We are constantly bombarded by evolutionary ideas about life, which prompt many questions. Is a living being just a collection of chemicals? Did life begin as a random combination of chemicals? Can life be recreated in a laboratory? What does the chemical evidence tell us about the earth? The Bible answers these questions and we accept the historical accuracy of the Bible as written. We believe this is the only way we can teach our children to trust that everything God says is true.

There are 5 common views of the origins of life and the age of the earth:

1. Historical biblical account – Each day of creation in Genesis is a normal day of about 24 hours in length, in which God created everything that exists. The earth is only thousands of years old, as determined by the genealogies in the Bible.

2. Progressive creation - The idea that God created various creatures to replace other creatures that died out over millions of years. Each of the days in Genesis represents a long period of time (day-age theory) and the earth is billions of years old.

3. Gap theory – The idea that there was a long, long time between what happened in Genesis 1:1 and what happened in Genesis 1:2. During this time, the "fossil record" was supposed to have formed, and millions of years of Earth history supposedly passed.

4. Theistic evolution – The idea that God used the process of evolution over millions of years (involving struggle and death) to bring about what we see today.

5. Naturalistic evolution – The view that there is no God and evolution of all life forms happened by purely naturalistic processes over billions of years. Any theory that tries to add the evolutionary timeframe with creation presupposes that death entered the world before Adam sinned, which contradicts what God has said in His Word. The view that the Earth (and its "fossil record") is hundreds of millions of years old damages the Gospel message. God’s completed creation was "very good" at the end of the sixth day (Genesis 1:31). Death entered this perfect paradise after Adam disobeyed God’s command. It was the punishment for Adam’s sin (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:19; Romans 5:12-19). The first animal death occurred when God killed at least one animal, shedding its blood, to make clothes for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). If the Earth’s "fossil record" (filled with death, disease and thorns) formed over millions of years before Adam appeared (and before he sinned), then death no longer would be the penalty for sin. Death, the "last enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26), and diseases (such as cancer) would instead be part of the original creation that God labeled "very good." No, it is clear that the "fossil record" formed some time after Adam sinned—not many millions of years before. Most fossils were formed as a result of the worldwide Genesis Flood.

When viewed from a biblical perspective, the scientific evidence clearly supports a recent creation by God, and not naturalistic evolution and millions of years. The volume of evidence supporting the biblical creation account is substantial and cannot be adequately covered in one book. If you would like more information on this topic, we offer a variety of resources in Appendix B. To help get you started, just a few examples of evidence supporting a recent creation are given below:

From God's Design for Life Science books

à Evolutionary Myth: There has been some kind of life on earth for billions of years. And man has lived for one million years.   The Truth: If animals and people have lived for millions of years there would be trillions of people and animals on the earth today, even if we allowed for worst-case plagues, natural disasters, etc. The number of people on earth today is about six billion. Even allowing for lower birth rates and higher death rates than what we have traditionally seen, this number indicates that man has been around for only a few thousand years.[2]

à Evolutionary Myth: Man evolved from an ape-like creature. The Truth: All “missing links” showing human evolution from apes have been proven to be mistaken identity or deliberate hoaxes.  The links remain missing.[3]

à Evolutionary Myth: All animals evolved from lower life forms.  Darwin stated that transitional fossils would be discovered to show the chain of evolution. The Truth: No transitional fossils have been found showing one species or type of animal changing or evolving into another.  For example, there are no fossils showing something that is part way between a dinosaur and a bird.[4]

à Evolutionary Myth: Transitional forms survived better than the original species. The Truth: A transitional form of an animal, such as one in which an arm slowly changes into a wing, would be very vulnerable because it could not fight and it could not fly away.  This would make it less likely to survive not more likely.[5]

à Evolutionary Myth: Dinosaurs evolved into birds. The Truth: The differences between reptile and bird respiratory systems are substantial.  It is impossible to believe that an animal could make that many changes over time and still survive.[6]

