Society of Creation Conference Ann Arbor, Michigan July 6-8,
2015 Joel D. Heck, a member of CRS The Impact of Darwinism on Our
World Today
Slide 2
Attendance Report Registered Participants: 79
Slide 3
Assumption Many of our worlds most serious problems can be
traced back to a setting aside of the biblical story of our
origins. When people no longer believe that they are created in the
image of God, and that God Himself created, then they are free to
opt for various humanistic positions. For example, God established
marriage between one man and one woman in Gen. 2:24. How would a
widespread acceptance of this fact change the marriage debate
today? Or think of the extreme forms of animal rights activism,
where humans are thought of simply as more advanced animals, in the
light of Gen. 1:27-28 and the image of God. The Gospel itself is
rooted in Genesis, since the need for redemption occurred because
of Adams sin.
Slide 4
Outline 1. The Impact of Darwinian Origins: Dramatic Examples
2. The Impact of Darwinian Origins: Many Less Visible Examples 3.
Biblical Origins: The Message of Genesis 1 4. Biblical Origins: Two
Concluding Slides with Notes from the New Testament
Slide 5
I. Darwinian Origins: Dramatic Examples The fact that humans
think of themselves as altogether distinct from other animalsand
the biblical notion that humans have dominion over other animalsis
a sort of racism (Richard Dawkins). Robert Ingersoll: Darwins
doctrine of the survival of the fittest, his doctrine of the origin
of species, has removed in every thinking mind the last vestige of
orthodox Christianity (World, 72).
Slide 6
On Design at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no
good, nothing but pitiless indifference (Richard Dawkins, 1995.
Scientific American. November, 85). If anything is true about
nature, it is that plants and animals seem intricately and almost
perfectly designed for living their lives . Nature resembles a
well-oiled machine, with every species an intricate cog or gear.
What does all this seem to imply? A master mechanic, of course.
(Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True, 1)
Slide 7
On Design In What Mad Pursuit, Francis Crick, Nobel laureate
and codiscoverer of the structure of DNA, writes, Biologists must
constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but
rather evolved. Richard Dawkins, the worlds most famous Darwinist,
in his book The Blind Watchmaker, writes, Biology is the study of
complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed
for a purpose. William Dembski, Science and Design (October 1998):
Why do Dawkins and Crick feel compelled to constantly remind us
that biology studies things that only appear to be designed, but
that in fact are not designed?
Slide 8
William A. Dembski There now exists a rigorous
criterion-complexity- specification-for distinguishing
intelligently caused objects from unintelligently caused ones. Many
special sciences already use this criterion, though in a
pre-theoretic form (e.g., forensic science, artificial
intelligence, cryptography, archeology, and the Search for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). The great breakthrough in
philosophy of science and probability theory of recent years has
been to isolate and make precise this criterion. Michael Behes
criterion of irreducible complexity for establishing the design of
biochemical systems is a special case of the
complexity-specification criterion for detecting design (cf. Behes
book Darwins Black Box ).
Slide 9
The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the
Congress of Deputies calling for the immediate inclusion of
[simians] in the category of persons, and that they be given the
moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human
beings. [Their] justification is that humans share 98.4% of our
genes with chimpanzees, 97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with
orangutans. [They] will announce its Great Ape Project at a press
conference (Spain Herald, 4/27/2006)
Slide 10
also seeking a UN declaration on simian rights which would
defend ape interests the same as those of minors and the mentally
handicapped of our species. According to the Project [simians]
possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify
their inclusion in the community of equals (Spain Herald,
4/27/2006). Why is it that those most committed to the survival of
the fittest are also committed to the protection of the least
fit?
Slide 11
Will Provine, Cornell University Let me summarize my views on
what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear There are
no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is
no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am
going to be dead. Thats the end for me. There is no ultimate
foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free
will for humans, either (Provine, W. B., Origins Research 16(1), 9,
1994).
Slide 12
Nazi Germany Jerry Bergman, Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian
Worldview All weak living things will inevitably perish in nature.
In the last few decades, mankind has sinned frightfully against the
law of natural selection. We havent just maintained life unworthy
of life, we have even allowed it to multiply! (Opfer der
Vergangenheit, 1937) Evolutionist Sir Arthur Keith: The German
Fhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he
has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to
the theory of evolution.
