Creation Corner
The following are some Creation articles that appeared in the Community Impact newsletter.
I recommend a devotional book with similar readings for every day of the year called "A Closer Look at the Evidence" by Richard and Tina Kleiss. You can order a copy from www.searchforthetruth.org. - Ross W. Conley
Where Did Cain Get His Wife?
Skeptics of the Bible have used Cain’s wife time and again to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a true historical record. (They) have claimed that for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam and Eve.
Defenders of the Gospel must be able to show that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam & Eve) – as only descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. (see Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21,22).
We’re not told when Cain married, but we can say for certain that his wife was probably his sister or a close relative. Some say that you can’t marry your relation. Actually, if you don’t marry your relation, you don’t marry a human! A wife is related to her husband before they are married because ALL people are descendants of Adam and Eve – all are of one blood. The law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20).
Excerpted From a pamphlet of the same title by Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis ministry), 1997. Call 1-800-778-3390 or visit their web site at
www.answersingenesis.org to order Creation resources that answer questions for people of all agesWhat About the Dinosaurs?
Evolutionists claim that dinosaurs evolved over millions of years. They imagine that one kind of animal slowly changed over long periods of time to become a different kind of animal.
The Bible tells us that God created all of the land animals on the sixth day of Creation. As dinosaurs were land animals, they must also have been made on this day, alongside Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:24-31). If God designed and created dinosaurs, they would have been fully functional, designed what they were created for, and would have been 100% dinosaur. This fits exactly with the evidence from the fossil record.
The word “dragon” is used a number of times in the Old Testament. In most instances, the word dinosaur could substitute for dragon and it would fit very nicely. Creation scientists believe that dinosaurs were called dragons before the word dinosaur was invented in the 1800s. God describes to Job a great beast with which Job was familiar (Job 40:15-24). This great animal, called “behemoth,” is described as “the chief in the ways of God.” Impressively, he moved his tail like a cedar tree! The description fits that of a dinosaur like Brachiosaurus.
Excerpted from a pamphlet called “Dinosaurs and the Bible” by Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis), 1993
Problems with the “Gap Theory”
Many people have tried to place a gap of indeterminate time between the first two verses of Genesis chapter 1. Most versions of the “gap” theory place millions of years of geologic time in between the first two verses of Genesis.
However, this undermines the gospel as it allows for death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering before Adam’s sin. From Romans 5:12, “Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned,” we understand that there could not have been sin or death before Adam. It is also inconsistent with God creating everything in six days, as Scripture says (Exodus 20:11)
The death of billions of animals (and many humans) as seen in the fossil record must have occurred after Adam’s sin. The historical event of Noah’s flood, recorded in Genesis, provides an explanation for the presence of huge numbers of dead animals buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.
Excerpted from “The Revised & Expanded Answers Book” by Dr. Don Batten (editor), Ken Ham, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Wieland , 1990/2000.
Was Noah’s Flood Global?
Many Christians today claim that the flood of Noah’s time was only a local flood. They claim it was confined to somewhere around the Mesopotamian region and never really covered the whole earth.
The local flood idea is totally inconsistent with the Bible. If the flood were local, why did Noah have to build an ark? He could have just walked to the other side of the mountains and escaped. If the flood were local, people who did not happen to be living in the vicinity would not have been affected by it. Jesus believed that the flood killed everyone not on the ark (Matthew 24:37-39). If the flood were local, how could the waters rise to 20 feet above the mountains (Genesis 7:20)?
The worldwide distribution of many geological features and rock types is consistent with a global flood. All around the world, in rock layer after rock layer, we find billions of dead things that have been buried in water-carried mud and sand.
Excerpted from “The Revised & Expanded Answers Book” by Dr. Don Batten (editor), Ken Ham, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Wieland , 1990/2000.
Woodpeckers: Marvels of God’s Design!
The woodpecker is a marvel of interdependent parts or “compound traits”- traits that depend on one another for any to have functional value. When a woodpecker slams its head into a tree, the deceleration experienced is many times gravity.
For such drilling, a woodpecker obviously needs a tough bill, heavy-duty skull, and shock absorbing tissue between the two. But if the woodpecker were put together by time and chance, without any planning ahead, which part came first?
In fact, neither the tough bill nor the heavy duty skull would have any functional value until both occurred together—along with the shock–absorbing tissue, nerve and muscle coordination, etc! That’s no problem if the woodpecker were put together by plan, purpose, and a special act of creation. We expect drilling tools created by people to have interdependent parts that must all be completely assembled before the machine works. That’s just good sense, and good science. We would surely expect no less from the perfect devices created by God!
Excerpted from “Creation: Facts of Life” by Dr. Gary Parker, 1994
Human Genome Project (Part 1)
Scientists announced in June that they have sequenced or mapped the “letters” in the human genetic code A genome is the biological instruction for how an individual is formed and how the cells in the body function. The “human genome” is the sum of all genetic material encased in nearly every cell.
“Today, we are learning the language in which God created life,” President Clinton said at a White House ceremony June 26. This is a major breakthrough, but understanding the genes will take time. As research continues in this area, there is great promise for better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases that have genetic causes.