à Evolutionary Myth: Thousands of chance changes over millions of years resulted in the living creatures we see today.  The Truth: What is now known about human and animal anatomy shows the body structures to be infinitely more complex than was believed when Darwin published his work.  Many biologists and especially microbiologists are now saying that there is no way these complex structures could have developed by accident.[7]

Since the evidence does not support their theories, evolutionists are constantly coming up with new ways to try to support what they believe.  One of the newer ideas is the jump theory, which says that a dinosaur laid an egg and a bird hatched out of it.  That is completely contradictory to everything we observe and is not science at all.  It is wishful thinking.  We need to teach our children the difference between science and wishful thinking.

You can be confident that if you teach that God created the world and that what the Bible says is true, that the evidence will support what you teach.  Instill in your child a confidence in the truth of the Bible.  If scientific thought seems to contradict the Bible, realize that scientists are human and make mistakes, but God does not lie.  At one time scientists believed that the earth was the center of the universe, that the earth was flat, that man could not travel more than 37 miles per hour, and that blood letting was good for the body.  All of these were believed to be scientific facts but have since been disproved, but the Word of God remains true.

From God's Design for Heaven and Earth Science books

à Evolutionary Myth: The earth is 4.6 billion years old.   The Truth: Many processes observed today point to a young earth of only a few thousand years old. The rate at which the earth’s magnetic field is decaying suggests the earth must be less than 20,000 years old. The rate of population growth suggests only a few thousand years of human population. And, at the current rate of erosion, the Rocky Mountains would have been completely worn away in about 15 million years. All this and more indicates an earth much younger than 4.6 billion years. [2A]

à Evolutionary Myth: The universe formed from the Big Bang. The Truth: There are many problems with this theory. It does not explain where the initial material came from. It cannot explain what caused that material to fly apart. And nothing in physics indicates what would make the particles begin to stick together instead of flying off into space forever. The Big Bang Theory contradicts many scientific laws. Because of these problems, evolutionists are beginning to abandon the Big Bang Theory and to attempt to develop new theories to explain the origin of the universe.[1]

à Evolutionary Myth: Fossils prove evolution. The Truth: No transitional fossils have been found showing one species or type of animal changing or evolving into another.  For example, there are no fossils showing something that is part way between a dinosaur and a bird. Fossils show that a snail has always been a snail; a squid has always been a squid.[2]

à Evolutionary Myth: There is not enough water for a worldwide flood. The Truth: Prior to the flood, just as today, much of the water was stored beneath the surface of the earth. In addition, the Bible says the water below was separated from the water above indicating that the atmosphere contained a great deal more water than it does today. Also, it is likely that the mountains were not as high before the flood as they are today. At the beginning of the flood the fountains of the deep burst forth and it rained for 40 days and nights. This could have provided enough water to flood the entire earth. Fossils have been found on the highest mountain peaks around the world showing that there was enough water to cover the earth.[3]

à Evolutionary Myth: The climate changes slowly over time. These changes have resulted in multiple ice ages. The Truth: There is widespread evidence of glaciers in many parts of the world indicating one ice age. However, samples of frozen animals such as mammoths indicate a rapid climate change not a slow change. A slow change cannot explain what would trigger an ice age. However, conditions following a worldwide flood can explain how a single widespread ice age could have occurred. [4]

à Evolutionary Myth: Thousands of chance changes over millions of years resulted in the earth we see today.  The Truth: The second law of thermodynamics describes how everything in the universe tends toward a state of zero entropy or chaos. We observe how everything around us becomes less organized and loses energy. The changes required for the formation of the universe, the planet earth, and life, all from disorder run counter to the physical laws we see at work today.[5]

If you examine the evidence objectively, it is obvious that evolution has not been proven. You can be confident that if you teach that what the Bible says is true, the evidence will support you. Instill in your child a confidence in the truth of the Bible.  If scientific thought seems to contradict the Bible, realize that scientists make mistakes, but God does not lie.  At one time scientists believed that the earth was the center of the universe, that the earth was flat, and that blood letting was good for the body.  All of these were believed to be scientific facts but have since been disproved, but the word of God remains true.

