The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedic
science fiction piece, written by Douglas Adams, a British comedian who has
worked with other British comedians, such as Graham Chapman, who is most famous
for starting the comedy group Monty Python. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy has gone from radio show to television show to books and to a movie.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy begins with the main character,
Arthur Dent, waking up one morning to find out his house is going to be
demolished that very morning in order to make room for an interstate highway.
That same afternoon, Arthur Dent finds out that his home planet Earth is going
to be destroyed in order to make room for an intergalactic highway. Unknown to
him, Arthur’s friend Ford Prefect is an alien, and Ford knows how to escape and
survive by hitchhiking throughout the galaxy. The whole story focuses around
Arthur Dent’s adventures as he hitchhikes through the galaxy.
On one of his adventures, Arthur learns that, many millennia
ago, in a planet far away, an ancient alien civilization wanted to know the
answers to “life, the universe, and everything.” So the ancient civilization
invents a machine to give them this answer. It takes centuries for this machine
to be invented and built, and it takes more centuries for the machine to
process the answer. But after several years, the machine finally gives the
alien civilization the answer: 42. After a while of arguing between the aliens
and the machine whether a number is a legitimate answer for such a profound
question, the machine helps reveal to the aliens that they really don’t know
what the question of “life, the universe and everything” is, for if they did,
they would know 42 is the perfect answer to it. When the alien people ask the
machine, if it knew the question, the machine sadly said it did not, but it
could give them instructions on how to build the machine that would tell them
the question. This new machine would be called “Earth.”
By the time this hits the conclusion, it will come full
circle to explain why this is so important. But for now, ponder at the ancient
alien civilization’s curiosity to find the answers to “life, the universe and
everything.” Douglas Adams seems to be suggesting here that, if intelligent
life exists on other planets, they too would want to know the answers to “life,
the universe and everything,” just like human beings do on planet Earth. In
fact, psychologists say that’s exactly why religion exists on planet Earth.
According to psychologists, religion exists to answer 4 questions: origins (Where
did we come from?), meaning (What are we here for?), morals (What is right and
wrong?), and destiny (Where are we supposed to be going?). Another way to look
at it is that religion exists to give humans the answers about their past
(origins), present (meaning and morals) and future (destiny). Christianity
indeed is a religion an attempts to answer all these questions. To answer them
all right here and right now is too big of a task, so for now, let’s just focus
on one. This time, let’s focus on The Origin of Life and the Universe.
The Testimony of the
“Typical” Christian
Before we dive into any Biblical knowledge or scientific knowledge, let’s start with a testimony. I always believe that it’s easier to tackle hard subjects when we understand where people are coming from with their life’s story. When it comes to this subject, however, it seems hard to find a single testimony from a single person that gives the stereotypical testimony of what the average Christian goes through. Even my own testimony is far from average. So what I have decided to do is create a fictional, hybrid testimony of what a “typical” Christian’s testimony might look like. We’ll even give the guy the name Christian.
Christian was born and raised in a Christian home. Being
born and raised in a Christian family, Christian began going to church since he
was one week old. At age 3, when Christian began preschool, he also began
Sunday school. Since the church’s Sunday school curriculum goes in order of
Bible books, the first Sunday school lesson Christian gets is the Creation
story, right out of Genesis 1. At the young age of 3, this is how Christian
understands how life and the universe came to be in existence-
In the beginning: heavens and the earth
1st day: light, darkness, day night2nd day: The sky
3rd day: Land, seas, plants
4th day: Sun, moon, stars
5th day: Fish in the sea and birds in the air
6th day: Animals and humans
7th day: God finished and rested
Therefore, at the age of 3, the Creation story, right out of
Genesis 1, is Christian’s answer to life and the universe. As the Sunday school
curriculum loops, this story will be reinforced throughout Christian’s life
again and again. This view will be uncontested throughout Christian’s preschool
years and elementary school years.
Then, halfway through Christian’s childhood, whether it be
as early as middle school or as late as high school, this view will be
contested. See, Christian goes to the local public school. One day, Christian’s
public school science teacher announces, “For the next chapter, the class will
look at the origins of life and the universe.” Christian thinks to himself,
“Cool! We’ve never talked about the Bible in school before!” (Christian
sometimes wondered why, but never thought about it too hard, for he figured it
was a complicated reason.) “It will be new and exciting to talk about the Bible
with my classmates.” Christian’s science teacher continues, “This next chapter
is on evolution.” All Christian can think is, “Wait, what?” but has no time to
deal with his confusion, for he has to keep up with his teacher’s lecture to
take notes. The teacher throws brand new terms at him, like macroevolution,
microevolution, mutations, natural selection, primordial soup, Cambrian
explosion and survival of the fittest. All these new terms just through
Christian into a deeper confusion. What’s really making Christian’s head spin
now his answer on the Origin of Life and the Universe is split between Creation
and Evolution.
Christian makes his way home, still having a headache from
all the confusion science class gave him. He decides that maybe the best way to
figure this all out is to get on the family computer, log on to the internet
and do his own research on the subject of evolution. His confusion does not
clear up, however, when he finds out that not all the scientists can agree on
evolution. Some evolutionists are calling themselves “Darwinists.” They say
that Charles Darwin got it right originally, and since then, evolution has been
tainted. The most pure evolution theory is the one Darwin wrote up. Other
evolutionists call themselves “Neo-Darwinists.” They claim that Charles Darwin
was on the right track, but really didn’t know as much as the science world
knows today. The Neo-Darwinists claim that they have updated Darwin’s theories
to be more accurate. On top of that, Christian discovers that, while all
evolutionists agree life evolved, they cannot all agree on how life started.
Some say that life started in a primordial soup: a lake with all the right
building blocks of life got struck by lightning, which was the energy boost to
put the blocks together and form life. Other evolutionists say that Earth only
contained 99% of the building blocks, but one day, a meteorite with the other
1% hit earth, and when it hit earth, the blocks began building life. Still
others claim that life evolved out of crystals evolving. All these theories
within the evolution theory has Christian’s head spinning.
At the same time, it’s giving Christian a smug sense of
satisfaction. “Hmm,” Christian thinks to himself. “These evolution scientists
can’t agree on anything. They have no idea what they are talking about. This
must mean Creation must be the right answer because we Christians have it all
together.” Christian there and then decides that his essay for this chapter in
his science class will be on how Creation is right and evolution is wrong. So
Christian begins doing his research on proving how Creation is right. To
Christian’s surprise, he finds out that the Christians can’t agree on Creation
either! He discovers Christians fighting and arguing over 5 different theories
of Creationism: Literal 6-day Theory, Day-Age Theory, Gap Theory, Intermitten
Theory and Literary Framework Analogy. Now Christian find himself confused about
Creationism, too, because he has to deal with just as many theories as he does
with evolution!
On top of that, Christian finds the Creationists attacking
the evolutionists, and the evolutionists attacking the Creationists. Christian
yells out in anguish, “Can’t we all just get along?!” And one theory stands out
and says, “Yes, we can.” The theory calls itself Theistic Evolution. It claims
the best of best worlds: it supports the observations made in science, while
still believing in the God of the Bible. But this compromise doesn’t help
Christian; it just makes things worse. The Creationists and Evolutionists were
going at it so hard. The only thing they seemed to agree on is that a person
had to be on one side or the other. They might also agree that trying to find a
compromise would lead to contradiction. Truly a middle ground can’t
exist…right?
Poor Christian. He’s as confused as ever. Perhaps your
testimony might sound somewhat similar to that. Maybe you’re as confused as
Christian. I plan on helping you. First, we’re going to look at the testimony
of history, for history’s testimony is just as strong as the typical
Christian’s testimony. Next, we are going to look at 8 Icons of Evolution, 8
Icons which all evolution scientists hold as proof of their theory, and we will
test them ourselves and see how well they stand. Then, we’ll look at 6
different views of Creation, examining each one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Finally, we’ll conclude by drawing scientific, Biblical and theological
conclusions, and even come full circle to Arthur Dent hitchhiker through the
galaxy.
