Where we came from has profound implications for the meaning of life, our purpose, and our ultimate destiny.

The Bible says:

• Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
• John 1:1–3: “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], 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.”
• Hebrews 11:3: “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.”
• Colossians 1:16–17: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
• Psalm 33:6–9: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

The Bible clearly presents the creation of our world as something that happened outside the natural order, something that happened at the express command of God. It was, and continues to be, a demonstration of His infinite power.

Accepting God as our Creator is a step toward acknowledging Him as our Lord. Psalm 100:3 says, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Knowing our origin gives a sense of place. It also gives us a sense of purpose and responsibility. The knowledge that God made us should also fill us with gratitude.

Nevertheless, things have gone horribly wrong in our world, and many people wonder if God is really there. Over the centuries many have come to doubt God’s existence, and in turn His involvement in creation.

Basic questions

In many cases a person’s doubt or animosity toward belief in creationism stems from personal experience. In my perusal of creation-evolution chat rooms on the Internet, I have often seen that a personal crisis — such as a tragic death of a loved one, or doubt about a loved one’s future — fuels the skeptic’s anger, perplexity, or fears. Another common cause is a misunderstanding of a Bible doctrine, such as hell, or supposed logical inconsistencies or factual errors in the Bible.

Of course there are those who accept evolution and other naturalistic theories simply because they believe the facts support them. I have found that those who grow up in strong Christian homes where creationism is taught, tend to regard evolution as so absurd that they are amazed anyone could fall for it. The truth is that there is an enormous propaganda machine in place that works tirelessly to promote naturalistic science. Most of those who support this propaganda seem to do so sincerely and from good will. The media with its liberal tendencies takes the word of scientists and researchers very seriously. Schools also tend to follow the fashions of science, and so millions of young people are indoctrinated in evolution year by year.

Why evolution?

Elements of evolution can be traced back many centuries, even to Greek thought and earlier ideas. But the major push came with the publishing of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. This book presented evolution in a very scientific, methodical manner which was bound to appeal to many who were looking for a viable alternative to divine creation.

Evolution theory has two strong points which continue to be its greatest assets to this day:

1. It provides an explanation for life in its varied forms that does not require supernatural intervention. A basic tenet of mainstream science is that natural explanations must be accepted over supernatural explanations, and this is what evolution offers. Also, many people prefer an explanation that does not involve God, because it gives them another reason to deny God altogether.
2. Evolution seems to be verifiable. Fossil records exist. Organisms are known to adapt. Survival of the fittest — the process by which evolution occurs — is an accurate description of what usually happens in the natural world. Evolution makes predictions that can be observed, tested, and proven.

Besides these central points, other theories and observations provide apparent support:

• The big bang theory offers a naturalistic framework for everything in the universe, complementing evolution’s naturalistic suppositions.
• Modern dating methods seem to indicate a very old earth, much older than the 6,000 or so years believed by many creationists.
• Biology has found similarities between diverse species that is taken to imply common ancestry.
• Genetic research has yielded information that some scientists claim supports evolution.

The creationist view

Many Christians are at a loss to explain the things that science presents as evolution evidence. The Bible provides no clear information about dinosaurs and “prehistoric” life. My church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, believes that we have additional light on some of these topics through a few paragraphs in the volumes written by Ellen White. But even that additional information is not very detailed. The Flood story is our greatest asset in explaining the fossil record and the coal and oil deposits.

Adaption is a thorny issue for creationists. It is obvious on the one hand that adaption occurs. Animal breeds and bacteria adaptions are examples. But, although humanity has not witnessed any substantial changes in animal life throughout recorded history (substantial changes, as a creationist would view them), it is nearly impossible to convince devout evolutionists that small changes (microevolution) will never yield major changes (macroevolution). They simply argue that with enough time all changes are possible.

Again, Seventh-day Adventists have a slight edge on this subject through Ellen White’s writings, which in this case are loosely supported by the Genesis account. In her writings we find that mankind has greatly degenerated from its original created form. We are not as large or, as the Bible affirms, not as long-lived as our kind once were. We also reckon that the same degeneration exists throughout all of creation. Degeneration and extinction seem to be the law of life in this world from our viewpoint, directly contrary to a theory that presents gradual evolution of increasingly advanced forms.

Although the Bible clearly teaches that God created everything by His word, it does not provide an in-depth creation versus evolution debate. It seems that God has simply left it as a matter of faith that we believe He is the omnipotent Creator God, able to create the world in six days if He so pleases.

Flaws in the rationalizations

I will not go into detail about all the apparent flaws in the evolutionary view. It is my belief that the theory has huge defects. Other creationists have pointed these out in greater detail and more eloquently than I could. Evolution’s only virtue is that it is the best alternative theory to the creation account that has been put forward to date.

