Some Foundations of Creation Beliefs

The objective of this article is to provide a review of some of the foundations of our beliefs as they apply to Biblical creation and creation science. Also, it is to help people come to faith in God, hold their faith if they have faith, and strengthen their faith to be effective with others in bringing faith in God to them. I first listed these foundations in the February 2005 issue of the TASC newsletter. From time to time it will be helpful to refocus on some of these foundations of our creation beliefs so that we may easily review and keep them in mind as we continue to address these foundations in our TASC newsletter articles and witness to others.

I will list eleven of these basic foundations of creation beliefs and make comments on them. I will reference primarily Henry Morris, PhD (1918-2006) who was the founder of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) and prolific author and commentator on Biblical creation and creation science. I will also cite some TASC authors and their articles on these foundations of creation beliefs that can be accessed conveniently on our TASC website: www.TASC-CreationScience.org.

Some Foundations of Creation Beliefs:

1. Belief in the truth of the Genesis account of creation as recorded in the Bible with support from creation science. Genesis is not just an allegory or story line to give us an idea about creation; it is inspired from God and is God’s divine revelation to mankind (Exodus 31:17-18, II Timothy 3:16-17). It not only tells us of the creation and origin of life, but it is the foundation of moral law, marriage, and the family.

The very first verse of Genesis of the Bible declares the existence of God, our Creator. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, KJV) Dr. Henry Morris in his book, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, states the following as it relates to faith, the Bible, science, and the existence of God.

Although it is not possible to develop a completely rigorous proof for the existence of God (after all, Heb. 11:6 says that “without faith, it is impossible to please him”!), the Scriptures do indicate that it is utter foolishness not to believe (Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:22 et al.). Although there may exist certain philosophical arguments by which one can avoid acknowledging God’s existence, the great solid weight of scientific and statistical evidence, when rationally evaluated, clearly balances the scales heavily in favor of God. One rejects God only because that is the choice of his will, not because of the evidence. 1

The summary of one of Dr. Morris’ adapted articles, “The Logic of Biblical Creation,” published in the August 2008 issue of Acts & Facts states succinctly:

When mixed with faith, there is peace and joy in believing God’s straightforward, rational, simple, satisfying, and truly scientific account of creation in Genesis. 2

Dr. Morris also brings to our attention in the same article the following:

The biblical account of creation is ridiculed by atheists, patronized by liberals, and often allegorized even by conservatives. The fact is, however, that it is God’s own account of creation, corroborated by Jesus Christ (Mark 10:6-8, etc.), who was there! We are well advised to take it seriously and literally, for God is able to say what He means, and will someday hold us accountable for believing what He says! Furthermore, the account is reasonable and logical, fully in accord with all true science and history. 3

For further reading and learning, you may wish to refer to the TASC website, www.TASC-CreationScience.org, and access on the home page in the upper right “Article Topic” window other articles under the topic of “Creation” and specifically the article by Dan Reynolds, PhD, titled, “Creation Resources and Evidences” April 2005. The original articles may be accessed by selecting “Newsletters” and then sorting by author. Another article on the TASC website to help you understand that Jesus Christ confirmed creation is “Jesus and Genesis” January 2005 by Fred Johnson, PhD.

2. Creation week of seven literal ordinary days. This includes the creation of kinds with programmed variety that was not randomly evolved by naturalistic evolution. It includes the special creation of mankind in the image of God, not evolved from ape-like ancestors over millions of years.

Yom, olam, and dor are Hebrew words for “day” with different meanings pertaining to periods of time. Yom is the Hebrew word used for “day” in the Genesis account of creation. Dr. Henry Morris in his The Defender’s Study Bible makes this commentary on the word yom for “day” as it relates to the creation in Genesis.

The use of “Day” (Hebrew yom) in Genesis 1:5 is its first occurrence in Scripture, and here it is specifically defined by God as “the light” in the cyclical succession of light and darkness which has, ever since, constituted a solar day. Since the same word is used in defining all later “yoms” as used for this “first” yom, it is incontrovertible that God intends us to know that the days of creation week were of the same duration as any natural solar day. The word yom in the Old Testament almost always is used in this natural way and is never used to mean any other definite time period than a literal day. This becomes especially clear when it is combined with an ordinal (“first day”) or with definite bounds (“evening and morning”), neither of which usages in the Old Testament allow non-literal meanings…. Thus, the so-called day-age theory, by which the days of creation are assumed to correspond to the ages of geology, is precluded by this definitive use of the word in the first occurrence, God Himself defining it. 4