The Testimony of
History
Just like the “typical” Christian’s testimony, history can
have a powerful testimony on the subject at hand. Many people’s beliefs,
possibly including the “typical” Christian, can be influenced by their time in
history. This influence can include everything from scientific discoveries to
changes in religion and philosophy to simply what’s popular in a certain
culture. Therefore, this section will do a brief and compact (in no way exhaustive)
look at the history of mankind’s answer to the origins of life and the
universe, looking at certain milestones in history.
Ancient History,
Ancient Religions
The section title simply sums it all up, but I will expand
on it a bit. Simply put, if you were living in the ancient world, whatever
society or culture you grew up, you believed in that society’s/culture’s
religion, and whatever myth that religion gave you about how the world came to
be, that’s what you believed to be true. So if you were an ancient Egyptian,
you believed the ancient Egyptian creation myth. If you were a Canaanite, you
believed the Canaanite creation myth. If you were a Philistine, you believed
the Philistine creation myth. If you were Assyrian, you believed the Assyrian
creation myth. If you were Babylonian, you believed the Babylonian creation
myth. If you were Persian, you believed the Persian creation myth. So on and so
forth.
The Greek Philosophers
After last section, I bet would expect to continue on
saying, “If you were an Ancient Greek, you’d believe the Greek creation myth.”
Indeed, this was true for the most part, but it wasn’t true for all of history.
There were the Greek philosophers. If you remember from your Ancient Greek
history class, the Greek government charged the Greek philosophers with 2
crimes: corrupting the youth and denying the existence of the Greek gods and
goddesses. Yes, the Greek gods were charged with atheism, and rightfully so.
Now the Greek philosophers probably weren’t the first atheists, but they were
the first to make it “a thing.” Before then, if someone was an atheist, their
thought pattern was somewhere along the lines of, “I practice my religion
because it’s part of my culture, but I really don’t believe it.” The Greek
philosophers were the first to make a philosophy and a religion, which could be
publically proclaimed and practiced.
Once the Greek philosophers came to be atheists, they must
have realized something else was now missing. “Wait a minute,” maybe one
thought aloud, “all these years we’ve believed the world came to be through the
gods and goddesses. If the gods and goddesses don’t exist, then how does the
world exist?” So the Greek philosophers did what they did best: they thought.
They made observations in nature, they thought about them, and then they made conclusions.
Their conclusions would be some of the first bits and pieces of evolution. I
bet you’re thinking to yourself, “What are you doing? You’re hinting that once
any kind of theistic religion is taken out of logic and reasoning, then the
clear answer is evolution. You’re not helping your stance!” Ah, but I am. I am
going to argue the complete opposite. It’s not when one takes out theism, one
gets science. Rather, I argue that once one inserts atheism, one gets evolution.
Throughout all of this, I am going to continually make a connection between
atheism and evolution. Evolution will only arise from atheists attempting
science. We’ll see it happen again in history.
Paley and the
Watchmaker
Shortly after the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire conquered
as the dominant empire. Those familiar with history will recall that in 313
A.D. Roman Emperor Constantine turned the Roman Empire into the Holy Roman
Empire by establishing Christianity as the state religion. Everyone in the empire
had to be Christian, and when everyone did, they all became believers in the
Creation story as portrayed in Genesis 1 and 2, just like young Christian did.
It would stay this way throughout the Early Church years, the medieval church
years and the Reformation church years. I don’t want anyone to get the idea,
however, that throughout those decades and centuries, everyone blindly believed
in a 6-day creation. During those years, people were developing teleological
arguments, or defense of a Creator God creating the world using logic and
reasoning. True, this isn’t the science known today (mainly because the
scientific method of today wasn’t invented until the 1900s), but this is the
logic and reasoning used by the Greek philosophers to start the ball rolling
with evolution. Such men who made a teleological argument were Thomas Aquinas,
William Turner and John Ray. For my example, I will use one of the later and
more recent examples, William Paley.
Suppose you’re taking, let’s say the beach. During your walk,
you see a watch on the ground (and for this argument, it’s an analogue watch.)
What’s the first thought that comes to your mind? Pause from reading this and
actually think about it. Got it? I can’t guess exactly what you thought. Maybe
you thought, “Somebody lost their watch,” or “What a nice watch,” or “Lucky me!
I got a new watch!” But I can tell you what you didn’t think: “Wow! Centuries of weathering and erosion has
produced such a lovely watch!” Why not? It’s not natural to think that way.
How did Stonehenge get here? How about the Easter Island
statues? It’s a trick question. Nobody knows. People have been guesses,
anywhere from ancient societies to even aliens. But no one dares suggests
thousands of years of weathering and erosion. On the same note, take a little
child to Mount Rushmore. The child doesn’t need to know who they are; just ask
the kid how he or she thinks the faces got there. The story might get crazy,
but I guarantee that the child will never say, “Oh, clearly it’s hundreds of years
of weathering and erosion.” It’s not natural to think that way.
Why is it not natural to think that way? When we see design,
we want to believe there has to be a creator. When we see a complex design, we
have to believe there’s an intelligent creator. That’s the heart of the
teleological argument. Despite all the science Christians have discovered, this
argument is still one of the strongest arguments for God. Sure, it alone will
not bring you the Christian God, but it will at least get someone pondering
there is a Creator God out there.
Charles Darwin and The
Origin of the Species
Let me give a short testimony to the life of Charles Darwin
before diving into his contributions with evolution. Believe it or not, Charles
Darwin also went to Christ’s College seminary, an offshoot of Cambridge
University, to become an Anglican clergyman. While successful, Darwin never
really liked it. What Darwin did like was his cousin Emma Wedgwood. The two of
them fell in love, got married and had children. The marriage, however, far
from happily ever after. Two children died before seeing their second birthday,
and one died at the age of 10. This took a toll on Darwin’s faith and beliefs.
It’s hard to say where Charles Darwin was faith-wise before these tragic
events. No one knows if he was conservative or liberal, or if he was
evangelical or deist. But after having to put three children in the ground,
Charles Darwin was an atheist. (Even if Charles Darwin believed in God after
that, his view of God would be far from the Christian God of the Bible.)
While seminary at Christ’s College never caught Charles
Darwin’s interest, the field of naturalism at Cambridge University did catch
his interest. So Darwin transferred out of the seminary program at Christ’s
College and transferred into the naturalism field in Cambridge University.
During his studies, Charles worked on the harbor, unloading and loading ships.
Some of Darwin’s favorite ships to work on were the one sailing with the
naturalist scientists. The naturalist scientists sailed across the world,
studying nature. Charles loved to listen to their tales. When the naturalist
scientists heard that Darwin was pursuing the naturalism field, they invited
him to join them on one of their expeditions. After much coaxing, Charles
decided to go. On December 27, 1831, the HMS Beagle set off on a worldwide
expedition, surveying wildlife around the world. The highlight of the trip was
the Galapagos Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Ecuador, because
scientists believed man had not touched these islands since the dawn of time.
On the Galapagos Islands, Darwin’s favorite animals to observe were the
platypus, the tortoise, the mockingbird, and especially the finches. Charles
would write all his observations down in a journal, which the world would later
know as The Origin of the Species. The voyage ended about a year later.
Upon arriving home, Darwin took his journal, brought it to his desk upstairs,
put it in a drawer, shut it, and completely forgot about it. That would have
been the end of that…if all his other naturalists buddies were like that. No,
they were more excited about their finds and discoveries. They rushed to have
them edited and published. One of the naturalists, a close friend of Charles,
wrote in his acknowledgements, “I’d like to thank Charles Darwin for his
observations and all his help.” People who read this were bewildered. What’s
the former seminary student doing studying evolution? Don’t the godless believe
in evolution and naturalism? Darwin now felt obligated to defend himself. On
November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published The Origin of the Species.
