Creationism or Evolution?

Creationism is the belief that the earth and universe and the various kinds of animals and plants was created by God or some other supreme being. Those that hold the views of Creationism are referred to as Creationists. Within creationism in the Abrahamic religions, there are various ideas. In regards to those religions, one form of creationism holds that the earth is approximately 6,000 years old and is referred to as Young Earth Creationism. The other form of creationism is called Old Earth Creationism and holds that the earth and universe are billions of years old. Creationist scientists believe that the first law of thermodynamics and second law of thermodynamics argue against an eternal universe and they also claim that these laws point to the universe being supernaturally created.  Dr. Norman Geisler  stated that "Both young- and old-earthers believe that God supernaturally, directly and immediately produced every kind of animal and human as separate and genetically distinct forms of life."  Dr. Norman Geisler also wrote that "both young- and old-earthers who are evangelical hold to the historicity of the Genesis account: They believe that Adam and Eve were literal people, the progenitors of the entire human race."  Creation scientists assert that the theory of evolution  is in conflict with the evidence provided by the physical sciences and often cite secular scientific sources which agree with them on various points (for further details please see: theory of evolution).

Those who hold to young earth creationism point out that nearly every culture in the world has a creation story and a flood story. Many of these creation accounts and flood accounts have commonalities with the account given in the book of Genesis although gross differences exist also. The Institute for Creation Research has taken the position that the similarities in regards to creation accounts to the Genesis account demonstrates that the main points of the Genesis account has been preserved.  In regards to the assertion that the similarities in flood stories around the world show common origin, young earth creationist particularly assert that there are strong similarities between the Genesis flood account and other world flood accounts. Also, there are remarkable similarities between Native American creation myths and the biblical account given in Genesis concerning creation. ( taken from CONSERVAPEDIA.COM)

Evolution and Biblical Creationism are both faith-based systems. For me, a day came when it was easier to believe the Bible's creation account than to believe the theory of evolution. A critical factor to my unbelief lies in evolution's propensity to abandon its own faith principles when dealing with basic physical science. While I believe all longevity models, and their accompanying evolutionary theories, have many glaring problems, here are five massive ones. There are more.

1. Matter is Eternal

Evolutionists believe everything comes from something - until everything is traced back to the first thing. "Matter," saith the Evolutionist, "is eternal." By halting their quest for origins at some incredibly dense blot of matter, they not only make a faith declaration, but also a stunning reversal in their science. This "blot" is the lone exception to material science - that all material has a precursor.

Biblical Creationists believe there was a time matter did not exist. God spoke it into existence - out of nothing. "I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone ..." (Isa 44:24). "All things" include matter. "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared (formed) by the word (rhema) of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible" (Heb 11:3). "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1). God is eternal - not matter. The faith of the Biblical Creationist simply takes one step past where the faith of the Evolutionist halts. The Creationist's faith is based upon Bible assertions while the Evolutionist's faith rests on a necessary violation of a basic tenet of their naturalistic system.

Neither choice yields to logic. For anything (or Anyone) to just be there - is beyond comprehension. But to embrace inorganic material as eternal is not as threatening as the faith of the Biblical Creationist. That faith espouses a living, moral Being who knows everything (Isa 40:13,14,28), sees everything (Pr 15:3), and is a God "who cannot lie"(Tit 1:2). "Before Me, there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me .... I am God. Even from eternity, I am He .... I am the first and the last, and there is no God besides Me" (Isa 43:10b,12b, 13a.).

