Basic HTML Version
For
Evolutionists
Only...
by
Clayton Steep
For too long the creation versus evolut ion controversy has revolved
around points of secondary importance. It's time to get to the heart of the matter!
M
ST
"creationists"
are guilty of t he
very thing they
accuse evolution–
ists of doing: misinterpreting
the evidence!
Actually, the commonly ac–
cepted religious concept of cre–
at ion has changed little since
medieval theologians insisted
the earth is ftat.
Only sorne six or so thousand
years ago, according to this con–
cept, God created "out of nothing"
the universe and everything in it.
Not only does this idea overlook
the actual bíblica! account of cre–
ation, it also represents a misinter–
pretation of the physical evidence
to support a preconceived and erro–
neous notion.
One can only wonder how many
educated people have rejected the
whole idea of special creation
merely because they have not
heard the · true biblical account.
The biblical account of creation, as
recorded in the first chapters of
Genesis, is compatible with the
entire body of provable, observa–
ble, measurable, recordable scien–
tific data. What this means is that
the physical evídence of and by
ítself does
not
require choosing
between an evolutionary process
on the one hand or belief in a uni-
November / December 1983
verse that is only about 6,000 years
old on the other hand. Let us
explain.
What the Bible Really Says
Where most "creationists" err is
that they assume the Bible places
the creation of the universe at a
point in time about six or so thou–
sand years ago. The Bible, however,
says nothing about such an idea.
Genesis
1:1
states,
"In the begin–
ning
God created the heaven and
the earth." T hose words describe a
complete episode in the prehistory
of the universe. There follows a
time lapse of indefinite length
between this verse and the verse
that follows-a time lapse that may
well have spanned multiple millions
of years as measu red by scientists
using radiometric dating methods.
The Bible does not describe this
period in great detail, nor reveal
how long it !asted.
As verse two of Genesis l opens,
we are confronted with a totally
different scene. We now see an
earth that had
come to be
in ruins,
in darkness and covered with water.
Sorne great d isaster had befallen
the earth.
T he English word
was
in this
verse is better translated "became"
or "carne to be."
"Now
the earth
became
wíthout forrn, and void;
and darkness
carne to be
upon the
face of the deep." (See the New
Jnternational Version rendering
and footnote.)
This revelation of earth's history
is important because the second
major error rnost creationists rnake
is to attribute the near totality of
earth's strata to a flood in Noah 's
day. They overlook the physical
evidence of events, including flood–
ing, befare and up to the clímax of
Genesis 1:2!
From verse two the Genesis
account goes on to describe a re–
creation, how God reshaped and
refashioned, nearly 6,000 years ago,
the already existing, but now deso–
late earth. The Bible thus reveals
an earlier period for the earth and
its original inhabitants long befare
man was created.
Why Evolution Then?
Many evolutionists have taken for
granted the false explanation of the
Bible. T hey have therefore con–
cluded that the written biblical
record of creation could not be
true. H aving carelessly set aside the
biblical account, educators and
scientists were left with no choice
but to believe in sorne forrn of evo–
lution and to interpret all physical
evidence accordingly.
One highly celebrated
propon~nt
of evolution who totally rejects the
traditional-and false-explaoa–
tion given to the Genesis record of
creation conceded in prívate, "The
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