Thoughts On The Evolution vs Intelligent Design Debate From A Biblical World-View‏

You must gather your courage and decide for yourself what is true or is not. The decisions to which you arrive will chart the course for the remainder of your life. Decide carefully and with your most cherished values at the foremost of you mind. I highly recommend you read Case for the Creator. I am including some thoughts on the subject addressed in the book. It presents a cogent defense of Intelligent Design from an academic perspective. Today we are witnessing the clash of two diametrically opposed world-views. Some very persuasive voices will try to convince you that we are simply the result of random cosmic accidents. They are not evil; however, the fruit from the seeds of their anti-God world-view is bitter.

Here are some thoughts based on Genesis 1:1. It addresses the subjects of Evolution, Big Bang Cosmology and the Bible. Keep reading the Word and looking unto Jesus. He will never disappoint you.

INTRODUCTION:

Who said it? “The vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.” The answer is Werner von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977). He was a German-American rocket physicist, astronautics engineer, and space architect, becoming one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. He is sometimes said to be the preeminent rocket engineer of the 20th century and the he is called the father of space science (internet source).

I agree with the limerick that reads:
Once I was a tadpole beginning to begin,
Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in
Then I was a monkey in a banyan tree,
And now I am a professor with a Ph.D.
(Author Unknown)

There are some smart, very smart, people in the evolutionary camp; however, the Bible teaches that many people professing themselves to be wise became fools. Often in an effort to discredit the idea of intelligent design and a Designer they do not follow the line of evidence -- they don’t follow the evidence where it leads.

We as God’s people can have the utmost confidence in the Word of God and rest in what the Bible teaches. The flesh, the world, and Satan agitate, aggravate, and alienate God’s people with a constant bombardment of anti-creation, anti-God, and anti-Bible messages. But we have a more sure word of prophecy and we can trust our heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the sweet Holy Spirit.
　
Some Definition Work:

Creation denotes the existence of a divine Creator who has exercised His creative abilities, creating this world and the life-forms we see. Life is the product of intelligent contrivance. Thus, apparent design in biology would constitute evidence for a Designer.

Evolution stresses the naturalistic (random, undirected) descent of all living creatures from a common ancestor who originally evolved from inorganic matter. Life is the product of random chance. What we need here is a plausible mechanism, feasibility, and a history of functionality (internet source).
　
Evidence Against Evolution:

There is much evidence against biological macroevolution. Some of Darwin’s evidence used to support evolution is now refuted because of more modern scientific evidence. One fact is that body parts or entities could not have evolved gradually. Michael Behe discovered that cells were irreducibly complex. They needed every single chemical and part to function. Consequently, they could not have gradually evolved. Another evidence was the complete lack of transitional forms in the fossil record.

We have not been able to create life from non-life regardless of how hard we have tried. We have not been able to create one species from another even with human intervention. The things that have been used as examples of evolution either have supported microevolution or have been hoaxes, frauds, or have used artistic license to extrapolate conclusions without justification.

However, the best evidences against macroevolution and hence the very best evidence for creationism, is the unimaginable complexity and machine-like workings of a single cell including DNA, RNA, and the manufacture of proteins, etc. None of this was known during Darwin’s time. They thought the cell was a simple blob of protoplasm. The human genome contains so much information it would fill libraries if contained in books. The machine-like workings of a cell have been related to our most sophisticated factories. Nobody would ever suggest that random processes could generate libraries of information or make a manufacturing plant. This favors creationism.

Young Earth vs Old Earth

Evolutionary Theory demands billions and billions and billions of years to account for the world. The major problems with this is that Jesus believed in the truth of Genesis and He believed in a young earth. Here are some texts that teach that Jesus believed in a young earth.

Mark 10:6 tells us, "From the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’"

Mark 13:19 teaches, "In those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be."

Luke 11:50 - 51 reads, "The blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation." These verses, in particular, show us that our Lord did not believe billions of years had passed since the Creation.

