Creation and Evolution

Creation vs. Evolution

Evolution: Good Science? Or Outdated Myth?

(adapted from workshop by Dr. Phil Fernandes, AWANA conference, Spokane, 2013)

• Founders of Modern Science
• They were Bible-believing Christians:
• Galileo, Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal
• the “conflict between science and faith” is baloney! Intellectually honest science will acknowledge God, if that’s where the evidence points. Cowardly science will not acknowledge God, even if their evidence points to Him.
• Presuppositions:
• take a minute to admit your presuppositions:
• Do you believe God exists?
• Do you believe God does not exist?
• how you answer that WILL flavor how you interpret the evidence! Admit it!
• Case for Creation
• Creation or evolution: neither is a scientific theory (cannot be observed)
• They are both models --  Different ways to interpret the evidence based on circumstantial evidence
• evidence of events of the past
• Which model is more plausible?
• We will compare four areas

1: The Beginning of the Universe

• Big bang model & 2nd law of thermodynamics (entropy, energy deterioration)
• the universe had a beginning and a cause
• if science says “all nature needs a cause”, then all natures cause is (by definition) super-natural
• the cause of all nature MUST be supernatural
• the creation model is more plausible

2: Origin of First Life

• a single-celled animal contains enough information to fill 20,000 volumes of encyclopedia (source, Richard Dawkins) (That’s like all Wikipedia!)
• Only intelligence can cause this amount of information!
• Creation model is more plausible

3: Origin of new/more complex life forms

• Fossil record -- new life forms appear suddenly & fully developed
• Gaps in fossil record -- no undisputed evidence for missing links (transitional forms)
• Human brain contains enough information to fill 20 million volumes of encyclopedia
• mutations only garble the already existing genetic code
• scramble the alphabet and you don’t get 27 letters, you get gibberish!
• no new information is added
• where does the single-cell animal get code for hair and teeth?
• again, intelligent design is needed

4. Evidence for Intelligent Design

• irreducible complexity
• cannot be simpler and still work (we find this even on the sub-molecular level!)
• Anthropic principle -- the universe “appears” as if it was fine-tuned to support human life on the planet earth (even Richard Dawkins believes this)
• so... maybe it WAS designed for us!

Conclusion of case for creation

• the origin of the universe, first life, and complex life forms show the creation model to be more plausible than the evolution model
• The Scientific Case Against Creation
• the Evolution Model has many unproven assumptions:
• something from nothing
• Dr. Fernandes: “Nothing is nothing. Nothing can do nothing. Nothing can cause nothing.”
• complexity from non-complexity
• life from non-life
• intelligence from non-intelligence
• No Undisputed Evidence of:
• multi-cell animals from single-cell animals (NO proof of this)
• animals with backbones coming from animals without backbones
• common ancestry of fish, reptiles, birds & mammals
• missing links between apes & men
• Read “Bones of Contention”
• Evolution itself is an unproven (and unprovable) assumption
• Conclusion
• evolution needs God
• God does not need evolution