We discover a discrepancy between the entire span of history as presented in Scripture, and modern theories based upon evolutionary premises and fallible dating methods. The Bible places the age of the earth at no more than 10,000 years, whereas many who do not believe the Biblical record place the earth’s age at anything between 10 million and 65+ million years!
We must be careful here not to say the disagreement is between the Bible and science, for this is far from the case. Science itself is proving to be more of a friend to the Bible than a nemesis as many believe it to be. It is not necessary to commit mental suicide in order to believe the Bible, but it is important to do some homework so we can clothe our faith with some facts. As Peter encourages:
“But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.”
1Peter 3:15 AMPLIFIED
The facts are that hundreds of physical processes set limits on the age of the world. These include Sodium and sediment deposits in the sea (which would be overwhelmingly large if present observable processes had been occurring for millions of years). The earth’s population also indicates a young earth. Wilmington points out in his Guide to the Bible (page 15):
“If man appeared over one million years ago, the present world population would be thousands of times greater than it actually is. In fact, our entire galaxy could not provide the needed space for so many. The present world population is around 4.3 billion (at the time of writing). Assuming the average life span to be seventy years and the average generation length to be thirty-five years, then starting with one family, the present world population would result in about thirty doublings. These doublings would carry us back in history from today to around 3500 b.c. This date is suggested by several creationist scientists to mark the time of the Flood. Thus, the creation model dovetails beautifully with known world population statistics. But what of the evolutionary model? Morris writes: “Now, if the first man appeared one million years ago, and these very conservative growth rates applied during that period, the world population would be at present 10 (27000 zeros following) people. However, no more than 10 (with 100 zeros) people could be crammed into the known universe!”
For a thorough and readable study of the subject much material is available from Answers In Genesis or Creation Ministries International. Both of these ministries are centred upon this whole scientific area of apologetics.
Dr. John Morris, a geologist, explains in easy-to-understand terms how true science supports a young Earth. Transparency masters are provided in the second half of this book.
Evolutionary Hypothesis vs Creationism
A raging debate is presently taking place in the scientific community as more and more scientists are realising that the very premises upon which evolutionary thinking is based are untenable.
Evolution states that all species we observe today began life in a primordial soup billions of years ago, and that through time, chance and natural processes have developed into the vast array of life we observe today. Such particles-to-people evolution is an unsubstantiated hypothesis with little or no verifiable evidence. While Darwin, one of the major proponents of the idea, predicted that the fossil record would show numerous transitional fossils, even a century and a half later, all we have are a handful of disputable examples.
One of the major problems faced by Evolutionists is the demand for self-generating information. Such an occurrence has never been observed. Variation within different ‘kinds’ of creature are observed every day, and adaptation within a species to better survive in a particular climate or environment are not rare. However, in every case, the information was already present within the species. In most cases genetic information is lost, and never is it created to produce new or unique structures.
“There is no known law of nature, no known process and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter.”
Werner Gitt, In the Beginning was Information, 1997, p. 106. (Dr. Gitt was the Director at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology)
“But in all the reading I’ve done in the life-sciences literature, I’ve never found a mutation that added information… All point mutations that have been studied on the molecular level turn out to reduce the genetic information and not increase it.”
Lee Spetner (Ph.D. Physics – MIT, taught information and communications at Johns Hopkins University), Not By Chance, 1997, pp. 131, 138.
“…that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations, or even that nature carries out experiments by trial and error through mutations in order to create living systems better fitted to survive, seems to be a hypothesis based on no evidence….”
Ernst Chain (Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner), Responsibility and the Scientist in Modern Western Society, London: Council of Christians and Jews, 1970, p.25.
“We see the apparent inability of mutations truly to contribute to the origin of new structures. The theory of gene duplication in its present form is unable to account for the origin of new genetic information – a must for any theory of evolutionary mechanism.”
Ray Bohlin, (Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology), Creation, Evolution, and Modern Science, 2000, p. 41.
The two models are entirely irreconcilable:
EVOLUTION MODEL
• About 15 billion years ago the universe exploded into existence
• About 4.6 billion years ago the earth evolved
• About 3.5 billion years ago life evolved
• Humans evolved from ape-like creatures
Time, Chance, natural processes
CREATION MODEL
• God created the universe and everything in it in 6 days
• Sin was the cause of death
• God destroyed the world by a worldwide flood
• Man was created in the image of God
God created ALL things
As Dr. Henry Morris (an eminent figure in the modern creationist movement, and author of the groundbreaking publication, “The Genesis Flood”) points out, evolution is clearly, strongly, and completely refuted by the Bible. Morris observes:
“Genesis teaches that life began on dry land (Gen. 1:11,12) while evolution says it began in some remote sea bottom.
Genesis declares birds existed before insects while evolution reverses this order (Gen. 1:20,24).
Genesis states that birds and fishes were created at the same time (Gen. 1:21) but evolution says fishes evolved hundreds of millions of years before birds developed.
Genesis stresses ten times that the entities created were to reproduce “after their kinds,” while evolution postulates the slow ascent of all organisms from a common ancestor.
Genesis says that Adam was made from the dust of the ground into the image of God, while evolution claims Adam descended from a sub-ape creature.
Genesis records woman coming from man’s side, while evolution teaches both man and woman developed simultaneously.
Genesis tells us that man was originally a vegetarian (Gen. 1:29) while evolution teaches he was probably a head-hunting cannibal!”
Clearly, any serious Bible student cannot ignore the overwhelming evolutionary bias present in secular Western societies, nor should Christian parents believe that the school system does not actively seek to undermine their children’s heritage of faith. An equally informed and purposeful education in Biblical truth with supporting evidence is essential, and the responsibility of every Christian, minister and parent.
Recommended Resources
Refuting Evolution by Dr Jonathan Sarfati
Refuting Evolution is a general critique of the most up-to-date arguments for evolution to challenge educators, students, and parents. Thus it provides a good summary of the arguments against evolution and for creation. It should stimulate much discussion and help students and teachers think more critically about origins.
https://christiananswers.net/creation/aqoo/home.html