From God's Design  for Chemistry Science books 

Evolutionary Myth: Life evolved from non-life when chemicals randomly combined together to produce amino acids and then proteins that then produced living cells. The Truth: The chemical requirements for DNA and proteins to line up just right to create life could not have happened through purely natural processes. The process of converting DNA information into proteins requires at least 75 different protein molecules. But each and every one of these 75 proteins must be synthesized in the first place by the process in which they themselves are involved. How could the process begin without the presence of all the necessary proteins? Could all 75 proteins have arisen by chance in just the right place at just the right time?1 Dr. Gary Parker says this is like the chicken and the egg problem. The obvious conclusion is that both the DNA and proteins must have been functional from the beginning, otherwise life could not exist. The best explanation for the existence of these proteins and DNA is that God created them.

•Evolutionary Myth: Stanley Miller created life in a test tube, thus demonstrating that the early earth had the conditions necessary for life to begin. The Truth: Although Miller was able to create amino acids from raw chemicals in his famous experiment, he did not create anything close to life or even the ingredients of life. There are four main problems with Miller’s experiment. First, he left out oxygen because he knew that oxygen corrodes and destroys amino acids very quickly. However, rocks found in every layer of the earth indicate that oxygen has always been a part of the earth’s atmosphere. Second, Miller included ammonia gas and methane gas. Ammonia gas would not have been present in any large quantities because it would have been dissolved in the oceans. And there is no indication in any of the rock layers that methane has ever been a part of the earth’s atmosphere. Third, Miller used a spark of electricity to cause the amino acids to form, simulating lightning. However, this spark more quickly destroyed the amino acids than built them up, so to keep the amino acids from being destroyed, Miller used specially designed equipment to siphon off the amino acids before they could be destroyed. This is not what would have happened in nature. And finally, although Miller did produce amino acids, they were not the kinds of amino acids that are needed for life as we know it. Most of the acids were ones that actually break down proteins, not build them up.3

•Evolutionary Myth: Living creatures are just a collection of chemicals. The Truth: It is true that cells are made of specific chemicals. However, a dead animal is made of the same chemicals as it was when it was living, but it cannot become alive again. What makes the chemicals into a living creature is the result of the organization of the substances, not just the substances themselves. Dr. Parker again uses an example. An airplane is made up of millions of non-flying parts; however, it can fly because of the design and organization of those parts. Similarly, plants and animals are alive because God created the chemicals in a specific way for them to be able to live.4 A collection of all the right parts is not life.

•Evolutionary Myth: Chemical evidence points to an earth that is billions of years old. The Truth: Much of the chemical evidence actually points to a young earth. For example, radioactive decay in the earth’s crust produces helium atoms that rise to the surface and enter the atmosphere. Assuming that the rate of helium production has always been constant (an evolutionary assumption), the maximum age for the atmosphere could only be 2 million years. This is much younger than the 4+ billion years claimed by evolutionists. And there are many ideas that could explain the presence of helium that would indicate a much younger age than 2 million years.5 Similarly, salt accumulates in the ocean over time. Evolutionists claim that life evolved in a salty ocean 3-4 billion years ago. If this were true and the salt has continued to accumulate over billions of years, the ocean would be too salty for anything to live in by now. Using the most conservative possible values (those that would give the oldest possible age for the oceans), scientists have calculated that the ocean must be less than 62 million years. That number is based on the assumption that nothing has affected the rate at which the salt is accumulating. However, the Genesis Flood would have drastically altered the amount of salt in the ocean, dissolving much sodium from land rocks. 6 Thus, the chemical evidence does not support an earth that is billions of years old.

