Creation vs. Evolution

 

by Stacia Irwin

 

Two Sides to Every Tale

For many years man has lived on this earth.  And for many years man has wondered where he came from.  Many people have different beliefs about where we came from, and there have been many experiments, a lot of evidence and tons of arguments that can be provided for just about every side.  Mainly, there are two sides to the story.  One being creation, and the other evolution.

            Creationism basically says that a higher power, that being God, created us.  In six days the earth was created.  Before these six days the Bible tells us that God’s Spirit was hovering over the water that was covering the formless earth.  On the first day God said “let there be light” and then light appeared.  The sky was created on day two.   Followed by the land that would be separate from the sea as well as all kinds of plants on the third day.  Day four brought the sun for daytime and the moon and stars for night.  On the fifth day God created the creatures in the water and the birds of the air.  Finally on the sixth day He created the animals that wander the earth and man to rule over them all.  Many years later, after the earth’s population had grown, God brought a great flood to the earth.  (I will discuss this in more detail later on in the essay.)  This Great Flood is what brought so many fossils to show up in such interesting places. 

                                                                                               

            Evolution is the other side to the argument of how life came to be.  It starts with one primordial cell; it was a simple cell like bacteria.  Over time this cell evolved into multi-cellular organisms.  After a long time of evolving those organisms became life as we know it today.  Natural selection is said to be one of the main reasons that animals have changed over time.  Basically what natural selection says is that when the environment an organism lives in doesn’t suit it well it dies off; in other words, it’s “survival of the fittest.”  So the forms of that organism that are better suited for the environment will be the ones that produce and remain part of life there.   

 

The Research of Charles Darwin

            Almost anyone who has heard of evolution has heard of Charles Darwin.  Although this man was not the first to think of the theory of evolution he made many famous contributions to evolutionary research.  So much, that one form of evolution is called Darwinism.  But what exactly did Darwin believe?  And how did he go about putting evolution in so many people’s minds as the truth?

            In the year 1831 Charles Darwin graduated from Cambridge University.  Soon after that he would be the naturalist aboard an English ship called the H.M.S. Beagle that traveled the world.  At the time this voyage set out, most people still believed in Creationism and the Great Flood.  He collected many samples of animals, plants, and fossils that he thought might help solve the mystery of life.  While on the voyage, Darwin found fossils of things that were extinct.  He noticed that the fossils resembled animals that were living today.  This is what led Charles Darwin to believe that the species currently living have descended from older species. 

            His time on the Galapagos Islands would lead Darwin to his first specific theory of evolution.  All the islands in the Galapagos are very close together with many different species of the same type of animal.  For example there were fourteen different species of finch alone.  These finches became what Darwin based his theory on.  His theory was this: the ancestor of all the finches was one single species.  This species separated into different groups on the different islands.  Over many generations every group changed to better live in their environment, eventually creating fourteen different species of the same bird.  The main difference between the finches was their beaks. Now a new theory was added to evolution.  It would be called, natural selection: the theory that says nature selects what generation will be able to stay and continue living by the environment that it provides around the species. On islands where there were a lot of bugs to eat, the beak would be well suited to pick them up.  If the island had many seeds to eat, the finch’s beak was blunt for cracking the hard nuts and shells.  Other finches on different islands were best suited for their environment.

                                                                       

            Darwin went on to publish a book in 1859 that was titled On the Origin of Species.  What he said in this book would change the study of biology forever.  After the publishing of Darwin’s first book, religion and science no longer existed as comfortably together as they had before. Charles stated that his main goal in writing this book was “to overthrow the dogma of separate creations.” (Sonden, 12-14)  In this writing statements were made that seemed to say a higher power created things and then they evolved.  Although it didn’t specifically say “God” was this power, the book left room for those who believed in God to think that’s who he meant.

            A second book would follow in 1871 called The Descent of Man.  This time the things said in the book heavily contradicted what the Bible says about creation.  In this book Darwin claimed that humans were descendents of a furry creature with four legs and pointy ears that was classed in the same group as the ancestor of today’s monkeys.  He said that every living creature could probably be traced back to a fish like animal.  Religious leaders, not ready to dismiss the theory of evolution, tried to form methods of reconciling evolution’s theories with the story of creation in the Bible.

