From TeachingtheWord's Bible Knowledgebase

Scripture and the Church
Must We Build Noah's Ark to Reach Millennials?
by Dr. Paul M. Elliott
Part 4 of a series. Read part 3.
Does Biblical preaching, as some apologetics ministries insist, no longer "work"? In this series we are discussing three of the most ruinous developments in the postmodern evangelical church, and the Bible's answers to them. All three arise from today's market-oriented, man-centered approaches to what is mistakenly called "evangelism." The postmodern evangelical church has fallen prey to the deceit of cultural contextualization; it is substituting sensory experiences and symbolism for Biblical preaching; it is increasingly obsessed with demographics. In this article we take up the second of those damaging developments, what might well be called the substitution of the visual for the verbal in the postmodern church. Just as cultural contextualization seeks to leap an alleged barrier to evangelism that exists only in the mind of fallen man but not in the redemptive plan of God, so also does the substitution of the visual for the verbal. Many who would claim to be evangelicals, Bible believers, even fundamentalists, insist that the church must take a visual rather than a verbal (i.e., preaching) approach to presenting the Bible's message. The reason, they assert, is that the present generation is different from all that preceded it. "Traditional Preaching" No Longer Works? Recently I have received several pieces of mail from the Institute for Creation Research, a leading creation apologetics ministry, asserting that they need to take a new approach with what is called the Millennial generation – those who have been born since the 1980s. The sum of various statements in their mailings is this: A member of the Millennial generation will not respond to preaching the way his parents and grandparents did. He is too smart and cynical for that. "Traditional preaching," as they put it, no longer works. On that premise, ICR is appealing for hundreds of thousands of dollars so that they can prepare audiovisual materials that will, they said, do a better job of presenting the message than preaching. I am not suggesting that there is no place for such things as audiovisual teaching materials in the work of the church. But they must be used carefully. They must never become a substitute for Biblical preaching. As we shall see, the expository preaching of the Word of God holds a unique and primary place in Christ's Great Commission. "If They See It They Will Believe" For the past several years another creation apologetics ministry, Answers in Genesis, has been planning and promoting what is perhaps the most egregious example of the substitution of sensory experience for the preaching of the Gospel – the expenditure of $73 million to build a full-scale reproduction, as they put it, of Noah's Ark as part of a new $150 million theme park and entertainment complex near Cincinnati, Ohio. Once again, the assumption – actually the presumption – behind this effort is that preaching does not "work" with the present generation. But, AIG insists, if they see a full scale reproduction of Noah's Ark, then they will "believe." There are countless serious problems with such a project. One has to do with the way in which it is being financed. When the project was announced several years ago, the projected cost was much lower. Over the years that followed the estimates grew, and appeals for private tax deductible contributions to finance the project fell far short of expectations. (Perhaps this is an indication that there is still some degree of discernment among Christians regarding such a folly.) Rather than seeing this lack of support as a probable indication of God's displeasure with the project, AIG has instead turned to public financing of the ark project by unregenerated man through a government bond issue.1 A second serious issue with the ark project is that it adds to Scripture. The only description that Scripture gives us of the Ark is contained in 85 words in three short verses (Genesis 6:14-16). But from this brief and very general description, AIG has extrapolated detailed architectural and engineering designs. No one can have any idea whether or not this massive representation will be an accurate depiction of the ocean-going vessel God instructed Noah to build. The construction of AIG's ark, the words and visual messages associated with the exhibits planned within it, and the inferences people will draw from all of it, will constitute a massive addition to Scripture. It will place this grievous example of eisegesis before the church as a model for "evangelism." As we saw in the last article of this series, God condemns additions to or subtractions from His Word in the strongest possible terms. Thirdly, the Ark is one of the many Old Testament types and shadows that have been fulfilled in Christ. It is just as foolish, and just as sinful, to go back to the type and shadow of Noah's Ark as it would be to reinstitute the Jewish Passover or the rituals of the tabernacle service. A fourth serious issue is this: What will the unsaved who see a full-scale "reproduction" of Noah's Ark actually "believe" – if indeed the sensory experience changes their thinking? Is this God's way to convince people that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are literal and historical? Furthermore, will it truly lead to to the saving of souls through faith in Christ, or merely to the changing of minds to a different philosophical viewpoint? Which, according to Scripture, constitutes true conversion? What has supposedly changed in this generation that would require the substitution of this massive object for the preaching of the Scriptures by which the Holy Spirit has converted people in every generation from the very beginning? It is ironic that a ministry which has for many years used the slogan "Defending the authority of the Bible from the very first verse" would follow a course so determined to undermine its authority. Has Man's "Strength" Overcome God's "Weakness"? What these ministries, and many others, are actually saying is that Biblical preaching – God's ordained method – cannot stand up to the presumed intellectual strength of man. The alleged weakness of preaching cannot stand before the reputed power of this world's philosophies. The simplicity that is in Christ cannot compete with the appeals of this world's fallen cultures. Therefore, Christians and the church must descend to the world's level. But what does Scripture say? Is the Millennial generation different from other generations? Is Biblical preaching obsolete? Has the Spirit suddenly become impotent? Has the arm of the Lord been shortened? We shall see as we continue. Next: The Primacy of Preaching References: 1. "Noah's Ark Project in Kentucky to Move Forward" as viewed on 10/10/2014 at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/28/noah-ark-project-in-kentucky-to-move-forward/ sac0138
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