The difference between creation and evolution. Creationology for beginners.
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Creationology for beginners Lesson 1.
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What's the difference between creation and evolution?
This is the first of a short Creation Tips four-part course titled Creationology for beginners. The whole four lessons should take you only about 15 minutes to read, but will give you an idea of some main points in the creation-evolution debate. The four lessons have been adapted from other articles on the Creation Tips website, so after you have finished the course you may find the articles from which these were taken elsewhere on the Creation Tips site.
Now let's start …
What do creationists and creationologists believe?
Creationists, creationologists, and creation scientists all believe that the universe, life, and all the basic matter these consist of were created by God. All three can actually be called creationists.
A creation scientist is a creationist who is a scientist, and a creationologist is a creationist “who studies creation or has a strong interest in it.” A young Christian child may be a creationist, as is someone who simply believes in creation but doesn't take an active interest in it. A creationologist takes an active, strong interest in it, and also in why evolution fails as an explanation of origins. (The suffix “-logy” means “a subject of study or interest” — as in theology, archaeology, zoology, biology. So creationology is “the study of God's creation.”
Most creationists and creationologists today are either conservative Christians or orthodox Jews who believe that the Bible (Christian), or the Torah (Jewish), is accurate in its description of God's creation of the world and of life. They therefore believe the Bible when it says that the world, the stars, planets, and life were created over a short time (six ordinary 24-hour days). They also believe the Bible when it says that the first living things were created fully formed (that means the chicken was created before the egg: Genesis 1:20-22).
Creationologists (including creation scientists) believe that most fossils are the result of the worldwide flood described in the book of Genesis, and that the earth's surface, mountains, and terrain we see today were basically shaped by that flood.
What do evolutionists believe?
Evolution science is the idea that the universe and life have formed by a process of evolution (simple things developed into complex things) over a long time: millions or billions of years. Those who believe this are called evolutionists.
Evolutionists do not know how the first matter appeared, or how life evolved from non-life. But they believe that a “big bang” billions of years ago started the process that formed all the stars, planets, and life. They believe that simple forms of life evolved into highly complex types of creatures such as humans, even though science has never clearly supported this. They are constantly looking for “missing links,” which supposedly are creatures that will prove that one type of organism turned into a completely different type.
Unlike evolutionists, creationists are not searching for "missing links" to show that fish turned into amphibians, or that reptiles evolved into birds, or that apes and humans evolved from a "common ancestor," and so on. This is because creationologists and creation scientists believe that the scientific facts already fit the creationist idea. (That is, major types of creatures were created much in the form they are today, and major organs such as arms, legs, mouths, hearing organs, were present and fully functional from their first appearance on earth; they did not gradually develop.)
In summary:
Creationists believe that God created the universe as described in the Bible's book of Genesis. The world was created in six ordinary days. Animals and plants were created pretty much in the form we find them today. Most fossils formed rapidly as a result of a worldwide flood.
Evolutionists believe that the universe formed from a “big bang” billions of years ago. Life formed from non-life. From the first simple life-form(s), every other living thing on earth has evolved. Evolutionists do not believe there was a worldwide flood; they believe that fossils formed slowly from local events.
Now go on to Lesson 2 in the Creation Tips classroom:
Other lessons:
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