The Creation Narrative and Modern Science

1. The Creation Narrative and Modern Science • Who cares? -Philosophically

2. Man must realize that a fundamental law of necessity reigns throughout the whole realm of Nature . . . there cannot be a separate law for mankind in a world in which planets and suns follow their orbits, where moons and planets trace their destined paths, where the strong are always the masters of the weak and where those subject to such laws must obey them or be destroyed. Man must also submit to the eternal principles of this supreme wisdom. He may try to understand them but he can never free himself from their sway.

3. Man must realize that a fundamental law of necessity reigns throughout the whole realm of Nature . . . there cannot be a separate law for mankind in a world in which planets and suns follow their orbits, where moons and planets trace their destined paths, where the strong are always the masters of the weak and where those subject to such laws must obey them or be destroyed. Man must also submit to the eternal principles of this supreme wisdom. He may try to understand them but he can never free himself from their sway. Adolph Hitler, MeinKampf,James Murphy trans., (London: Hurst and Blackett Ltd., 1939) p. 140

4. The Creation Narrative and Modern Science • Who cares? -Philosophically -Theologically -Apologetically

5. Three Models • Theistic Evolution • Progressive Creation • Mature Creationism • Atheistic Evolution

6. Theistic Evolution Theistic Evolution 4.5 Billion Years All creation is via God’s ordinary means of action (natural Law)

7. Critique: Theistic Evolution • This theory will not harmonize with the Bible • Biblical words in Genesis: • Bara = creation out of nothing • Yatzar = to form or make • Yom = “day” “time” “life” “season “space” cf. Gen. 1:5 with 2:4 • Still have problems with certain areas like biogenesis and the fossil record • Could argue that God started it

8. Progressive Creationism Progressive Creation 4.5 Billion Years Creation is via a combination of God’s ordinary and extraordinary means of action (natural Law)

9. Critique: Progressive Creationism • Gen 1: “after their own kind” • Fossil record supports this view • The picture of smooth transition from primitive to complex life forms is not borne out by the fossil record • New orders appear abruptly and remain relatively unchanged • See current theories of Punctuated equilibrium/ emergent evolution--

10. Fish Mammals Reptiles Amphibians Primates UnsegmentedWorms Birds Green plants Insects Fungi SegmentedWorms Mollusca Protozoans

11. Fish Mammals Reptiles Amphibians Primates UnsegmentedWorms Birds Green plants Insects Fungi SegmentedWorms Blue-green Algas Mollusca Protozoans

12. Critique: Progressive Creationism • Dr. Grassi, President of the French Academy of Science, Editor of a 30 volume series on paleontology • “There is almost a total absence of fossil evidence relative to the origin of the phyla. The lack of direct evidence leads to the formation of pure conjecture as to the genesis of phyla. We don’t even have a basis to determine the extent to which these opinions are correct.”

13. Critique: Progressive Creationism • George Gaylord Simpson-Prominent evolutionary paleontologists in Types of Evolution, cited in Gish, Evolution, The Fossils Say ‘No’ p.168 • "[The absence of transitional forms in the fossil record] is true of all the thirty-two orders of mammals...The earliest and most primitive known members of every order already have the basic ordinal characters, and in no case is an approximately continuous sequence from one order to another known. In most cases the break is so sharp and the gap so large that the origin of the order is speculative and much disputed."

14. Critique: Progressive Creationism • "This regular absence of transitional forms... is an almost universal phenomenon, as has long been noted by paleontologists. It is true of almost all orders of all classes of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate. . .and it is apparently also true of analogous categories of plants."

15. Critique: Progressive Creationism • [wonders] “whether such major events take place instantaneously, by some process essentially unlike those involved in lesser or more gradual evolutionary change. . .” • These findings in the fossil record fit perfectly with the idea of progressive creation

16. Critique: Progressive Creationism Progressive Creation 4.5 Billion Years Creation is via a combination of God’s ordinary and extraordinary means of action (natural Law)

17. Critique: Progressive Creationism • Progressive Creationism is compatible with the Genesis account: -The day-age theory -“Days literal but not sequential” theory -Gap theory • Days of creation do not easily correlate with episodes of emergent evolution in the fossil record • But, See Hugh Ross, Creation & Time

18. Mature Creationism Mature Creationism 10,000 years The creation account in Genesis is referring to a literal 6 day period when all things on earth were created-- All were by extraordinary, not ordinary means

19. Critique-Mature Creationism • The Days in Genesis 1 are literal 24-hour days, and happened only <10,000 years ago. The world flood created the impression of old age for the earth. • This is the dominant view in modern fundamentalist “creationism” • A discredited and unfortunate theory • Methodology is wrong • Unresponsive to falsifying data

20. Critique-Mature Creationism • Coral atolls, light from distant stars, slow forming sediment • Henry Morris. “Real creation necessarily involves creation of ‘apparent age.’” • See critique of Creation Science Movement by Robert Snow in Portraits of Creation Van Til ed. or- Hugh Ross, Creation and Time, Navpress

21. Atheistic Evolution • Next Week

22. Conclusions • Theists who believe the Bible are able to harmonize their views with the findings of modern science. • Human spirituality is dependent on special creation. • Genesis uniquely accounts for the nature of the human race. • God has created this world, and you can come to know him personally

23. Next Week • Guest lecturer Doug Rudy will expand on the subject of the Bible and macro-evolution

24. The Creation Narrative and Modern Science • Comments? • Questions?