CREATIONISM Vs. EVOLUTION:
Are Creationism and Evolutionism Fact or Fiction?
Let Scripture and Science Speak
Lunch and Learn:
Christmas Levity: Pick your choice.
1. Many banks have a new kind of Christmas club in operation. The new club helps you save money to pay for last year’s gifts.
2. Nothing destroys the Christmas spirit faster than looking for a place to park.
3. Christmas is a race to see which gives out first – your money or your feet.
4. What most of us want for Christmas is the day after.
5. Anyone who thinks Christmas doesn’t last all year doesn’t have a charge account.
6. Last year a big store in Milwaukee started its Christmas sale so early that Santa Clause wore Bermuda shorts.
7. Christmas is the time of the year when Santa Claus comes down the chimney and your savings go down the drain.
8. This year Americans are planning the biggest Christmas they ever charged.
9. Christmas is a time when a lot of others besides Santa find themselves in the red.
10. A father’s biggest difficulty at Christmas time is convincing the children that he is Santa Claus and his wife that he is not.
11. On Christmas Eve Santa carries the bag. After Christmas dad is holding it.
12. One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.
13. God shocked the world with a babe, not a bomb.
1. Why did Obama purchase a new puppy named Sunny?
2. Identify Jahi McMath, Keith Vidal.
3. What is keracore?
4. What does “forgetting the past” mean? It simply means that we break the power of the past by living for the future.
5. How can you tell if a person is old or young?
6. “A sanctified dissatisfaction of our lives is the first essential for progress in the Christian race.” Agree?
7. There are two extremes to avoid in the Christian life.
a. I must do it all.
b. Let go and let God.
8. What is the biblical approach to the Christian life?
9. “Adam did not have a navel.” (bellybutton) (Ken Ham) Why?
10. How many of the US States have suffered temperatures of 32 degrees and below in the last week?
The Foremost Question of Modern Man is:
1. Is Creationism Fact or Fiction? This question is answered at the front door of the Bible and through out the Scriptures.
a. Genesis 1:1
b. Genesis 1:26
c. Col. 1:16
d. Hebrews 11:3
e. Revelation 3:11
f. Psalm 19:7
g. Mark 10:6
h. 2 Timothy 3:16
“Genesis 1:1 is unique in all literature, science, and philosophy. Every other system of cosmogony, whether in ancient religious myths or modern scientific models, starts with eternal matter or energy in some form, from which other entities were supposedly gradually derived by some process. Only the Book of Genesis even attempts to account for the ultimate origin of matter, space, and time; and it does so uniquely in terms of special creation.”
2. Is Evolution Fact or Fiction?
a. “… What is the primary tool of evolution? Well, the primary tools of evolutionary process, according to Darwin, are two things.
(1) One is mutation – that things keep changing; and
(2) Then, next, natural selection, which has led to the survival of the fittest. And so, over billions of years, we see man – who starts out as some primordial ooze, slime – and, he becomes primitive protozoa. Somehow – magically, accidentally, mysteriously – non-organic matter, nonliving matter, gains a spark of life; and, you get a one-celled organism, a protozoa. And, given a few billion years, that becomes an un-segmented worm. You didn’t know you were once a worm? And then, that un-segmented worm becomes a fish. And then, that fish becomes an amphibian. And then, that amphibian becomes a reptile. And then, that reptile becomes a bird. And then, that, bird becomes a mammal. And somehow, that mammal turns into a man.”
b. Nothing times nothing equals everything.
c. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which were seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3) Evolution turns the creation event into a process that spanned billions of years and is still not complete. Evolutionists further insist that neither life itself nor any of the various species of living creatures came into being by immediate creation from nothing, but that they all emerged first from inanimate matter and then from pre-existing life -forms through a series of slow changes and genetic mutations that took some twenty billion years (or longer) – and that everything is still evolving. The modern scientific community has demanded and received almost universal acceptance of these basic principles of evolutionary theory.”
d. “ So whether we believe the Genesis record or not makes all the difference in the world. Douglas F. Kelly, professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, has written on this subject with great insight. He says, ‘Essentially, mankind has only two choices. Either we have evolved out of the slime and can be explained only in a materialistic sense, meaning that we are made of nothing but the material, or we have been made on a heavenly pattern.”
