Creation vs. Evolution
Creation and evolution are
equally scientific. This is not about religion versus science, but
about
the science of one religion
versus the science of another. I believe in the supreme creator, God
almighty. I believe simply
because I have faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence
of things not seen.”
(Hebrews 11.1) It is more esteeming and comforting to have faith in a
God that
loves us, as opposed to say
there is no hope for us, we have all just happened by chance.
Evolution teaches us that
we have evolved as a species over perhaps millions of years. It is
the
process by which living
organisms are thought to have developed. The
idea of organic evolution was
proposed
by some ancient Greek thinkers but was long rejected in Europe as
contrary to the literal
interpretation
of the Bible. Lamarck proposed a theory that organisms became
transformed by their
efforts
to respond to the demands of their environment, but he was unable to
explain a mechanism for
this.
Lyell demonstrated that geological deposits were the cumulative
product of slow processes over
vast
ages. This helped Darwin toward a theory of gradual evolution over a
long period by the natural
selection
of those varieties of an organism slightly better adapted to the
environment and hence more
likely
to produce descendants. Combined with the later discoveries of the
cellular and molecular basis
of
genetics, Darwin's theory of evolution has, with some modification,
become the dominant unifying
concept
of modern biology. Although Darwin's theory carries some weight in
subject, he does not
come
to a conclusion of absolute beginning.
Evolution
is, simply put, the gradual development of something, from a simple
to more
complex
form. In chemistry, it is the giving off of a gaseous product or
heat. A modern translation
would
be an “opening out” or “unfolding”, but does time unravel and
unfold? The idea of natural
selection
process shows a varying of traits over time. Another simple way of
putting it, is survival of
the
strongest species. If
you have variation, differential reproduction, and heredity, you have
natural
selection
(Darwin).
Creation
is the action or process of bringing something into existence as an
act of God. In the
scripture
Genesis, we are told about the creation story, starting with “In
the beginning God created the
heavens
and the earth” (Genesis 1.1) as written in the first book of the
Bible. The word “genesis”
meaning,
“gignesthia,” interpreted “to be born or produced”, is from
the old text via Latin from
Greek.
The scripture teaches that we were made from the dust of the earth,
and likely so, to dust we
shall
return. The real missing link in this is where did the beginning come
from? “In the beginning was
the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1.1).
The very nature of our
existence
seems impossible for our own comprehension. Creation teaches us that
God knows the
number
of stars in the heavens as well as all the hairs on your head.
Creation also gives us the
understanding
of right and wrong, good versus evil. Where in evolution is good and
evil introduced?
Intelligent
design is another viewpoint of our existence. It involves complex and
specified
information
(CSI). This brings us to irreducible complexity which is to
experimentally
reverse-engineer
biological
structures to see if they require all of their parts to function.
Therefore, since we cannot
remove
our parts to see if we will keep on living, we must have been
designed. It's that simple. Not all
scientists
support this hypothesis. Darwinists often take intelligent design and
correlate it with
creationism.
Intelligent design can still be used as a theory even if they leave
the identity of the creator
out.
Inferring
design from nature is at least as old as Plato and Aristotle, and
Christian writers have
used
the inference for centuries to argue for God’s existence and
attributes. The minimalist view
described
above, however, emerged in the 1980s (“What is ID?”).
There have been many questions on both sides of the discussion. The
look at the timeline of the
age
of the earth is where many answers can be found, some but not all.
From an evolutionary
standpoint,
the earth is billions of years old. Simple creationists may say the
earth is no more than
about
6 to 10 thousand years old. In theology, the scripture does not place
an argument against
evolution.
The main reason for this is the book of Genesis does not say how God
created the heavens
and
the earth. A simple viewpoint on that would be that the day of the
Creator is longer than a typical
day
of 24 hours. Is the day of God more than 24 hours?
The
theory of evolution starts with basically a gas (The Big Bang), with
no debate on either
side.
I believe that a creationist of intelligence would look at the big
bang as a generic term for the
earliest
of beginnings. What elements were present at the time, and more so,
where did they come
from?
The history given in Genesis 1 is probably the earliest writing on
the stars, sun and moon.
Genesis
could very well be 6 days of Divine revelation, followed by a seventh
day that is different from
the
first six. A question; is this book of Genesis a summary? For our
human knowledge we attest to a
beginning
and an end. According to theology and Christian belief, “I am the
Alpha and Omega, the
beginning
and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 21.6). - God. I
have a sense of reverential fear
as
I read that quote.