            There were many people who thought Darwin’s theory lowered humans, saying that it failed to separate us from animals.  Regardless of what some people said, Darwin would make one of the strongest arguments for evolution that is still used today.  Darwinism has now become like a religion to many people.

 

A New Science Is Formed

            With evolution growing and providing more and more believable evidence Creationists knew they needed more of their own evidence to back them up.  In 1902 a man named George McCready Price wrote a book called Outlines of Modern Christianity and Modern Science.  Price thought that evolution’s entire argument depended on geology.  If this were true he would be able to collapse the entire evolutionary theory by proving that the geology assumptions were wrong.  Although some thought that the Word of God was enough, others thought they also needed scientific facts to prove their beliefs. 

Price’s main argument focused on the stratigraphical column.  In this column fossils were buried.  It was believed that those animals that had died earlier were at the base of the column.  Toward the surface were the fossils of animals that had died and been buried closer to the surface.  The problem for evolutionists with this column was that some of the layers that were assumed to be older were on top of layers that were assumed to be younger.  If evolution were correct this would not have happened.  This discovery is what gave Price evidence of the Great Flood. 

Walter E. Lammerts and William J. Tinkle formed the Christian Research Society after breaking off from a different creation group.  They invited people to break away with them to form the new one.  A credo was produced by the society, which was written like this:

“1.  The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs.  To the students of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is the factual presentation of simple historical truths.

2.       All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis.  Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.

3.      The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event, worldwide in its extent and effect.

4.      We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind.  Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.” (Sonder, 51)

Over time many more Creation Science organizations were formed.  Creationists began to have more evidence to back up their ideas.  A lot of people are involved in the Creation Science studies today.  The problem is that many people don’t regard creation as an actual science.                        

Miller’s Experiment

            Stanley Miller was an Evolutionist.  He wanted to conduct an experiment that would prove evolution was possible.  In 1953 he did just that.  Well almost, many will say what he conducted does not have the right materials or environment to prove evolution’s theory.

            Miller used methane, ammonia, and water vapor, then zapped them to stimulate lightening.  He was trying to recreate what was thought to have happened at the start of the world.  One problem with these ingredients is that methane, one of the major elements, wasn’t found in large amounts when this really would’ve taken place.  So right from the start, Miller made a mistake that would cost him.  Another problem with the ingredients was that he left out oxygen, which has always been around and would’ve had a role in the original happenings.  This mistake would be a big part in what proved his experiment to be false.  Miller had a good reason for leaving out oxygen though.  The molecules he was trying to produce would’ve been destroyed by it.  The same spark that put the molecules together would also have torn them apart.  To prevent this from happening Miller circulated the molecules, something that probably wouldn’t have happened.

After about one week of doing this, amino acids were produced, which are the building blocks of life.  There are left and right amino acids, of which Miller produced both.  Left amino acids make life and just one right amino acid will prevent it.  So in producing both left and right acids the chance of producing life was gone.  What was actually produced by Stanley Miller’s experiment was a poisonous brew!

Today most Evolutionists don’t believe in Miller’s experiment.  It proved to be another failed attempt at trying to prove evolution.  In fact, Miller himself has admitted to no longer believing in it.

 

The Global Flood

Much of the evidence provided by Creationists comes from the result of a global flood.  In the book of Genesis the Bible says that God spoke to a man by the name of Noah.  God told Noah to build an ark because there was to be a great flood that would wipe out all of creation, except Noah and his family along with two of every animal, one male and one female. 

Fortunately, for Creationists, a lot of scientific evidence was provided because of this flood.  Scientists explain the flood like this.  There was a sudden shift of the earth’s axis.  This caused the earth to spew up underground water.  That caused the smaller animals to be swept away and buried in the mud. The larger animals and humans ran up to the hilltops to escape being killed by the water.  But eventually the water reached them and they were also killed.  In the years following their death these animals and people were covered with sediment.  It is estimated that this occurred about 4,500 years ago.