Let me take the time to mention a few things about The
Origin of the Species, which will include some misconceptions. As stated
above, Charles Darwin never really intended to publish the observations he made
in his journal. That’s simply what the journal was: mere observations. Darwin
does not make any big theories. He does not propose a big bang start of the
universe. He does not propose a single common ancestor. Yes, late in life, in a
correspondence letter, Darwin says he’d be open to the idea of a single common
ancestor, but the conditions would have to be right, which would include a lot
of “if”s. When Charles published his journal, science did not know the
difference between microevolution, which is changes that happen within a
species (or sometimes a genus), and macroevolution, which is changes that bring
about a new species or a new genus. Today, people know the difference, and
looking at The Origin of Species from today’s standpoint, the truth is
Darwin only speaks of microevolution, not macroevolution. Darwin also faced
other difficulty in his time. Charles did not know about DNA, chromosomes or
genes. Darwin also didn’t know how complex cells, tissues and organs really
were. To roughly quote the movie documentary Expelled, “Darwin saw the
cell as like a mud hut; today we know the cell is more like the International
Space Station.” All Charles could go by were phenotypes, or outward
appearances. By only going by phenotypes and not getting down to the cellular
level, Darwin’s observations were basic, simple and elementary. Now of days,
Darwin’s theories need to be constantly updated to fit modern science.
I know I said a lot about Charles Darwin, but just keep a
few important facts about him throughout all of this. First, I draw your
attention to the connection between atheism and evolution. Once the death of
his children brings Darwin to atheism, he will then proceed to making theories
about evolution. Second, keep in mind that Darwin’s Origin of the Species
is merely observations, and merely observations of the physical, outward
appearance at that. Third, remember that even Charles Darwin puts a way to
debunk his theory in his book: by proving that complex organs cannot come about
by numerous, successive, slight modifications.
The Scopes Monkey
Trial
Up to this point, evolution has always been the minority
view. Since the Christianizing of the Roman Empire in 313 AD, Creation as
stated in Genesis 1-2 has been the majority. The decade is the 1920s. The place
is Dayton, TN. The small town of Dayton is in financial trouble. Its economy is
collapsing. It needs to desperately get money back in the town, and I mean
desperate. What’s hurting the most is their tourism industries. After all, why
would someone want to visit a small town such as Dayton? They need to get
people back into Dayton. But how? Nothing like a good controversy to get
people’s attention. Recently, the Tennessee state legislature pass a
controversial law making teaching Creation official and teaching evolution
illegal. What a better way to challenge the law and grab people’s attention by
teaching evolution. But who will do it? The science teacher is a good teacher
and is loved by all. The school can’t risk losing him to some jail time. So the
school gets John Scopes. John Scopes is the football coach and substitute gym
teacher. He has a knowledge of teaching and somewhat a knowledge of science, so
teaching evolution shouldn’t be hard for him. So for a day, John Scopes taught
evolution in science class. Of course the kids can’t keep their mouths shut.
They run home and tell their parents, and the parents demand for his arrest.
The arrest is quite the spectacle. The authorities find John Scopes at the
local soda fountain, enjoying an ice cream and soda float. All the local press
is there, snapping away pictures as the police officer puts John in hand cuffs
and escorts him out the building. Like I said, quite the show.
The show didn’t stop there. Dayton got exactly what they
wanted. Overnight, the town size multiplied. All its hotels were booked, as
well as the hotels of the surrounding towns. The fanfare of it all turned the
town into a fair. Vendors set up food booths and game booths. People could go
to tables to purchase books and pamphlets about the creation and evolution
debate. Street preachers would stand on soap boxes on every corner, preaching
against the evils of evolution, along with a “turn or burn” call to repentance.
All this did help Dayton’s economy. The event brought in people, and the people
brought in money. But it was all at a cost. The town of Dayton turned itself
into a carnival.
The prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was a
Democratic politician and lawyer. He had taken the Democratic nomination for
president three times, losing all three. Hoping to get a fourth nomination,
Bryan decided to take the case as the prosecutor, believing that if he won, he
could define himself as the Christian choice for President, securing the
Christian vote. Defending John Scopes was attorney Clarence Darrow. Darrow was
a lawyer for the ACLU. The trial took 7 days and 2 days. It didn’t help that
there was a heat wave during the week of the trial. Since Tennessee law
required all men in court to wear full suits, the judge had to pass a ruling
allowing me to take off the jackets, and one day, since the courtroom was so
packed with hot bodies, the judge had to rule to have the trial outside on the
courtyard. During the 7-day trial, the trial began debating whether or not John
Scopes taught evolution, but the trial quickly turned to debating if evolution
should be taught it schools. The climax of the trial came on the last day, when
Bryan called himself to trial as an expert witness. Remember, this is not the
“I saw him did it” witness. This is the expert witness, someone who has
specialized knowledge in the field, like a forensic scientist. Someone should
have defined expert witness to Bryan, for Bryan appeared to be quite opposite.
Darrow would volley at him simple questions like, “How can the Bible say the
sun was created after the earth, when science says the earth is millions of
year old and the sun is billions of years old?” and Bryan could not answer
them. All he could do is parrot what preachers and teachers told him.
Once both men rested their cases, the jury deliberation took a matter of 9 minutes. Who was the winner? Well, that’s debatable. The jury decided that John Scopes was guilty. There was no debate about that. The guy taught evolution; he was guilty! He was fined $100 (with inflation, today that would be $1,345). If John Scopes was declared guilty, how is the win debatable? Remember I said the trial quickly shift to whether John Scopes taught evolution to whether evolution should be taught it school. In the debate whether John Scopes taught evolution, the prosecution won, but in the debate whether evolution should be taught in schools, the defense won. The defense made William Jennings Bryan, and anyone who believed in creation, as a dumb redneck hick. The truly intelligent believe the world came about through evolution. This is turning point in history, especially American history. From here on out, evolution takes the front burner and creation takes the back burner. Evolution is the majority and creation in the minority.
Once both men rested their cases, the jury deliberation took a matter of 9 minutes. Who was the winner? Well, that’s debatable. The jury decided that John Scopes was guilty. There was no debate about that. The guy taught evolution; he was guilty! He was fined $100 (with inflation, today that would be $1,345). If John Scopes was declared guilty, how is the win debatable? Remember I said the trial quickly shift to whether John Scopes taught evolution to whether evolution should be taught it school. In the debate whether John Scopes taught evolution, the prosecution won, but in the debate whether evolution should be taught in schools, the defense won. The defense made William Jennings Bryan, and anyone who believed in creation, as a dumb redneck hick. The truly intelligent believe the world came about through evolution. This is turning point in history, especially American history. From here on out, evolution takes the front burner and creation takes the back burner. Evolution is the majority and creation in the minority.
And that’s where we are today.
(If you ever want to get a better understanding of what
happened at Scopes Monkey trial, just watch the movie Inherit the Wind.
This movie has been done and redone a few times, and each one is good.)
The 8 Icons of
Evolution
This section is named after a book of the same name written
by Jonathan Wells. The Icons of Evolution are examples that all evolution
scientists will use as “proofs” to back up evolution. In his book, Wells has
ten; I have eight. Some of our proofs are similar, while others are different.
I will make a quick disclaimer here. I am not a scientist; I am a theologian. I
did, however, take a college-level science course on the creation vs. evolution
debate. I read many books and articles about both sides of the debate, I
listened to lectures and debates, I even performed experiments and participated
in a class debate of my own. From all of it, combining it with my logic and
reasoning, the same logic and reasoning a Greek philosopher would use, I
concluded what I am about to report about these Icons of Evolution to be true.
I hope you do, too. Let’s take a look at these 8 Icons of Evolution
Embryology Record
Who remembers seeing this chart in science class? It’s a
picture with eight different species of animals (one of which is human) over
three stages in the embryo cycle. Evolution scientists will point out how all
eight of these species looks very similar during all three cycles. Evolution
scientists will claim this is evolution at hand. They claim that it shows that
all eight species come from a common animal ancestor, and the differences can
be accounted for through slight modifications through mutation.
Ever notice that this chart is always a drawing and never
photographs? Surely with the technology of today, the drawings can be replaced
by photographs. They can be, but the evolution scientists won’t do it. That’s
because they if they did, everyone would notice the species are all quite the
different at these three stages. These drawings are really charactertures of
the embryos, overemphasizing the similarities to make them noticeable. Now some
of the artists who draw these will acknowledge that they are charactertures,
but will quickly defend that they only did it to emphasize the similarities.
