What is Creation Science?
Why is it important?
By John Garth
Sept. 18, 2012
Creation Science means the same
as Scientific Creationism.
It is concerned with:
•
Understanding the discoveries of science
within the interpretive framework of
creationism
•
Showing how the findings of science are
consistent with creationism and inconsistent
with evolutionary theory
“Creationism”
•
Is the belief that God created the earth around 6,000 years ago
in six days
•
It based on the assumption that the creation
account in Genesis 1-11 is literal history*
*i.e., not figurative, allegorical, poetic, etc.
Creationism contrasts with
Naturalism
•
•
From Wikipedia:
Naturalism commonly refers to the viewpoint that laws
of nature (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the
universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural
universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural
universe.[
•
Adherents of naturalism (naturalists) assert that natural
laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior
of the natural universe, that the universe is a product of
these laws.
2 Branches of Creationism (cont.)
• The Young earth creationism (YES) perspective results
from a literal interpretation of the history of the early
earth in Genesis, which describes six-day creation,
Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and Noah’s flood.
• The Old earth creationism (OEC) perspective accepts
the secular scientific community’s assessment of the
age of the earth and universe, and assumes the creation
periods were undefined lengths of time or there were
large gaps in the history in Genesis.
“Creation Science”
Creation science is defined as the
systematic study of nature by scientists
holding to the creationist worldview.
• Creation science asserts that
the cosmos and life on Earth are the
result of a supernatural or intelligent
causation.
Dr. Henry M. Morris
Considered to be the “Father of the
Creation Science Movement”
Dr. Henry Morris was a brilliant engineer
and Bible scholar – a pioneer.
A prolific writer
… some key books by him:
“What is Creation Science?”
“Scientific Creationism”
“Biblical Creationism”
“The Biblical Basis for Modern Science”
”The Long War Against God”
(Founded the Creation Research Society in
1963, Institute for Creation Research in 1972)
What is the Creation Science
Fellowship of New Mexico?
Creation Science Fellowship of New Mexico
(CSFNM) is a Science Organization
CSFNM is devoted to:
• Educating the public about the importance of creation
in relation to its social, scientific, social and spiritual
values
• Promoting and encouraging creation research
• Presenting the vast scientific evidences for Biblical
creation
• Presenting the true account of origins as revealed in
the Scripture
Recent topics at CSFNM meetings:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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“Worldviews and how they affect how we
think and behave” (June 20, 2012)
“Eugenics, From Darwin’s ideas to today’s
applications” (May 16, 2012)
“Does it matter if the earth is very old?”
(March 21, 2012)
”Darwinism to Dictatorship” (AZOSA)
(February 23, 2012)
Analysis of Genesis 1 (Ray Mondragon)
Potential Topics for CSF-NM
(Young Earth Evidences)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What happened during the Global Flood?
–
- Flood Geology vs Long Ages Geology
Dating Methods (Radioactive, Other Methods)
Biology and the Marvels of DNA
Astronomy and Cosmology
Problems with the “Big Bang” theory
Christian Old-Earth Compromises
Creation – Evolution Comparison
Fine Tuning of the Universe / Anthropic Principle
Intelligent Design (Pros and Cons)
Creation Science Resources
• Creation Science Fellowship of New Mexico website
• Our book table: books, DVDs, children’s materials
Well-known Creation Science Organizations:
• Institute for Creation Research (ICR)
• Answers in Genesis (AiG)
• Creation Ministries International (CMI)
•
These 3 organizations publish magazines,
•
•
technical journals, devotionals (ICR),
Also conferences: CMI, AiG
Biblical Creationism:
• Definition (Creation Wiki)
•
Biblical creationism is a form of religious creationism, where
the basis for the belief system lies within the scriptures found in
the Bible. Biblical creationists hold the Bible as being the inerrant
Word of God with everything therein true and historically
accurate.