He’s right. There are ultimately the only two options. We can either believe what Genesis says, or not.
(1) If Genesis is true, then the universe and everything in it was created by a loving personal God and His purposes are clearly revealed to us in Scripture.
(2) Further, if the Genesis account is true, then we bear the stamp of God and are loved by Him – and because we are made in His image, human beings have a dignity, value, and obligation that transcends that of all other creatures. Moreover, if Genesis is true, then we not only have God’s own answers to the questions of what we are here for and how we got where we are , but we also have the promise of salvation from our sin.
e. If Genesis is not true, however, we have no reliable answer to anything. Throw out Genesis and the authority of all Scripture is fatally compromised. That would ultimately mean that the God of the Bible simply doesn’t exist. And if some other kind of creator-god does exist, he evidently doesn’t care enough about his creation to provide and revelation about himself, his plan for creation, or his will for his creatures.
Therefore if Genesis is untrue, we might as well assume that no God exists at all. That is precisely the assumption behind modern evolutionary theory. If true, it means that impersonal matter is the ultimate reality. Human personality and human intelligence are simply meaningless accidents produced at random by the natural processes of evolution. We have no moral accountability to any higher Being. All morality – indeed, all truth itself – is ultimately relative. In fact, truth, falsehood, goodness, and evil are all merely theoretical notions with no real meaning or significance. Nothing really matters in the vast immensity of an infinite, impersonal universal.”
f. “Consider the dogma of evolution. The notion that natural evolution processes can account for the origin of all living species has never been and never will be established as fact. Nor is it “scientific” in any true sense of the word. Science deals with what can be observed and reproduced by experimentation. The origin of life can be neither observed nor reproduced in any laboratory. By definition, then, true science can give us no knowledge whatsoever about where we came from or how we got here. Belief in evolutionary theory is a matter of sheer faith.”
3. “Evolution is Degrading to Humanity. The drift of modern society proves the point. We are witnessing the abandonment of moral standards and the loss of humanity’s sense of destiny. Rampant crime, drug abuse, sexual perversion, rising suicide rates, and the abortion epidemic are all symptoms that human life is being systematically devalued and that an utter sense of futility is sweeping over society. These trends are directly traceable to the ascent of evolutionary theory. And why not? If evolution is true, humans are just one of many species that evolved from common ancestors. We’re no better than animals, and we ought not to think that we are. If we evolved from sheer matter, why should we esteem what is spiritual? In fact, if everything evolved from matter, nothing “spiritual” is real. We ourselves are ultimately no better than or different from any other living species. We are nothing more than protoplasm waiting to become manure.”
4. “Evolution is Hostile to Reason. Evolution is as irrational as it is amoral. In place of God as Creator, the evolutionist has substituted chance – sheer fortune, accident, happenstance, serendipity, coincidence, random events, and blind luck. Chance is the engine most evolutionists believe drives the evolutionary process.”
5. “The Starting Point for Christianity is not Matthew 1:1, but Genesis 1:1. Tamper with the Book of Genesis and you undermine the very foundation of Christianity. You cannot treat Genesis 1 as a fable or a mere poetic saga with out severe implications to the rest of Scripture. The creation account is where God starts His account of history. It is impossible to alter the beginning without impacting the rest of the story – not to mention the ending. If Genesis 1 is not accurate, then there’s no way to be certain that the rest of Scripture tells the truth. If the starting point is wrong, then the Bible itself is built on a foundation of falsehood.”