The
strangest thing that evolutionists have come up with is “Piltdown
Man.”
Piltdown
man is one of the most famous frauds in the history of science. In
1912
Charles
Dawson discovered
the first of two skulls found in the Piltdown quarry in
Sussex,
England, skulls of an apparently primitive hominid, an ancestor of
man.
Piltdown
man, or Eoanthropus
dawsoni
to use his scientific name, was a sensation. He
was
the expected "missing link" a mixture of human and ape with
the noble brow of
Homo
sapiens
and a primitive jaw. As the years went by and new finds of ancient
hominids
were made, Piltdown man became an anomaly that didn't fit in, a
creature
without
a place in the human family tree. Finally, in 1953, the truth came
out. Piltdown
man
was a hoax, the most ancient of people who never were. (Harter)
The
story of Piltdown man was more than likely Dawson's desire to find
the search for the
origins
of man. I suppose in his excitement he was passionate about his work,
and thought he might be
onto
something. Science, after all, is best guess. Evolution could simply
be ok on its own with out his
discoveries.
The
puzzling finding that I have on the case against evolution is where
does good and evil fit
in?
In every religion and in Christianity, we find the battle of good
versus evil. Where did this all come
from?
Christianity shows us the idea of original sin, or being born into
sin since the fall of man
with(Adam
and Eve). Even the apes that still are around today are not warring
against each other like
us
humans do.Animals have survival instincts, and they breed and care
for their young till a certain age,
but
they simply are not capable of the sin nature that we have. Not to
mention they are not capable of
having
the feelings that we have, and the emotion we express. On that, we
could say “Nothing is what
it
seems.”
The
evolution of man is stated as homology, which is the similarities in
genetic and anatomical
design.
We evolved from an ape-like ancestor millions of years ago. That
explains our tailbone that we
still
have. Other modern apes have evolved on a different scale, which is
why we still have apes.
Observations
within the fields of anthropology, paleontology, and molecular
biology, collectively, they
depict
life branching out from a common ancestor through gradual genetic
changes over millions of
years,
commonly known as the "tree of life."
The theory of evolution is under constant scrutiny
because
it is based largely on an idea and not proof (“Evolution”).
Knowledge
and intelligence is another place that can put evolution on the hot
seat again. We
know
that a single cell contains enough encoded information to fill nearly
30 volumes of Encyclopedia
Brittanica.
Most scientists agree that intelligence comes before life, so answer
this; does mind come
from
matter? How can matter all of the sudden become intelligent with all
the algorithms of life? And
to
put intelligent design in the mix, should there be an “Intelligent
Designer”? (“Why”).
There
are very few common places that evolution and creation sit
side-by-side. First with a
beginning
of some matter that expanded and developed and at fast rate, and then
slowed down and
cooled.
But, what caused this? Where did the original matter come from? Maybe
that's the only
place
we really differ. Is it so wrong to acknowledge that maybe there is a
God? I know that belief in a
God
that we cannot see can be very difficult. I also believe that there
are evolutionists that would like
to
believe in God, but the ideas that some radical creationists have on
the earths age, prevents them.
This
is what I believe, and not to be offensive in any way, I choose hope.
This is the very thing
that
separates evolution from creation. Evolution does not offer us hope
as individuals. I believe in a
mind,
body, and spirit composition of our being. That being said, there has
to be a spiritual side of life.
Most
of us would like to believe there is something more to this life. I
personally cannot bring myself
to
believe we came from an ape-like ancestor. I simply choose, in the
beginning – God. I think though
to
many individuals and cultures, their definition of God can vary.
There are more American believers
in
a “Divine Creator” than not.
Eighty-three
percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Most of the
rest, 13
percent, have no religion. That leaves just 4 percent as adherents of
all non-Christian
religions combined — Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and a smattering of
individual
mentions.
(“Most”)
I
also believe that the evolutionists think what they do because of
fear. A lot of religions will
sometimes
paint a picture of a God that is angry, and people choose not to go
where fear is. Honestly
there
are some passages in scripture that are very scary to some degree,
but how to read the scripture
and
keep things in context is just as important. Another point is that in
America, the meaning of the
word
“christian”, individually can mean different things.
The
evolutionist can believe in God, depending on how they choose to look
at it. Personally I
don't
understand the mystery of it all; the creation process. In all of our
intelligence and being; the
beauty
of the seasons; the stars at night; the planets in perfect order; the
night from the day; the
splendor
of the heavens and the fullness thereof; these awaken me to see there
is a God of Divine order.
