Are Science and the Bible in conflict? Science and Creation Are Science and the Bible in conflict?

We have been told and many in the church have come to believe a number of false assertions about the relationship between ‘science’ and the Bible: Science is the only legitimate way of understanding reality. All other ways of knowing must be judged by it and yield to it. The Bible is a religious book written by simple uneducated people unaware of scientific realities and cannot be relied upon to explain the origin of the universe or life on earth. If you are an intelligent person, you will believe that the earth and the universe came into existence after a Big Bang billions of years ago, that life on earth spontaneously arose from a chemical ‘soup’ over a billion years ago and that all forms of life gradually evolved from those early single celled organisms. Even though it is called a theory, Darwinian evolution (Darwinism) is a ‘fact’ and all the scientific evidence supports its claims.

Quick Answers on Creation with Dr. Jason Lisle  SESSION 1 Does the Creation/Evolution debate really matter?

Five positions that Christians can take: Accept the world’s position- This forces a believer to compartmentalize their thinking into their beliefs and their scientific understanding. One position must win out. Theistic Evolution- This is an attempt to put the Bible and Darwinism into the same framework. To do this, it tries to make the Bible fit Darwinism. Genesis 1-11 is taken as myth that is made subordinate to Darwinist evolution. Intelligent Design- This has been described as a non-religious approach to origins that proposes an all-powerful intelligent designer (God) but focuses on the science that contradicts Darwinism and support design. Old Earth Creationism- This is sometimes called Scientific Creationism. It has a number of variations but the most popular are the Gap Theory or the Day-Age Theory. The ‘days’ of Genesis 1 would not be taken literally so that time can be added to the equation. Young Earth Creationism- This is also referred to as Creation Science. Simply, the universe, earth and all life were created by God from nothing (ex nihilo) in 6 days roughly 6000-7000 years ago.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis SESSION 1 Chaos or Cosmos?

Considerations: Many people, especially young people, have abandoned their faith over this issue. Even the famous Canadian evangelist, Charles Templeton, left the ministry and became an atheist speaker and author over his inability to reconcile the Bible and Darwinism. There is no middle ground between Darwinism and Biblical creation. One is true and the other is false. I choose the Bible and now the scientific evidence is building in support of creation by design. Three weeks is not enough time to adequately make a scientific case for creation but we can get started with 3 key issues: The Age of the Universe and Earth The Fossil Record DNA and Molecular Biology

The Age of the Universe and Earth: Darwinism is based on two major unscientific philosophical assumptions; uniniformitarianism and gradualism. Uniniformitarianism maintains that all natural processes have remained the same over time. Gradualism states that all organisms evolve from one from into another over long periods of time. From their position, this requires millions and billions of years. This is also the explanation for why we don’t see evolution happening. Darwinian evolution requires both of these assumptions to be true to be at all credible. Neither of these is reasonable or factual. This leads to the problems of the geologic column and dating method (ie. Carbon 14 turns into Nitrogen 14 in 5700 years; doesn’t last millions of years)

Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis SESSION 6 How old is earth?

The Fossil Evidence In the Origin of the Species, Darwin predicted that in the time following his theory thousands of transitional forms would found in the fossil record. In fact, he said that if they were not found then his theory would have to be revised. Transitional fossils are evidence of preserved organism that were intermediate stages between one species and another. For example, an air breathing fish with fins and legs that would bridge the gap between fish and amphibians. Currently, there is a complete lack of undisputed transitional fossils. After nearly two centuries of paleontology all over the world only a handful of proposed transitional fossils have been discovered and all of them are in dispute. Many ‘missing links’ like Piltdown man and Java man have been exposed as hoaxes. Recent discoveries of soft tissue in dinosaur bones have raised questions about dating. Carbon 14 and soft tissue do not support millions of years.

Some terms to understand: Cambrian Explosion- the sudden appearance of thousands of complex organisms in the fossil record in the Cambrian layer of rock. Evidence for this can be found around the world in Europe, Africa and China. One of the most famous examples is the Burgess shale formation above Field, BC. Many of the organism can still be found today exactly as they are in the fossil form. Horseshoe crabs and Nautilus are two examples. Punctuated Equilibrium- the theory used to explain the gaps in the fossil record which suggests that huge leaps in evolution occurred in short periods of time. No transitional fossils exist because there were no transitional forms. Two lizards had an egg and when it hatched a bird flew out. Geological Column- layers of sedimentary rock represent long periods of time as they were gradually deposited. The fossils found in the layers represent the stage of evolution (i.e. Jurassic, etc..). Simple organisms in the lower layers and more complex at the top. Unconformities are when layers are ‘missing’ for unknown reasons.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis SESSION 4 Buried Clues

Molecular biology and DNA When Darwin wrote the Origin of the Species, they knew that organisms were made up of cells but they had no idea about the nature of those cells. They were just little blobs of protoplasm. In the more than 150 years, we have learned a lot about the cell and what we have found is that they are amazingly complex. We now know that cells are like factories directed by a supercomputer, the nucleus with DNA and RNA. Each of the trillions of cells in your body contains the information for every part and process of your body. However, it only performs one set of those functions. DNA and RNA are chemical information and communications systems that have a capacity and speed greater than a supercomputer but are microscopic. They instruct organelles in the cell to produce energy and create protein building blocks for life. Irreducible Complexity- biological structures and processes which could not have developed from natural selection but show design.

Problems for evolutionary theory: Abiogenesis or the spontaneous generation of life from inorganic chemicals through random chance. This has been disproven by a series of failed experiments and more recently by genetic discoveries concerning DNA. Mutations and natural selection were the mechanism suggested by evolutionists for the development of new species. Modern genetics has shown that these can only reduce the amount of information in DNA; not increase it to produce new organisms. Mutations are merely deletions that may in some cases help an organism to survive but usually create disastrous results. Sickle cell anemia- malaria resistance, death. Directed Panspermia- Francis Crick, the founder of DNA, was led to produce a new theory of the origin of life on earth. He admitted that DNA and life couldn’t have originated on earth, so aliens must have brought it from another planet. Hoyle suggested that comets brought it to earth.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis SESSION 2 What is life?

Directed Panspermia- Prometheus