Bill Nye/Ken Ham Debate Still Making an Impact Four Years Later
The four-year anniversary of my live-streamed debate with Bill Nye, television's "the Science Guy," took place here at the Creation Museumin front of a live audience. This debate—which has been viewed by an estimated 20 million people live and through recordings—had a massive impact, and we continue to hear from people (including many children who watched the debate with their parents) who are still being impacted by it years later.
We recently heard from a young woman who watched the debate (which is available for free on YouTube or available for purchase as a DVD or download from our online store). She had an encouraging story to share about the effect of the debate in her own life. I thought I would share it with you.
I just wanted to reach out to you in encouragement. I am so grateful for God's grace on you, Answers in Genesis, and the brilliant minds of creationist scientists. I'm a 25-year-old married mother of 2 young children (ages 4 and 2), which makes me a Millennial. I have long had a crazy passion for the creation/evolution debate. . . . As your book Already Gone suggests, I very heavily doubted the existence of God very early on (probably around age 10). I knew Santa, fairy tales, and magic were not real and God's existence felt like a good way to convince people to "be good." Fortunately, God's grace prevailed, and when I was 15 I was a part of a youth group that greatly influenced my relationship with God, and my doubt shriveled.
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I have had an exhausting mental battle over God's existence for years. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I needed the truth.
This was however, the same year that I took high school biology. I had a teacher who was sure to tell us that the evolution she was teaching us was in fact a theory. However, that did not keep it from planting a seed of doubt within me that didn't come to a head until recently. Even though it is a theory, these highly educated, intelligent scientists seemed so sure about it, and the evidence is very compelling. Throughout my childhood I had also been fed the very unsatisfactory "just have faith" line. I have had an exhausting mental battle over God's existence for years. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I needed the truth.
I had said I was going to watch your debate with Bill Nye from a neutral perspective for years, and I finally did. Multiple times. (6.4 million views on YouTube and my husband jokes that they're all from me). I was scared. I was sure my faith in God would finally be shattered. It wasn't. Ken, God used you to give me a hope I didn't know existed. I have watched my most intelligent friends become atheists, and I knew I was on my way. You have taught me to think critically about fallible human intelligence and science. We are not "science deniers." We acknowledge that we are limited in our knowledge, and it is in fact more logical to believe in God as our creator. We explore the laws of nature because deep down we all know that there is a law giver.
Thank you, Ken, and thank you, Mally, for your certainly enormous sacrifices.
C. E.
We also recently heard from a young man who wrote to us,
I want to say thank you to Ken Ham for going up against evolution and Bill Nye. When he did the debate with Bill, my family and I were watching live, but I was too young to understand. I re-watched it and I was amazed.
I am so thankful to hear that God is still using the debate to impact people with the truth of God's Word and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do what we do here at Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter for people like these two young people—to equip Christians with answers so they can stand boldly on the authority of God's Word, knowing it's trustworthy from the very beginning.
If you haven't seen the debate yet—or if you'd like to share it with others—you can watch the full debate on YouTube or purchase the DVD from our online store. In 2016 when I toured the Ark Encounter with Bill Nye, it turned into an informal debate as we walked through the ship. Both he and I had film crews along to record the exchange, and that entire debate—what we call "the second debate"—is also available from our online store.
Learn more at AnswersBookstore.com.
The president, CEO, and founder of Answers in Genesis-US, the highly acclaimed Creation Museum, and the world-renowned Ark Encounter, Ken Ham is one of the most in-demand Christian speakers in North America.
First published at Ken Ham's Blog.