6. Is Evolution Scientific? “…Evolution is not science. It may look like a science; it may talk like a science, but it is a philosophy; it is science fiction. It is anti-God; it is really the devil’s religion. And, the sad thing is that our public schools have become the devil’s Sunday School classes. What is evolution? Evolution is man’s way of hiding from God, because, if there’s no creation, there is no Creator. And, if you remove God from the equation, then sinful man has his biggest problem removed – and that is responsibility to a holy God. And, once you remove God from the equation, then man can think what he wants to think, do what he wants to do, be what he wants to be, and no holds barred, and he has no fear of future judgment.”
7. Are Evolution and Christianity Compatible. “Aldous Huxley said in his book Ends and Means and I quote: ‘I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning. For myself, and no doubt for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom; we objected to the political and economic system because it was unjust. The supporters of these systems claim that, in some way, they embodied meaning – a Christian meaning, they insisted – of the world. There was one admirably simply method of confuting these people and at the same time justifying ourselves in our political and erotic revolt: We could deny that the world had any meaning whatsoever.’ Aldous Huxley: ‘We didn’t want anybody to tell us that our sexual ways and perversions were sin, so what we did – we just simply told God, ‘God, get out of the way.’”
8. Conclusion – “Our view of creation is the necessary starting point for our entire world-view. In fact, so vital is the issue that Francis Schaeffer once remarked that if he had only an hour to spend with an unbeliever, he would spend the first fifty-five minutes talking about creation and what it means for humanity to bear the image of God – and then he would use the last five minutes to explain the way of salvation.”
THE WORLDS GREATEST CONTRASTS:
Evolution says Life is Chance. Creation says God created with intelligence and design. Evolution says you’re just an overgrown ape. Creation says you were made in the image of God.
Evolution can’t place any value on love. Creation says God loves beauty, and love is meaningful.
Evolution-survival of the fittest. Creation and Scripture reveal that God looks out for the weak, the beaten up, the hurting.
Evolution says Jesus is a fraud. The Bible says he created us and wants to recreate us.
Evolution is based on faith and science. Creation is based on faith and science.
Both valid. But both are worlds apart.
CLOSE: The story is told of a preacher that was traveling with his wife and had stopped at a restaurant for a meal. They just wanted to eat and be on their way. But an older gentleman walked over to their table and wanted to talk. They really didn’t want to talk… but they were too polite to say so. “What do you do for a living” the older man asked. “I’m a preacher,” was the reply. “Well then, I have a story you may find interesting.”
“My mother wasn’t married when I was born. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself both at recess and during lunch time because of the taunts of my playmates, which cut me deeply. What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through you. They were all wondering who my real father was. “When I was about 12, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door… I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. “‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’ “I felt the old weight come upon me. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down, I thought. “But as the preacher looked down at me, studying my face, he began a big smile of recognition. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God!’ “With that, he slapped me across the back and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’
Questions and Answers:
1. Do you classify your self as a creationist or evolutionist?
2. Why?
3. How did God create the universe according to the Bible?
4. Were you taught evolution in school?
5. Do you believe one can be both and evolutionist and a creationist at the same time? Example: Dr. Billy Poteat, President of Wake Forest University.
6. Do you believe one can be a genuine believer in Christ and be an evolutionist?
7. Do you think more teachers teach evolution to stay in step with the time but do not believe it?
8. “Evolution will eventually be null and void.”
9. Do you believe that evolution accounts for the enormous increase in the following:
a. Abortion
b. Sexual immorality
c. Same-sex marriage
d. School shootings
e. The rising death culture.
f. Godless Communism
g. Murderous Dictators
10. Are there notable scientists who reject evolution?
a. Did Einstein believe in evolution?
11. Are there notable Christians who believe in creationism?
12. Major denominations and Seminaries teach that the Bible contains but is not the Word of God. Has this contributed to the acceptance of evolution?
13. If evolution is true, is the Gospel relevant?
14. What is the best antidote for belief in evolution?
15. Can you be intelligent and not believe in evolution?
16. According to the Bible did man evolve or devolve? Cite Scripture –
UPCOMING LESSONS:
SEVEN BRIDGES THAT EVOLUTION CANNOT CROSS.
