I am often asked why I write about evolution.

Evolution is not just a scientific issue; it is a theological issue that most Christians are interested in, whether to deny it or to learn about it. I think all Christians should know that experts in Hebrew and the Ancient Near East think Genesis 1-3 was a theological argument against the gods of the nations around them, not an attempt to describe the “science” behind the creation of humans and the universe except to claim that it was God who made everything.

Here’s a fact sheet on evolution.

The Fact:

The deeper we dig into the earth, the more different life is. It looks like life has changed over time for a very long time. (Anti-evolutionists deny this all the time, but it only takes a tiny amount of research to prove this is true. It is enough in this post to tell you that oil companies use the geologic record, fossils, and the strata of the earth to find oil.)

The Theories:

There are only two theories as to why life has changed over time:

A. “Descent with modification”

1. Individuals are not the same as their parents
2. These differences accumulate over time
3. The most suitable changes for any given environment are “selected” by which individuals survive best or get the most mates/descendants.
4. This was confirmed to almost everyone once DNA was discovered because it explained “how” descendants change. Also, the DNA of living animals, and some fossils, can be studied to see the history of evolutionary change.

B. The layers of the earth and the fossils were deposited by a worldwide flood.

1. The evidence is all against this.
2. The fossils look like development (evolution), not like the fastest runners or best swimmers made it to the top of the fossil records while poor-swimming animals are at the bottom.
3. The layers of the earth have layers within them. For example, the Haymond Formation in Texas has 1500 annual layers. These layers are in one of the middle geologic layers that the flood supposedly laid. This could not have happened during  the one year of Noah’s flood.

Academic Dishonesty:

Because of points 1-3 above, honest scientists or scholars would have abandoned the flood theory as an explanation long ago.

Basic Dishonesty:

“Creation organizations” (really, anti-evolution organizations because all Christians, even those who believe in evolution, believe are “creationists” because they believe God created everything through his Word/Son) have an agenda they cannot abandon because they think they are defending the Bible. Unfortunately, the route they have chosen is slander against scientists, misrepresentation, purposeful misinterpretation of evidence, and outright lying.

Examples:

Oddly, when I pointed out the dishonesty, I was chastised for calling people liars, and the lying was ignored!

My first encounter with the dishonesty with creation organizations was the slander of Donald Johanson, the found of “Lucy,” an Australopithecus afarensis specimen that was about 40% complete, by a 1995 television show put on every Saturday by the Kentucky Creation Museum. They told us that Dr. Johanson had found Lucy’s kneecap, critical evidence that A. afarensis was bipedal (walked on 2 legs),  about a mile away from the skeleton. That was true, but they also said that Dr. Johanson did not tell anyone. I saw this show in 1995, and Dr. Johanson wrote a book in 1974 explaining where he found the kneecap and why he thought it belonged to the afarensis species, not to Lucy herself.

That story is lying and slander. It was a scientist who presented the argument on TV. Perhaps a layman could be excused for telling the world that Dr. Johanson lied when, in fact, he had written a book telling the truth 20 years earlier, but a scientist and non-profit organizations have to do better homework than that. They did not, instead they added deception to their slander by not reporting the “first family” find in 1975. Johanson found 14 partial A. afarensis skeletons that proved he was right. That kneecap was indeed from Lucy’s species.

I cover other documented cases of creationist dishonesty at “Lying for Jesus.” A good site for reporting other creationist dishonesty is talk-origins.org.

The Bible:

Here are short videos saying Genesis 1-3 is irrelevant to evolution because it is not about science, neither the age of the earth nor even the days of creation. It is an argument for one God who loves humans and created all things in contrast to the many warring gods of the nations surrounding Israel:

1. Wes Huff: “WOW! Joe Rogan interviews Wesley Huff and asks about Christians and Evolution”
2. John Walton: “Does Genesis Conflict with Evolution”

Wes Huff is a a PhD candidate in New Testament and Christian Origins and a popular apologist these days, and Dr. John Walton is an Old Testament scholar whose doctorate is in Hebrew and Cognate studies.

“Creationists” Adjust the Bible Based on Science

Genesis 1: I (Paul Pavao) made a diligent effort to interpret Genesis 1 literally as a young man, but I am way more honest with Scripture than most Christians. Genesis 1 says there are “waters above” the firmament. The firmament contains the sun, moon, and stars. This is not a problem if we, like Moses, thought the sky is a hard dome with the sun, moon, and stars in it. You can put water “above” the dome, but it is impossible to put water above an innumerable number of galaxies each containing an innumerable number of stars.

Creationist organizations argue that there was a vapor canopy around the earth before Noah’s flood. They don’t care that Genesis 1 says the waters were above the sun, moon, and stars. They put “the waters above” under the sun, moon, and stars. Why? Science.

Copernicus and the Heliocentric Theory: Everyone seems to have forgotten that Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Roman Catholic Church all opposed both Galileo and Copernicus when they said the earth goes around the sun. Luther and Calvin pointed out that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth. Nonetheless, the creationist organizations don’t deny the sun goes around the earth. Why? Science.