Exodus 20: 1, 11, in which God spoke to Moses directly, reemphasizes the literal day (yom) of creation week:

And God spoke all these words: For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (NIV)

Should we listen to what God said about the meaning of day in creation and examine true, objective science and history that supports Genesis, or should we listen to what man’s theories would propose, to compromise and distort God’s word? Dr. Morris makes comments relative to the above in “The Logic of Creation” article following:

Whether most people believe it or not, therefore, the creation account in Genesis is God’s record of His creation. Jesus Christ also taught this truth, so surely any true Christian should believe it. This account does not allow even the possibility of evolution, since everything was created “after its kind” (Genesis 1:24), and since, after six days of creating and making things, God “rested from all His work” (Genesis 2:3), and so is no longer using processes which “create” things, as theistic evolutionists believe. Instead, He now is “upholding all things” (Hebrews 1:3) through His law of conservation—the “First Law.”…The First Law notes that nothing is being either “created” or “evolved” by present processes. The Second Law notes that there is, instead, a universal tendency for everything to disintegrate, to run down, and finally, to “die.” 5

Regarding the evolvement of man from ape-like ancestors as evolutionists propose, you may wish to access the TASC website and examine my article pertaining to this, “Man or Ape? Which Are You? Which Do You Choose?”, March 2007, for your further study and learning.

3. The Fall. The disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve resulted in the corruption of a “very good” (Gen. 1:31) creation and the beginning of struggle and death. Theistic evolution conflicts with God speaking creation into existence and implies that struggle and death have been used by God over millions of years before any sin and penalty of sin existed. Theistic evolution invalidates the doctrine of sin, the need for redemption, and the reconciliation of mankind to God.

I recommend you read Genesis 2:17, Genesis chapter 3, and Romans 8: 20-23 to get an understanding of the fall of mankind and the effects of the fall to include the whole world and creation, the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, and reconciliation unto God, our Creator.

Phillip Johnson, MCE, a board member of TASC, comments on the above relative to creation, evolution, and theistic evolution in his master’s thesis titled, Why a Christian Cannot Accept Evolution OR Can Biblical Creation Be Harmonized with the Philosophy of Evolution?, with the following:

One of Satan’s best ways to make a believer ineffective is to slip in false doctrines. True theology confirms that God created all things in six days and rested on the seventh. He created all the different “kinds” of animals. He created man in His image. Because of sin, death entered the world and the world was cursed by God and is now in a fallen state. Because of these events, God had to send His only Son to redeem us or buy us back from the slave master of sin. He was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead. If we can trust God to save our immortal soul, how can we deny what He says about how He created? Why is He not taken at His word? The very nature and character of God is maligned in compromising His word to incorporate evolution. Would a God who said “it is very good” say the same of a fallen world with death and savage brutality? 6

4. The worldwide flood and the catastrophic destruction of the earth.

The Genesis account is clear about a “worldwide” flood by expressions emphasizing universality of the flood and its effects more than 20 times in Genesis chapters 6-9. Some propose the flood to be a local one, which represents a compromise to accommodate evolutionary theory. The purpose of the worldwide flood was to punish man’s wickedness by destroying all of the earth as it originally was and all of mankind plus air-breathing animals and birds of the air (Gen. 6: 5-13) except Noah and his family and the pairs of animals placed on Noah’s ark to keep their “kinds” alive throughout the earth after the flood (Gen. 7: 1-3). Creation science materials help to explain how the world-wide flood gives a better explanation of fossils and sedimentation layers or so-called geologic column than the naturalistic evolution explanation.

On the Flood, I quote Isaac Manly, MD, who meant very much to me in helping me hold and strengthen my faith in God and His creation. Dr. Manly, who passed away in 2009, was a founding member of TASC, served on its board, and did much service to God in his writings and public speaking on creation and creation science.

Why do we have so much difficulty believing in the Noahic Flood? We seem naturally to believe the earth has always been like it is today. We also find ourselves in a period of adoration of “science” and faith in scientists. We overlook the fact that scientists have often come to wrong conclusions by bias and inadequate scientific methods. … However, factual evidence produced by godly scientists in the last 50 years supports a worldwide flood, the Flood of Noah. Actually, there are many facts of geology and origins which make no sense except through understanding the facts about the universal Flood and its consequences. 7

You may wish to access the “Flood” articles under “Article Topics” on the TASC website for more information.