First of all, if the embryological record is really evidence of evolution,
shouldn’t it be obvious to be seen, and not needed emphasis? Second, like I
said, these similar characteristics aren’t emphasized, there are
overemphasized. Furthermore, Ernst Haeckel, the man who first drew up these
examples, was extremely selective in the species he chose and the stages he
chose. He chose these stages because they are the three times in embryo cycle
where the eight animals do look the most similar. If anyone looked at the stage
before the first stage, the stage after the third stage, and the in-between
phases, these animals would all look very different. He chose those animals
because they do look similar in certain stages. If Haeckel would have choose
other, even animals that are supposedly “closer related” to each other, they
would look much different. This drawing is so selective, it is biased.
And then there were 7.
Homologous Structures
Who remembers seeing this chart in science class? The
picture shows the limbs from several different vertebrate animals. Evolution
scientists will point out that these structures are very similar in nature.
Once again, evolutionists say homologous structures point to evolution. All
these animals had a single common ancestor, and over time each animal evolved
its structure to adjust to its needs through natural selection and mutation.
Ever notice how these pictures are mostly always color coded
to show the onlooker how the structures are similar? Why do I need color
coding? Once again, if this is really evidence, shouldn’t it be obvious? It’s
not obvious because they are different structures. If they were really similar
structures, we, as humans, would be able to run like horses, swim like whales
and fly like bats. Even when they group similar animals together, like
“runners,” “swimmers,” “fliers” and “graspers,” they still do each function
incredibly differently. Even if scientists want to call these homiologous
structures instead of homologous structures (homio is the prefix of “similar,”
while homo is the prefix for “same”), I would argue this is not evidence of
evolution, but rather evidence for an intelligent creator. If I invented a new
car engine, I would use it in all my cars, including my trucks and my vans.
Sure, I would modify to work for a different vehicle (perhaps the truck needs
eight cylinders, while the car only needs six), but I wouldn’t invent a brand
new, totally different engine for it. In the same way, only an intelligent
creation, by design, would use similar structures to creature perfectly
functioning animals.
And then there were 6.
Vestigial Parts
Vestigial parts are body parts that no longer any function
in the body. Evolution scientists claim vestigial parts prove evolution because
the body has evolved beyond using that part. The most common example
evolutionist point towards is the whale’s foot bone. They claim it proves that
the whale at once had a land-dwelling ancestor, but the species eventually
evolved back to a swimming creature, and since swimmers don’t need feet, the
foot bone became a vestigial part.
According to the theory of evolution, evolution happens to
advance a species. It would seem like the vestigial parts do help advance the
species because the species no longer needs that part. But that’s not always
the case. Sometimes, when a part becomes useless, it becomes a hindrance. The
best example is the human vestigial part: the appendix. The appendix seems to
have no apparent use for the human today (scientists hypothesized at one point
it helped humans with digestion). But today, the appendix is a ticking time
bomb. It is full of poison. If it bursts, it can kill the person. Even if the
person survives, it can make the person’s life miserable. So much for advancing
the species. Real advancement would be if evolution could make the vestigial
part disappear altogether.
And then there were 5.
Fossil Record
Shrek would compare the earth to an onion, and Donkey would
compare the earth to a cake, because the earth’s crust has layers. Each layer
comes from a different time period in the earth’s natural history. The further
down one goes, the further back in history one goes. Each layer has different
fossils, indicating different plants and animals. The lower layers,
representing the earlier years, have fewer fossils, and the higher layers,
representing more recent years, have more fossils. Evolutionist scientists
point this out as a proof of evolution, showing that the reason the earth has
so many species today is that they all evolved from a common ancestor back
then.
In making this proof, evolution scientists, however, have
forgotten about one of their laws of evolution. According to the theory of
evolution, growth, natural selection, mutations, and overall evolution must
happen at a constant rate, without time borders. The fossil records ruin all of
this. Let me simplify this to explain it. If the evolution growth rate was a
base 2, the first generation would have 1 species, the second generation would
have 2 species, the third generation would have 4 species and the fourth
generation would have 8. If the growth rate was a base 3, the first generation
would have 1 species, the second generation would have 3, the third generation
9, and the fourth 27. If it was a base 4, the first generation would have 1 species,
the second generation would have 4, the third generation 16, and the fourth 64.
If a base of 5, the first generation would have 1 species, the second
generation would have 5, the third generation 25, and the fourth 125. But it
doesn’t work like that at all. In reality, the earth’s layers might start out
with a constant, but then that constant go ballistic in every direction.
Sticking with our simplified model, it would be like the first generation
starts out with 1 species, and the fourth generation has 73 species. Evolution
scientists have to account for that it. So they have species evolving at
different rates over different time periods, violating the constant law all
over. Some scientists even ascribe to the “Cambrian Explosion” theory, which
says during the Cambrian era, evolution happened at a much expanded rate. True,
there are more fossils are the “Cambrian level” of the crust, but they use this
to claim that the evolution constant reset itself, violating their own law even
more.
And then there were 4.
Fruit Flies
Evolution scientists have claimed to discover a fruit fly
that has evolved. This fruit fly has two pairs of wings, unlike the typical
fruit fly, which only has one. Evolutionists claim that evolution has advanced
the species by giving it an extra pair of wings.
First of all, this discovery of fruit flies with two pairs
of wings has only happened in laboratories, where scientists breed together
flies. Fruit flies with two pairs of wings have never been found in nature.
This proves creation by an intelligent creator over because these scientists
are intelligibly creating this modification by breeding the flies together.
Second, the second pair of wings on these fruit flies do not have any muscles
in them. Therefore, the fly cannot use them. These wings are now useless to
fly, only weighing it down, preventing it from flying straight. This violates
another law of evolution. According to the theory of evolution, evolution must
help the species advance. The second pair of wings does not help the fruit fly
advance. Instead, it hinders the fruit fly. It would have been better if the
fruit fly still only had one pair of wings.
And then there were 3.
Hox Gene
The homeotic gene, or hox gene, is a gene in some organisms
that allow mutations to occur at the embryo stage. Evolution scientists point
to this gene as responsible for causing the mutations that created all the
species through evolution. They claim that only some of the species will have
this gene. Those that do are the ones that go on to live, via survival of the
fittest, to produce the new species.
In reality, further research of this gene shows everyone
from every species has this gene. Furthermore, this gene activates in what
humans call the third trimester, which is too late to cause any real mutations.
And then there were 2.
The Galapagos Islands
Finches
As noted above, one of Charles Darwin’s favorite animals to
observe on the Galapagos Islands was the finches. Darwin observed 12 different
types of finches while on the islands. Charles noted that he could not find all
12 finches on a single island. Different finches were on different islands. He
took all the finches that were on the same island, looked at their diet, look
at their beaks, and match all those observations together. Darwin noted that
each island had its own vegetation. Each finch ate from the same vegetation,
and each finch had a beak that was able to eat of that vegetation. For example,
the islands that had nuts had finches with beaks made to break open nut shells.
Charles concluded that all finches came from a single finch ancestor, and as
these finches migrated to different islands, their beaks evolved through
natural selection and mutation in order to adjust to their new diet.
Now recall everything I said earlier about The Origin of
Species. Remember that Charles Darwin only knew about phenotypes, which are
outward appearances, and not genotypes, which are things like DNA, chromosomes
and genes. Darwin made these observations and conclusions by merely looking at
the phenotypes. If Charles would have known about genotypes, he would have seen
that all 12 types of finches share 98% to 99% of the same DNA. This means that
these aren’t really different species of finches, but more like different
breeds of finches. To call all these different finches different species would
be like saying a greyhound and a doxen are two different species. The slight
changes in the beaks is what we would call microevolution, which are slight
modifications within a species (or sometimes a genus). This is very different
from macroevolution, which are changes that develop brand new species or a
brand new genus. But remember, Darwin doesn’t know the difference, so he simply
calls it “evolution.” If Charles knew the difference, he may not have suggested
that they came from a single finch ancestor, he definitely would not suggested
that the finches came from a single bird ancestor.
