Creation V. Evolution: What They Won’t Tell You in Biology Class: What Christians Should Know about Biblical Creation

265 Pages·2015·3.23 MB·English

CREATION V. EVOLUTION

WHAT THEY WON’T TELL YOU IN
BIOLOGY CLASS

What Christians Should Know About Biblical Creation

Second Edition

Daniel A. Biddle, Ph.D. (editor)
Copyright © 2016 by Genesis Apologetics, Inc.
E-mail:
Dedication

To my wife, Jenny, who supports me in this work. To my children
Makaela, Alyssa, Matthew, and Amanda, and to your children and your
children’s children for a hundred generations—this book is for all of you. To
Dave Bisbee and Mark Johnston, who planted the seeds and the passion for this
work.

We would like to acknowledge Answers in Genesis
(www.answersingenesis.com), the Institute for Creation Research
(www.ICR.org), and Creation Ministries International (www.creation.com).
Much of the content herein has been drawn from (and is meant to be in
alignment with) these Biblical Creation ministries.

Guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and
the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—which some
have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
1 Tim. 6:20–21

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
— Psalm 118:23
Contents
About the Authors
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Dealing Effectively with Evolution Teaching: Tips for
Parents, Teachers, and Students
Chapter 2: Can We Trust the Bible?
Chapter 3: Did Noah’s Flood Really Happen?
Chapter 4: The Age of the Earth, Dating Methods, and Evolution
Chapter 5: Do Fossils Show Evolution?
Chapter 6: Natural Selection and Evolution: Do Darwin’s Finches Prove
Evolution?
Chapter 7: Did Hippos Evolve into Whales?
Chapter 8: A Brief History of Human Evolution in Textbooks
Chapter 9: Typical Ape-to-Human Progression in Public School
Textbooks
Chapter 10: What about the Different “Races” of People?
Chapter 11: Are Humans and Chimps 98% Similar?
Chapter 12: How Modern Genetics Supports a Recent Creation
Chapter 13: Vestigial Structures in Humans and Animals
Conclusion
Helpful Resources
Endnotes
About the Authors

David V. Bassett, M.S. earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology at the
University of Texas in El Paso and a Master’s of Science in Geological Science
from Columbia Pacific University, maintaining a 4.0 post-graduate academic
record. He is a high school science teacher with over 28 years’ experience in
Christian education and has been the Science Department Head of Ovilla
Christian School in Ovilla, TX since March 1996. Since then, he has been at the
Creation Evidence Museum, located on the bank of the Paluxy River in Glen
Rose, Texas, where he has served as the Assistant to the Director, Dr. Carl E.
Baugh. Mr. Bassett is a voting member of the Creation Research Society and is
the current president of the Metroplex Institute of Origin Science for the Dallas-
Ft. Worth area.

Dr. Jerry Bergman has five Master’s degrees in the science, health,
psychology, and biology fields, a Ph.D. in human biology from Columbia
Pacific University, and a Ph.D. in measurement and evaluation from Wayne
State University. Jerry has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry,
anthropology, geology, and microbiology at Northwest State Community
College in Archbold Ohio for over 30 years. He is currently an Adjunct
Associate Professor at the University of Toledo Medical School. He has over
1,000 publications in 12 languages and 32 books and monographs, including
Vestigial Organs Are Fully Functional; Slaughter of the Dissidents: The
Shocking Truth About Killing the Careers of Darwin Doubters; The Dark Side of
Darwin; Hitler and the Nazis Darwinian Worldview: How the Nazis Eugenic
Crusade for a Superior Race Caused the Greatest Holocaust in World History
and The Darwin Effect. Its influence on Nazism, Eugenics, Racism, Communism,
Capitalism & Sexism. Professor Bergman has also taught at the Medical College
of Ohio as a research associate in the Department of Experimental Pathology, at
the University of Toledo, and at Bowling Green State University. Jerry is also a
member of MENSA, a Fellow of the American Scientific Association, a member
of The National Association for the Advancement of Science, and member of
many other professional associations. He is listed in Who’s Who in America,
Who’s Who in the Midwest and in Who’s Who in Science and Religion.