5. Fossils. The fossil record supports created kinds and still says “no” to naturalistic evolution.

Gary Parker, EdD, was a strict naturalistic evolutionist teacher at the university level dedicated to having his students become that way too. After he became willing to examine fossils with more objective observation and other objective scientific evidences that actually supported Biblical creation, Dr. Parker had this to say about fossils and fossil evidences:

The case for creation is based on thousands of tons of fossils that we have found and on genetic mechanisms (variations within type) that we do observe and put into practice every day. As a scientist, I’m inclined to prefer a model that’s based on what we do see and can explain (creation), rather than one that’s based on what we don’t see and cannot explain (evolution). 8

Dr. Parker became a dedicated Christian and creation science teacher “thinking God’s thoughts after Him” as earlier Christian scientists such as Kepler, Newton, and other great scientists then and now have maintained with reverence and humility toward God. 9 Dr. Morris stated in his book, Men of Science, Men of God that “true science is never at enmity with God, and a true man of science can and should also be a true man of God.” 10

Dr. Parker and other authors of the book, Fossils: Key to the Present Evolution⋅Creation, summarize the following about fossils and creation:

Our observations of fossils, the best historical evidence, strongly support the creation model. Creationists look for symmetry (order), (a reason to be), and interdependence (all parts working for the benefit of the whole system). This is precisely what we see in the real living world. …The fossils also clearly show that man has always been man. 11

Please click “Fossils” on the TASC website for more good articles on the subject.

6. Geologic column. Much of geology can be explained by the layering effects of a world-wide flood described in Genesis.

Now the geologic column is an idea, not an actual series of rock layers. Nowhere do we find the complete sequence. 12

Evolution scientists have constructed this idea and named it the geologic column to try to give it validity. They propose millions to billions of years of very slow formation of a very old earth to allow the slightest of chance for animals and plants to evolve by chance without a Creator, God. Creation scientists, who believe in a Creator, God, observe and interpret the sedimentary rock layers where most fossils are found to have been laid down primarily by the rapidly-occurring, worldwide, catastrophic flood of Genesis with a young earth of thousands, not millions to billions, of years of age. This can explain the massive graveyards of animals all over the world and coal and oil deposits formed rapidly by plants and animals buried rapidly. I do not try to differentiate the varying degrees of evolution or creation beliefs here which represent some compromise of the above (e.g., theistic evolution, progressive creation, etc.). According to Bliss, et al.:

Groups of fossils suggest that the rising flood waters [of the worldwide flood] buried different ecological zones. The usual sequence of burial is shown by the [proposed] geologic column. Life from all ecological zones lived at the same time, however, causing the ideal [proposed] geologic column to be regularly interrupted by “misplaced” fossils and by gaps in the sequence. 13

For more information see “Geology” on the TASC website.

7. Noah’s Ark. This was a very large boat (ark) designed by God to preserve the created “kinds” and mankind from the cataclysmic, worldwide flood.

Feasibility and design studies by scientists support it. 14 ,15 Secularist and children’s books have typically misrepresented the true dimensions, construction and purpose of Noah’s Ark causing disbelief in the feasibility of it. You should personally read about Noah’s Ark and the worldwide Flood in Genesis chapters 6-9 to witness what God’s word says about it and the Flood and to understand that the Ark was built to preserve life by the mercy of God.

To get a true understanding of Noah’s Ark and help to hold and strengthen your faith in God, the Architect of the Ark, you may wish to read my article, “Noah’s Ark. Really?”, She Asked. “Yes, Really”, I Replied. of October 2007 on the TASC website.

8. One true race of people all related to Adam and Eve and Noah’s family after the flood. The Biblical record and scientific evidence from genetics support this.

Although taxonomy systems by men classify the varieties of humans into races, from a creation standpoint and Biblical perspective, we are all truly one blood and one human race. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, …And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,…” (Acts 17: 24, 26 KJV) We can see this from the knowledge of the Bible and from history that humans spread all over the world; and in modern day America we see all varieties of humans coming back together and, once overcoming various cultural differences, can actually fall in love, marry, and have children. From an evolutionary standpoint, we humans, after having evolved somehow from apes, would have diverged into races or perhaps different species through natural selection and “survival of the fittest” and thus separated, which may help to explain some of the prejudice and “racism” experienced in recent history. Variety in human “kind”, often misunderstood as evolution in human “kind” and other “kinds”, is explained by our modern-day knowledge of genetics, not truly by naturalistic evolution. It is understood that Darwin was not aware of work that Mendel was conducting in genetics when he published The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859. This book helped to establish the theory of evolution, which is taught to our children in our public schools largely as established fact. I know. I experienced this in my public education and my public school science teaching. Note that in modern day the last portion or subtitle of Darwin’s book is left off. Why?