• Recommended books:
• 1. “Biblical Creationism – What each book of the Bible teaches
about Creation and the Flood”, Dr. Henry Morris
• 2. “Coming to Grips with Genesis – Biblical Authority and the Age
of the Earth”, Drs.Terry Mortenson, Thane H. Ury, editors, Master
Books, 2012
What God says about His Word
1. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" [2 Timothy 3:16].
• 2. “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the
testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
•
“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
[Psalms 19:6,9
• 3. Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy
righteous judgments endures for ever [Psalms 119:160].
• 4. But the word of the LORD endures forever. Now this is the
word which by the gospel was preached to you" [1 Peter
1:25]
What God says about His Word (cont.)
• 5. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of
man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He
not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it
good [Numbers 23:19]?
• 6. "The Word of God is living and powerful and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart" [Hebrews 4:12].
• 7. "So shall My word be that goes forth from My
mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall
accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the
thing for which I sent it" [Isaiah 55:11
What is science?
• Some Webster’s Dictionary definitions:
1. Systematized knowledge derived from observation,
study and experimentation carried on in order to
determine the nature or principles of what is being
studied.
2. A branch of knowledge or study, esp. one
•
concerned with establishing and systematizing
•
facts, principles and methods, as by
•
experiments and hypotheses.
Anti-Creationists say
Creation Science isn’t “science”
Some scientists say it is not science –
because they say “true science” must
have “predictive power” - testable by
observation, experiment, etc..
But there are really
two kinds of Science:
1. Observational Science (i.e., the
scientific method)
2. Historical Science (also
called “Origins Science”)
 infers what took place in the past
from observations in the present
Creation Science
• is a type of historical science
•
(looking into the past)
• Quite different from observational
science which we all know
 Before continuing, let me explain how I
was introduced to Creation Science.
How I came to believe in a Young Earth
• As physicist/Christian – I have always been interested
•
in the relationship between “faith and science”
• While living in Massachusetts, I was inspired by the
book “The Creator and the Cosmos” by Dr. Hugh Ross
 “No conflict” between Christianity and science;
both were equally true! “Science – “the 67th book of the Bible”?
• In 1995 I moved to New Mexico
• Began attending CSF meetings in 1999
I
• My new friends at CSF were “alarmed” that I thought Hugh
Ross was true.
• Problem: He is “Progressive Creationist” – assumes the days
of creation were really vast ages (false teaching!)
• In 2005 Dr. Russ Humphreys, a theoretical physicist who has
made major contributions to creation science, persuaded me
that Genesis 1 should be taken literally!
• In 2006 I heard 2 well-presented talks by Dr. Terry Mortenson
of Answers in Genesis that really “sealed the deal”.
• I have since attended many CSF meetings, off and on.
 But this year I volunteered to be on the Board of CSF!
Why is Creation Science Important?
One Argument
• If evolution were true, millions of years of animal death would
have occurred before Adam and Eve.
Why is Creation Science Important? (cont.)
• If Genesis 1-3 is correct, Adam and Eve were the first
humans. If not, they have no significance.
• Before Adam and Eve there was no death. Death
came because of sin.
• If there were no sin, a Savior is unnecessary. The
Gospel is meaningless.
• But Christ came into this world so that people could
be saved, have eternal life.
Other Arguments
• If naturalistic evolution is true, man has no real purpose for
being. If there is a Creator, man has a purpose.
• Romans 1:20 -“For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
• This indicates that no one has can be excused for believing
in evolution (not believing in creation)! Believing in
evolution is merely a pretext for avoiding having to deal
with God.
• In this verse, God is obviously saying that it is important to
believe in creation; it cannot be denied.
Evolution and Creation Models
Contradictions between the order of creation
in the Bible and evolution/long-ages
Biblical account of creation
Evolutionary/long-age speculation
Earth before the sun and stars
Stars and sun before earth
Earth covered in water initially
Earth a molten blob initially
Oceans first, then dry land
Dry land, then the oceans
Life first created on the land
Life started in the oceans
Plants created before the sun
Plants came long after the sun
Land animals created after birds
Land animals existed before birds
Whales before land animals
Land animals before whales
Millions of Years: A worse problem than evolution;
It has compromised Christianity!
