The Importance of Evidence

Submitted by Ray on Sun, 19/07/2009 - 01:04

One of the greatest struggles for many Christians, old and new alike, is the Creation vs Evolution debate. That is, did we all really descend from Adam and Eve as the Bible tells us, or did we simply “evolve” over time.

Many Christians want to believe the Bible fully, but have difficulty in making this "leap of faith" in the face of the supposed existence of dinosaurs and other animals tens of millions of years ago, which pre-dates Biblical truth.

Some Christians go so far as to place their own interpretation on God’s Word by saying that the six days of creation was not based on the “24 hour day” as we know it, and that in fact it really could have happened over millions of years. They try to make God’s Word fit into what is only man’s evolutionary "theory" as to how long the earth has been around.

The Biblical timeframe of our existence of around 6,000 years, is totally at odds with claims that the earth was created millions of years ago and that the dinosaur bones and fossils found serve as evidence to support this.

There is no denying the existence of such evidence, the debate simply hinges on the dating of this evidence in the absence of someone being around at the time in order to verify the very existence of these creatures.

We at Wings As Eagles have been receiving Creation magazine for many years now. There are many extremely interesting stories contained within, but every now and then one comes along which cries out to be shared, in an effort to try and put some perspective on the whole Creation vs Evolution debate.

The world is full of doubters, moreso today than in Jesus’ time when Thomas refused to believe that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead unless he could see His wounds for himself.

Below is an extract from a story from the June-August 2008 issue of Creation magazine, produced by Creation Ministries International, which will hopefully change a few peoples’ minds.

Wings As Eagles

06Aug08

Editorial by David Catchpoole

Someone told us recently, ‘A young man I know was converted through the Creation magazine photos of the dinosaur engravings on the bishop’s tomb*.’

Many others too, confronted with evidence that dinosaurs lived alongside humans (and other evidence contradicting evolutionary theories, but consistent with the Bible), have come to trust in Christ. However, many people say, ‘For me, creation is really not an issue. I just have faith.’

Just have faith. I can’t help wondering what the people saying those words think of those who apparently are unable to ‘just have faith’—people who need evidence that the Bible’s timeline of history can be trusted in the face of today’s widespread evolutionary teaching contradicting it.

Of course God’s Word praises those who can believe ‘all that the prophets have spoken’ without having themselves witnessed the events in question (e.g. 1 Peter 1:8 cf. 2 Peter 1:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:3–4,10). Also, ultimately ‘without faith it is impossible to please God’ (Hebrews 11:6)….

Our Lord Jesus demonstrated such by his own example. Thomas had said that unless he could see evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection, he would not believe it (John 20:25). A week later Jesus appeared to Thomas, dispelling his doubts, saying, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed’ (John 20:29).

Thus was Jesus merciful to ‘doubting’ Thomas. His eyes had now seen (q.v. Luke 10:23) the evidence he apparently needed in order to believe. There are other examples in the Bible too, linking the ‘seeing’ of evidence to ‘believing’. When ‘the other disciple’ went inside the empty tomb, ‘he saw and believed’ (John 20:8)…

Dinosaur engravings and other evidence presented in Creation magazine over the past three decades have impacted many peoples’ lives. Dean W., of South Africa, wrote to us recently that ‘the apparent contradiction between the real world and the Bible had been a real barrier to my believing in the whole Bible as truth’.

However, after being shown that there is no such contradiction—that the evidence available in the world today not only fits, but is best explained by, Genesis Creation, Flood, etc.—Dean underwent a dramatic ‘spiritual awakening’ (as he put it).

‘[T]here is a glorifying of His magnificent name and a healthy fear of the Lord which comes when the believer realizes there is undeniable evidence to support the fact that the Bible can be trusted.’

Dean gently rebuked those who say that the creation/evolution debate is not important to their faith:

‘The believers who say that the debate is unimportant to them ignore the fact that it may not be about them. Jesus commanded us to “love our neighbours as we love ourselves” and we therefore have a responsibility as intelligent human beings to make every effort to understand this debate for the benefit of others, many of whom are enslaved by humanistic philosophy and atheism. We should always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us with meekness and fear [1 Peter 3:15].’

We trust this magazine continues to help readers do exactly that.

*Brass engraving on the tomb of Bishop Richard Bell (died 1496) at Carlisle Cathedral—first published in Creation 25(4):40–44, 2003;

www.creationontheweb.com/brass_behemoth
This article can be read in full at www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5722

If you, or family, friends or colleagues need convincing about the truth of the Creation versus Evolution argument, we commend to you this wonderful source of information.

Creation Ministries International can be found at www.creationontheweb.org.

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