These
things are written in the sky like one big love letter to us all. I
think the more science has tried to
prove
there is no God, the more they prove that He is. I believe in a
trinitarian God-head, Father, Son &
Holy
Spirit. It can be very difficult to grasp this, but the more and more
I look, the more I believe. Our
culture
has made it so if anyone believes in God that way, it can be an
embarrassment to them. I don't
think
this is healthy. We should not feel strange about our beliefs nor
ridiculed because of them.
Works
Cited
Darwin,
Charles. “The Origin of Species”.
1859.
Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
“Evolution of Man.” 2002.
Web.
22 Feb. 2012.
Harter,
Richard. “Piltdown Man.”
1996-1997
Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
“Most
Americans Say They're Christian.” Langer,
Gary. abcnews.go.com
18
July, 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.
New King James Bible. Tyndale House Publishers
Wheaton,
IL. 1996. Print.
“What
is ID?”Web.
20 Feb. 2012.
“Why
I Believe in God.” www.allaboutscience.org
allaboutscience.org. 2002-2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.
allaboutscience.org. 2002-2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.
Presentation Notes
( I didn't use these notes verbatim, I had them on the podium as a guide for extras)
- Creation and Evolution are both equally scientific – it is not about religion vs science, but the science of one religion vs the science of another.
- I believe in the supreme creator, God almighty. I believe simply because I have faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11.1) It is more esteeming and comforting to have faith in a God that loves us, as opposed to say there is no hope for us, we have all just happened by chance.
- The scientific evidence confirming the biblical account of history. The finding of Noah's ark on Mt. Ararat. The Dead Sea scrolls, containing in it's entirety the whole book of Isaiah. More recently the discovery of Herod's tomb in 2007.
The tomb of Pharoah Ramesses, who would not let the Israelites out
of egypt. Moses anyone?
The Shroud of Turin – this is not what I base faith on. I would
still have faith even if there was no shroud. The remaining glaciers,
indicating a time of ice covering the planet – before there was ice
it was WATER – another piece indicating a flood of biblical
proportions.
- The formation of the Grand Canyon, indicating another area of lots of water.
- The world created in 6 days, both Christianity and Islamic faiths say this, the difference is in the time, Christianity – a day of God is equal to that of 1000 years, In Islam a day of creation is equal to about 50,000 years. I believe in a direct interpretation of scripture.
- No one has been there in the beginning the conversation with Moses could have taken 6 days for God to tell him the account for which things happened.
- The length of time for mans existence. According to population growth at .05% we could only go back about 6000 years. If we were here for millions of years, where are all the fossils?
When
I speak of "creation," I am referring to the inherently
obvious fact that the origin of all life forms can be attributed to a
creator who purposefully created them with planning and intent, and
the documented fact that this occurred over the course of a week's
time several thousand years ago.
No matter what side you stand on, faith in an idea or a creator
takes place.
Living
matter does not and could not have been spontaneously generated from
non-living matter. The laws of biochemistry, probability and
statistics, and basic information theory are against it. It has never
been demonstrated in the laboratory.
Will
a towel ever come out folded out of the dryer?
Computers,
did they happen by chance or by intelligent design?
How
many times will it take me to throw a bag of marbles and then have
them line up in perfect order?
What
are the odds of structured ordered evolution? Better chance on the
lottery, and we know how hard that is.
Chance is the worst enemy of the
evolutionist.
Random selection does not make
sense, In
a theoretical sense, the claim fails based on sheer probabilities and
statistics. Randomness is associated with disorder, and disorder is
not associated with selection.
Charles
Darwin actually represented the fossil evidence as being a hostile
witness to his theory, as documented in his famous book The
Origin of Species.
He claimed that the abrupt appearance of life and lack of
transitional forms was the most serious objection to his theory.
We
are fearfully and wonderfully made. Baby's don't happen by chance.
Genetics
do not teach us chance they teach design.
Conclusion
to the matter, I believe the scripture to be the inherent word of
God. I once heard a preacher say, if this all wasn't true he would do
it anyways just for the joy. I believe it is true. The more I travel
and I see different cultures, the more and more I see, we are
“fearfully and wonderfully made”.
Consider
these things when you look at the sky at night and see the splendor
of the heavens and say “ it all happened by chance” or say “ I
was created By God in His image, and when He made me He said, “It
is good.””.
Thank
you so much for listening. God bless you as you continue your
studies and in life.
