War of the World Views: Powerful Answers for an "Evolutionized" Culture (19 page)

Another example involves red blood cells and traces of hemoglobin that have been found in T.
rex
bones, although these should have long decomposed if they were millions of years old. Yet the reaction of the researchers was a perfect illustration of how evolutionary bias can result in trying to explain away hard facts to fit the preconceived framework of millions of years:

It was exactly like looking at a slice of modern bone. But, of course, I couldn’t believe it. I said to the lab technician: “The bones, after all, are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long?”
⁴

Whenever you hear a news report that scientists have found another “missing link” or discovered a fossil “millions of years old,” try to think about the right questions that need to be asked to challenge the questions these scientists asked to get their interpretations!

All of this should be a lesson for us to take note of the situation when we read the newspaper—we are reading someone’s interpretation of the facts of world history—there very well could be a different way of looking at the same “facts.” One can see this in practice on television when comparing a news network that’s currently considered fairly liberal (CNN) with one that is more conservative (FOX)—one can often see the same “facts” interpreted differently!

The reason so many Christian professors (and Christian leaders in general) have rejected the literal creation position is that they have blindly accepted the interpretation of evidence from the secular world, based on man’s fallible presuppositions about history. And they have then tried to reinterpret the Bible accordingly. If only they would start with the presupposition that God’s Word is true, they would find that they could then correctly interpret the evidence of the present and show overwhelmingly that observational science repeatedly confirms such interpretations.

And don’t forget, as Christians, we need to always build our thinking on the Word of the One who has the answers to all of the questions that could ever be asked—the infinite Creator God. He has revealed the true history of the universe in His Word to enable us to develop the right way of thinking about the present and thus determine the correct interpretations of the evidence of the present. We should follow Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10, which teach that fear of the Lord is the beginning of true wisdom and knowledge.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that it’s not a matter of who has the better (or the most) “facts on their side.” We need to understand that there are no such things as brute facts—
all
facts are interpreted. The next time evolutionists use what seem to be convincing facts for evolution, try to determine the
presuppositions
they have used to interpret these facts. Then, beginning with the big picture of history from the Bible, look at the same facts through these biblical glasses and interpret them differently. Next, using the real science of the present that an evolutionist also uses, see if that science, when properly understood, confirms (by being consistent with) the interpretation based on the Bible. You will find over and over again that the Bible is confirmed by real science.

But remember that, like Job (42:2–6), we need to understand that compared to God we know next to nothing. We won’t have all the answers. However, so many answers have come to light now that a Christian can give a credible defense of the book of Genesis and show it is the correct foundation for thinking about, and interpreting, every aspect of reality.

Therefore, let’s not jump in a blind-faith way at the startling evidences we think we need to “prove” creation—trying to counter “their facts” with “our facts.” (Jesus Himself rose from the dead in the most startling possible demonstration of the truth of God’s Word. But many still wouldn’t believe—cf. Luke 16:27–31.) Instead, let’s not let apparent evidences for evolution intimidate us, but let’s understand the right way to think about evidence. We can then deal with
the same evidence the evolutionists use
, to show they have the wrong framework of interpretation—and that the facts of the real world really do conform to, and confirm, the Bible. In this way we can do battle for a biblical worldview.

And remember, it’s no good convincing people to believe in creation, without also leading them to believe and trust in the Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. God honors those who honor His Word. We need to use God-honoring ways of reaching people with the truth of what life is all about.

1
. See chapter 13 on “What is a biblical worldview?” for further development of this idea.

2
. Those who accept millions of years of history.

3
. Humphreys, R., et. al., Helium diffusion rates support accelerated nuclear decay, www.icr.org/pdf/research/Helium_ICC_7-22-03.pdf.

4
. Science 261:160, July 9, 1994; see also Scientists recover T. rex soft tissue: 70-million-year-old fossil yields preserved blood vessels, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7285683/, March 24, 2005.

13

What is a Biblical Worldview?

