CREATIONISM: Getting Back to the Basics

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CREATIONISMGetting Back to the Basics

• In the beginning,
• God created the Heavens and the Earth
• Genesis 11

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What is Creationism?

• The belief that humanity, life, the Earth, or the
  universe as a whole was specially created by a
  supreme being (often referred to specifically as
  God) or by other forms of supernatural
  intervention.

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How the World BeganCondensed Version ?

• For those of you who dont know the story, here
  is a brief synopsis of what most Creationists
  believe, according to the book of Genesis.

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On the first day

• God called the light day. He called the
  darkness night. There was evening, and there
  was morning.

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On the second day

• God said, Let there be a huge space between the
  waters. God called the huge space sky.

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On the third day

• God said, Let dry ground appear. Then God
  said, Let the land grow plants. And let there
  be trees on the land.

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On the fourth day

• God said, Let there be lights in the huge space
  of sky. God made two great lights. He made the
  larger light to rule over the day and the smaller
  light to rule over the night.

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On the fifth day

• God said, Let the waters be filled with living
  things. Let the birds fly in the sky.

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On the sixth day

• God said, Let the land produce living
  creatures. Then God said, Let us make man in
  our likeness.

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And finally on the seventh day

• God saw everything He had made. And it was very
  good. There was evening, and there was morning
  and on the seventh day God rested.

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Creationism continued...

• Creationism covers a spectrum of beliefs which
  have been categorized in broad types. Despite
  popular belief, most creationists are those who
  object to specific parts of science for religious
  reasons, though many (if not most) people who
  believe in a divine act of creation do not
  categorically reject those parts of science.

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Creationism vs. Evolutions Frequently Asked
Questions
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What About the Dinosaurs?

• Simply put, they lived concurrent with man down
  through the thousands of years of our existence,
  and they appear to have gone mostly extinct prior
  to our modern era.  Remember that the word
  "dinosaur" is only about 160 years old.  Legends
  of dangerous reptilian creatures (a.k.a. dragons)
  have been passed down to us from our ancestors
  across Europe, from China and the rest of Asia,
  all over the Americas (North, South Central),
  and they're remembered in Africa too. The
  evidence is that there have been these large
  dangerous reptilian creatures.  We have bones,
  recorded history and footprints we have strong
  evidence. 

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What About Noahs Ark?

• Noah's mission was to preserve each kind of
  animal.  You don't need to find the biggest of
  each kind.  And you don't need each sub-divided
  species either.  Did you know that most modern
  dog breeds are less than 100 years old?  2
  healthy young mutts could preserve the genome of
  the entire "dog kind" of animals.  The Bible uses
  the word "kind" for the different types of life
  forms.  Horses and zebras can (and have)
  physically mated producing viable offspring so
  have tigers and lions, indicating that they
  (according to creation theory) probably
  respectively diverged from the same original
  stock.  Dogs and wolves (though considered quite
  different by humans today) probably originated
  from their same "kind" too.  There are a few
  large animals (when fully grown) of course
  giraffes, elephants, and T-rexes among them.  But
  the average animal size is about sheep size, i.e.
  the 3-story Ark was plenty large enough to handle
  the variety of animal kinds plus lots of food for
  them.  Speciation could descend again from
  original healthy "mutt" stock to start with. 
  Thinking scientifically about this, it shows
  incredible variable design.

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And Radioactive Dating?

• Rocks do not come with dates stamped on them, nor
  has anyone witnessed them aging over millions of
  years.  Radiometric dating is one-third fact and
  two-thirds assumption, and it is irreproducible. 
  Lava flows occurring in recorded historic times
  have dated radiometrically at millions of years
  old. This does not give us confidence in the
  current guesstimates of the earth's allegedly
  long age.

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What About Hominid Evolution?

• Humans alive today vary in cranial capacity from
  about 700 cc to 2200 cc, with no relation of
  brain size to intelligence.  (The average is
  about 1300 to 1350 cc) If we look at computers,
  one could argue that circuits that are closer
  together are more efficient and faster, ... so a
  smaller brain size may not necessarily be a
  disadvantage.  When evolutionists line up old
  skulls from smaller to larger they make false
  assumptions linking brain size to intelligence.
  Plus the radioactive dating methods are
  questionable,so they have no idea how old each
  skull is in the first place.

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Hominid Evolution continued

• What happens to the bones of a person who doesn't
  get enough calcium in their diet?  Or if they
  were lacking copper, for example, it would
  detrimentally affect brain development.  If, in
  past times, many peoples only ate local foods ...
  and the local soil in different places had a lack
  of selenium, or magnesium, or iron, then this
  would affect each person and animal in the
  respective area over generations. When we come
  along now and look at the hominid fossils left
  behind let's consider all of the logical
  scientific possibilities (including potentially
  inbred defects),    The fossil record shows that
  each kind has always varied within each kind.

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Evidence in Favor of Creationism and Evolution

• Creationists and evolutionists, all have the
  same evidencethe same facts. Think about it we
  all have the same earth, the same fossil layers,
  the same animals and plants, the same starsthe
  facts are all the same.
• The difference is in the way we all interpret
  the facts. And why do we interpret facts
  differently? Because we start with different
  presuppositions. These are things that are
  assumed to be true, without being able to prove
  them. These then become the basis for other
  conclusions. This becomes especially relevant
  when dealing with past events.

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In 2000, a poll conducted estimated that

• 20 of Americans believe public schools should
  teach evolution only.
• 17 believe that only evolution should be taught
  in science classes.
• 29 believe that Creationism should be discussed
  as a belief NOT scientific theory.
• 13 believe that Creationism and evolution should
  be taught as scientific theories.
• 16 believe that only Creationism should be
  taught.

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What Do You Believe???
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So in Conclusion

• Maybe scientists, though smart in some ways,
  could be generally weak in other areas, like
  spiritual perception. Possibly somewhat like a
  "nerd" who's brilliant with computers, but who
  has trouble dealing with others. Really good at
  details and complex formulas, but possibly
  missing the big picture.  You wouldn't want a
  brilliant lawyer to perform open heart surgery on
  you (even though he or she is smart). So don't
  think that science can prove everything beyond a
  shadow of a doubt. If we knew EXACTLY what
  happenedcould we handle it? I seriously doubt
  it.

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References

• Hazen, Robert M. Genesis The Scientific
  Quest for Lifes Origin. Washington, D.C
  Joseph Henry, 2005.
• Zimmerman, Paul A. Darwin, Evolution
  and Creation. Missouri Concordia,
  1959.
• Creationism- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  11/30/2006. http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index/php
  ?titleCreationis mprintableyes