Slide 13
National and Individual Totalitarianism Australia murdered many
of its Aboriginal people and sent their body parts to European
museums to provide evidence for the evolutionary development of
man, because they werent fully human. (see
http://creation.com/evolutionary-racism)
http://creation.com/evolutionary-racism Francis Galton (1822-1911),
Eugenicsfirst society founded in Germany Joseph Stalin (1878-1953),
a reader of Darwins Origin of Species, murdered millions.
Slide 14
National and Individual Totalitarianism Mao Zedongs two
favorite books were written by Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979, murdered between two and
four million people in Cambodia. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, one
of them wore a T-shirt with the inscription Natural Selection on
the front (Columbine High School, 1999). Etc. While the
responsibility for their evil rests on these people, Darwinian
thinking provided some of the impetus.
Slide 15
II. Darwinian Origins: Less Visible Examples The development of
the Documentary Hypothesis in Old Testament studies (JEDP or Source
Criticism) The evolution of the Gospels and the Q Theory The more
modern theories of Form Criticism, which sees the Gospels growing
in length as time passes The evolution of religion from dreams,
animism, polytheism, henotheism to monotheism Even the recent
hampering of some scientific research on DNA because of assumptions
about junk DNA.
Slide 16
II. Less Visible Examples Racism: At some future period, not
very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man
will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races
throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes
[that is, the ones which allegedly look like people] will no doubt
be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will
then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more
civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some
ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or
Australian [Aboriginal] and the gorilla (Darwin, The Descent of
Man).
Slide 17
A Problem In 2011, I bought two copies of Jonathan Wells book,
The Myth of Junk DNA. I offered a free copy to anyone in our
faculty who wanted to read the book. No one accepted the offer.
Recently, in February, I sent to all faculty and staff a summary of
the talks of ICRs Brian Thomas about collagen having a 900,000
maximum life, but collagen having been found in dinosaur remains.
No response. No science faculty had been in attendance at the
lectures. The problem: both sides preaching to the choir, reading
only their side of the story. The need: ways to reach across the
aisle.
Slide 18
III. Biblical Origins: Genesis 1
Slide 19
P. J. Wiseman Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis: A
Case for Literary Unity An eyewitness account So who wrote Genesis
One? Michelangelo (1475-1564) The Creation of Adam, ca. 1511
Slide 20
Genesis One and Rom. 5:12 A problem for the evolutionist or the
old-earth creationist in Rom. 5:12, Therefore, just as sin entered
the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way
death came to all men, because all sinned What is the problem? See
also Mark 10:6, But at the beginning of creation God made them male
and female. (more later)
Slide 21
Is Genesis One Prose or Poetry? Stephen Boyd studied the verbs
that appear in narrative sections and those that appear in poetic
sections of the Old Testament. His finding: That the likelihood
that Genesis One is narrative (i.e. prose) is 99.99%.
Slide 22
Prose vs. Poetry Boyd selected 97 biblical passages. 48 of them
were narrative prose. 49 of them were poetic. Diagram of a logistic
regression (next slide)
Slide 23
522 Texts 295 Narrative 227 Poetry
Slide 24
The nature of statistics is that all results are stated in
terms of probabilities. So strictly speaking, we can say that with
two choices for the genre of Genesis 1:1-2:3 (poetry or narrative),
this text is narrative, not poetry, with a very high degree of
probability. Or to put the results in scientific terms: the text is
a narrative with statistical certainty. In other words, It is
statistically indefensible to argue that this text is poetry.
Slide 25
The Meaning of Day 1. In more than 2,200 occurrences, the word
day is never used in the Old Testament to mean a long period of
time. 2. When the word day is used with a specific number, it
always means a 24-hour day. 3. When used in a number series, day
always means a 24-hour day. 4. The mention of evening and morning
for the six days of creation is a reference to the daily
interchange of light and darkness.
Slide 26
The Meaning of Day 5. The passages in Exod. 20:11 and 31:17
make little sense unless the days of creation are 24-hour days. 6.
Consistency in the interpretation of time references in the rest of
Genesis, such as the great ages of the patriarchs, requires us to
understand the days of Genesis One as 24-hour days. 7. There is no
reason to assume that light could not have existed before the
creation of the sun, the moon, and the stars. God is the source of
light.
