Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - May/85

Contributor - Bart Strong

Title - Scientific Creation

Topic - Creation

Science can offer reasonable explanations for a literal belief in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. I have no reasons at all to doubt the validity of what the Bible tells me about how the universe was created, the earth formed and filled, man and woman created and cast out of the garden, and Noah and his family and representative animals of the earth saved from a flood which destroyed the rest of the world.

Certainly we have our faith in what the Bible tells us, but let's go beyond that for a moment Our faith can be strengthened in knowing that nothing that the Bible claims as true has ever been disproven or can ever be disproved. The last words to be written in the Bible were put to paper nearly 1,900 years ago, yet as man learned more and more about himself and about his environment the Bible's relevancy to modem man remained the same as it did to men and women of the first century A.D. It has never become outdated. Its scientific statements, advice for daily living, historical and geographical data and prophesies fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled have all maintained their accuracy and viability since the time of their writing 1,900 years ago and more.

How many books do you know of can make that claim?

Isaiah 40:22 speaks of the earth as being a sphere or circle long before man believed the earth was even flat let alone round. Have you ever heard of a flat earth society? There was a time not too long ago when it wasn't a joke.

Job declared that the Lord hangeth the earth upon nothing in Job 26. 7, yet the people of his time believed that the earth rested on a stand.

Leviticus 17:11 talks about the life of the flesh being in the blood. Only several hundred years ago we were treating illness by blood letting. We know now that it was wrong . . . but so did the ancient Hebrews.

Job 36.-27, 28 speaks of the water cycle, a very complex ecological system that sustains life on this planet.

Hebrews 11:3 speaks of the atomic structure of this universe, the unseen building blocks of all things visible.

There are many more examples that space does not allow here, but the important point is that the Bible is wholly reliable in what it says. The Bible contains many scientific truths and we can use science to further verify and support in theory, the literal interpretations of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, which so many Christians have recently lowered into the categories of myth, legend and story.

The issue of creation versus evolution is not a question of Religion versus Science. If s true, creation has not been witnessed by human observers, it isn't repeatable, it cannot be experimentally demonstrated and as a theory, it can be used to explain anything and everything, but the "molecules to man theory" of evolution also fails to meet these scientific criteria for changing theory to fact. It requires as much faith, if not more, to believe in an evolutionary process as it does to believe in a divine special creation.

Taking the above into consideration, it is clear that special creation is neither more religious nor less scientific than evolution.

"Special creation not only offers a credible explanation of the evidence related to origins, but thousands of scientists now believe," quoted Dr. Duane Gish, " that it offers a much more credible explanation than evolution" "Many non-Christian scientists are now beginning to doubt Darwin's ideas on the origin of the species and are searching for more credible solutions," to quote GEO magazine, a well-known German science publication.

Yet we continue to teach evolution in our school systems as a proven, historical, verifiable fact. Why?

The fossil record gives evidence that life appeared quite suddenly on this planet in diverse forms and at a high level of complexity (on a geological time scale). The fossil record does not show evidence of transitional forms of life between fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds as evolutionary theory predicts. For example, there are absolutely no traces of intermediate stages between the major types of invertebrates, or between invertebrates and vertebrates. Where is the part fish-part amphibian that is in between fins and feet? Did birds develop wings and flight overnight? Where are the intermediate stage fossils?

There should be just about as many intermediate or transitional stage fossils as there are of the static kinds that we find regularly because the random selection process of evolution can only occur over incredibly long periods of time.

I'll tell you why we can't find any transitional evolutionary stages in the fossil record. The answer can be found in I Corinthians 15:38, 3 9: "But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another."

We may find variations and mutations within the framework of the " kinds" referred to in Genesis 1: 11, 21, 24, 25, but since the creation of all living things by the one true God, no new kinds have developed and no transitional kinds have evolved. This also applies to modem man. There are so many missing links and non-verifiable hypotheses concerning the development of man from ape that the chain literally falls apart upon close examination.

Many volumes have been written dealing with scientific creation, the validity of the Genesis record and the disputing of the theory of evolution. I can't possibly present all the arguments here, but I can give you a list (which you will find at the end of this article) of easy to read books available through your local Christian bookstore.

I challenge you to study the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis as if they were written specifically for you. It can be a powerful witnessing tool to non-Christians if you can speak about your beginnings and their beginnings with some measure of authority based solidly upon Scripture, but supported scientifically and historically with facts and figures.

In closing, I would like to ask you, when you have a moment to read Psalm 104. It speaks of the majesty and extent of God's creation, the power of His Word, and the magnitude of His plan. It never fails to humble me and to inspire me, no matter how many times I read it. I pray it will do the same for you.

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