7 Reasons why we should not
accept millions of years
• See booklet by Terry Mortenson (also “Answer s 1”: Chap 2)
 Ken Ham says: “the idea of millions of years is like the
disease while biological evolution is like a symptom”.
Mortenson’s 7 points:
1. The Bible clearly teaches that God created in six literal, 24hour days a few thousand years ago.
2. Exodus 20:11 blocks all attempts to fit millions of years into
Genesis 1.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
3. Noah’s Flood washes away millions of years.
( A global catastrophic flood produced the complex geological
record we see today worldwide.
7 Reasons (continued.)
4. Jesus was a young-earth creationist.
Mark 10:6 “But from the beginning of the creation,
God made them male and female”
5. Belief in millions of years undermines the Bible’s
teaching on death and on the character of God.
6. The idea of millions of years did not come from the
scientific facts. (Flows out of naturalistic
assumptions, not scientific observations.)
7. Radiometric dating methods do not prove millions of
years
From Wikipedia:
• “… an overwhelming majority of
the scientific community accepts
evolution as the dominant scientific
theory of biological origin.”
Huffington Post:
“40 Percent Of Americans Still Believe In
Creationism”
“A new Gallup poll, released Dec. 17 , 2010,
reveals that 40 percent of Americans still
believe that humans were created by God
within the last 10,000 years. This number is
slightly down from a previous high of 47
percent in 1993 and 1999.”
Gallup poll: “Belief in evolutionary origins of
humans slowly rising, however.”
Creationism’s significance is indicated
through its many enemies!
These include:
1. “All-out” atheists
2. The “science establishment”
3. Organizations like AAAS, NCSE, NAS
4. Christians who “compromise”
5. Universities, public schools
6. Museums of Natural History
Prominent atheist examples
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Carl Sagan “The cosmos is all there is”
Stephen Weinberg (theoretical physicist)
Richard Feynmann (theoretical physicist)
Isaac Asimov (science writer)
Richard Dawkins (author of “The God Delusion”
Stephen Hawking (theoretical physicist)
Sean Carroll (physicist, author)
Eugenie Scott (NCSE, avid anti-creationist)
 All assert: “no need for gods or supernatural”
The “Science Establishment” speaks:
EXAMPLE: Physics Today, June 2012, p.20 - “Just
as radiocarbon dating gives the ages of onceliving materials up to tens of thousands of
years old, long-lived radioisotopes are used to
date rocks that are millions or billions of
years old.”
A local example:
In a recent Albuquerque Journal supplement
about UNM’s Institute of Meterorites) :
“The research team examined 11 Martian
meteorites from a period spanning 4.2 billion
years. They detected large carbon molecules
in 10 of them. ”
Prominent “anti-creationist”
organizations
• National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and
National Research Council (NRC)
• American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• National Center for Science Education
(NCSE) – “promoting evolution and climate
change”
Christian “old-earth” creationists People and organizations
Biologos Foundation
Dr. Francis Collins (founder)
Dr. Darrel Falk (president)
Reasons to Believe
Dr. Hugh Ross (astronomer, pastor)
Dr. Fazale Rana (now Southern Evangelical
Seminary)
Calvin College
Dr. Deborah Haarsma (physics dept.)
American Scientific Affiliation
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
What has always been Satan’s strategy?
Gen. 3:1 “Indeed has God said ‘You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden‘?”
(From the beginning of creation, he has been deceiving us
from believing God’s Word.)
2 Cor. 4: 4 … the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving , so that they might not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ …
 He doesn’t want us to believe literal Genesis
… so we will doubt the rest of the Bible
He wants no one to understand how to be saved!!
SPIRITUAL WARFARE (cont’d)
What is Satan doing now?
He is trying to get us all to believe:
• Matter is all there is. (i. e., no God)
• Long ages: a universe billions of years old!
(3.7 billion years?)
• Life “evolved” – from inorganic
matter to man (i. e., not created).
• Mankind will keep improving  “Utopia”
End of presentation
• Thank you for coming!