2. Spontaneous Generation

Before considering the origin of life, we must take a moment to discuss the existence of our inorganic environment that supports life. This planet's position in space and its chemical constitution is absolutely astounding. While there is some tolerance for life to exist in varied chemical and environmental conditions, the windows are extremely narrow. For example, the earth's distance from the right kind of sun is absolutely critical. And just a bit of an elliptical orbit would still preclude any life. At one point of the ellipse, the water planet would be the boiling-water planet. Then, a few months later, it would be the block-of-ice planet. And this favorable orbit needed to be in place for what - the last billion years or so? Then, consider our atmosphere. It's density, composition, and temperature nurtures life - while many of our neighboring planets are surrounded by a toxic brew. Our skies even protect us from a life-giving sun that also produces lethal radiation. Now, at the surface of the earth, other physical requisites must be present for life to arise. For example, some creatures can live in salt water, but once the salt reaches a certain level, life ceases. Witness, the Dead Sea. But all this is just the start of the inorganic story. All the correct elements had to be here, too. If only metals were here, this would still be an inorganic world. The physical requisite for an environment to be capable of birthing life is astonishing. The point? To believe this physical environment "just happened" takes a great faith. Indeed, that belief requires a greater amount of faith than the Biblical Creationist needs for attributing this environment to the activity of God. That is much easier to believe. But let's grant that out of billions of stars our planet did randomly arise. Now comes the back breaker. How did inorganic elements give rise to living organisms? No element even hints at possessing any of the stuff we call, "life." Carbon is not alive. Iron is not alive. Calcium is not alive. Arsenic is not alive. Lead is not alive. None of the other 23 elements which compose us are alive. In fact, you can't even say they are dead. They are inorganic. Life is absolutely absent from each and every element in the known universe. The importance and gravity of this problem cannot be overemphasized. So, herein lies the real problem for the Evolutionist. They have always been, and are quite consistent in their assertion, that life does not spontaneously arise. All living things came from previous life forms. They consistently profess this belief for each present day life form as they trace each one back a billion years - until they come face to face with the first living "thing." It is at this critical moment, the moment of truth on the origin of life, the Evolutionist makes another stunning reversal - and spontaneous generation is embraced! And this is the lone exception to an otherwise universal rule! "Life," saith the Evolutionist, "spontaneously arose from nonliving matter - but only with that first living thing." Mother earth takes on a literal meaning. And, to add insult to injury, these new births must also have a fully operational reproductive system!

To believe matter is eternal, and a Big Bang randomly created our inorganic ecosystem, and inorganics spontaneously gave birth to living matter, and those organics were birthed with a fully operational reproductive system (that could also accommodate modest positive changes so evolution actually occurs) - well, no religion requires a faith as massive. With a faith this immense I think Evolutionists can believe anything they want to believe - especially when they are so willing to abandon their science to hold to their faith!

The faith of the Biblical Creationist is steadfastly consistent with itself, with no reversals to this point. God is eternal, He made matter, and He created an inorganic system capable of sustaining life. He then infused life into a collection of inorganic materials - even though the elements that make up the living organic mass are still inorganic in themselves.

3. A Hostile System of Degeneration

How does life form in a system that is so hostile to it? Even now, inorganic forces are constantly attacking the fragile life on the supporting skin on this globe. Heat, cold, fire, floods - given enough time, some inorganic force will overcome each life-form - unless it is first eaten by another life-form! But even developed inorganics have "a life-span" - like our sun. Its "life" peaks as degeneration is king. But against all odds, the Evolutionist believes life (though still without adequate origins explanation) arose. Life swims upstream against a hostile environment, and "wins" for an exceedingly short season before being reclaimed by inorganics. The propensity of the observable universe argues against such an occurrence. Even in our current, relatively benevolent-to-life environment on earth, we find no pockets of spontaneous generation as the environment is still very hostile to life. But at least, on this point, Evolutionists have not made some kind of reversal in their science or principle. Their problem is that everything in their sciences speak against such a possibility.

On the other hand, the Creation Account in Genesis says life was created in a totally benevolent-to-life environment. Life was fully here, and formed, before degeneracy (and death) entered the picture. It was imposed upon a benevolent creation and pulls life down. As a man of little faith, this is easier for me to believe.

Let's now look at some of the life on our planet. I will wave two more red flags - but each of these flags have hundreds ... no, thousands ... no, millions of attendant red flags. In fact, the world may not have enough red cloth available to make all the needed flags.

4. Metamorphosis

A basic evolutionary principle is that species progression occurs by incremental change through profitable mutation. Let's visit my garden in early June.

On my tomato plant we find two caterpillars. They are slow moving, pudgy, little creatures. Their main defense is a very good camouflage and, except for the demolition of my tomato plant, they are harmless. When plucked from the plant, they roll up into a little ball - as if that could really help them. Once they rightly determine I'm not going to eat them, they unroll and start moving their multitudinous stubby little legs in a synchronized wave as they search for home. If we leave them for a day and come back - it is amazing how they have grown! They are obviously very successful creatures! They have secured a very lucrative ecological niche and act, and