Raghvendra Sahai, John Trauger, & NASA "Etched Hourglass Nebula"

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:1-5 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Heb 11:3 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb 11:6

Introduction

This is the first of four pages. On this opening page I will attempt to explain the controversy and examine some of the terms used in the debate.

Page two concentrates mainly on the first chapter of Genesis examining what the Bible has to say about or against evolution. You may be surprised.

Page three looks at the physical evidence where scientific theory has been thought to be in disagreement with the Bible. God's word and His works agree - Really!

Page four examines further the physical evidence and how it relates to the events of each creation day.

The Argument

A typical conversation between Susie Sunshine fresh out of Sunday School and Brian Brain, college student, might go something like this - Susie starts.

 "God created the heaven and the earth and all living things in 6 days about 6,000 years ago."

"The earth formed billions of years ago by chance and all life evolved from a single cell by purely natural means."

"God created me. I didn't evolve from some monkey"

"Man and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor. Man did not come from a monkey."

"So we came from rats? Like that's suppose to make me feel better. Then why haven't I seen a house cat evolve into a tiger, or a bird into a cow?"

"Evolutionists don't believe that."

"Well the Bible says..."

"Well science says..."

The argument has no end and both sides walk away feeling frustrated convinced their opponent is an idiot. The debate is usually emotionally driven with both sides making grandiose claims. Neither side sees any reason to compromise. The young-earth creationist has religious tradition on her side. She is convinced the evolutionist is an atheist so God must be on her side. The evolutionist, knowing the earth is old, sees no reason to accept the Bible as literal truth. He therefore believes there must be a natural explanation for life on earth. This is an oversimplified example of the two extremes being voiced, but it does allow us a starting point to examine the issue.

Recent Gallup polls show-

The 10% who are naturalists are not just the educated elite as most people picture them to be. Studies show that the number of PhD’s in church on any given Sunday is the same as it is for the population in general, around 46 - 47%. Education is not the deciding factor in matters of faith.

The 47% are not the ignorant masses the media often plays them up to be. Many of them are highly educated, influential people. Their interpretation of the Bible forces them to reject all evolutionist ideas. Scientific evidence is often viewed as flawed and in need of alternate explanations in light of Scripture..

Since we all take our personal beliefs into this debate, I will tell you my starting point. I believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, inerrant in its original form. I believe it should be taken literally whenever possible - but all related Scripture must be considered before deciding on an interpretation of a passage. I do not consider science to be on the same level as Scripture. The Bible is God's book of words. The universe is God's book of works. Since the Bible and the creation are both from God, neither is more true than the other. They are but different witnesses of the same God, and of His power and glory. Theology is man's attempt to understand the Bible. Science is man's attempt to understand the universe. Theology and science can both be flawed since they are interpreted by fallen man. When the truth is fully revealed the Bible and the creation record will agree.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Cor 13:12

Which ever side of the controversy you are on, I hope you find yourself rethinking your position.

Explaining The Terms

The following terms are thrown around in nearly every creation/evolution debate. Clear definitions are essential to insure common understanding of a position. My comments are in Magenta.

Abiogenesis - The supposed development of living organisms from nonliving matter. Also called autogenesis, spontaneous generation. Spontaneous generation is a deceptive definition, as naturalists generally believe the first life developed over a great period of time by unguided chemical reactions.

Creationism - The position that the account of the creation of the universe given at the beginning of the Bible is literally true. Usually thought of as a belief in a young-earth creation, but applies equally to an old-earth view.

Evolution - The theory that groups of organisms change with passage of time, mainly as a result of natural selection, so that descendants differ morphologically and physiologically from their ancestors. While this is a literal definition, this term is seldom thought to stop with "change with time". It usually is believed to involve origins from a common ancestor and is often associated with the atheistic view of naturalism. Many Bible believing Christians, however, see no conflict between a belief in evolution and a belief in the God of the Bible.

Microevolution - Evolution resulting from a succession of relatively small genetic variations that often cause the formation of new subspecies.

Macroevolution - Large-scale evolution occurring over geologic time that results in the formation of new taxonomic groups.

Naturalism - A theory denying that an event or object has a supernatural significance; spec: the doctrine that scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena. This is atheism.

Species - A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding.

Definitions are from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation. All rights reserved.

This discussion continues with Part 2 -

God, Genesis and the big bang - home

Due to spammers stealing my email address, I had to remove a direct link to email me. You will have to type the above address into your mail program to contact me. Sorry it is a hassle but it had to be done. Never post your address online unless you want to receive hundreds of junk spam daily.

Copyright © 1998 by Kevin Sluder

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