And then there was 1.
Antibiotic Resistant
Single-Cell Bacteria
If you’re paying attention to medical science, a crisis has
arisen in the pharmaceutical field. Single-cell germs and bacteria are becoming
more and more resistant to our pain killers and symptom relievers. They are
becoming so resistant that it’s causing the drug companies to abandon their old
medicine recipes and seek new ones because the old have little to no effect on
these germs and bacteria. While this is making medical scientists unhappy, it’s
making evolution scientists quite happy. They make it an icon of evolution.
They claim these bacteria are evolving through natural selection. When they encounter
they antibiotic, the weaker bacteria dies out, when the stronger bacteria lives
and produces more antibiotic resistant bacteria.
My answer is no different from the one above. This bacteria
is receiving slight modifications, but not enough to become a new species. It’s
the same bacteria with the same DNA. Therefore, this is microevolution at best,
but definitely not macroevolution.
And then there were none.
Conclusions about
Evolution and its 8 Icons
In this section, we have looked at eight examples all
evolutionists will hold as proof of evolution. We’ve heard from evolution
scientists and creation scientists. We have applied logic and reasoning that
would make the Greek philosophers proud. I have come to conclusions, and I hope
you have come to the same. Icons 1 to 6 simply are not true. Icons 7 and 8
prove microevolution, which would prove slight modifications can happen within
a species (or a genus), but have not proved macroevolution, which means a
species cannot change enough to become another species (or a genus).
Now I have a guess you’re about skip down to the comments
section to angrily accuse me of being “anti-science.” Hold on; I beg you to
listen a little bit longer. I am not anti-science. I know that all facts of
physics are true. I know that if you drop a watermelon and a cherry from a
tower at the same time, they will both hit the ground at the same time. I know
that all facts about chemistry are true. I know that the salt water in the
ocean is comprised of a molecule that is a 1 to 1 ratio of sodium and chlorine
in an ionic bond and a molecule with a 2 to 1 ratio of hydrogen and oxygen in a
covalent bond. There are other areas of biology I hold to be true. I know
plants produce their own food through photosynthesis. And I do believe microevolution
to be true. I know if you want to get pink carnations, you breed red carnations
and white carnations together. Any gardener knows that. I know that Noah did
not load any labradoodles (a cross-breed of a labrador and a poodle) or
goldendoodles (a cross-breed of a golden retriever and a poodle) in the Ark. I
know they are recently invented breeds. I’m not stupid.
What people don’t get, and it frustrates me people don’t get
it, is that science isn’t as objective as the modern era would like us to
think. No scientists go in with a pure, clean, fresh slate. They all have
presuppositions that come from their family, their friends, their philosophy
and their religions. Evolution scientists come in with a naturalism philosophy,
a philosophy that that believes that all that exists is in nature, and there is
nothing supernatural. Nothing supernatural means there’s no angels, no demons
and no God. What do we call the belief of no God? Atheism. There’s a strong tie
between naturalism and atheism, and there’s a strong tie between atheism and
evolution. When the Greek philosophers went atheist, it led them to set forth
the first building blocks of evolution. When Charles Darwin went atheist, he
developed evolution and made it famous. Still don’t believe me? There’s a
summer camp out there called Camp Quest. Camp Quest is the atheist equivalent
of summer Bible camp or summer church camp. Just like summer church camp, Camp
Quest has activities like crafts, games and swimming. They even have a study
time to learn. But if it’s not a Bible study, then what is it? You guessed it:
evolution. Of all things to teach children, they teach evolution. I beg you,
please see the correlation between atheism and evolution.
If you’re still not convince I am not anti-science, maybe
this will convince you. I think that Christians have been too harsh on Charles
Darwin. Darwin only wrote about microevolution, which most creation scientists
will acknowledge as fact. He never wrote on macroevolution. He didn’t even
ascribe to a single common ancestor late in life, and even then, he was
cautious because he knew everything would have to line up just right by chance.
In fact, Charles enjoyed listening to and wrestling with the teleological
arguments. Furthermore, although atheist, Darwin never made his evolutionary
observations and discovery a vendetta against God or Christians. Therefore, why
should Christians have a vendetta against him? Besides, it’s just not showing
the kindness and gentleness Jesus taught us to bear. Maybe if Christians were
slow to judge Darwin, maybe in turn evolutionists would be slow to criticize Christians
for believing differently.
6 Views of Creation
So far, we’ve looked at 8 icons of evolution, seen how they
are weak or non-existant, and thus have concluded that evolution is somewhere
between a weak theory and a bad theory. Since we took out the main, overall
theory, there’s no need to discuss any subtheories or differences because they
all hang on the main, overall theory. To use an analogy, we’ve cut off the
branch, and killed all the leaves along wth it. Now it’s time to look at the
creation side.of the argument. Although I bet there’s many more views, we’ll
look at 6 main views of creation. I’ll explain each one of them and provide
some of the proofs they give. We’ll look at strengths and weaknesses. Then, at
the end, I’ll let you decided which one you like the best, but I will mention
theology that all of them need to have.
Literal 6-Day Creation
Literal 6-Day Creation reads Genesis 1 and 2 in the most
literal straightforward way.God created the world exactly the way Genesis 1 and
2 records it. Every time in the Hebrew Old Testament the Hebrew word yom, the Hebrew word for “day,” gets
paired with a number, it always means a literal, 24-hour period. No one
believes Jonah lived inside the belly of the great fish for 3 millennia, No one
believes Esther and her maids fasted for 3 centuries. In each case, it says 3
days, and they meant 72 hours. The Old Testament Israelites/Jews would have
understood the creation to take 6 days with a 7th day of rest. After
all, this is why they established the work week to be 6 days long and the
Sabbath to be the 7th day of rest. Both the New Testament Jews and
the New Testament Christians understood the Creation story in Genesis 1 and 2
to literally happen that way. Jesus quoted Genesis 1:26, the part where God
literally creates man on the 6th 24-hour day of creation. Paul, too,
refers to Adam and Eve as really real people (cf. Romans 5:9-12, 1 Corinthians
11:8,9, 15:21,22,45-47, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Timothy 2:13,14, and many more!).
The Early Church Fathers believed the creation story to be true. The Christians
during the Reformation took the Creation literally. Historically speaking,
literal 6-Day Creation has been the dominant view for most of history. To
believe differently, a person has to go against centuries of historical
testimony.
To side with Literal 6-Day Creation, on the other hand,
takes a lot of guts. Literal 6-Day Creation opposes secular science the most. To
take Genesis 1 and 2 literally, the earth can only exist for 4,000 to 6,000
years. Science puts the Earth at about 4.5 billion years old. Furthermore,
secular science says the sun is 4.6 billion years old, making the sun older
than the earth. A literal reading of Genesis 1 records the earth as older than
the sun by a matter of 3 days. On a similar note, secular science states all
light must have a source. How can light exist on Day 1 when the sun or stars
don’t exist until Day 4? The Hebrew word yom,
while translated “day,” does not always mean a 24-hour period. The Day of the
Lord, yom YHWH, does not mean a
single, 24-hour day, but rather a time when the Lord reigns. So yom does not have to be restricted to 24
hours. This is why creation literalists need to mention that the number needs
to go with the word yom to make it a
literal 24-hour period. But it’s not that straightforward either. If a person
read Genesis 1 and 2 in the original Hebrew, he or she will notice days 2 to 6
do read with ordinal numbers (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th,
6th). Day 1 does not fit this pattern. In Genesis 1:5, yom ehad most literally translate into
“one day.” The creation literalists will argue it can be translated to “first
day” as well, or “one day” could be considered interchangeable with “first
day,” but that’s not always the case. Opponents of the literal creation will
say “one day” could mean “some day,” or “a day” or “a certain day,” like the
sentence, “One day, Christian learned about evolution in science class.” This
sentence does not mean Christian spent 24 hours straight listening to his
science teacher lecture about evolution. In the same way, Genesis 1:5 should
not be taken that way. On the opposite end, Genesis 2:2 rightfully reads “the
seventh day,” but it does not have the typical closing phrase of all the other
days: “and there was morning and there was evening.” Does this mean day 7
lasted more than 24 hours? That’s not the only problem with Genesis 2. Genesis
2:4-7 causes a whole lot of problems for the literalist. In Genesis 2:4-7, God
creates man before plants and animals, while in Genesis 1, plants and animals
come before man. If Genesis 2:4-7 is taken literally, it would seem to
contradict a literal reading of Genesis 1.
