Why i believe Creation

Sufficiency of scripture (have slide with chart)

only use bible

use bible and supplement with other sources

bible and other sources are equal

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

I believe in middle option. Thats why we do these studies. Its not that scripture isnt sufficient to find faith and to “make it to heaven” so to speak. Its just that there are other things out there that are of so much benefit to add to your faith, to give good evidence to build faith, and to help navigate life.

to start, i want to reference two sources.

One is worth references, one has just been helpful for me but may not be for you.

Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker

Michael Denton - Evolution: a theory in Crisis

LIST OF SOURCES FROM CHAPTER

The Nature of Science and and of Theories of Origins by Duane Gish

Nature by L.C. Birch and P.R. Ehrlich

The best of Cosmos by Carl Sagan (PBS Broadcast)

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins

Why Bill Nye Calls Evolution “Undeniable” and Creationism “Inane” by Jane J. Lee

The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories by James F. Jekel

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton

Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature by Francis Crick

Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth by Soren Lovtrup

Evolution and the National Association of Biology Teachers by Craig Rusbult

So also, hes going to say that this is the most challenging message.

Thats also true about the book. He gets pretty academic, but honestly i found this to be the most helpful chapter in the book. espcialley because it pointed to the book by Michael Denton

Watch video

IMPORTANT:

Its important to not build strawmen.

Define - Distorting an opponents position and then defeating that position

Imagine you wanted everyone to think you were tough so you put up a strawman and beat it down to the ground to show how tough you were instead of fighting a real man.

Always represent the other side in a way that they would agree with.

You cannot fight for truth and use lies to win your argument.

If you have the high ground of truth, then you do not have to mis-represent the other side. They will tear themselves down because they do not have truth.

Why would this be important and biblical?

Proverbs 12:22 ESV

22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Colossians 3:9 ESV

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

It kills your witness (we always say this about alcohol, but lying is much more damaging)

Unbelievers tend to trust you more when you do not seem to want to distort what they believe.

You are a person of biblical intergrity that has the high ground in the fight.

examples:

Reposting something on social media that doesnt actually represent what your opponent believes

Dawkins does this. He is very curtious and gracious to his opponents, even the christians and creation deists. (William Paley)

Based on a simplified understanding of evolution from Dawkins:

It is not that there is a mystical force behind the scenes that is guiding the small changes that happen overtime to reproduce a new creature.

Evolution is not like dog breeding, where a breeder is combining gene traits to make the product desired.

Mother nature is not guiding the process to a better earth and product.

Its literally a billions year process of minor changes that happen that eventually do not even look like the previous organism.

The only way it works is when you have billions of years because it takes a long time to make this major of changes. Sometimes it works out that the new features help it to survive, sometimes it doesnt. Sometimes natural processes eliminate a creature, sometimes it does not.

It is a combination of small changes and natural selection

p. 43 - We have seen that living things are too improbable and too beautifully “designed” to have come into existence by chance. How, then, did they come into existence? The answer, Darwin’s answer, is by gradual, step-by-step transformations from simple beginnings, from primordial entities suffieciently simple to have come into existence by chance.

(these simple changes were simple enough to be considered chance, yet over millions of years, they totally changed the organism)

p307-308

p311, nothing magical sprouts

Means that a bump may have appeared a billion years ago on a rat, that bump stuck around and started forming on the children, 100 years later, that bump grew a hair. That gene stuck around. 1000 years later, that hair may have hardened a little. Another 1000 years hardened enough to be a bone nub, so on until you have the beginnings of a wing.

Scientist Pasteur (pastuerization) proved that things do not magically pop up. There is an underlying process (microbes)

My problem and Michael Dentons argument, is that you do not genetically have a different species like a bat, you just have a funky looking rat.

(may not use unless someone brings it up)

Interesting that on p13, Dawkins says that no Reductionist exist (that without God, evolution can be reduced down to dog eat dog, survival, baby eaters that have no morals because they have no capacity for it.) This book was written in 1996, and would be before the decades of school shootings by reductionist evolutionist teenagers.

I wouldnt argue that Dawkins is not automatically a possible serial killer because he believes in evolution nor has to be, but it cannot be denied that a particular type of violence has developed in school and society because mostly evolution in school vs prayer/God in schools argument.

USE THESE NOTES

Denton makes the argument that the fall to evolution happened because astronomy and history, then geology was not lining up with Genesis. NOT EVOLUTION THOUGHT, simply observations of the universe and rocks. This began to crumble trust in the book. It wasnt that people were pushing God away, they just said things like “wait the earth is not the center of the universe. These christians must be pretty ignorant.”

That distrust made people search. Christians had no good answer why they should stay. Then Darwin begins to come up with logical answers.

He said The time on the Beagle was freeing for Darwin, an unsatifsfied Christian.

The judgment of Romans 1

Its not as simple as Romans 1 for an atheist to be produced. Its very complicated and involves a search for knowledge and many times really bad things happening to the person (NOT ALWAYS).

But my presupposition is that Romans 1 explains so much in this.

So he Romans 1 suppressed.

Romans 1:18–32 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

This is also a pretty harsh view because it says that its God’s judgment that allows people to suppress the knowledge of God.

They know about God but push it down deep.

When they do, they start making all kind of things up like rogue science theories and standards of morality.

If you have a loved one and you have tried to understand, it may seem harsh that God has darkened their hearts when we believe God wants all men to be saved.

I think this is why intercessory prayer is so important. I see nothing in Romans 1 or the NT that says this state of judgment is final.

He simply lets people have what they want to the extreme.

Pray that God would show mercy and work in their hearts. Pray that they would stop suppressing what they deep down know to be true.

so also, a note on other resources

There are sceptics of evolution.

Denton is one. He seems legit.

Dawkins and others spend time answering their critics, so just because you find a scientist that doesnt support evolution,

doesnt mean you have found a silver bullet to win.

We almost tend to do the enemy of enemy if my friend tactic when looking up sources against evolution. But you can only trust the word of God at the end of the day.

BUT

you need to know they do exist. Its evidence that supports your faith.

Actually lots of evidence!

BUT At the end of the day, do you believe the bible or not?

Many times these experts end of failing to prove or actually you find out their quacks that arent actually trusted by the science community.

Here’s where you need to be.

Educated about your beliefs but

Be comfortable that you are believing on faith, but also be comfortable with they are too.

The question is Faith in what and why?

If time, go through questions at end