Dr. Carl Wieland, in an article posted on the web site, answersingenesis.org, focused on how Christians should view it. “Down through history, advances in knowledge of our bodies have given us new ways to intervene in the course of ‘natural events’, and this will be no exception. Such possibilities have always caused ethical tensions to surface. We’ve been made in a particular way, do we have the ‘right’ to interfere?”
Wieland lists five factors for Christians to consider: (1) God’s Genesis 1:28 mandate to ‘have dominion’ over creation has never been revoked – advances in knowledge are not in themselves anti-God. (2) New knowledge, or new technological possibilities, are not in themselves evil (Titus 1:15) – they may be used for good or evil purposes. (3) Humanity is fallen – there needs to be great caution where advances in technology are applied. (4) The world is not the same as God originally made it – it is a broken, cursed world (Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:20-22) (5) Where technological ‘fixes’ are applied to people’s bodies, if the purpose is to bring about healing, this is unlikely to be ‘opposing God’.
Human Genome Project (Part 2)
This project, involving our genes, has been in the news all summer. Dr. Carl Wieland offers insight in an article posted on the web site www.answersingenesis.org.
“We stand before the stunning mysteries of the human DNA code, a massive message of unimaginable complexity and huge amounts of real information, and we are taught that this came about with no intelligence, no mind, no Creator. Romans 1 is worth reading, the whole chapter, in the context of our world today.”
“Genetic engineering has nothing to do with evolution,” Wieland notes. “Evolution involves things happening ‘by themselves.’ Deliberately manipulating the genetic code in a plant, for instance, involves intelligent effort and purpose, the very opposite of evolution.”
The August issue of Citizen magazine notes that the key claim is “that similarities between humans and other organisms confirm their common ancestry.” There is a logic problem here. “Darwinists consistently confuse the existence of a pattern with the process that produced it”, said Phillip Johnson, a professor of law at University of California, Berkeley. “The fossil record isn’t consistent with Darwinism and the claim that natural selection can create all the kinds of things we see in biology is completely unsupported.”
Primary issues of concern include use of genetic knowledge for cloning and finding the genetic code of unborn babies, so that ‘undesirable’ traits can be eliminated by abortion. Wieland says that “This is a clear line in the sand for Christians – there is ultimately no difference between this and the worst of the Nazi ‘murder for racial hygiene’ programs.”
Niagara Falls
The power and beauty of Niagara Falls has made it one of the world’s most popular destinations. Watching the Falls gives one a new appreciation for the majesty of God and His Creation.
In the mid-1800s, Charles Lyell, a lawyer-turned-geologist, used the erosion of the Niagara River Gorge to undermine the chronology of the Bible. This is the subject of an article in the Sept.- Nov. 2000 issue of Creation Ex Nihilo magazine.
Lyell “reported that he had scientifically determined that the Niagara Gorge was 35,000 years old, much older than the Bible allowed,” notes article writer Larry Pierce. Ignoring residents’ observations of the Falls receding by 3 feet a year, he arrived at a reduced rate of 1 foot per year. Since the gorge was 35,000 feet long, it must be 35,000 years old! Lyell’s book Principles of Geology greatly influenced Charles Darwin, who read it on his famous voyage to the Galapagos Islands.
“Later analysis of eyewitness reports from 1842 to 1927 confirmed the high rate of erosion”—actually 4-5 feet per year. This places an upper limit of 7000-9000 years for the gorge.
Consider also that the gorge area is much smaller than today’s Falls— a narrower Falls would erode much quicker. Studies have shown that there was a greater flow of water in the river in the past. Ice erodes rocks faster than water, so the glacial action of an Ice Age would increased the erosion rate.
Based on these and other factors, an estimated time for the whole gorge is 4400 years. This fits well with those who mark the end of the Ice Age (3,800 years ago), which followed Noah’s Flood (4,300 years ago). “Rather than supporting Lyell’s concept of an old earth, Niagara Gorge provides wonderful consistency with the biblical time scale.”
Creation Ex Nihilo
is a full-color quarterly magazine designed to teach families about Creation. Each issue has special pages for children. A one year subscription ($22) can be ordered by calling 1-800-778-3390 or logging on to www.AnswersInGenesis.org.Intelligent Design
“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.” — Romans 1:20 (NIV)
Dr. Don Bierle
, a Ph.D. scientist as well as an ordained C&MA minister, presented a workshop at the 2000 Reclaiming America for Christ conference on the subject of “Intelligent Design vs. Random Processes.”How did life originate? There are two possible answers. Many evolutionists say that it did by spontaneous generation. Life arose from an impersonal something — “in the beginning matter”. Life arose from non-life by a random process of chance without guidance and without plan or purpose.
Creationists and some others believe that life originated by intelligent design. Life arose from a personal being (with intellect, will, and emotion) and exists for a purpose — “in the beginning God.” There is mind before matter.
What is the scientific evidence? The law of biogenesis says that “life only comes from life.”
Scientists are finding many things, such as the cell, to be irreducibly complex. Order and design in nature also point to the need for a designer. How can someone believe in a universe without a universe maker (Romans 1)?