Day-Age Theory
Day-Age Theory begins by helpfully reminding the reader that
Genesis 1 comes for God’s perspective. Then it goes to 2 Peter 3:8, which
reads, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” According to Day-Age
Theory, God sees a millennium as a day. Together, when God says in Genesis 1 it
took him a day to create, it really took a millennium. Still, this would only make the earth 6,000
to 10,000 years old, still millennia away from what science says. So Day-Age
Theory says that a day is not a literal 24 hours, but rather just a time
period, which could be a million or a billion years. Day-Age Theory insists
that day does not have to mean 24 hours. They will use the “Day of the Lord”
example, saying that the Day of the Lord will last for millions or billions of
years. This theory makes so compromise to science, like the age of the sun and
the earth, as well as the microevolution, but does not compromise enough to
accept macroevolution.
Day-Age Theory correctly reminds everyone that Genesis 1
comes from God’s point of view, but the theory incorrectly views 2 Peter 3:8.
It takes it way out of context. 2 Peter 3:8 serves a reminder that God does
fulfill his promises, even though it may not be on our time table (cf. 2 Peter
3:9). The verse has no connection to the creation accounts, and thus has
nothing to do with creation. While the theory claims to allow microevolution
and not microevolution, it really doesn’t allow any kind of evolution. The
theory of evolution states (or at least claims) that for true evolution to
happen, evolution cannot have any time period borders. Even with Day-Age Theory
having “days” that are thousands, millions or billions of years, they are still
time periods with borders, and that would not suit any kind of evolution.
Day-Age Theory may have good reasoning behind it, but it still lacks any kind
of scientific backing, even if it makes compromises in order to side with
science.
Gap Theory
Remember when I told Christian’s testimony, I put God
creating the heavens and the earth in the beginning on a separate line than God
creating light on the first day? The Gap Theory is that reason. Gap Theory
keeps the two as two different, separate events. According to Gap Theory,
billions of years ago, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1).
Sometime later, the devil and his demons rebelled, and they were cast down on
the earth. This ruined and corrupted the earth, making it formless and empty (Gen
1:2). So God spent 6 days, 24 hours long, recreating and renewing the earth
(Gen 1:3-31). Just like Day-Age Theory, it compromises with science on the age
of earth, sun, moon and stars, but does not compromise with evolution.
Gap Theory shares a lot of criticisms with Day-Age Theory.
If it wants to compromise with science, it does not compromise enough.
Evolution will claim that the ancestors of our modern-day animals date back to
over a million years ago. Gap Theory would only allow today’s animal’s ancestors
to date back to 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. This would really create a problem
observing fossils. Again, Gap Theory will not allow evolution because of the
time borders. Some will say that Gap Theory’s Biblical Hermeneutics skills need
work. A formless and empty earth does not mean the earth is ruined or corrupt.
Genesis 3 shows that a fallen world is ruined a corrupt, not Genesis 1:2. The
earth being formless and empty just means the earth is incomplete. Gap Theory
might have good reasoning behind it, but it still lacks any scientific backing.
For this reason, Gap Theory really was just a fad. It was commonly held during
the 1970s and 1980s, but it is rarely defended today.
Intermittent Theory
Intermittent is almost a combination between Day-Age Theory
and Gap Theory. Intermittent Theory states that God created everything in 6
24-hour periods, yet it also says that these days are not consecutive days, but
rather there’s millions to billions of years between them. During these million
to billion years, they claim, evolution happened. Once again, most people who
hold onto Intermittent Theory believe only microevolution happened; few will
believe macroevolution happen. Intermittent Theory will also help account for
science’s old age of the sun and earth.
Since Intermittent Theory is a cross between Day-Age Theory
and Gap Theory, it encounters a lot of the same problems. Once again, despite
allowing millions and billions of years for evolution and old age of the sun
and earth, it still would create time borders, which evolution cannot be
limited by. Once again, Intermittent Theory makes use good logic or reasoning
to compromise with science, but it really has no science behind it.
Literary Framework
Analogy
The Literary Framework Analogy first seeks to understand the
Biblical background of the Creation story. So prior to looking at the Literary
Framework, we have to look at the background of Genesis. First, we have to know
who the author is. For simplicity’s sake, we’re going ignore the J.E.D.P.
theory (that’s another discussion for another time), and we’ll stick with the
traditional answer of Moses. Second, we have to know who the audience is. The
audience of Genesis is the Israelites. Now which generation of Israelites
depends on how one believes the Torah or Pentateuch (first 5 books of the
Bible) was compiled. If one believes that the Torah was written in progression,
that is, they were written as they happened, the audience of Genesis is the
older generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt. If one believes the
Pentateuch was written together, it would be the younger generation of
Israelites, who are the children of the Israelites who came out of Egypt, which
means they have no recollection of the slavery or the plagues. Although the
message would be more important for the latter, it really doesn’t matter.
Third, we have to know where they are. The Israelites are encamped in the Sinai
Desert, between Egypt and Canaan, the Promised Land. Fourth, we have to
consider what’s happening. God has brought his chosen people out of Egypt. He
has led them to Mount Sinai to establish a covenant them. Now God is preparing
His people for the Promised Land.
Why is this all important? The best explanation comes from a
Bible verse. Everyone knows Joshua 24:15b, which reads, “But as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord,”
but few know the context. The context can be found in Joshua 24:14-15a. It
reads, “Now therefore fear the Lord
and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your
fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to
serve the Lord, choose this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond
the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” This passage
so well describes the context. Stuck between two lands, the Israelites have two
options of religions to worship. They can worship the Egyptian polytheism,
which they came out of, or they can worship the Canaanite polytheism, which
they are going into. But Joshua reminds them of a third option. They can
worship and serve the one and only true God, Yahweh. What makes Yahweh makes
one and only is that he’s unique. God wants His people to know that he’s unique
and nothing like the other gods in the other lands. Part of the reason we have
in Genesis in the Scriptures to show all of God’s people that God is nothing
like any foreign god.
So how is God different than other gods? Let’s look at one
of the creation myths. Let’s look at the Egyptian creation myth. According to
Egyptian creation myth, before the dawn of time, there was a dark, watery chaos
known as Nu. From Nu arose Atum, who created himself out of his own intellect
and willpower. Atum is an all-seeing and all-knowing god with an all-seeing
eye. First thing Atum creates is a hill because he has no place to stand in the
water. Atum looks around and is lonely because he sees no one around. He mates
with his own shadow to produce a son and a daughter. His son he spits out,
names him Shu, and puts him in charge of the air. His daughter he vomits out,
names her Tefnut, and makes her goddess of mist and moisture. Atum then
commands Shu and Tefnet to make that dark, watery chaos into order and
stability by creating principles and laws. These principles and laws Shu and
Tefnet called Maat. Using Maat, they separate the chaos into light and
darkness, and they give each one a place and time. Shu and Tefnet mate together
and produce Geb, the Earth, and Nut, the sky. When they are born, they are two
lovers, intertwined into each other’s arms. So Shu had to push Nut up into the
heavens. Geb and Nut longed to be together, but they could not in the name of
Maat, so they would give gifts to each other. Nut sends rain to Geb, and Geb
makes plants out of Nut’s rain. Every day, Nut gives birth to the sun at
sunrise and gives it to Geb, where it dies at sunset. But Nu is still not fully
conquered and Shu and Tefnut get lost in it. Atum sends his all-seeing eye out
to find. Eventually, the all-seeing eye finds them and brings them back to
Atum. Atum is so happy he cries tears of joy. Those tears of joy become the
first human beings. The humans are commanded to uphold Maat, tend to Geb, and
worship the gods. In exchange, the gods would protect and bless the creation,
especially the humans.