For more on this, please see my articles on the TASC website, “Racism: Human ‘Races’ or ‘One Blood’?” April 2004 and “The ‘Genographic Project’: What is it? What does it Mean?” June 2005. Also, see “Puzzles of the Genome” Dec. 2006 and “Recent Discoveries in Genetics” May 2007 by David Plaisted, PhD, plus “Anthropology” and “Archaeology” under “Article Topics”.

9. Dinosaurs (referred to as behemoth and dragons in the Bible). Created on the sixth day of creation along with other land animals and man, they lived thousands of years ago, not millions of years ago—a powerful deceit to children from the evolutionary viewpoint or confirmation of creation from Biblical history and creation science.

Dinosaurs and dinosaur stories are exciting to children and adults and are used to convince both to believe in evolution and in an old earth. If one is presented objective historical and scientific evidences about dinosaurs along with the creation account of Genesis, dinosaurs can also be used to help children and adults to believe in the creation account and young earth. They are in the Bible and our cultures under different names such as behemoth, leviathan, and dragons (Job 40 and 41, Isaiah 27: 1, Psalms 74:13,14; 104:26 KJV) as the name “dinosaur” did not appear in history until named such by Sir Richard Owen in 1841. It is important to get the real story about dinosaurs and that they lived thousands and possibly up to hundreds of years ago, not millions of years ago as evolutionists propose.

See on the TASC website, “Dinosaur Bones—A Whole Lot of Twistin’ Goin’ On” July 2009 by Jeff Gift, PhD and “Dinosaurs: What is the Real Story?” March 2008 by Mark Stephens, MCS, plus the other articles under “Dinosaurs”.

10. Intelligent design. Irreducible complexity defies random chance and gradual evolvement that dismisses interdependency of functional parts.

Some contend that it takes a lot of faith to believe in God and creation. One might also contend that it takes even greater faith to believe in essentially impossible, chance origin and evolvement by naturalistic evolution. Creation and evolution are the two models from which one has to choose for origin. Supernatural creation accounts for origin of the universe and life and its processes by an omnipotent, intelligent designer that we know as God, our Creator. Naturalistic evolution proposes origin of the universe and life and its processes by accidental, chance processes with no intelligent design or supernatural god.

William Dembski, PhD, helps us focus on design and the choice of creation or evolution in his book, Intelligent Design.

It was Darwin’s expulsion of design from biology that made possible the triumph of naturalism in Western culture. So, too, it will be intelligent design’s reinstatement of design within biology that will be the undoing of naturalism in Western culture. 16

We hope that this will help, but it will be important for us to see God’s design by observing and understanding what “God made” as Dr. Isaac Manly pointed out in his book, God Made. In writing about the complexity of DNA and its role in producing proteins and replicating life, Dr. Manly points out:

Each cell of all plants and animals contains a complete copy of the DNA necessary to produce and program the function of the entire organism. …Human DNA is estimated to represent three billion words, which would fill 3,000 volumes of 1,000 pages with 1,000 words per page. …Life is not possible without this complicated arrangement for the production of proteins. To conceive of this coming into being without super intelligence requires mind boggling faith in chance. 17

Romans 1: 20 helps us to see that God is the Great Designer by His Word: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (KJV) Dr. Manly’s inspiration for the title for his book, God Made, came from this verse. Psalm 19:11 confirms to us that, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (NIV)

For more information on complexities and design in life that point to intelligent design, see “I.D.” and “Genetics” on the TASC website.

11. Young Earth. Radioisotope dating, used to support old age, is based on big assumptions with a large margin of error. We have new understanding through the Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth (RATE) study that supports a young earth. An abundance of other scientific data supports a young earth and the Biblical record supports a young earth.

The RATE Study has provided strong experimental evidence for a young earth and episodes of rapid nuclear decay in the past that support a young earth. Radioactive dating methods are used to attempt to show millions to billions of years of age of the earth and past plants and animals. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) scientists in the RATE study “discovered that radioactive dating methods and their results are not thorough, consistent, or reliable.” 18 Volumes one and two of this now completed RATE study are available for order to help understand the scientific evidences for a young earth at www.ICR.org/store or call 1-800- 628-6640.

