WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. — Apologist Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis recently rebutted a liberal ELCA Lutheran minister who asserted in a published column that the biblical account of the global flood is “not history,” noting that the man is also calling Jesus a liar, for He spoke of Noah and the Flood.
Steve Hammer is leads Esperanza Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona and writes an opinion column for the Ahwatukee Foothills News. In an article dated Aug. 21, which now brings up a 404 error code but can be viewed via cache, Hammer criticizes Ham’s newly-opened Ark Encounter as peddling myth.
“There are a lot of reasons why I ask the questions. For one, according to the Bible, Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark without all the cranes and trucks and construction workers in Kentucky. He lived another 350 years after the flood,” Hammer wrote.
“For another, there are flood stories in diverse cultures around the world. The one in the Hebrew Bible has its roots in Sumerian and Babylonian culture. On this side of the globe, flood stories abound,” he continued. “This may seem obvious to some, but sacred story is story. It is not science, it is not journalism, it is not history.”
Hammer also noted in his piece that “[s]ome in the science community argue that the harm lies in presenting myth as fact, especially to elementary school children who come on field trips.”
But Ham rebutted Hammer’s comments on social media on Monday, noting that the man must also be calling Jesus and His disciples all liars.
“A Lutheran-ELCA pastor (very liberal) says the account of Noah is not history, but if that’s true then Jesus, Peter, and the author of Hebrews lied,” he wrote.
“The pastor says Genesis is myth. Well, then the gospel would also be, as it’s preached in Genesis 3:15, 21,” Ham noted. “If Noah is a myth, then so are all those listed in Hebrews 11, like Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and others.”
Jesus spoke of Noah in Matthew 24:37-39, proclaiming, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
The apostle Peter also wrote in 2 Peter 2:5, “And [God] spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”
“Would the pastor rather have children be taught evolution as fact and creation as myth?” Ham asked in his post. “Millstone warning in Mark 9:42! Genesis is history.”
As previously reported, Ham has similarly addressed the matter in the past, noting, “If we can’t trust God’s word in Genesis, then why are we to trust His word in the gospels, particularly when Jesus affirmed Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood?”
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