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30 JAN 09 Print Version Why should we study the subject of special creation by God? Many people answer this question by ignoring it. They simply think it is not important to their faith. Many believe that Genesis chapter 1 is mythological, and that science totally disproves the simplistic idea that God created from nothing. They believe that the arguments in support for evolution are too convincing and that they could not possibly understand how to refute them. Therefore, they say, we will just believe by faith. Why should we study the subject of special creation by God? Simply put, the attack against Jesus Christ today begins with an attack on Genesis. If you are satisfied with the answer that “the Bible says it, therefore I believe it,” then, you will not be able to be an effective witness to many of the unsaved. Many want more of an answer than that. Many reject the Bible because they see mythology when they read the first few chapters of Genesis. If you want a more satisfying answer than “the Bible says so,” then, you are encouraged to study this subject. At the end, you will say “Wow, now I have a reason to believe in special creation and the Flood. I no longer need to believe it happened simple because the Bible said so. It really happened as written in the Word of God, and now I know why and how.” While I was a young student in a Catholic high school I was indoctrinated in a version of evolution known as theistic evolution. This version accepted evolution as the method used by God to account for all creatures that we see today on earth. I was told that at the appropriate moment in the evolutionary process God placed His image in the ape that became man. It took many years, even after I had accepted Christ, to shake off the belief in evolution. Even though I had accepted Christ while still an evolutionist, others will not accept Christ because they believe the implications of evolution destroy the trustworthiness of the entire Bible. My belief in evolution was based on a compromise position that seemed to correlate science with the Bible. I didn’t question further. I believed in all the current scientific pronouncements, that God used evolution for His purpose, and that it took about 4.6 billion years to bring it about. Because of this indoctrination, it took many years for me to really examine the evidences proposed by the theory of evolution and realize the theory was unproven and bankrupt. For more than ten years after I accepted Christ I persisted in this belief even though my wife continued to provide me with creationist tapes and pleaded with me to reconsider. Once I finally seriously considered the many problems with evolution theory together with the evidences for Biblical Creationism I became a young earth creationist. Millions of unbelievers are not so fortunate. They will never come to belief in the first place unless they can overcome the supposed “fact” of evolution. You cannot witness effectively to them without coming to grips with this issue. For them the words of Jesus are meaningless unless it can be shown that God created. One of the biggest hurdles that I faced was the evidence of radiometric dating showing that the earth and various artifacts were very old. This evidence seemed conclusive that the earth must be the 4.6 billion years that modern science testifies. Blind acceptance of scientific claims that the earth was billions of years old contributed to my acceptance that the “days” of Genesis chapter 1 referred to long age periods. What I didn’t know is that all of the age claims for earth and its artifacts are based on unproven assumptions. In fact, the assumptions used are based on the prevailing worldview of the scientific community. In examining data, the assumptions used when applying radiometric methods determine the results. Assumptions of old earth will return results of old earth. Assumptions of young earth will return results of young earth. Textbooks are full of supposed “proofs” of evolution, and these supposed proofs have taken on the aura of an icon which should not be questioned. To openly question the theory can have disastrous affects on one’s academic career. Jonathan Wells is one who questioned the icons. Jonathan Wells earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. He is still hoping to become a science teacher.[1] What Wells writes is that these “icons”, cloaked as evidence, actually “misrepresent the truth” in the textbooks, either directly or by omitting their problems, thus leading the student to believe that the icons are “facts” proving the theory of evolution.[2] The various icons that misrepresent facts in the classroom and textbooks are: The building blocks of life have been created in the laboratory, the evolutionary tree of life has been constructed from the fossil record, similar skeletal structures indicate evolutionary origin in a common ancestor, pictures of similarity of embryos prove evolution from a common ancestor, a fossil bird with teeth and claws on its wings is the missing link between reptiles and birds, peppered moths on tree trunks showing camouflage from predatory birds is evidence for evolution, change in finches beaks is evidence for evolution, fruit flies with extra wings show mutations are the mechanism for evolution, branching-tree pattern of horse fossils is evidence that evolution is not directed, and artists drawing of ape-like creatures evolving into humans give the impression that we are simply animals with no purpose to life. All of these icons misrepresent the facts when presented in the classroom or textbook.[3] Textbooks and teachers have a profound effect on the development of the worldview of our children. Many children consider their teacher as all knowing and smarter than their own parents. One student of mine remarked that he had become angry about what he was hearing in the class I was then teaching, The Science of Creation and the Flood. He was angry that he did not think the subject important enough to study it while his children were small, so that he could correct what they were learning. Courses such as the one I teach and books such as Well’s, ICONS OF EVOLUTION, Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong, will provide you with enough information to present a rebuttal against material presented in textbooks such as EVOLUTIONARY ANALYSIS used at University of Hawaii – Manoa.[4] It must be understood that this one topic, creation, is the most important topic for today’s Christian. You can understand this subject, and you can understand the arguments in this debate. Many Christians will try to defend their faith by diligent study of the New Testament, the words of Jesus, and those of Paul, and believe that this is their witness. They fail to realize that much of the unbelieving world will not believe unless they can overcome the implications of the theory of evolution. Children are sent off to the public schools and are indoctrinated in the evolutionary worldview, and many Christian parents do not know how to refute it. It is simply not good enough to say to them, the Bible says…”, unless they can address directly the errors being taught in their secular school. The secular world and classrooms of this world do not need to attack the words of Jesus or Paul directly. All they need to do is to attack the foundations of the New Testament by attacking Genesis chapters 1 through 9. In fact, in the years following the publishing of Charles Darwin’s book, ORIGIN OF SPECIES, many theologians, believing that evolution was proven, began to devise theories to fit evolution to the narrative of Genesis chapter 1. These theologians were now attacking their own foundations. Theistic evolution among others is one such compromise. It does no good for your witness to memorize the entire New Testament while forsaking a thorough understanding of the arguments in favor of special creation by God and the evidences for a worldwide flood. When you really understand the narrative of the first few verses of Genesis and how a worldwide flood could truly happen, then, you can better understand the arguments that refute the evolution and uniformitarian worldviews. For those living in Hawaii (Oahu), the next class of The Science of Creation and the Flood will begin on 2 February 2009, Monday, 7 pm, at Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor in the Fellowship Hall (side entrance at back). 12 lessons, 2 February - 11 May 2009. Cost is $15 per person or $20 per family. All money goes to Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor, Bible Training Center, and is used for copying large quantity of course material. Teachers may receive 3 CEUs for the course. For other classes and dates please contact me at rtozier@creationrevelation.org. [1] Jonathan Wells, ICONS OF EVOLUTION, Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong, Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2000. [2] Wells, ICONS OF EVOLUTION, Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong, pp. 6, 7. [3] Wells, ICONS OF EVOLUTION, Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong, pp. 6, 7. [4] Scott Freeman and John C. Herron, EVOLUTIONARY ANALYSIS, Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 1998, 2001, 2004. This is a textbook used by the University of Hawaii – Manoa that supports evolution. It claims to provide evidence for macroevolution, but uses microevolution as evidence, then it expects the student to make the leap of faith that macroevolution has occurred. |