We can say upon the authority of Scripture that Jesus believed the account in Genesis without equivocation. He believed in the creation account. He did not believe in a cosmos that was billions and billions of years old. Instead, the world would have been thousands of years (exactly how many no one knows). Finally, Jesus believed that the cosmos and humanity were relatively the same age. Humanity is not a late arrival on the scene.

What's at stake in the young earth vs old earth debate? If Adam is not the first man as the Bible teaches, then the account of the entrance of sin is a fallacy and the position of Jesus as our Federal head is a myth.

1 Corinthians 15:22 teaches, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (see also Romans 5:18-19).

Some Principles to keep in mind as we think of the first eleven chapters of Genesis:

1. In John 10:35, quoting from the Old Testament, the Bible declares that, “Scripture cannot be broken.” Building on that we can say with confidence that the Bible is authoritative in all areas in which it claims authority.

2. It is truth and defeats the lies of Satan (Matt. 4:1-10).

3. The scriptures are not of any private interpretation (1 Peter 1:20). The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion.

4. 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NKJV) These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. God’s people don’t have to rely on guesses and opinions; We don’t rely on secular books or going to school run by unbelievers; we learned it from God through the Word and the Spirit. It is personal.

If the first eleven chapters of Genesis are not reliable, then all of Scripture is wrong!

Direct Evidence for Creation:

The Big Bang theory is the current scientific explanation of our origin. It places the origin of our universe at a specific time in the past. So whether we believe in science or believe in creation or both, we believe we came from nothing at a specific time in the past. The difference is that the Big Bang states that everything was created from nothing without a cause or a purpose.

Alternatively, if we believe in creation, we believe that everything came from nothing by the will of an omnipotent, transcendent Creator that is not limited to time and space and we were created for a purpose. This completely explains how apparent design and complexity could have come into existence.

However, the very best evidence for creationism is the claim by God Himself that He created light, the universe, the Earth and all life. You might question whether that argument holds up under scientific scrutiny? We all know the creation story in Genesis, but how can we know directly through scientific rationale that it is true. We can show that it was written in the Old Testament, but how can we show direct evidence that it is true? We only need to accept the most thoroughly documented history in existence and examine the evidence for who Jesus was. Our calendar is based upon the birth of Jesus. How historical is that? In Mark 13:19 (NKJV) Jesus stated, “For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be” (compiled from various sources).
　
Is Intelligent Design/Creationism Reasonable?

Is it reasonable to acknowledge a Creator? When challenged by skeptics to prove the existence of a Creator scientifically, Dr. Wernher von Braun, the Father of the American Rocket and Space Program, replied, "Must we really light a candle to see the Sun? . . . The electron is materially inconceivable, and yet it is so perfectly known through its effects that we use it to illuminate our cities, guide our airliners through the night skies and take the most accurate measurements. What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real, while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive of Him? …The inconceivability of some ultimate issue (which always will lie outside scientific resolution) should not be allowed to rule out any theory that explains the interrelationship of observed data and is useful for prediction." To simply dismiss the concept of a Creator as being unscientific is to "violate the very objectivity of science itself." *

*Originally published in Edward F. Blick's Special Creation vs. Evolution, 1988, pp. 29-31. (taken from an internet source).

CONCLUSION:

What does a naturalistic, humanistic, evolutionary world-view give us?
A fatherless universe made-up up of mindless, heartless matter;
A building without a blueprint and a house without a home;
A body without a soul and a religion without hope;
A day without light, a night without end, and a fog that never lifts;
A philosophy without logic, a science without freedom, a theory flaunted as fact;
A system without meaning or purpose;
A future with no God and no hope.

Evolutionary Theory is degrading to humanity, hostile to reason, and antithetical to the revealed Truth of God. “And thus in that very first verse of Scripture, each reader is faced with a simple choice: Either you believe God did create the heavens and earth, or you believe He did not. If He did not, He does not exist at all, nothing has any purpose and nothing makes any sense. Or on the other hand there is a creative intelligence -- if there is a God -- then creation is understandable. It is possible. It is plausible. It is rational” (John MacArthur, The Battle For the Beginning, 41).