The biggest flaw with evolution is that it does not harmonize with the Bible. Some theistic evolutionists have argued that evolution and the Bible are compatible, but the truth is that never the twain shall meet. (I am using the term “evolution” to mean millions-of-years, amoeba-to-mankind evolution, not gradual changes we might observe today.)

I want to deal with only a few suppositions about creationism and evolutionism which I think are important for us to nail down:

• “Evolution is the fruit of science, and science has never let us down.” The truth is that science lets us down all the time. Theories change and are revised. New theories are put forward to cover holes. Evidence is found to be false or incomplete. More critically, science is used to explain things beyond the bounds of science. Science cannot cope with anything out of the ordinary (such as miracles). If God created this world out of nothing in a stable state, science has no way to prove whether this fact is true or untrue.
• “If you reject evolution, you cannot understand science or make any scientific contribution.” The truth is that a creationist scientist can grasp any practical branch of science as well as or better than an evolutionist. Only in the philosophical areas (such as origins, purpose, and moral questions) and interpretation of past events (in geology, paleontology, etc) is there disagreement. On anything that can be reproduced or done today, creationists and evolutionists agree.
• “Belief in creationism is arbitrary. If you cannot prove it, you might as well believe in Santa Claus.” If we did not know the Author, it would be quite a gamble to believe in creationism. But our belief in an active, intelligent, loving God is based on our personal experience. We have tested the Word in day to day living, and found it to be true. Naturalistic philosophy is more closely allied to Santa Claus.
• “Science is all interconnected. You cannot reject just one part.” Yes, we can reject any part that is untrue. A scientist may study a rock that has a certain radiation level. He may conclude that the rock has the radiation levels we might expect from a rock that had been created 400 million years ago. On the radiation levels and all observable and verifiable facts we can agree. But to insist that the rock is 400 million years old is going too far. How can we know that the rock was not created with radiation levels nearly the same as they are now? “But,” someone will say, “if you argue like that, then we can know nothing.” This is also untrue. We can accept with reasonable confidence anything that does not contradict the Bible. However, even in commonplace things scientists, because of their limitations and mistakes, do not conduct flawless research. Scientific facts — especially new or controversial ones — must always be taken more-or-less tentatively. It is plainly wrong to say that all scientific views must stand or fall together.

Unlike some creationists, I do not believe creationism or intelligent design can be “proven.” As Hebrews 11:3 indicates, I think we have to accept the Bible’s account by faith. Not a blind faith, of course, but a faith or trust that is grounded in a personal walk with God.

Ultimately we must make up our own mind about what we believe. If we accept God’s Word as true, we are shielded from error and we are set to walk in faith with Him. If we doubt God’s Word, we prove we do not know its Author and we disqualify ourselves from coming to know Him. What we think we know of God will be stolen from us by whoever receives the trust belonging only to Him.

It is my earnest prayer that we will believe the Bible.

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Resources

Books

I have found the following books helpful:

The Wedge of Truth

By Phillip E. Johnson. Johnson is a very readable author. He is best known in creationist circles for his break-in book, Darwin on Trial (now regarded by some as too dated to be useful in the creation-evolution debate), to which this book is a successor. The book makes a good case of why evolution is inadequate. A bit philosophical at times, but once I started it I could not put it down.

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Evidence of Purpose

Edited by John Marks Templeton. This book is not about creationism per se, but about intelligent design. Each chapter is written by a different scientist, and the scientists represent a number of disciplines. I highly recommend it, with two caveats: Some chapters are quite technical, and you have to really concentrate to get some of the points in those chapters; and some of the scientists are theistic evolutionists (they believe God guided evolution). Even so, chapters 2, 3, 6, and 9 were so good that I’d recommend the book just for those. I think chapter 9 was my favorite.

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Some other authors who seem to be highly regarded in creationist circles are Michael Behe, William Dembski, and Michael Denton. However, I have not read any of their literature. (Note that these links are author searches, and may return books written by other people with similar names.)

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More information

If you are looking for more information about creation science or the creation–evolution debate, try these sites:

• Answers in Genesis
• Creation Science
• Creationism.org
• Detecting Design
• Evolution Facts, Inc.
• The Institute for Creation Research

Note: There are places on the Internet where creationism and evolution are hotly debated. I advise to avoid these debates entirely. Unless you are a scientist — and I mean a real scientist — you are most likely to get roasted by hate speech, intimidated by condescending remarks, and overwhelmed by loads of jargon and “facts” that your knowledge and experience are not prepared for. It is hard to share any light with people who are on the offensive. Read Matthew 7:6.