Slide 27
The Meaning of Day 8. Whenever the word day is used in the
plural, it always means a 24-hour day. 9. Critical Old Testament
scholars, no longer needing to work out a compromise between
creation and evolution (since they dont think Genesis is historical
at all), admit that the word means a 24-hour day (eight more
reasons in In the Beginning, God). The crucial question is not Can
the Hebrew word day mean something other than 24 hours? But What
does the Hebrew word day mean in this context?
Slide 28
Language in Genesis One A simplicity of style Verses 6-7, and
9-10, water and seas rather than river or lake or sea Verses 11-12,
vegetation, plants, and trees, not fescue, and sycamore trees Verse
16, two great lights, the greater light, and the lesser light
rather than the sun and the moon Verses 24-25, terms for various
types of animals The idea of naming
Slide 29
The Fact/Value Split David Hume and Immanuel Kant Nancy
Pearcey, Saving Leonardo
Slide 30
The Miracles: Separate Verbs Day One The first: Gen. 1:1, In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The second:
Gen. 1:3, Let there be light. The third: Gen. 1:4, and he separated
the light from the darkness. Raphael
Slide 31
Day Two The fourth: Gen. 1:6, Let there be an expanse between
the waters The fifth and sixth: Gen. 1:7, So God made the expanse
and separated the water
Slide 32
Day Three The seventh and eighth: Gen. 1:9, Let the water under
the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.
The ninth: Gen. 1:11, Let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing
plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds.
Slide 33
Day Four The tenth: Gen. 1:14, Let there be lights in the
expanse of the sky The eleventh: Gen. 1:16, God made two great
lights the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to
govern the night. (He) also (made) the stars. The twelfth: Gen.
1:17, God set them in the expanse of the sky
Slide 34
Day Five The thirteenth & fourteenth: Gen. 1:20, Let the
water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly The fifteenth:
Gen. 1:21, So God created the great creatures of the sea
Slide 35
Day Six The sixteenth: Gen. 1:24, Let the land produce living
creatures And it was so. The seventeenth: Gen. 1:25, God made the
wild animals according to their kinds The eighteenth: Gen. 1:27, So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
him; male and female he created them.
Slide 36
Why Eighteen? How are they distributed? There are three
miracles of creation on each day (3 x 6 = 18). Why three per day?
My conclusion: To teach us that the Triune God is the Creator and
no one else. But perhaps also: To anticipate both deism and
naturalism.
Slide 37
Threes Some have traditionally seen the Trinity hinted at in
vv. 1-3: God created, the Spirit of God was hovering, and And God
said. They have also seen the Trinity at v. 26: Let us make man in
our image, in our likeness, But also There are 3 things created on
Day One. There are three acts of separation (vv. 4, 7, and 9)
Slide 38
Threes On Day Three, God creates three types of plants. On Day
Four, God creates three types of luminaries. On Day Five, God
creates three types of creatures. On Day Six, God notes three types
of land animals. On Day Four, God notes the three functions of the
luminaries: separate, give light, and govern.
Slide 39
Threes On Day Five, God gives the birds and aquatic creatures
three commands: be fruitful, increase, and fill. On Day Six, God
makes three parallel statements about the creation of mankind.
There are three sections in which the word create (bara) occurs
(vv. 1, 21, 27) There are three places where God says, Let there
be
Slide 40
Threes On Day Six, the verb create (bara) appears three times.
On Day Four, God gives three narrower purposes of the luminaries:
for signs, for seasons, and for days/years. God calls, or names,
three different times (vv. 5, 8, and 10). God blesses three times
(vv. 22, 28, and 2:3).
Slide 41
Conclusion Threeness is rampant in Genesis One. Coincidence?
There is even some double threeness (e.g., six creative days; And
it was so appears six times; that it was good appears six times).
There is no other place in all of Scripture where things come in
threes this oftena total of twenty-three times! I conclude that God
left His signature on the creation account of Genesis One! He
really wrote it! www.SocietyofCreation.org
Slide 42
Slide 43
IV. Biblical Origins: the New Testament 112 references to
creation They appear as 1. Echoes or allusions (53). 2. References
to the beginning of time (10). 3. References to events during the
creation week (38). 4. Significant events during creation that are
dated to a recent period of history (11). Every author and many
significant New Testament characters refer to creation, including
22 times in Revelation.
Slide 44
Mark 10:6, But at the beginning of creation God made them male
and female. Darwinian Evolution: 14.6 billion years Old Earth
Creationism: 14.6 billion years Young Earth Creationism: <
10,000 years The beginning of timeRight now
