it's inconceivable to question Genesis is no basis for argument with the sort of rational mind that would consider evolution. Basically this is a book for people who already believe to make them feel good about believing, and that goes for both creationists and evolutionists. It relies completely on faith and not one argument serves any credence to change any but those possessing the weakest of logic.

Quite simply, I really don't care what anyone believes as long as they can defend it. Personally I believe in evolution because there is plenty of evidence to support it... and despite Ham's claim that no one was there, this evidence has been tested in the modern day with genetics and mutations that mark an evolution between generations have been both observed and documented. If he wants to discount this because the Bible is infallible, he's welcome to do so... but that doesn't mean he's correct in his belief. It doesn't affect me and no one should really try to sway him if he's comfortable, but nor should he try to sway anyone else and insist they're wrong simply because he insists he's right. Not because it's rude, but because it's just flawed logic and a sad argument. Give me a good argument and I'll gladly read it, but this one fails miserably.

Rating:
Summary: Ham, just another form of PIG...
Review: This is the kind of mindless dribble that proves beyond all shadow of doubt the extent to which Christianity, specifically that most virulent form practiced and preached by American Christian fundamentalists(i.e extremists), is the kind of narrow-minded, anti-science, out of touch from reality pap that will either find itself extinct in another hundred years or so...or will jubilantly lead the world to the brink of destruction and then with a final "Hallaleujah!" jump into the abyss of the complete annihilation of all life on the planet. Amen.

Rating:
Summary: Scariest Creationist Book I Have Read
Review: Ken Ham, and other "Scientific" Creationists are very much like the Christians we read about in history books responsible for the atrocities of humanity committed in the name of Christianity. Although his virtues claim to be "love, peace, etc.", if he were given authority in a government of any sort (which is what "Scientific" Creationism is all about, getting legislation passed that promotes evangelical Christianity), he would make the laws of God, the laws of man. Those men (and women) not conforming to the laws of God (which would be so conservative that they would include restrictions on evolution, homosexuality [51], sexual deviancy [58], and even certain fashions of women's clothing that would be considered "a stumbling block to a male" [61] with regards to his needs of sexual restraint), would clearly be subject to punishment by the laws of man. This is exactly the type of law the history of self-righteous evangelical Christian leaders, like Ken Ham, have predicated their beliefs in social justice upon. And it is a scary future we would face should one of these "morality monitors" be put into a position to be able to impose their belief system upon us as the law of the land, from which any deviation is subject to criminal punishment as would be clearly justified by their higher authority.

"Christians need to establish firmly the fact that God is Creator and that He has given us His law. We need to recognize what sin is and what the results of sinful existence are. We need to proclaim deliverance from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. Apart from this, there will be no rectifying the situation. An all-out attack on evolutionist thinking is possibly the only real hope our nations have of rescuing themselves from an inevitable social and moral catastrophe. It is not easy for any human being to acknowledge that if there is a Creator we must be in submission to Him. However, there is no alternative. Man must recognize that he is in rebellion against the One who created him. Only then will man understand the Law, understand what sin is and understand the steps necessary to bring about the changes in individual lives that can ultimately effect changes in society" (67-68)

Any person who has a moderately correct understanding of evolutionary theory (and NONE of the Creationist authors' literature I have ever read does) knows the absurdity of Creationism and sees that "Scientific" Creationism is nothing more than a subversive political attack on science aimed at scientifically ignorant pedestrians to get Christianity (usually thinly veiled as "science") passed as law. For anyone interested in knowing the truth about the evidence supporting evolution, take a class in evolutionary biology at your local university, read textbooks directly pertaining to evolution (Douglas Futuyma has a very excellent text), check the sources of both creationist and evolutionist literature, educate yourself and find out why there is not a single scientist in the world that believes in Creationism who is not an evangelical Christian.

I recommend that everyone read this book: it makes no bones about the true nature of "Scientific" Creationism and is so illogical and fallacious that only blind sheep could not see the evil and danger it represents to the commonwealth.

Reference and Quote page numbers are from the 1987 edition.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best works available on this subject!
Review: I became kinda frustrated when I read some of the reviews on this book. If you are even considering reading this book, ask yourself this question; are you a Christian? If not, then of course, you will find this book to be rediculous. Why? Because the whole concept of the book is to stress the importance of the creation/evolution controversy to the Christian, not the non-christian!

With that being said....If you are a Christian, this book is a must if you fall under any of the following categories:
1. If you believe that Genesis is not important in presenting the Gospel
2. If you believe that what you think about Genesis does not affect you personally(given that you are a Christian of course)
3. If you believe that evolution can be made to fit the bible.
4. If you are a witnessing Christian seeking to bring the Gospel to this spiritually drifting world.

It appears to me that most of the critics probly did not consider these factors, even though they are on the back cover of the book! Ok, now that thats out of the way, here's the review.

If you are a Christian who is just realizing the truths of Genesis, then I can't stress how important it is for you to get your hands on Ken Ham's book. I would recommend this book over ANY of the other creationist books because I think it is vitally important to start accepting the truth of Genesis before you begin studying the science. Why? Because if you only study the science, it will be very easy to sway back and forth from creationist to evolutionist, unless you already have a strong foundation in trusting God's word over man's ideas. For example, lets say you go to an answers in genesis conference and you see some really convincing evidence for creation. Then, the next day you visit good ol' talkorigins website and become convinced that evolution is true. You will constantly have this "back and forth" system of accepting whatever sounds most convincing at the given moment. This is why creationists like Ken Ham suggest how important it is to accept the bible's authority as the absolute truth, rather than placing man's fallible ideas over the Word of God.

Ken Ham writes in an extremely readable manner that will appeal to the scholar and layman alike. I really appreciated the many illustrations used to support his points. My favorite portion of the book was the appendix, which showed 20 reasons why the bible and evolution don't mix. To be honest, most of the material in the book talked about things I already knew(being a creationist bookworm), but it was very encouraging to be reminded of the vital importance of creation evangelism in the 21st century.