Believe it or not, this is one of the “nicer” creation
myths. Check out the Babylonian Creation Myth, known as the Enuma Elish. Once
again, the story begins with a watery chaos. There’s a chief god, Apsu (or
Abzu), who is the god of fresh water, and Tiamet, who is the goddess of salt
water. Once again, the two of them are lonely, so they mate in order to make
more gods and goddesses. Before they know it, Tiamet is pregnant with eight
gods. The gods inside Tiamet are very noisy, so noisy that it annoys Apsu and
Tiamet. Apsu is so annoyed that he wants to abort the gods, but Tiamet thinks
that’s going too far. So the two of them call forth Mummu to serve as a
mediator and judge. Mummu ends up agreeing and siding with Apsu. Tiamet, still
not wanting for her babies to die, finds the strongest god within her, Ea, and
devises a plan to take out Apsu and make Ea the chief god in his place.
Together, using magic, they place Apsu in a coma, and they kill Apsu in his
coma. To reward Ea, Tiamet releases Ea from her body, along with his sister and
wife Damkina. Ea and Damkina mate together and bring forth the god Marduk. They
make him god of the wind and give him the winds to play with. Instead of using
the winds for good, however, Marduk uses the winds to cause trouble, with
tornados and dust storms. This disrupts Tiamet and the gods within her, so much
they cannot sleep, which makes the gods cranky. The gods inside Tiamet guilt
Tiamet into believing this is her fault, but then they quickly turn the blame
to Ea for creating Marduk. They convince Tiamet that the only right thing to do
is avenge Apsu by putting to death Ea and putting another god as chief god.
Again, Tiamet finds the next strongest god, Kingu, and they conspire a plan. Together,
they create 11 monsters who kill Ea. Kingu now becomes the chief god. Kingu and
Tiamet rule as tyrants, in fear that another god or goddess will step out of
line and cause more disruption and trouble. Kingu and Tiamet rule so fiercly,
the other gods and goddesses constantly fear for their lives. Marduk, naturally
wants to avenge his fallen father, calls some of the other gods and goddesses
to his side to wage war against Kingu and Tiamet. Kingu and Tiamet align gods
and goddesses with them as well, and a divine war breaks out. Marduk ends up as
the victor. In the end of the war, Marduk and Tiamet fight one-on-one. Marduk
completely destroys her. He takes her body, rips it in half, places one half
above him and makes it heaven, and he places the other half below him and makes
it earth. Using the two halves, Marduk makes the sun, moon and stars in the
heavens and the plants on the earth. After fighting Tiamet, Marduk fights Kingu
one-on-one. Just like with Tiamet, Marduk defeats and destroys Kingu. The fight
is so bloody that fingers and toes fall off of Kingu. These fingers and toes
become humans. Like a pregnant teenage girl (sorry if this is too harsh, but
it’s the best comparison), Marduk has unplanned human life, and he doesn’t know
what to do with it. So Marduk decides to
enslave humans as servants of the gods, to do the gods’ bidding. If they do not
comply, they will receive curses. Not a pretty picture.
You’ve probably noticed some similarities and some
differences in both stories, but what striking is the difference of themes
between the polytheistic myths and the Creation story. In the myths, the
creation is mass chaos. The god(s) is(are) constantly struggling against the
chaos. The gods are fighting one another. Humans are accidently born, and the
gods don’t know what to do with them, so they enslave them and treat them
poorly. The true God, Yahweh, wants his people to know He is nothing like the
gods the Israelites hear about in the foreign nations’ stories. The Lord is
sovereignly in control. His creation had a plan and a purpose, with a future in
mind. At the creation, there was peace and order from the start, due to his
sovereign hand being in control. The creation submits to the creator, and yet
love abounds between the Creation and the creation.
Therefore, the literary framework analogy states that
Genesis 1 is God taking the creation myths of the ancient Middle Eastern
peoples and redeeming it in a way to show who God really is. Just like the
other creation myths, this creation story also begins with formless and empty
watery mass known as earth. Instead of struggling to subdue it, God spends 3
days forming the formless. Next, God spends 3 days, days 4 to 6, filling the
empty. Furthermore, the forming days parallel the filling days. Day 1 and Day 4
parallel each other because Day 1 begins with, “Let there be light…” and Day 4
begins with “Let there be lights…” Day 2 creates the sky by
separating water, and Day 5 fills the sky with birds and the waters with fish,
therefore a parallel happens. Day 3 forms land, and Day 6 fills the land with
animals, thus a parallel exists there, too. Finally, by Day 7, the formless is
formed, the empty is filled, so God can rest. In this way, God has created a
Creation story, similar to the ones of the surrounding nations, which is easy
to remember and teaches the Israelites about the true, loving God.
Beginning: Formless and empty
|
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Formless
Given
Form
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Day 1: Separate day from night. “Let there be light.”
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Day 4: Fill day & night with sun, moon & stars.
“Let there be lights...”
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Empty
Being
Filled
|
Day 2: Separate water from water to form sky
|
Day 5: Fill sky with birds and seas with fish
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Day 3: Separate water to form land
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Day 6: Fill the land with animals
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Day 7: Form, filled, complete. Rest.
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On the flip side, the biggest criticism of Literary
Framework Analogy can be summed up in a sentence uttered by Pontius Pilate in
John 18:38: What is truth? Those supporters of Literary Framework analogy will
say that the true being conveyed in Genesis 1 is that God was in charge, God was
in control and God loves. But when it comes to the truth on how the world came
to be, evolutionary science has that truth. If evolutionary science has the
truth for the earth’s origins, and it’s different than what’s written in
Genesis 1, does that mean Genesis 1 is a lie because that’s not how the earth
came to be? If Genesis 1 is a lie, and Christians believe the Bible, including
Genesis 1, is the Word of God, does that mean God lied? But doesn’t God always
speak the truth? Literary Framework supporters will come back and say, “Isn’t
God putting a full grown garden with full grown, fruit-producing trees lying
because the garden is only a few days old? If God made a tree to look like it’s
been around for years, but it’s only been around for a few days, isn’t that a
lie?” Opponents come back and say that it’s necessary and would foolish not to.
When God created man and woman, he could put an infant boy and an infant girl
in the Garden. They needed to be a full grown humans to survive. Supporters of
the Literary Framework says this further proves their point. It goes back and
forth. As stated already, it comes down to how someone defines “truth.”
Theistic Evolution
Theistic evolution is exactly what the name implies. It is
pretty much evolution to its fullest. The sun, moon, stars and earth are
billions of years old. Life started as a single cell bacteria and evolved over
millions of years into the species that exist today. The only difference, and
the big difference, is that God is the originator. God started off evolution
and let it go from there. How much God intervenes throughout the process
depends on which theistic evolutionistic is asked. They range from no interaction
whatsoever to God specially making man. As for Genesis 1, it’s not historically
or scientifically accurate. It might be a myth, a legend, a fable, a parable, a
story or an allegory, but it’s definitely not history, and it’s definitely not
science.
Theistic evolution’s greatest strength is where all the
other views failed into being weaknesses. There is no contradiction with
evolution whatsoever. The galaxy can be billions of years old, life can be
millions of years old, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s very
right because it 100% agrees with science. While theistic evolution fully backs
the science textbook, it sacrifices the Bible in order to do so. If Genesis 1
isn’t historically credible, then it’s easy to say Genesis chapters 1 to 11
isn’t historically credible either. And if Genesis 1-11 isn’t historically
accurate, it’s possible to question the historical accuracy of the whole book
of Genesis. Someone who believes that one weak spot in the Bible weakens the
whole message of the Bible will greatly be offended by theistic evolution.
Theistic evolution also has logical problems. Theistic evolution is sometimes
called the “God of the gaps” theory. Theistic evolutionists have a habit of
explaining everything with science, until they can explain no more, then the
rest they attribute to God. What happens when science advances and finds out
the answer? All of a sudden God isn’t there anymore? It weakens the power of
God.
