When someone attacks your faith

Recently we went on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Fl.  I was quite excited to take the children to what I deemed a real art museum.  We have been a little lackadaisical in our art studies but we do have some artists in our repertoire.  An added bonus was that they were offering an ancient Egypt exhibit too.

All was well, we quickly had to have a conversation about how there might be some nudity in the paintings and pictures.  The children were instructed to use caution near the paintings and sculptures.  Imagine our surprise when we ran into a docent leading a tour through the ancient Egypt exhibit that we were able to join with no problem.

In hindsight, I should have known something was amiss when she explained some myths regarding Egyptian gods like they were fact.  Although uncomfortable, I brushed it off as she was simply playing a role.  All of the children in the group were quite enthralled with her renditions.  Besides, none of the other homeschool moms seemed to be bothered by it.

Then we hit the Jewish slave area.  I was aghast at her assertion that the Jews were not Egyptian slaves.  Her argument was that they were being fed & quite well.  Therefore, they could not have been slaves.  It was quite a preposterous statement to say the least.  Two breathes later, she asked who believed that the Jews crossed the Red Sea.  Lots of hands went up.  It was at that point that she announced it was not really the Red Sea but merely a quicksand pit.  When questioned if she meant the Biblical Exodus, she said yes.  She did not deny that there was a mass exodus from Egypt by the Jewish people during the reign of Ramses the Great.  That much has been historically proven.  What she debunked in her own theory was that they did not cross an ocean but a quicksand pit.  She then quickly ended the tour and left the area.

I want to say that she is just ignorant or misinformed.  There was really no need to say it during the tour .  It was completely unnecessary.  I do belong to a Christian homeschool group that was in attendance that day.  Many of the children had church shirts on with Scripture verses.  The docent clearly saw that we were a Christian group.  She then deemed it necessary to "educate" us on her version of the truth.

I was not able to confront her on her clear bias.  I'm not sure that I would have to be honest.  It came out of nowhere so I did not have time to collect my thoughts to debunk her misstatements.  A lively discussion was held over lunch with my group about how we knew her statements were wrong.  We also had a great discussion with the children on what one should do when someone attacks your faith.  I would like to think that we responded gracefully and respectfully.  It was a great learning experience for everyone, children and adults. 

So , tell me dear friends.  What do you do when someone insinuates that the Bible isn't accurate?  How do you teach your children to stand up for their faith with respect and grace?  I am still struggling with this issue and whether we should have said more at the moment.  What are your thoughts?