Stacia Mckeever

Our goal in this book has been to provide logical answers to much of what the media and the educational system throw at us concerning evolution and origins. We want to help all Christians think biblically and critically about the messages they hear. The Bible gives us the true history of the universe, and it is only in light of that history that we can interpret the evidence of the present, explain death and suffering or offer true answers for the problems of mankind. In this chapter, we want to retrace that history, which gives us the foundation for a truly biblical worldview that allows us to explain all that we see.

The history as recorded in the Bible has been attacked by our increasingly secular culture. As a result, recent generations have been brought up to see the Bible as a book that contains many interesting stories and religious teaching but has no connection to reality.

This limited viewpoint helps explain why there are so many questions about how the Bible can explain dinosaurs, fossils, death and suffering and many other topics that relate to our real world.

This chapter will outline the major events of the past (and even the future)—the “7 C’s of History”—that are foundational to the Bible’s important message and demonstrate how the Bible connects to the real world.

Creation

God created the heavens, the earth and all that is in them in six normal-length days around 6,000 years ago. His completed
creation
was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and all the original animals (including dinosaurs) and the first two humans (Adam and Eve) ate only plants (Genesis 1:29–30). Life was perfect and not yet affected by the Curse—death, violence, disease, sickness, thorns and fear had no part in the original creation.

After He was finished creating, God “rested” (or stopped) from His work, although He continues to uphold the creation (Colossians 1:17). His creation of all things in six days and resting on the seventh set a pattern for our week, which He designed for us to follow.

The science of “information theory” confirms that first statement of the Bible, “In the beginning God created … .” DNA is the molecule of heredity, part of a staggeringly complex system, more information-dense than that in the most efficient supercomputer. Since the information in our DNA can only come from a source of greater information (or intelligence), there must have been something other than matter in the beginning. This other source must have no limit to its intelligence; in fact, it must be an ultimate source of intelligence from which all things have come. The Bible tells us there is such a source—God. Since God has no beginning and no end and knows all (Psalm 147:5), it makes sense that God is the source of the information we see all around us! This fits with real science, just as we would expect.
¹

In Genesis, God explains that He created things to reproduce after their “kinds.” And this is what we observe today: great variation within different “kinds” (e.g., dogs, cats, elephants, etc.), but not one kind changing into another, as molecules-to-man evolution requires.
²

Corruption

After God completed His perfect creation, He told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8) except one—the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He warned Adam that death would be the punishment for disobedience (Genesis 2:17). Instead of listening to the command of his Creator, Adam chose to rebel, eating the fruit from the tree (Genesis 3:6). Because our holy God must punish sin, He sacrificed animals to make coverings for Adam and Eve, and He sent the first couple from the garden, mercifully denying them access to the Tree of Life so that they would not live forever in their sinful state.

Adam’s sin ushered death, sickness and sorrow into the once-perfect creation (Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12). God also pronounced a curse on the world, changing it completely (Genesis 3; Romans 8:20–22). As a result, the world that we now live in is merely a decaying remnant—a
corruption
—of the beautiful, righteous world that Adam and Eve originally called home. We see the results of this corruption all around us in the form of carnivorous animals, mutations, sickness, disease and death.
³
The good news is that, rather than leave His precious handiwork without hope, God graciously promised to one day send a Redeemer who would buy back His people from the curse of sin (Genesis 3:15).

Catastrophe

As the descendants of Adam and Eve married and filled the earth with offspring, their wickedness was great (Genesis 6:5). God judged their sin by sending a global Flood to destroy all men, animals, creatures that moved along the ground, and birds of the air (Genesis 6:7). Those God chose to enter the Ark—Noah, his family and land-dwelling representatives of the animal kingdom (including dinosaurs)—were saved from the watery
catastrophe
.

There was plenty of room in the huge vessel for tens of thousands of animals—even dinosaurs (the average dinosaur was only the size of a sheep, and Noah didn’t have to take fully grown adults of the large dinosaurs). Noah actually needed only about 16,000 animals on the Ark to represent all the distinct kinds of land-dwelling animals.
⁴