Creation vs Evolution

An introduction to the debateAnd

Why it matters

Science

• Operational Science is: Observable, repeatable, testable in the present

• Historical (Origins) Science is: Inventing stories about the past to fit the facts in the present

See creation.com/its-not-science for more information

What are the facts in the present?

• Rock Layers• Fossils• Living organisms• Intelligence• Stars• PlanetsThe facts are available for anyone to studyThe conclusions we make about the past (how and why), are governed by our world-view and interpreted using our preconceived bias

What are the stories about the past?

• How rock layers formed• How fossils formed• How living organisms started• How living organisms developed into what we

see now• How intelligence came about• How stars came about• How planets came about

Materialistic History:Invented Stories About the Past

• The universe burst into something from absolutely nothing—zero, nada. And as it got bigger, it became filled with even more stuff that came from absolutely nowhere.

• 14 billion years for the universe and 4.5 billion years for the solar system

See creation.com/radiometric-dating-questions-and-answers for more information

Invented Stories About the Past

• The first life was a cosmic accident• All living things descend from this

common ancestor… (bacteria, microbes, plant, trees, fish, birds, animals and humans)

See creation.com/origin-of-life-questions-and-answers for problems with the origin of lifeSee creation.com/the-evolution-trains-a-comin for problems for evolution

Invented Stories About the Past

• Diversity is a combination of accidental, beneficial mutations, accumulating new features over eons of time

• Death and suffering are the means of creating diversity

See creation.com/mutations-questions-and-answers for problems with mutations

Invented Stories About the Past

• Rock Layers laid down slowly over millions of years

• Fossils created by dead animals being covered with sediment over eons of time

Implications for the Present

• There is no God• There is no purpose to life• There is no basis for morality

See creation.com/morality-and-ethics-questions-and-answers for more information

Implications for the Future

There is nothing after death

Biblical History Eye Witness Account Of The Past (God)

• In the beginning...

God...

See creation.com/history-questions-and-answers for more information on Biblical HistorySee creation.com/who-created-god for information on where who made God

Eye Witness Account Of The Past (God)

• Everything created within 6 days• Approximately 6000 years ago

See creation.com/young-age-of-the-earth-universe-qa for evidence for a young earth

Eye Witness Account Of The Past (God)

• All living things were created in ‘kinds’• ‘Kinds’ contain rich genetic information

to allow for great diversity• Diversity is achieved at the expense of

genetic information (Natural Selection)

See creation.com/speciation-questions-and-answers and creation.com/dogs-breeding-dogs for more information on diversitySee creation.com/refuting-evolution-chapter-2-variation-and-natural-selection-versus-evolution and creation.com/natural-selection-questions-and-answers for more information on the difference between Evolution and Natural Selection

Eye Witness Account Of The Past

• Adam and Eve were real people – created in the image of God

• All people are descended from Adam and Eve

• Adam rebelled against God's instructions, (this is called sin), the consequence of which is death and disease for ALL creation

Eye Witness Account Of The Past

• Noah's flood was a real event that covered the entire earth

• It was a massive catastrophic process that produced most of the fossil record

• It changed the geography of the earth, created canyons, mountains and plains

See creation.com/plate-tectonics-questions-and-answers, creation.com/fossils-questions-and-answers and creation.com/geology-questions-and-answers for more information on the flood and its effects

Eye Witness Account Of The Past

• Only those humans and air breathing land animals on the ark survived the flood

• The Tower of Babel was a real event. Mankind tried to rebel against God's instructions to spread out and fill the earth. God confused the languages and people groups spread out in their own language groups

See creation.com/noahs-ark-questions-and-answers for more information on Noah’s ArkSee creation.com/the-tower-of-babel-account-affirmed-by-linguistics for more information on the development on languages

Biblical HistoryEye Witness Account Of The Past

• Jesus was a real man• Jesus was fully God • Jesus' birth, life and death fulfilled many

prophecies

See christianthinktank.com/jrthal.html and www.bede.org.uk/jesusmyth.htm for extrabiblical references to Jesus

Biblical HistoryEye Witness Account Of The Past

• Jesus was sinless, yet was crucified having done nothing wrong – dying in our place and paying the price for our rebellion against God (our sin)

• Jesus rose from death – proving his divinity

Being fully God and humbling himself to be born as a man – a descendant of Adam, He is the only person able to pay the penalty on our behalf. See creation.com/jesus-christ-questions-and-answers for more information

Implications for the Present

• God is our Creator• We are answerable to God• God is a Holy God and demands justice

for our rebellion (sin)• Jesus has paid the penalty on our behalf

– if we accept him and believe

Implications for the Future

There is an eternity after we dieEither Heaven or Hell awaits

A Tale of Two World Views

• These two world-views (materialism & creationism) are not compatible

• They are diametrically opposed• You must choose one or the other• Christianity is destroyed if you try to

blend themSee creation.com/creation-compromises and creation.com/creation-why-it-matters

So Why Does It Matter?

• If the Bible is true, • If the Bible can be trusted with our

history, • It can be trusted with our future.• An eternal future is worth being sure

about!See creation.com/sola-scriptura for ‘How did the New Testament become the New Testament’and creation.com/bible-questions-and-answers and www.tektonics.org/lp/ottextcrit.html for ‘Can it be trusted’