Dr. Daniel A. Biddle is president of Genesis Apologetics, Inc. a 501(c)(3)
organization dedicated to equipping youth pastors, parents, and students with
Biblical answers for evolutionary teaching in public schools. Daniel has trained
thousands of students in Biblical creation and evolution and is the author of
several Creation-related publications. Daniel has a Ph.D. in Organizational
Psychology from Alliant University in San Francisco, California, an M.A. in
Organizational Psychology from Alliant, and a B.S. in Organizational Behavior
from the University of San Francisco. Daniel has worked as an expert consultant
and/or witness in over 100 state and federal cases in the areas of research
methodologies and statistical analysis. Daniel’s ministry experience includes
over two decades of Church service and completing graduate work at Western
Seminary.

David A. Bisbee is the Vice President of Genesis Apologetics, Inc., a non-profit
501(c)(3) organization that equips Christian students attending public schools
and their parents with faith-building materials that reaffirm a Biblical creation
worldview. Genesis Apologetics is committed to providing Christian families
with Biblically-and scientifically-based answers to the evolutionary theory that
students are taught in and public schools. Mr. Bisbee’s professional experience
includes over 25 years in the field of energy efficiency. For the last 14 years, he
has been in charge of a research program which tests energy efficiency
technologies in real-world environments. Mr. Bisbee has presented the results of
these projects through numerous published reports and educational seminars
throughout the United States. Dave’s ministry experience includes over 10 years
teaching Sunday school classes and creation science presentations.

Roger Patterson is a writer and editor with Answers in Genesis, one of the
largest Creation Ministries in the U.S. Roger earned his B.S. Ed. degree in
biology and chemistry from Montana State University-Billings. Before joining
Answers in Genesis, he taught high school students for eight years in
Wyoming’s public school system and assisted the Wyoming Department of
Education in developing assessments and standards for use in its schools. For
many years, he taught from an evolutionary perspective in his classroom until
God opened his eyes to the truth of Scripture.

Dr. Jonathan D. Sarfati has a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in
Spectroscopy (Physical Chemistry). Dr. Sarfati is a research scientist and
editorial consultant for Creation Ministries International (CMI) in Brisbane. In
this capacity, he is co-editor of Creation magazine, and also writes and reviews
articles for Journal of Creation, CMI’s in-depth, peer-reviewed publication, as
well as contributing to CMI’s website, http://www.creation.com. Dr. Sarfati has
authored or co-authored several notable books, including Refuting Evolution
(now over 500,000 copies in print), The Creation Answers Book, Refuting
Evolution 2, Refuting Compromise, 15 Reasons to Take Genesis as History, By
Design: Evidence for Nature’s Intelligent Designer—the God of the Bible, and
The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution.

Roger Sigler, M.A. is a licensed professional geoscientist in the State of Texas.
His diverse background in geology spans oil and gas exploration, core analysis,
geothermal systems, groundwater problems, and environmental abatement
projects. His latest employment is in core, geological, and drilling fluid analyses
at Intertek’s Westport Technology Center. He is also a part-time geology
instructor at Wharton County Junior College. He has taught creation science
since 1989, and helped form the Greater Houston Creation Association where he
was president from 1997-2001. He acquired a Master’s degree in Geology from
the Institute for Creation Research in 1998. He has been published in the 1998
and 2003 Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism and co-
authored a poster session on catastrophic debris flows at the 2011 Geological
Society of America. He is a member of the Geological Society of America,
Houston Geological Society, American Association of Petroleum Geologists,
and Creation Research Society. He is married, has two children, and attends
Christ Covenant Church in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Jeffrey Tomkins has a Ph.D. in Genetics from Clemson University, a M.S.
from the University of Idaho, and a B.S. from Washington State University. He
was on the Faculty in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson
University, for a decade, where he published 57 secular research papers in peer-
reviewed scientific journals and seven book chapters on genetics, genomics,
proteomics, and physiology. For the past several years, Dr. Tomkins has been a
Research Scientist at the Institute for Creation Research and an independent
investigator publishing ten peer-reviewed creation science journal papers,
numerous semi-technical articles, and two books including The Design and
Complexity of the Cell.