Today scientists find the fossils of these animals buried in rock.  A lot of them are being found in awkward positions.  This is thought to have happened because they were unexpectedly buried by rushing waters during the flood.  Many of the fish found have been in great shape, indicating that they were almost immediately buried after dying.  When in the water, a dead fish will fall apart within a matter of weeks.  But because they were rapidly buried, they hardened very quickly.  The results of this flood are what give Creationists much of the proof they need to successfully argue Creationism.

 

Evolutionist’s Arguments

Although all of the above evidence is given for Creationism there are still many groups that Creationists have going against them.  These include biologists and geologists (who do not believe in Creation), Evolutionists, Uniformitarians, Atheists, Materialists, Naturalists, Secular Humanists, and Satanists.  Evolutionists provide many arguments in attempts to disprove creation. 

Taking a look at Creationists, the Evolutionists see things that seem to tell them Creationism is just a made up story.  Saying that when scientific information does seem to have contradicted something said in Scripture, Creationists revise it instead of getting rid of it.  One example used for this argument is that it was decided that the food-for-survival plan for the ark was not believable so the story was changed to say that the animals were hibernating throughout the time on the ark.

Many other arguments are given as well.  For example there is no evidence for the vapor canopy Creationists say produced the floodwaters.  Another is that if Scripture says the stars were made to be seen from earth why are there so many that are unable to be seen even when using a telescope?  So many people say that Heaven is up.  But when two people standing on opposite sides of the earth point up they are pointing to two different locations.  I could probably write an entire paper only on all of the arguments Evolutionists give against Creationism.  So many people think Creationism is just a myth and not fact at all.  But Creationists have their own arguments for what they believe.

 

Creationist’s Arguments

Biogenesis is a scientific theory that says life can only come from existing life.  Assuming that this is true, something, or someone, must be responsible for creating life that is around today.  Unless there was already existing life, life wouldn’t have formed.

There is also another theory that says with matter, light and heat, life can, sometimes, be created.  The problem with this theory is that it is proven wrong every day thanks to the food industry.  In fact, the food industry depends on this not being true.  If this was true every time you opened up a bottle of ketchup there would be a chance that new life had formed inside the bottle.  Because, while in the bottle, ketchup is exposed to all three of those needed elements, matter, light and heat.  But in reality new life will not start forming until it is exposed to outside substances.

Many complicated things go into creating life.  These things would have pretty much no chance of happening without some help from a creator.  Amino acids are needed to create life.  Those acids, which tend to break down, need to link up in an exact order for life to form.  The chance of that just happening is about one in ten to the sixty-fifth power.  This is not very likely.  It would be easier for a single cell to just randomly turn into a human than for a non-living, non-existing, chemical to all of a sudden become a living thing.

Something a lot of people use to bring down Creationism is that it is based more on faith than on actual facts.  To a Creationist this is not surprising.  Because, if God created the world, and He wanted us to worship Him, He would want us to trust Him.  We shouldn’t need “proof” that He exists.  We just know, and trust, that it’s true.

 

In Conclusion…

Everyone is entitled to there own opinion.  Even when it comes to how the world was formed.  A lot of people have different opinions about where everything came from.  A lot of experiments have been done, evidence provided, and hundreds of arguments have been given for different sides to the age-old question.

So, where did we come from?  Was it from a God who loves us and cares for us?  Or was it from some random happenings with chemicals that weren’t alive, and seem to have come from nowhere, getting together at just the right time in just the right conditions?  There is only one true answer.  And someday, we will all find out if we were right. 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited List

Bailey, Marilyn.  Evolution: Opposing Viewpoints.  San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press

Inc.  1990.

 

Gamlin, Linda.  Evolution.  New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Inc.  1993.

 

“Questions of Origins-Creation or Evolution”. Eternal Productions.  1998.

 

Sonder, Ben.  Evolutionism and Creationism.  Canada and USA: Franklin Watts, a

Division on Grolier Publishing Co., Inc.  1999.

 

“The (second) greatest catastrophe of all time”.  15 December 2003.

<http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/catastrophe.asp>

 

Tiffin, Lee.  Creationism’s Upside-Down Pyramid.  Amherst, New York: Prometheus

Books.  1994.