1. Logic
2. The Origin of Life
3. Fixity of Specific Species-
4. Mutation. “This is the difference between micro-evolution and macro-evolution. Micro-evolution are adaptations and mutations that do effect minor changes within certain species and animals, but these never produce a new family or type. Creationists believe in micro-evolution. You’d have to. But evolution theory demands a belief in macro-evolution: that mutations occur over enough time to create whole new kinds of animals. A frog becomes a bird becomes a slug becomes a televangelist. Never been any evidence of this. Huge blow to the evolutionary theory. Ten times in the book of Genesis we read God’s decree concerning the reproduction of His creatures – “after its kind.” Gen:1:25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” The word “kind” refers to species, or families. Each created family was to produce only its own kind. This forever precludes the drifting, changing process required by organic evolution where one species turns into another. This is exactly what the fossil records reveal.”
5. Spontaneous Generation – “How did we get the conditions on planet earth that brought us our first one-celled animal from which all life forms supposedly evolved? For man years, evolution explained our origins by “spontaneous generation”. Simply stated, this means that under the proper conditions of temperature, time, place, etc., decaying matter simply turns into organic life. This idea dominated scientific thinking until 1846, when Louis Pasteur completely shattered the theory by his experiments. He exposed the whole concept as utter foolishness. Under controlled laboratory conditions, in a semi-vacuum, no organic life ever emerged from decaying, nonliving matter. Reluctantly it was abandoned as a valid scientific issue. Today no reputable scientist tries to defend it, but it was hallmark of evolution for decades. That is why Webster says it is “now abandoned.” Obviously, if spontaneous generation actually did take place in the distant past to produce the first spark of life, it must be assumed that the laws which govern life had to be completely different from what they are now. But wait a minute! This won’t work either, because the whole evolutionary theory rests upon the assumption that conditions on the earth have remained uniform throughout the ages.”
6. Second Law of Thermo Dynamics – Rogers –
7. The Contrast of Western and Eastern Civilization.
Quotes:
1. “The theory of evolution will be scientifically debunked in your lifetime.” (Scott Adams, great Scientist and Cartoonist.)
2. “The current scenario of the origin of life is about as lifeless as a tornado passing through a junk yard beside Boeing Air Plane Company accidentally producing a 747 Aircraft.” (Randy Croft)
3. “Evolution laid the foundation for international violence and bloodshed. Mao and other Communists can murder and mutilate undesirable people. Racism is normal. Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Adolph Hitler, and Benito Mussolini were all avowed evolutionists. It mattered to millions of Jews and Russians who were killed what people believed.” (Randy Croft)
4. “Evolution is monkey mythology.” (Adrian Rogers)
5. “Once I was a tadpole beginning to begin. Then I became a frog with my tail tucked in. Next I became a monkey in a banyan tree. Now I am a professor with a Ph.D.” (WA Criswell)
6. “H. G. Wells, the brilliant historian who wrote The Outlines of History, said this—and I quote: “If all animals and man evolved, then there were no first parents, and no Paradise, and no Fall. If there had been no Fall, then the entire historic fabric of Christianity, the story of the first sin, and the reason for the atonement, collapses like a house of cards.” H. G. Wells says—and, by the way, I don’t believe that he did believe in creation—but he said, “If there’s no creation, then you’ve ripped away the foundation of Christianity.”
Application:
The most serious question we can ask is not, WHERE DID I COME FROM, BUT WHERE AM I GOING? Where you came from is a settled thing. It’s over, it’s done. But where you are going is not settled if you don’t know Jesus. The wisest thing you could ever do is not be concerned about your origin, but your destiny. So I ask you a question. Are you saved? Not are you a Baptist or a Methodist, but do you know Jesus personally? Have you enthroned Him as Lord? And have you yielded your life to Him?