Schoolhouse Brawl
Is evolution scientific? People use the term “evolution” in many ways, so let’s clarify. By “evolution,” we mean the idea that all life is descended from a common single-celled ancestor by mutations and natural selection. In this fashion, one kind of organism is said to gradually change into another different kind over vast ages. The single-celled common ancestor is said to have been formed by accident from nonliving chemicals.
Is this particles-to-people idea science? Should it be taught in schools? Is it fair to call evolution the “scientific view” in contrast to biblical creation?
Science has been defined as “systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.” Those last two words are key: “observation” and “experimentation.” Science involves testing ideas by repeated observations and/or experimentation. If the hypothesis under investigation fails to predict the outcome of the experiment, the hypothesis is refuted. If the hypothesis successfully predicts the outcome of the experiment, the hypothesis is then confirmed but not necessarily proved. If many experiments under a variety of conditions continue to confirm the hypothesis, it is eventually referred to as a theory.
Does evolution qualify? How many aspects of evolution have actually been observed or confirmed by experiment? How many successful specific predictions has evolution made? How many experiments have confirmed that one kind of organism can change into another? Well, none.
We certainly observe changes within a kind of organism. This is consistent with biblical creation. Different breeds of dogs and various beaks on finches both demonstrate variation. Have we ever observed one kind changing into another though? Many experiments have been done on bacteria and on fruit flies. But they have always remained bacteria, and fruit-flies, respectively.
Some people might argue that creation isn’t science either. After all, God does not create new kinds of organisms today. He no longer speaks into existence stars and continents. This is quite true. However, our main proof of creation does not come from science. Rather, it comes from history. The Bible is a history book, and it records the eye-witness testimony of the creation of the universe from the Person who was actually responsible for the creation of the universe. Creation isn’t a scientific fact; it is an historical fact. Now when’s the last time you heard that in school?
5 Responses
Join the ConversationRod says:
Concerning Christians using the K-12 public schools (supported by compulsory attendance laws), we have 3 options to select from in the USA. 1. Use the public school system for our children K-12 education. 2. Use private schooling. 3. Use home schooling.
The Bible teaches:
Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV)
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Q: Where does Scripture teach that parents are to turn over their children to a system of State education that is dominated by scoffers and the counsel of the wicked? Remember, unlike Moses raised in Egypt and Daniel taken into slavery in Babylon, we in the USA today do have choices concerning how our children will be educated.
Michelle says:
2 Timothy 3:7 speaks of people always learning, but never being able to see the truth. This is a fact in academia today. I am a friend of a retired provost, a committed Christian, who had to deal with this all through her career. I approach the situation with this view: We are in this world, but not of it. It is with this in mind that I am preparing my son for the incorrect assumptions he is being taught in school. As a parent, it my responsibility to ensure that he is able to separate what evolutionists believe and the truth. I do this by teaching him to see the bias of assumptions an evolutionary world view entails. I do this for two reasons: to ensure that his faith in not eroded through misinformation, and to teach him how to cope with bigoted teachers and professors that have power over his academic future.
Rod says:
I must ask others that read YOM, should evolution stop being taught in the USA public schools? If Christians cannot *reform* the public schools, should Christians apply II Corinthians 6 and exit this educational system?
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (ESV)
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Robert Byers says:
This YEC says there is no such thing as science.
Their is just people thinking about things of nature and trying to figure it out or use for some use.
The best they can say is that science is a high standard of investigation that can demand confidence in its conclusions.
This is how most people see it and use the word.
Dr Henry Morris said origin issues are not open to scientific study, or very much, as they are really subjects about history.
One can use the methodology of historical investigation but not the higher methodology of "science".
As the author of this thread said here.
Saying evolution is science is just saying its been proven by a high standard of investigation.
It has not been so treated.
Organized creationism must continue and more so demand evolutionary biology and geology draw conclusions only after the scientific method has been applied or cease using the prestige of science to persuade folks of your case.
Make the case and hold the label until you earn it.
Rod says:
This post begs for some discussion. For one I note that the subject of evolution taught in the public schools is brought up. “Is this particles-to-people idea science? Should it be taught in schools? Is it fair to call evolution the “scientific view” in contrast to biblical creation?”
It is quite apparent that USA court systems and public school boards have answered in the affirmative for teaching evolution as science and throwing out biblical creation. I don’t plan to labor this issue here. Q: What it will take for Bible believing Christians to abandon the K-12 education system and follow the Exodus mandate (i.e. depart from their midst)?
At the end of the post we read “Creation isn’t a scientific fact; it is an historical fact. Now when’s the last time you heard that in school?” My answer - you will never hear this doctrine proclaimed in the State run public schools. The idea that Creation is based upon history suggests that evolution is not based upon history. I suspect advocates like Richard Dawkins would claim evolution is based upon the history observed and documented in the fossil record vs. history record in the book of Genesis which he would argue is religion. As a biblical creationist myself, I recognize problems with this approach to the fossil record claiming that the history documented in it supports evolution. Problems like the abrupt appearance of many kinds (Cambrian explosion, plants explosion), living fossils, and soft tissue finds that continue to be reported are some historical problems for evolution in the fossil record.