The “Recapitulation Theory” has now been shown scientifically to be untrue, but is still frequently cited and serves to undermine the sanctity of human life in its early formation in the womb.

Modern psychoanalysis tries to relate many of the conditions and problems of people back to some evolutionary ancestry.

The concept of “survival of the fittest” (which is actually a tautology which has no explanatory power) has been applied in many areas to justify the dominance of one group over another. Basically, “might makes right” becomes the operative norm.

Although modern evolutionists deplore racism, racism justified by an evolutionary viewpoint that non-Caucasian races were a human subspecies was widely practiced in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. In fact, the subtitle of Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species” mentions the “preservation of favored races”. This included human races. Among the excesses propelled by this philosophy, thousands of Australian aborigines were killed for use as scientific specimens. Some people thought they might be the “missing link” (between apes and men).

When the distinction between humans and animals becomes blurred it leads to both the cheapening of human life and the elevation of animal life. According to the Bible man was a separate creation from the animals, even though God used the same “body plan” for both. But if evolution is true, then man is just a slightly higher animal, not fundamentally different as the Bible teaches. The Bible does teach that we are to take care of the earth and to treat animals appropriately.

A basic idea behind evolutionary thinking is that continuous change is what is normal and expected. This ends up manifesting itself in such things as relativistic morality (there is no absolute right and wrong), and even in our judicial system where law is seen as something that needs to change to reflect shifts in popular will.

One of the fundamental issues between origins science and creationism is that “science” has now been defined to allow only naturalistic explanations. And since scientists are not satisfied with “I don’t know” as an answer, they end up promoting theories of our origins which must exclude God by definition. It seems that keeping the philosophy of naturalism is more important than understanding what is real and true. The Bible speaks of an entire spiritual world which is just as real as the physical world we see. Just as scientists infer conclusions about what they can’t see from what they can observe, the design and purpose evident in the universe, earth, and living things infers the existence of a powerful creator.

Even though the scientific community claims it is following “methodological naturalism” and not necessarily “philosophical naturalism”, the end result encourages an atheistic world-view.

Neo-Darwinism is coming under increasing attack within the evolutionary camp. The book “Evolution: A Theory In Crisis”, by Michael Denton, epitomizes this trend. Scientists, after all, are smart people and some are willing to “own up” to the failure of evolution as a viable explanation. It doesn’t mean they have become creationists (even though this is the only other real option), but instead moves them into an “I don’t know” state when it comes to origins. Evolutionists today ultimately put reliance on the courts to enforce the one-sided teaching of their naturalistic dogma, appealing to the mythical “separation of church and state”. However, despite all of this indoctrination, a sizable portion of the American population still believes that creation by God is the true explanation for our origins (unfortunately this is not as true elsewhere in the world).

Science today is under attack not only by creationism (which really only objects to the small parts of science promoting naturalistic origins), but by the perception and recognition that science is not going to “solve all of our problems”. In fact, the increasingly relativistic attitude in society may be leading to a view which says that science is merely one way of understanding reality. Maybe UFO’s or Mother Earth explain reality better for some people, and society will say “fine with me”!

Current creationist research projects include:

•A comprehensive “model” to show how the dynamics of Noah’s flood led to the formation of the “geologic column” (the fossil record) and the breakup of the supercontinent through catastrophic plate tectonics.

•“Intelligent design” theory (i.e., the apparent design of the universe, earth, and living things requires a designer) is being promoted by people like Phillip Johnson (“Darwin on Trial”), Michael Behe (Darwin’s Black Box”), and Hugh Ross (“The Fingerprint of God”). However, these people are not “young earth” creationists.

•The Russ Humphrey’s book “Starlight and Time” is an attempt at defining a creationist “cosmogony” (how the universe was formed).

•Radiometric dating provides the strongest supposed evidence that the earth and universe are old. Creationists are now starting to address this issue with a team of scientists coordinated by ICR starting in July 1997.

•One of the basic tenets of creationism is that God created each “kind” separately. Yet, we have no comprehensive list of what these kinds were.

•Popular drawings of Noah’s Ark show it having a box shape. A more accurate representation of the design of the ark is being done by a group which includes professional ship building expertise.

In addition to the famous Scopes trial, there have been significant legal rulings that creationism is not science and cannot be taught as such. This is largely the result of the arbitrary definition that science must assume naturalism. Because of these rulings, the current approach is to teach people the truth of creation in whatever way possible (creation seminars, books, videos, the Internet, Christian home schooling) outside of formal secular science study.

It is unfortunate that there is a serious division in the creationist camp between those who believe the earth is young (about 10,000 years) and those who hold to the standard view of about 4.5 billion years. Just as diverse groups have come together to fight causes such as abortion, the fight against promotion of naturalistic evolution as science far outweighs the secondary issue of how long God took to create. Creationism can work with either a young or an old earth (without implying evolution), but evolution MUST have an old earth.

For those who WANT to teach science from a creationist perspective, there is a shortage of curriculum materials, and many times educators must settle for the textbook having the least emphasis on evolution.

A common statement made by evolutionists concerning creation science is “where is your science”? The reality is that creation research is hampered by a lack of funding for world-class facilities and support personnel. The ICR Graduate School is the leading creationist institution. The Creation Research Society also has a small laboratory.

The evolutionary idea that the complexity and design we see in the universe, the earth, and all living things could have arisen by itself entirely through purely natural means, defies everyday experience and common sense, as well as fundamental scientific truth such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The success of this lie can only be explained as a work of Satan, who “leads the whole world astray” (Rev 12:9) with “cleverly invented stories” (2 Pet 1:16). We must recognize the creation/evolution battle for what it is, a battle between God and His enemies, disguised in the clothes of science.

But the Bible states that the creation provides conclusive evidence that there must be a God*; and if we know that a God exists, we logically must then seek Him out to discover what He wants. To not seek is to reject God. Knowledge of the Bible as God’s revelation to man should then lead to acceptance of the Gospel message - salvation and fellowship with God through the person of Christ, with God’s promise of eternal life. Getting people to understand that special creation by God is the true explanation for our origins, and that evolution is a lie despite its scientific trappings, provides a strong foundation for the Gospel message.

Recommended for further study: “The Long War Against God”, Henry Morris, 1989.

*Romans 1:19-20 “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”