Evolution
Evolution in the strictest sense states that there was no creator (even going further than Darwin did). It argues that matter either always existed, or it came into existence spontaneously and by chance exploded into a universe. Life formed from non-life and gradually grew more complex, changing from one species to another. This would have taken billions of years and the process should still be ongoing.
Problems with Evolution
Life doesn’t come from non-life, ever. Where do male and female species come from? Things go from order to disorder not from chaos to order. Where is evolution now? (They answer with the theory of punctuated equilibrium- that evolution happens in short spurts every billion or so years, so we are just in a lull). Where did the initial matter come from? Why did it explode? Evolution contradicts the Genesis account totally. Organisms don’t change to survive (all genetic mutations are harmful). No intermediate species have ever been found that have not either been unclear or been proven hoaxes. Many more in-between forms should have been found if the theory was true.
Theistic Evolution
This is a view many professing Christians take, especially at supposed Christian universities. It is a supposed wedding of theism and naturalistic evolution, that the strongest survive and weak species are worked out of the existence or change to survive. Basically, theistic evolutionists argue that God used and oversaw the evolutionary process, helping it begin and complete. God is used to solve all of the problems discussed above in the evolutionary theory.
Problems with Theistic Evolution
It contradicts the Genesis account of “after their kind” and seven literal days. Since God is perfect and His ways are perfect, why would He use a chance process when Genesis plainly indicates that He spoke the world into existence (see also Hebrews 1:3 which states that He “upholds all things by the word of His power” [emphasis added]). Death didn’t come until after sin. According to theistic evolution, plants and animals had been living and dying for billions of years until the strongest survived. Why doubt the Genesis account? Can we trust any other part of Scripture?
Progressive Creationism
This view argues that the universe is billions of years old, that stellar evolution is by natural process alone, that the stars were made before day four of creation (thus allowing for their light to reach the earth), and that the Big Bang was responsible for the “creation” of the world. Progressive creationists argue that the days of the creation process overlapped, and we are currently in the seventh day until the New Jerusalem. Death preceded the first sin; thus, the garden of Eden wasn’t really a paradise as meteorites and floods and other natural disasters including sickness and disease had been ongoing. Random, wasteful inefficiencies were used to “create” the world. The history of man is a minute fraction of the history of the earth and universe because the universe is so old. This view also seems to indicate that there were man-like mammals. Finally, it denies the worldwide flood of Noah. Many “conservative” evangelicals buy into this view.
Problems with Progressive Creationism
The Bible says that death was the result of sin, not that it preceded sin (Genesis 2:17).
The Bible teaches that man was created at the beginning of creation, not much later as Mark 10:6 indicates saying, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” It is a violation of text interpretation to assume that the days overlap. There is no way anybody reading the account with no Bible knowledge would conclude that the author is intending for the reader to understand that the days overlapped. As one ended, morning and evening, another began. There is no Biblical basis to assume that we are still in the seventh day. No Scripture gives ground to make such a statement; it is merely hypothetical. They do not believe that the universe was created with the appearance of age (Adam and Even were created as adults, for example, yet they were only a second old). There is no hard evidence for ape-men. Finally, in regard to Noah’s flood, why would God make Noah stay in an ark for so long if there was land elsewhere?
Day Age Theory
This view states that each day in Genesis 1 is actually millions or billions of years. Many supposed conservative Christians take this view, seeing it as some kind of compromise with “scientific evidence.” It is merely one way to try to reconcile the evolutionary account with the Genesis account. God doesn’t need anymore time than 24 hours. The verse quoted to give supposed credence to this view is 2 Peter 3:8 which says, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” The curious thing is that the verse is not making a literal claim. It is saying that our view of time is different than God’s view of time when it comes to His delaying His return. Yet they take this verse literally and deny the literal interpretation of Genesis.
Problems with the Day Age Theory
It is dangerous because it undermines the authority of the Scripture. For example, why does the Genesis account emphasize the evening and morning of each day every time? The text gives no evidence of a drawn out evolutionary process for creating man. There is no reason to believe that when God said He created man in one day that it took him a thousand years. Where this view really wants to go is to allow millions and billions of years, which Scripture in no way grants. Many times, it is no more than a cleverly devised scheme to let theistic evolution creep in the back door.
Gap Theory
This view states that a primitive earth was created in Genesis 1:1, Satan fell and corrupted it, God flooded it, and a second earth was created in Genesis 2:2 out of corruption. This is an attempt to harmonize with the supposed “clear evidence” of the “ancient” geologic column. Sketchy scientific conclusions are held as more important than what the Bible plainly indicates (two creations and two earths?). They do not believe that God used evolution, but they do believe that the earth is indefinitely old. They try to take the Genesis account literally but feel compelled by science to read into it.
Problems with the Gap Theory
They assume that some scientific assumptions and conclusions are grounds to be forced to doubt the Word of God when there are plenty of contradictory scientific claims to uphold it. This view jeopardizes confidence in the written Word by adding to it, a dangerous thing to do and condemned by God. That there was a previous creation with evil, sin, corruption doesn’t square with the perfection indicated in the Garden of Eden. Death came only through Adam’s sin (Romans 5:14).
Old Earth Creationism
This is the view that the earth is millions or billions of years old. Supposed scientific results such as the expansion of the universe and the speed of light from distant stars supersedes the value of taking the Genesis account literally. (Of course, God could have created the earth with light already reaching the earth and the universe already having expanded beyond a mere ball of matter.) This view is typically accompanied by progressive creationism or theistic evolution. It typically holds to uniformitarianism which states that the geologic changes on the earth happened gradually over billions of years rather than quickly through a catastrophic worldwide flood. Thus, a worldwide flood is typically denied, also denying a literal interpretation of Scripture.
Young Earth Creationism
This is the view that the Genesis account is to be taken as an historical account with every word being taken literally. They believe (and I) that God created the world in six literal 24 hour days and rested for a literal 24 hour seventh day. The Garden of Eden was a paradise because death happened only after Adam and Eve sinned, as the Bible seems to plainly indicate when it says that death came through Adam. The earth was changed rapidly during a worldwide flood (no more water under the earth or above it), so therefore the geologic column is not uniform across the face of the earth, which is indeed indicative of a catastrophic event. The earth is likely 6 to 10 thousand years old as the genealogies of the Old Testament would seem to indicate. There never was no every will be any in-between species because evolution never did occur nor will it again in the future. There is plenty of scientific evidence to support this view (no inbetween fossils, no evolution has happened in the history of man, geologic columns are mixed up from a flood, etc.). see article for more evidence
Problems with Young Earth Creationism
None
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