Darlene Vandenacre is a confessing member of the Christian Reformed Church of Conrad, Montana. She is a graduate of Conrad High School and plans to attend Dordt College this fall. Her article was originally written for her high school Composition class.
There are questions as to the beginning of the world. Evolution and Creation are two theories which explain the earth‘s origin. “Evolution in very simple terms, means that life progressed from one-celled organisms to its highest state, the human being, by means of a series of biological changes taking place over millions of years.”1 The theory of the world’s appearance by Creation involves an act of God. “And God said, Let there be. . and behold it was very good.”2 Only one of these theories can offer the right solution. The world did not form as a result of many freak accidents, God created it.
It is true, scientists rule out the possibility of Creation, because the fossils and deposits of sediment take millions of years to form. Unsure of the earth’s exact age, conclusions drawn from the average rate d erosion show “that many hundreds of millions of rears were required to erode the lands and deposit the resultant material.”3 These scientists do not deny the existence of God, but they disregard His infinity and power. His infinity is expressed in the Psalms where it is written, “from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.”4 This is confirmed many times throughout the Bible, and Revelation states, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”5 This verse has shown His power as well as infinity, but this is also revealed in countless other passages. The many times God sent famine, pestilence, poverty and slavery as well as deliverance from each of these plagues show His control of the universe. An example of this is given in Exodus which says, “. . . and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning; the east wind brought the locusts . . . . And the Lord turned a mighty west wind which took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea.”6 Since God is powerful enough to control these things, He can create the mountains, valleys, plains and oceans without the help of erosions, floods and winds over million of years.
Moreover, concerning life, a simple protein can contain thirty amino acids. Since there are about twenty different amino acids to fill the thirty positions in the protein, one misplaced acid makes the protein molecule worthless. From the time it would take, “something more than two billion years for the synthesis of the right molecule to occur;” life could not have reached its present complexity in the scientists’ estimation of the earth‘s age, two to three billion years.7
Obviously, the earth is still being changed by floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. Newton did not believe in the Creation but he did agree that God acts through natural laws and is glorified by them.8 These actions show that God is still in control of the universe as He was during the Biblical Flood which accounts for the main alterations in the earth‘s form. These alterations occurred during the recession of the flood waters. God brought a wind over the earth to clear away the water. Since the whole earth was covered with water, there was no place for it to go. A close reading of Genesis 8 suggests an upheaval of the land which provided a place for the water and buried many of the bones and skeletons of animals killed in the Flood. This explains the extinction of dinosaurs and other animals and also the geologists‘ theory of underground movements which formed mountain chains.9
Moreover, scientists try to work around God’s Creation and Providence of the world, but seem to be up against a brick waIl. A scientist, Dr. Urey, believed the evolution process on earth had been triggered by the gases around the planet Jupiter. In an attempt to prove this theory, he and Dr. Miller enclosed similar gases and water vapors in a contraption and exposed these to high voltages, resulting in the actual separation of small amounts of amino acids. There is only one catch in the proof of their theory, Apollo 16 learned that oxygen has probably been present since the beginning of time. The scientists had left oxygen out of the mixture because amino acids cannot form in the presence of oxygen, proving that the chemical theory involving Jupiter is impossible.10 To add to the frustration of impossible evolution, archaeologists have discovered many ancient scrolls and Biblical land sites which tend to prove the validity of the Bible, giving credit to God as the Creator.11 But if people choose not to believe the Biblical truth of Creation, they may be convinced by the scientific proof that the evolutionary theory is hopeless.
Even with the failure of this evolutionary theory, scientists refer to Neanderthal man as an alternative proof. Hopes in this direction were soon dashed, however, because Neanderthal man appeared so similar to modern man that no sequence in the evolution of man can be proved. Tn layers of soil under the sites with Neanderthal findings, skulls were discovered which were nearly identical to modern man, again disproving evolution of man from apes.12
Moreover, since man is classified as an animal, the lower classes must not be excluded when viewing Creation and Evolution . The animals and their behavioral patterns have obviously changed, because of a predetermined plan of God and the fall of man. Some changes were intended by God when He created each species perfectly with a “built in variability.” “The other type of changes are the degenerative changes brought about by the influence of sin on living things, or in essence by the removal of the Creator‘s sustaining care, thus allowing the influence of sinful conditions to take their course.”13 Through sin, man not only “botched” his chance of perfect life, but spoiled the world as well.
Obviously, God created the world, it did not evolve by chance. God has been proved to be powerful enough to create, and by His control of nature He changed the earth‘s form and the life on it. Although life itself has changed, the causes were clearly predetermined and under control, disproving evolutionary theories. Man spoiled his chance of life by choosing evil, and yet God did not forsake him but provided a means for salvation in His Son. He is everlastingly God, and continues to care for His people.
1. Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwin‘s Dilemma,” Natural History, LXXXIIl (1974), 22.
2. Holy Bible (New York: Syndics of Cambridge University Press), Genesis 1:1–31.
3. Norman D. Newell, “Evolution Under Attack,” Natural History, LXXXIII (1974), 38.
4. Holy Bible, op. cit. Psalm 90:2.
5. Ibid., Revelation 1:8.
6. Ibid., Exodus 10:13 and 19.
7. John Stout, Ph. D., “Could Soup Produce Sea Gulls?” Signs of the Times, CI (1974), 20.
8. Newell, op. cit., p. 38.
9. Harold Clark, “Will the Real Intellectual Please Stand Up?” Signs of the Times, CI (1974 ),9.
10. George Javor, “Dr. Urey’s Mistake,” Signs of the Times, Cl (1974), 15–17. 11. Harold Clark, “Will the Real Intellectual Please Stand Up?” Signs of the Times, CI (1974),8.12. Ibid., pp. 8 and 9.
13. Asa Thoresen, “Questions Evolution Cannot Answer,” Signs of the Times, CI (1974),5.