Creation and Evolution

The 3 Basic Theories Creation Evolution Intelligent Design

Creation 2 main theories of Creation: – Young Earth Creation God created all life on earth in six 24 hour days. – Old Earth Creation God created all life on earth, but the six days of Creation were not literal days and could have been millions or billions of years long. - There are multiple variations of Old Earth Creation.

Evolution All life on earth has evolved from an original single celled organism.

Intelligent Design All life on earth was created by an intelligent being. This theory doesn’t state who that creator is. We study intelligent design because we believe that creator to be God, and supporters of this theory supply much of the scientific evidence that supports Creation.

Young Earth and Old Earth Creation

Our Beliefs Inerrancy of the Bible – Scripture is reliable Inerrancy of the record of nature – the record of nature is reliable God created the earth and all life on earth

Specific Revelation and General Revelation Specific Revelation is God’s word revealed through the Bible General Revelation is God revealing Himself through nature. - Science is used to understand creation.

“They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God has made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities” Romans 1:19-20

Science studies nature. The difference between creation and evolution is the interpretation of the evidence.

One source of disagreement is the interpretation of the word “day” in Genesis 1. The Hebrew word for day is Yom. It has 3 literal meanings: -A 12 hour period -A 24 hour period -An age, eon or epoch

Young Earth Creation Notes

Young Earth Creationists take the Bible literally. The six days of Creation took six 24 hour days not millions of years. The Earth is believed to be only between 6,000 and 10,000 years old not 4.5billion years old. This was calculated using the genealogies in the Bible and determining how long each generation lived.

Evidence for a young earth Scientists are beginning to discover that some of the evidence that they use to support evolution does not actually point to the earth being as old as they believe.

Mitochondrial DNA The mitochondria can reproduce on its own. It doesn’t need the help of the nucleus to do this. The mitochondria has its own DNA different from nuclear DNA. Nuclear DNA is passed down by the parents, each parent passes down half of their DNA, so a child receives half of their DNA from each parent. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down with the mitochondria. Both egg and sperm cells have mitochondria, however, sperm lose their DNA in the fertilization process. Therefore, your mtDNA is passed down from your mother.

For the past twenty years, scientists have used mt DNA to trace human evolution and the migration of humans throughout the world. At the U of A, the Genographic Project (an offshoot of the National Geographic Genographic Project) will sequence your mtDNA for you and trace back your lineage.

Scientists believed that people migrated out of Africa between 40,000 and 200,000 years ago. They used mtDNA to trace the journey and determine where the original human civilization began, by measuring the number of mutational differences between individuals. They assumed a rate of mutation that supported the date that humans migrated out of Africa.

New discoveries reveal that mtDNA mutational rates are much faster than they assumed. (The number of mutations that they found could appear in fewer generations than they thought.) This dates the human population to 6, ,000 years old. And, the name of the original female that they are tracing human population back to... Mitochondrial Eve.

Old Earth Creation Notes Evidence for an old Earth

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” - Old Earth Creationists believe the Big Bang was when God created the universe (including the earth) at a specific time in history.

The Age of the Earth Scientists help to support the age of the Earth by using different techniques to determine the age of rocks and fossils. There are various dating techniques. - Radiocarbon dating - Radiometric (Radioisotope) dating - Index fossils

Index Fossils Index fossils are used to date the rocks in which they were found. These organisms were around for only a limited time period. Scientists therefore assume that the rock must have formed during that time period.

QUESTION Could there be any problems with this method of dating?

Radiocarbon dating (Carbon-14 dating) Radiocarbon dating measures the amount of radioactive carbon (carbon 14) left in an organism. It can only be used to date material that was once living, it can’t be used to date rocks. Once an organism dies, carbon 14 begins to breakdown. By measuring the amount of carbon 14 left in a fossil, scientists can determine how long ago it died.

QUESTION What could be a problem with this dating technique? Scientists have to assume how much carbon 14 was in the environment and therefore in the organism when it died.

Because of this problem, carbon 14 dating is generally only accurate for organisms less than 3500 years old.

Despite the fact that some methods of dating fossils and rocks may be inaccurate, scientists claim that there are several dating techniques that have been tested and prove to be accurate. Research these for yourself and make your own decision.

Other Controversies

FORMATION OF THE FOSSIL RECORD: Scientists say: Fossils have been laid down over millions of years. When some organisms die, if their bodies are buried under the right conditions, they will form a fossil. Young Earth Creationists say: Fossils were formed during the Flood. Flood currents were so strong that they carried sediment, which buried organisms quickly. The sediment hardened, forming rock layers containing fossils.