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Evolution or Creation: What Do You Believe?

Conflict between science and religion has a long history. Until the 16th century, accepted religious teaching in the West held that the sun and planets moved around the earth. In 1543, a new model placed the earth and other planets in orbit around the sun. It met strong religious resistance at first. General acceptance came much later, after better observations and stronger mathematical explanations supported the new view.

A similar pattern appeared in geology. Until the 18th century, many Western churches taught that the earth was only about 6,000 years old. Then a new approach to geology argued that slow, steady processes needed far more time to shape the earth. Religious dispute followed for decades. Over time, careful field study and a clearer method of organising rock layers helped many accept the idea of a much older earth.

By the mid-19th century, many people still held to a literal reading of the Bible’s account of human creation. When the theory of evolution was published in 1859, it triggered strong religious opposition. More than a century later, supporters of evolution often speak as if the matter is settled. Many church leaders have made room for evolution, but firm resistance remains. Some well-informed observers also question whether evolution is destined to follow the same path as earlier shifts in scientific thinking.

In public education, organised campaigns have tried to reduce the prominence of evolution in schools by requiring that creation be taught alongside it. In a recent court battle, a federal judge ruled that what a state law called “creation science” did not qualify for equal standing with evolution. Many who believe evolution does not explain life’s origin found the outcome frustrating. The result also raised a practical issue. The courtroom debate did not stay focused on the core question.

Problems with “Scientific Creationism”

Trial testimony showed that the case for creation was not presented as a clear, direct challenge to evolutionary claims. It became tangled in disputes about side issues, mainly two teachings written into the law:

• Creation occurred only a few thousand years ago.
• All geological layers were formed by the Biblical Flood.

These ideas are not essential to the basic question of whether life was created. They are teachings associated with a limited group of churches that backed the law. Once those sectarian claims were made part of a required public school curriculum, the legal challenge was almost guaranteed.

Are These Doctrines Even Biblical?

The court loss for “scientific creationism” does not, by itself, discredit the Bible. The key issue is whether the Bible actually teaches a recent creation and a flood-based origin for all rock layers.

A careful Bible reader would say no. The Bible teaches that God created the heavens, the earth, and what fills them. It does not state when the universe and the earth were created. Many defence witnesses were tied to the claim that the six creative days in Genesis were limited to 144 hours. That view comes from an older line of fundamentalist teaching. It is not required by the Bible text itself, and it does not fit well with present knowledge.

The opening line of Genesis points to an act of creation before the creative days begin.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

If this refers to the starry heavens, galaxies, and the solar system that includes the earth, then it describes events before the first creative day. Genesis 1:2 also describes the earth’s condition before day one. Only Genesis 1:3-5 begins the work of the first day.

So, regardless of how long the creative days were, Genesis 1:1-2 describes prior events. If geologists argue for an earth billions of years old, or astronomers argue for a universe far older than that, the Bible does not give a time marker that contradicts such claims. It simply does not date those events.

The Bible also uses the word “day” in more than one way. It can mean daylight hours, a full 24-hour period, a year, or even longer spans. The “days” in Genesis 1 could be long periods, and the text does not state their length.

For that reason, the focus on a recent creation during the trial, and the attention it received in the media, did not address the main issue. The timing of creation is not the same as the fact of creation, and the two should not be treated as identical.

Once the timing issue is separated from the central claim, the argument about the origin of sedimentary layers can also be handled more carefully. The Bible does not explain how the earth’s rock layers formed, whether during the Flood or earlier. Much modern creationist writing on strata, fossils, and dinosaurs has tried to defend a 6,000 to 10,000-year earth. If that starting point is not supported, much of the rest becomes a side debate.

Science and the Case for Creation

Many readers know that a broad range of arguments have been offered for creation. In the last century, a number of respected scientists have spoken in favour of a Creator. Some did so openly, others more cautiously, but the point remains. Scientific work has led many to see design and order as pointing beyond matter and chance.

Some writers have also argued that cosmology supports the idea of a beginning. Discussion of the big bang has often used the word “creation” in a broad sense, even among researchers who do not hold religious beliefs. For some, the strength of the evidence raises questions that material explanations alone do not answer to their satisfaction.

The Bible and Evolution, A Direct Comparison

The debate becomes clearer when later religious dogmas are separated from the Bible text itself. Then the Bible’s claims can be set alongside what evolution teaches, and both can be weighed against established facts.

First, the Bible teaches that life comes from God.

“For with you is the source of life; By your light we can see light.” (Psalms 36:9)

This statement agrees with the principle that life does not arise from non-life by accident. Controlled tests do not show life forming from lifeless matter. Older claims of spontaneous generation lost credibility after careful laboratory work disproved them. Space and planetary studies have also failed to confirm that life forms on its own under harsh conditions.

Second, the Bible says living things reproduce within their kinds.

“Then God said: ‘Let the earth cause grass to sprout, seed-bearing plants and fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, with seeds in it, upon the earth.’ And it was so.” (Genesis 1:11)

“And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves and roams about, according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:21)

“Then God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, domestic animals and creeping animals and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so.” (Genesis 1:24)

Variation within a group is easy to observe, both in nature and in selective breeding. Yet variation does not automatically prove that one kind turns into a different kind. Many fossils identified as belonging to species still living today match modern forms closely. The evidence is often used to support competing interpretations, but it does not force a single conclusion.

Third, the Bible gives a timeframe for mankind that some place at about 6,000 years. It also allows for plant and animal life to be far older. Many parts of archaeology and recorded history fit within a relatively short span for human civilisation. Claims for far older human fossils are debated, and interpretations differ.

Creation, A Bible-Based Position

A Bible-based view of this controversy can be stated plainly.

• The Bible states creation as fact, and many find it consistent with evidence from astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, and biology.
• Evolution, as a full explanation for life’s origin, conflicts with the Bible’s teaching that life comes from God.
• The Bible does not date the creation of “the heavens and the earth.” Claims that it demands a young universe do not come from the text itself, and such claims often clash with findings in astronomy, physics, and geology.

For Christians, confidence in the Genesis account does not depend on winning every argument in public disputes. Faith is presented as confidence based on evidence, even when not every detail is visible.

“Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Jesus spoke of creation as a real act by God.

“In reply he said: ‘Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh”?’” (Matthew 19:4, 5)

Revelation also links worship to God’s role as Creator.

“You are worthy, Jehovah our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they came into existence and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

The book opens by explaining how the message was given.

“A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place. And he sent his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John,” (Revelation 1:1)