Senior Science Lecturer for ICR, Frank Sherwin, M.A., points out in his article in the July 2010 issue of Acts & Facts that “the ocean’s salt clock shows a young world.” In his article, he also brings to our attention that creation geologist, Andrew Snelling, provides in his book, Earth’s Catastrophic Past, 19 that powerful biblical and scientific evidence points to the young age of our created planet. Of course, naturalistic evolution theory depends on dating methods that interpret million/billion-year results. Another book, The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods, points out why million/billion-year results are not credible. 20

For more information please refer to the TASC website and click article topics of “Young Earth” and “Radioactive Decay”.

As you can see there is plenty of Scripture and science support for a young earth of thousands of years, so let us be able to stand confidently for this position rather than timidly to the evolutionists that have no choice but to select the questionable and, now considered by much scientific evidence, inaccurate evidences for millions/billions-years old age.

Concerning the above basic foundations of creation beliefs, I will end with the following very relevant commentary by Henry Morris, PhD, from The Defender’s Study Bible on 1 Tim. 6: 20, where Paul warns Timothy and we should well take note, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:” (KJV)

6:20 science falsely so called. “Science falsely so called” is, in the Greek, literally “pseudo-science” or “pseudo-knowledge.” This pseudoscience is nothing other than evolutionism, which has been in “oppositions” against God as Savior and Creator and the world as His creation since the beginning of time.

Note the following summary of current scientific evidence against evolutionism: 1) There is no present evolution; only horizontal variations and extinctions. 2) There was no past evolution, only ubiquitous gaps between basic kinds in the fossils. 3) There can be no possible evolution since universal laws of conservation and decay now govern all natural processes. 4) There has been no time period long enough for evolution, for historical records go back only a few thousand years, and the fossil record speaks only of rapid formation. 5) There is no Biblical evolution (Genesis 1:25; 2:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:38-39). 6) There could have been no theistic evolution, for death came into the world only when man sinned (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21). 7) There could have been no pantheistic evolution, for God condemns all who worship the creation as its own Creator (Romans 1:20-25). 21

Dr. Morris brings out in 1 Timothy 6:21 the repercussions if they then professed and we now profess science (knowledge) falsely or evolution, “Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.”

6:21 erred. Many have abandoned the Christian faith during the two thousand years since Christ because of various compromises with evolution. This is still happening today as many Christian colleges, seminaries and entire denominations are teaching theistic evolution (or its semantic variant, progressive creation) to their future leaders. This will, inevitably, degenerate, as it always has in the past, into atheism, humanism or pantheism, unless they come back to the Bible and true Christianity soon. 21

I hope and pray this review of the basic foundations of creation beliefs will help you “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you”, 1 Peter 3:15 KJV).

• 1Morris HM (1984) The Biblical Basis for Modern Science. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 26
• 2Morris HM (2010) The Logic of Biblical Creation. Acts & Facts 37(8): 12
• 3Ibid., 10
• 4Morris HM (1995) The Defender’s Study Bible. World Publishers, Inc. Iowa Falls, IA, 4
• 5Morris HM (2010) The Logic of Biblical Creation. Acts & Facts 37(8): 12
• 6Johnson PG (2003) Why a Christian Cannot Accept Evolution OR Can Biblical Creation Be Harmonized With The Philosophy of Evolution? A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Clarksville Theological Seminary, Clayton, NC, 3
• 7Manly I (1999) Slaying the Dragon of Evolution. College Press, Joplin, MO, 37, 38
• 8Morris HM, Parker GE (1987) What Is Creation Science? Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 151
• 9Morris HM (1988) Men of Science, Men of God. Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2
• 10Ibid., xii
• 11Bliss R, Parker G, Gish D (1980) Fossils: Key to the Present: Evolution⋅Creation. Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, TX, 68, 71
• 12Morris HM, Parker GE (1987) 163
• 13Bliss R, Parker G, Gish D (1980) 73
• 14Woodmorappe J (1996) Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study. Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, TX
• 15Gitt W (2004) How Well Designed Was Noah’s Ark? Answers in Genesis (USA), Hebron, KY
• 16Dembski WA (1999) Intelligent Design: The Bridge between Science s and Theology, InterVarsity Press, Downer's Grove, IL, 14
• 17Manly I (1994) God Made, College Press, Joplin, MO, 127, 129, 130
• 18Ford LE (2010) Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Volumes 1 & 2. Acts & Facts 39(6): back cover
• 19Snelling A (2009) Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, TX
• 20Woodmorappe J (1999) The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods, Why Million/Billion Year Dates are Not Credible, Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, TX
• 21 a b Morris HM (1995) The Defender’s Study Bible, World Publishers, Inc., Iowa Falls, IA, 1348