1 John P. Marcus, in: Ashton, J., ed., In Six Days: Why 50 scientists choose to believe in creation, Master Books, 2000, 177.

2 Gary Parker, Creation Facts of Life, Creation Life Publishers, 1994, 24-28.

3 Ken Ham, et al., War of the Worldviews, Master Books, 2006, 15-24. See also www.AnswersInGenesis.org/origin.

4 Parker, op. cit., 29-30.

5 See Dr. Don DeYoung, Thousands…not billions, Master Books, 2005. See also: www.AnswersInGenesis.org/helium.

6 John D. Morris, Ph.D., The Young Earth, Creation Life Publishers 1994, 83-87.

From God's Design  for the Physical World Science Books

à Evolutionary Myth: Physical processes support evolution. The Truth: Much of what scientists observe directly contradicts the ideas of evolution. Certain physical properties have been observed and tested to the point that they have been declared to be physical laws. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, they can only change form. There is no mechanism in nature for creating either energy or matter. Therefore evolutionists cannot explain how all of the matter and energy in the universe came to be. This is a topic most evolutionists tend to ignore; however, the Bible tells us that God created it all and set it in motion.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that all systems move toward a state of maximum entropy. This means that everything moves toward total disorganization and equilibrium. Heat moves from an area of higher temperature to an area of lower temperature, and organized systems become disorganized. For example, an organized system

of cells that makes up a living creature quickly becomes disorganized when that creature dies. A house, left to itself will eventually crumble into dust. Everything around us says that without intervention, chaos and disorganization result. Evolutionists, however, believe that by accident, simple molecules and simple organisms combined to form more complex molecules and organisms. This flies in the face of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and everything that is observed to happen naturally.

A third physical property that contradicts evolution is the small amount of helium in the atmosphere. Helium is naturally generated by the radioactive decay of elements in the earth’s crust. Because helium is so light, it quickly moves up through the rocks and into the atmosphere. Helium is entering the atmosphere at about 13 million atoms per square inch per second. Some helium atoms are also escaping the atmosphere into space at about 0.3 million atoms per square inch per second. So the overall amount of helium in the atmosphere is continually increasing. If you assume that helium cannot enter the atmosphere any other way, which is an evolutionist assumption, then the amount of helium in the atmosphere indicates the earth could be no more than 2 million years old, which is much less than the billions of years needed for evolution. This is a maximum age. The actual age could be much less, because this calculation assumes that the original atmosphere had no helium whatsoever. Also, helium could have been released at a much greater rate during the time after the Great Flood. Therefore the helium in the atmosphere indicates a much younger earth than evolutionists claim. [1]

à Evolutionary Myth: Changes in the earth’s magnetic field indicate an earth that is billions of years old. The Truth: Most scientists agree on some fundamental facts concerning the earth’s magnetic field. The earth is a giant electromagnet. The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that is believed to be generated by current flowing through the interior of the earth. And there is evidence that the magnetic field of the earth has reversed several times. Also, nearly everyone agrees that the magnetic field is decreasing. The disagreement between evolutionists and creationists concerns how long it takes for the earth’s magnetic field to change and what caused or causes the changes. Evolutionists believe that the magnetic field slowly decreases over time, reverses, and then slowly increases again. There are some serious problems with this idea. First, when the magnetic field is very low the earth would have no protection from very harmful radiation from the sun. This would be detrimental to all life on earth. Also, if the rate of decay is constant, the magnetic field would have been so strong only 20,000 years ago that is would have caused massive heating in the earth’s crust and would have killed all life on earth. The evolutionists claim that the last time the magnetic field changed was approximately 700,000 years ago. However, the magnetic field would have destroyed all life long before this time period.

Creationists believe that the magnetic field reversals happened very quickly. One lava flow indicates that it occurred in only 15 days. Thus the reversals likely happened as a result of the Great Flood when the tectonic plates were moving and the earth’s crust