A Case for the Bible 101: Creation and/or evolution? Some reasons it is important for Christians to understand

It has been said that many intelligent people believe in evolution as a means for the origin of complex life because other intelligent people believe in evolution as a means for the origin of complex life. Is this intelligence or blind faith? Maybe the “Emperor of Evolution” will finally be told that he is not wearing any clothes!

Young people today often cite science as the main reason for their disbelief or disinterest in Christianity and the Bible. When pressed most will say that science has disproven the Bible’s account of creation, and that evolution has been shown to be the mechanism for the origin and existence of all life today. In public education this is taught as fact and any other presentation of evidence could be grounds for ridicule and sometimes even worse, dismissal. I know, cause I work in that system!

Keep in mind that public education is controlled by the “philosophies” of secular humanism. Secular humanistic reasoning does not allow for anything pointing to a “Divine Footprint” under the guise of separation of church and state. However, real science should follow the evidence to wherever it leads, and if we do we will find more support for the existence of a Creator, and the truths of Christianity, than for the evolutionary theories that have been indoctrinated today.

A few things to keep in mind when considering theories about the origin of life:

1. Presuppositions:

• The preconceived ideas scientist hold can affect their research methods: Atheism, agnosticism, naturalism, theism etc. – these world-views, like it or not, influence outcomes (bias is not suppose to be involved in research, but most people will lean toward evidence that supports their internal beliefs)
• The assumptions scientists make based on current paradigms – if the evidence does not fit the models in place it is thrown out
• Keep in mind, there is a lot of money dished out to researchers who do work in support of the establishment’s doctrine, not many are willing to support, or financially back, research outside the approval of those in charge of these mainstream programs

2. The role and limits of science:

• Science is suppose to study and reports on how things observably work, and we cannot observe what happened millions of years ago
• The laws of nature are descriptive (we can observe how things work today), not prescriptive (we cannot observe how things began to work a particular way)
• Secular science today does not (will not) give metaphysical answers even if the evidence points in that direction

3. We must understand the word Evolution:

• Evolution is a misleading term because it is overarching and broad in its scope and definition
• When we discuss and debate the origin of life issue, keep in mind the difference between microevolution (observable changes within species that we can see) and macroevolution (the assumption by evolutionists that species evolve from one kind into another completely different kind)

Microevolution:

• All scientists, including Christians, agree on observable microevolution
• Microevolution is better referred to as adaption or micro-adaptation due to natural selection—this is observed when species alter their characteristics based on environmental conditions, food source needs, or disease—but we never see any of these factors resulting in a change of one kind into another
• Microevolution is evidenced in the diversity of life that is measurable and observable
• Humans can manipulate changes within certain species by selective breeding, but again there is no change of kind (like cat to dog, or horse to elephant)
• Taxonomists are in disagreement on where certain organisms fall and where cross-breading can occur in the taxonomic hierarchy, but kind would probably fall somewhere between Genus and Order

Does microevolution’s observable evidence lead to this next assumption?

Macroevolution:

• Evolutionary scientists take the observable evidence of microevolution and infer that the diversity of life we see today has evolved through a gradual series of changes over time, creating new and better life-forms – for example: Humans and monkeys have evolved and branched from extinct ape-like creatures, or amphibians evolved from fish-like creatures, or birds from reptiles
• Evolutionists teach that you can take this “philosophical assumption” (because it cannot be observed) back to where all life began as single cell bacteria-like organisms in a primordial fluid (although admittedly they do not know where this primordial fluid came from), and this fluid is said to be the foundation by which random chance conditions were able to produce the first building blocks of life called amino acids

The truth: Macroevolution is unobservable and untestable, it is not a conclusion using the scientific method, and contrary to popular belief, it does not have the required evidence in the areas that it claims to such as the highly regarded fossil record and genetics

To summarize:

Microevolution: Changes within species (or kinds), better known as adaptation, is true based on observation.

vs.

Macroevolution: A change from one “kind” of living thing into a new “kind” of living thing, is false because it cannot be, and has never been, observed.

In addition, to even get the conversation started evolutionists must answer the genesis question: Where did the first of anything come from?

Going Deeper:

Watch this awesome presentation by Dr. Sean McDowell called “Cross Examining Evolution” 

Also, take a look at these “street interviews” as Ray Comfort exposes the fallacy of evolutionary theory in the documentary “Evolution vs. God,” by Living Waters:

Reflection:

1. What are three things to keep in mind when discussing evolutionary theory?
2. What is the difference between “microevolution” and “macroevolution?”
3. Prayer focus: That public education would allow the teaching of “Intelligent Design” and “Creation” into the science conversation when it comes to origin and diversity of life.

Join us next week as we continue our “Case for the Bible” and the evidence of MAPS-S (manuscripts, archeology, prophecy, science, and saved lives)

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15