I’ve been on a journey these last several weeks to really dig in to what I believe concerning the origin of the earth and Creation in general. I’ve always believed in a literal six days of creation based on what I read in Genesis chapter 1. However, I wanted to dig deeper to make sure that I truly know why I believe in six days of creation rather than the “gap theory” or the “day age theory”…I know why I don’t believe in evolution. There is nothing biblical about the theory of evolution or the idea of the “Big Bang Theory”. I had the remarkable privilege of attending the Answers in Genesis conference at the Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati last week. I also found the book In Six Days which chronicles 50 scientists who believe in a literal six days of creation as a result of their training as scientists and their own beliefs in Christianity and their theology. The book is fascinating…long, but very interesting as it spells out several perspectives from biology, chemistry, geology, history, and on and on. There is a ton of Scripture used in this book and it is neatly tied together with scientific evidence. I highlighted several things while reading and have pasted them below…
- We need to ask the fundamental question mouthed by Pilate, “What is truth?” and determine the role that science plays in the overall development of truth.
- The point to be recognized is that science deals with observations of present states and processes, and can only discuss the prehistoric past.
- Methods of estimating the age of the earth or of the universe apply assumptions about processes and rates that extend into the distant past. Regardless of how apparently compelling such dating methods may appear to be, the fact remains that they are built on assumptions that must be critically questioned and evaluated.
- Biblical faith cannot be a matter of formal proof, but neither is it a blind leap. Biblical faith is a confident and convinced trust in the testimony of the One who is both Creator and Redeemer. As His creatures, we need to exercise our faculties in humble submission to His revelation to see Him as our standard for truth.
- A cell can come only from a functioning cell and cannot be built up piece mail, because all the major organelles must have been created and assembled instantaneously for the cell to exist.
- All of Adam’s organs, including his heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain, must have been functioning simultaneously as a unit the second he was created. In other words, God created Adam as a mature man.
- Creating the universe in parts would not be unlike creating a liver and waiting a few days before creating a brain, then several more weeks before creating a femur bone–until the body was eventually complete. No other method appears to exist to produce life other than creating instantaneously a fully functioning complete organism. This does not preclude that changes may have occurred since that time, only that a certain level of complexity must have existed for both an organism and a universe to exist.
- The famous illustration “the probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a print shop” argues that information and complex systems cannot come about by chance, but can only be the product of an intelligent designer.
- Why do I believe in a six-day creation? I believe in a Creator because I see the Creator’s designs in nature everywhere and evidence of intelligence in the DNA of each cell. I believe in a “six-day creation” because I have experienced salvation from a truthful God, Jesus Christ, who has never disappointed me (Romans 10:11). Therefore, why should I doubt Him if He said “I made it so”?
- Creation was said to be very good when it came from the Creator’s hand, but ecosystems no longer function perfectly. They are degenerate. Scripture hints about original ecology, suggesting conditions that were far different from what we find today. It is hard to imagine ecology without death, for example. Nevertheless, that is exactly the picture painted in Scripture. Death and suffering came not only to man when he sinned, but to other creatures as well.
- Biodiversity is a powerful testimony about the Creator that confirms Romans 1:20: “From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly observed in what he made.”
- How could such complicated organs develop by an unplanned process?
- Models such as progressive creation or theistic evolution suffer from lack of authentication. One can speculate that this or that happened in the past, but one would like some support from a respected source of information, such as the Bible or the data of nature, that this is actually the case. Neither nature nor the Bible indicate that these intermediate views between creation and evolution are the way God did it. One can find peripheral information to support many models, but one would like some more direct authentication before accepting speculative suggestions. One should not give up a more authenticated model for a more speculative one.
- Progressing in my studies, I slowly realized that evolution survives as a paradigm only as long as the evidence is picked and chosen and the great pool of data that is accumulating on life is ignored. As the depth and breadth of human knowledge increases, it washes over us a flood of evidence deep and wide, all pointing to the conclusion that life is the result of design. Only a small subset of evidence, chosen carefully, may be used to construct a story of life evolving from non-living precursors. Science does not work on the basis of picking and choosing data to suit a treasured theory. I chose the path of science which also happens to be the path of faith in the Creator.
- The creationist approach allows us to have an exceedingly intricate and beautiful world at the outset, ready for us to explore its wonders scientifically. This is the approach that puts us on a firm foundation, and this is why I believe in creation rather than evolution.
- I realized that had God wanted to say a billion years rather than six days. He could have said it, very simply, in the way He spoke to Adam: “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted” (Genesis 13:16). In the same way He could have said, “I took as many years as there are particles of dust on the earth to create the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them” –and it would have sounded very impressive –but He said six days. Would He have said this if it were of no concern?
- I believe that God gives us the answer when He says, “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” (Isaiah 2:22).
- Cycles speak of organization, of design, or rapid implementation, and of a designer.
- The extravagance of shape variation, color, and patters of flowers is a clear expression of a divine artist.
- Life must have been created completely functional, or it would be a meaningless mess.
- “God planned, purposed, and designed the perfect result, the world as originally created, and He achieved it by the perfect means, with flawless precision.” A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy
- Who or what could have produced energy in an available state in the first place? Only someone or something not bound by the second law of thermodynamics. Only the Creator of the second law of thermodynamics could violate it and create energy in a state of availability in the first place.
- Science tells me that evolution is certainly not scientific, while creation is not in disagreement with what is truly scientific.
- The Bible speaks of a worldwide cataclysm in the Genesis flood, which destroyed all air-breathing life on the planet apart from the animals and humans God preserved alive in the ark. The correspondence between the global catastrophe in the geological record and the flood described in Genesis is much too obvious for me not to conclude that these events must be one and the same.
- “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22
- “By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God’s command.” Hebrews 11:3
- “Come let us reason together.” Isaiah 1:18
- The issue of “origins” is not a battle for us to win, but the life of the Lord Jesus Christ to be seen (Philippians 1:21). A well-informed, spirit-led believer is in the best position for this to occur.
- As a Christian and as a scientist, my confidence in God’s Word is confirmed every time I look at the scientific evidence, and every time I look at the scientific evidence, my understanding of God’s Word is enhanced. Truly God’s Word and God’s world are both accurate self-authenticating and mutually reinforcing records of the unobserved past.
- How could a God of love declare everything as “very good” (Genesis 1:31) if He had created man by such a cruel and callous method as evolution?
- The Bible clearly teaches that from man’s sin came death (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21). Evolution teaches that by death came man.
- Jesus appears to accept Genesis literally and clearly quotes from it (Matthew 19:4).
- If God is God, then what He has said must be true. I believe that if we test it, our reasonable faith will be strengthened. (1 Peter 3:15).