5 Icons of Creation
We just looked at 6 View of Creation. Looking at the 6 major
views, we can see similarities among the first 5. The 6th one,
theistic evolution, leaves us hanging because the similarities in the first 5
are hard to find in the 6th view. I propose we call the 5
similarities the “5 Icons of Creation.” Just like all evolutionists believe in
the Icons of Evolution, the Icons of Creation are beliefs all Christians need
to believe from the Genesis 1 narrative to really be true Christians. Each icon
had importance to the original audience in the ancient times, and each icon
also significance for the modern-day reader in the modern era. This section
will discuss these 5 Icons of Creation and their important in a progress
manner. Then, in the conclusion, we will line up the 6 Views of Creation to the
5 Icons of Creation to determine if each View of Creation is legitimate.
God (Yahweh)
created
Genesis 1 clearly establishes the Lord God, Yahweh, the
Great I AM, as the creator. For the ancient audience, this meant none of the
other gods of the other nations could take credit. Atem of the Egyptians cannot
take credit. Marduk of the Babylonians did not create. Baal of the Canannites
did not have any role. Chemosh of the Philestines is absent from creating. It’s
the one and only Yahweh. For the modern-day creator in a growing atheistic
world, this means that a God, a Divine and Supernatural Being, is the creator.
Chance cannot be credited for bringing about the universe. Random events did
not bring about life. This earth and the life on it had an intelligent
designer, and Christian call him God. (Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 124:8, Isaiah 66:2, Acts
17:24, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2, Revelation 4:11)
God created everything
out of nothing
As we saw in the 2 of the creation myths, the earth and its
inhabitants came from the gods’ body parts (fingers, toes, teeth, etc.) or the
gods’ excrements (vomit, spit, tears, sweat, blood, snot, etc.). Later on, the
atheistic Greek philosophers rejected this, stating that matter, the building
blocks of the universe, was eternally present and available. The Bible,
especially Genesis 1, rejects both sides. The Bible makes it clear the only one
who is eternal is God Himself. Everything else finds it origin from God. God
did not give birth to anything, nor did he use his own self to spawn a creation,
but rather he created, by his voice and by handcrafting it. For the modern-day,
this once again rejects the idea that a Big Bang came from nowhere and caused a
chain reaction of random events to create everything seen today. Every reaction
must have a source action, and that source action Christians call God. (John
1:1-4)
God willingly
created everything out of nothing
As stated earlier, a lot of the ancient creation myths have
humans coming about unplanned. Just like a pregnant teenage couple, they have
no idea what to do with this new life. Pretty much, life on the earth is like a
mistake. Modern-day evolution doesn’t really help this cause either. When
random chance is involved, anything can go. There’s no plan, and things can
exist by mistake. Not so in Genesis 1. When Genesis 1 shows God actively
involved, the reader can tell God is willingly creating everything. Nothing he
created is unplanned, nor is it a mistake. If it’s there, God wanted it to be
there. What a relief it is for the Bible believer! If the reader exists, then
God wanted him/her to exist! (1 Corinthians 8:6)
God willingly and lovingly
created everything out of nothing
There’s not much love going around in the creation myths.
When gods bring forth unwanted humans, the humans end up being enslaved by the
gods, forced to worship them or suffer the consequences. Evolution may not be
concerned with love, but no wonder a society that believes in evolution shows
little concern in taking care of the environment and places little value in
human life (suicide, homicide, abortion, etc.)! From start to end, the creation
narrative in Genesis 1-2 displays a God who loves his handiwork. God’s close
attention to detail alone proves. If God takes the time to know how many hairs
on a human head and what a human thinks before the human thinks it, don’t you
think God loves that human? Looking at the creation story, anyone can see love.
It’s harder to see love in evolution or warring gods. (Psalm 139:1-4,13,
Matthew 10:30)
God willingly and
lovingly created everything out of nothing with a plan and a purpose
When the ancient gods of the ancient myths find out they
have human life, they must quickly devise a plan on the spot, and it’s never a
pretty one. With evolution having life randomly coming about, it’s hard to give
life a deep meaning. Sure, it may give some liberty to choose a purpose as seen
fit, but the purpose has no deeper connection to everyone and everything around
it, and when that human life is up, the purpose dies with the human. Genesis 1
preaches quite the opposite. If God willingly creates something, God has in
mind a role for the creation in part of the larger creation. When God lovingly
creates something, he wants it to share in His divine will and plan. When God
brings something to existence, it doesn’t go to waste. It will bring about
fulfillment to the creation, fulfillment to itself, and glory to God. (Jeremiah
29:11, 1 Timothy 4:4)
Conclusion
We’ve been on a long, tough and crazy ride. We’ve explored
what the testimony of the “typical” Christian might look like, and how he (or
she) can get caught up between the war between creation and evolution. We’ve
looked at history’s testimony, how it has had its own long, tough and crazy
ride, and the war between creation and evolution has become rougher over the
years. We’ve observed 8 Icons of Evolution, and we saw how 6 are outright false
and the other 2 are microevolution, not macroevolution. We’ve examined 6 Views
of Creation, and we detected each had strengths and weaknesses. Then we noticed
similarities, and we made them 5 Icons of Creation, beliefs that all Christians
need to believe to be true believers.
Let’s take at the last two, the 6 Views of Creation and the
5 Icons of Creation, one more time. Let’s put them together to see if the
former accepts the latter, and thus the latter validates the former. Take one
of the Views of Creation and the Icons of Creation, put them in this question,
and then answer the question: “Does [View of Creation] believe that [Icon of
Creation]?” Do it for all combinations of all views and all icons. What did you
get? How did you answer? For the first 5 views (Literal 6 Days, Day-Age Theory,
Gap Theory, Intermittent Theory, Literary Framework Analogy), the answer can
clearly be “Yes!” Therefore, those 5 views can be acceptable views on how God
created the world (although, when it comes down to it, God only created the
world one way, but with no human there to witness the whole thing, we’ll never
know, so your guess on the beginning is as solid as your guess on the end
times). The 6th view, theistic evolution, however, is not so smooth.
When it comes to theistic evolution and the Icons of Creation, some people
would answer “yes,” while other people would answer “no.” So the best answer is
“possibly.” I think what makes theistic evolution so indecisive is due to being
a compromise between creation and evolution. The creation side of theistic
evolution answers “yes” to all the questions, but the evolution side answers
“no” to all the questions, so the answer becomes “possibly.” So it comes down
to everyone’s individual conviction to determine whether or not theistic
evolution is a legitimate view of creation. For me, I have 2 issues with
theistic evolution. First, I have taken the time to prove the 8 Icons of
Evolution are mostly false, and thus discredited evolution. Therefore, why
would I support a view that still clings to it? Second, I believe I have proven
a strong correlation between evolution and atheism (with maybe naturalism as an
in-between stop). With such a strong correlation, the term “theistic evolution”
is pretty much an oxymoron.
That leads us full circle right back to our introduction,
right back to Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. On
one of his adventures, Arthur meets Slartibartfast, one of the engineers who
built the earth. Arthur cannot wrap his mind around the fact that he’s meeting
an engineer of the earth, possibly because he’s been taught there was no
creator, designer or engineer. Slartibartfast asks Arthur, “Have you ever been
to the fjords of Norway?” Arthur quickly says no. “That’s why,” Slartibartfast
replies,” for if you would have, you would have seen I signed my signature in one of the glaciers” (italics is mine for emphasis).
Going from a sci-fi book to a God-breathed book, Psalm 19:1 reads, “The Heavens
declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” The Lord
has signed His handiwork, and we cannot deny that. The big theological term is
“natural revelation.” Looking at the beauty of the earth, no one will say,
“Man, am I a sinner desperately in need of a savior to die for my sins,” for
that’s special revelation. But looking at the beauty of the earth, men and
women should say, “Wow, this earth is so beautiful, there has to be a creator,
and there has to be a God.” That is natural revelation. God has created life
and the universe and has revealed himself in it. We cannot allow any religion,
philosophy or science to deny God that credit. No matter what view you choose
to hold of Creation, remember to give God credit and worship God as the
Creator.