Cornelius Van Wingerden, M.S. taught high school science and math for 21
years. He retired from teaching high school in 2011. Van holds a B.S. in
Geology from San Diego State University, an M.S. in Geology from the ICR
Graduate School, Santee, California, and a M.A. in Science Education from
California State University, Bakersfield. While at ICR, he studied large debris
flows found in the Kingston Peak Formation, Death Valley Region.
Preface
Daniel A. Biddle, Ph.D.

This book is essential for any high school or college-aged Christian
attending public school—especially before taking biology and earth science
classes. Most biology and earth science classes in today’s public schools teach
evolutionary theory as fact, and only rarely mention creation possibilities outside
of this theory, such as Biblical Creation.
Did you know that 44% of young adults who abandon their Christian
faith started developing their doubts in high school?[1] When these “ex-
Christians” were asked, “What makes you question the Bible the most,” 40%
gave responses that had to do with Biblical Creation, including Noah’s Flood,
the age of the Earth, and the Genesis account. This book, written by leading
Creation Scientists, provides solid answers to these critical questions that will
help Christian high school and college students solidify their faith to withstand
the evolution-based teaching that is so prevalent in today’s schools.
The evolutionary teaching included in most public school biology and
earth science classes starkly contrasts the Biblical Creation account. In some
cases, when not taught both creation and evolution perspectives, young
Christians lose their faith, or end up with a watered-down faith that robs them of
the abundant life that Christ longs to provide.
Today, Christians hold different beliefs about origins. Sometimes these
differences can lead to wide and tense divisions within the Church. This book
was not written to widen the existing divide. While one’s position on origins is
critical when it comes to holding to the authority of Scripture, love and
acceptance between brothers and sisters in the faith are also important. Indeed,
without maintaining relationships with each other, these dialogues regarding
origins cannot even take place.
With this said, this book is written from a “Young Earth” origins position
for three reasons. First, I believe that this is the most obvious and plain
interpretation of Scripture. That is, God conveyed his Word to us in a way that
the six-day creation account would be understood as written, such as in Genesis
1 and Exodus 20:11. Secondly, after reviewing the creation evidence, I believe
the science stacks heavily in the “young” direction. Finally, with biblical
teachers being held to a higher level of accountability (James 3:1), I find it
assuring to convey the creation account given in the Bible using the original and
obvious language the Lord provided.
This “Genesis is real history” view is not rare among Christian circles.
The vast majority of Private Christian schools hold to a historical view of
Genesis and include young-earth teaching throughout their earth and life science
classes. This is also true for most home school families, who often use the same
textbooks. Research shows that these “younger” origin perspectives also span
outside of these conservative Christian circles. For example, according to a
recent Gallup poll, when over 1,000 Americans[2] were surveyed about human
beginnings and creation, 46% responded by affirming they believe that God
spontaneously created humans less than 10,000 years ago. This percentage has
remained almost constant, averaging about 45% from 1982 to today. Alternative
views included “theistic evolution” (the belief that humans evolved under God's
guidance) with 32% of the responses, and secular evolution at 15%.[3] Looking
at this more broadly, “some 78% of Americans today believe that God had a
hand in the development of humans in some way, just slightly less than the
percentage who felt this way 30 years ago.”
I am saddened by so many people going through life not knowing about
their Creator or His Creation in ways that He intended for us all to know through
His Word. So many people live and die without knowing and experiencing three
important truths: (1) God created one human race in general (Genesis 1), (2)
each of us are created specifically by God (“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb,” Psalm 139:13), and (3) we are each
created with intention and purpose for this life (“And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according
to his purpose,” Romans 8:28).
Personally, I find it very reassuring to see and experience a union
between God’s Word and His Creation. It’s amazing to just take walks in the
mountains and see how massive rock and sediment layers were curled up and
buckled by Noah’s cataclysmic Flood when the continental plates were shifted
as God destroyed the “old world” (2 Peter 3:6). Clearly, an earth-shattering
process occurred when God “blotted out every living thing that was upon the
face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky,
and they were blotted out from the earth” (Genesis 7:23). At times, God even
gives hints about the process that was involved in such a re-creation of the face
of the world:

He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not
totter forever and ever. You covered it with the deep as with a
garment; the waters were standing above the mountains. At
Your rebuke they fled. At the sound of Your thunder they