Sunday, July 10, 2011

Already Compromised: Christian colleges took a test on the state of their faith and the Final Exam Is In by Ken Ham and Greg Hall

Book review of Already Compromised by Ken Ham and Greg Hall:
Master Books, New Leaf Publishing Group, http://www.masterbooks.com

I've been reading Already Compromised on my Kindle. One thing that stood out to me was the open-ended questions the authors asked of different departments in various Christian colleges. These open-ended questions allowed for answers beyond the standard yes or no. It surprised me to see how easily misunderstood an answer could be. Not because of the question, but because the answer could use the same words and mean something completely different in definition. For example: Can you define the word "science"?

From page 48: "The primary dictionary definiton of the word science is basically "knowledge." However, this knowledge is based on certain assumptions about the past. If the assumptions are wrong, the conclusions reached will likely be wrong and we will misunderstand history. Understsanding te assumptions used to build historical knowledge is extremely important.

But knowledge gained by observation (five senses) and based on the repeatable test (empiricism) is called "observational science." This is the knowledge tha enables us to build our technology, understand how a cell works, and develop medicines.

When most people use the word science today, they are usually thinking in terms of "operational science". This becomes very confusing when secularists use the word science when talking about aspects of genetics that can be examined in a lab, and then turn around and use the word science when discussing the topic of nonobservable aspects of evolutionary ideas (e.g., life from nonlife, reptiles evolving into birds, etc.). Knowing that mutations in DNA can occur and be measured is not the same as asserting that we know how those mutations occurred in various populations over millions of years."


Another interesting help aid in Already Compromised is the scan seals. You can use your smart phone to scan on varioius pages to check out the study on Christian colleges. It's helpful because if you are interested in a college that earned higher marks on actual Christian theoligical teaching, they're harder to find than you think. But the scan tags inside the book help you do exactly that. Remember, as this book ages, you'll need to be more careful in ferreting out the information. But having this book as a college search manual will help you do that job successfully.

What I didn't like: I felt the diagrams with the percentages were too simplistic. They fit for a chalkboard style classroom, but for a book I'd like to see more precise diagrams. Personal preference here.

I really enjoyed exploring the differences in operational science and historical science. Great explanations to help us have a more concrete understanding of the misunderstood study of our past. Recognizing that starting at different points brings us to different conclusions is brilliant. Science guy 1 starts at a non-biblical point A. He cannot get to a biblical point because he's never understood the same starting spot. So even though science guy 1 is talking the same lingo with science guy 2, they may never be talking apples to apples. Fascinating concept as to why evolutionists cannot understand creationist. They're not on the same road because they're not using the same map.

I feel this book, Already Compromised, offers an excellent opportunity to look at the education system and gives excellent information on the degrading faith of our schools. I hope it will help you find the educational institution to build your faith or your child's while avoiding the pitfalls of those schools that will harm the future of our country. But even more important is that you now have at your fingertips, the opportunity to hold schools accountable for faithless education.

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