Creation vs. Evolution
I watched over four hours of Bill Nye (Bill Nye the Science Guy) and Ken Ham (the creator of the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky) debating their different views: Creation vs. Evolution. Bill Nye argued on the side of evolution and Ken Ham argued on the side of creation. Both individuals are college graduates with distinguished scientific degrees.
Though they spit out scientific facts and evidence like I don’t know what, you may be surprised to find that the main message I took from it was never once said in the two videos I watched.
Can a Christian be a Scientist?
One of the first things discussed is, “Can a person be a scientist while still a Christian faith believer?” They both seemed interested in young people being involved in science. Bill Nye said he created his show to get kids excited about science and he didn’t want them to deny certain scientific evidence by being a Christian believer in the creation theory.
Ken Ham rebutted his remarks by saying that to believe in creation you are not denying any scientific evidence. There is evidence to support creation. Furthermore, there are many believers of creation today who are scientist that have made great scientific discoveries and advances. He showed multiple renown scientist, both atheist and Christians, in his PowerPoint demonstration to illustrate that a person, regardless of their faith, could still become great scientist.
One example of a creationist he used was Raymond Damadian, the man who invented the MRI scanner making a great advance in modern medical science. This seemed to prove that one can be an extraordinary scientist and still believe in creation and have faith as their foundation.
What is the Origin of all Living Things?
The next big debate point seemed to be the origin of all living things. Bill Nye took the view point of every form of life on the planet today originating from one microorganism.
To clarify, Ken Ham asked, “So, you are saying that we are related to plants?”
He said “Yes.”
And Mr. Ham is like, “So, you’re saying we are related to a banana?”
And Mr. Nye said, “Yes.”
Ken Ham goes on then to say that to believe this is to deny what God said in the Bible. God said let us create man in our own image. This sets man apart from all other organisms as we are created in the image of God.
At one point he asks Mr. Nye, “If humans are just animals as you perceive them to be, then why are humans the only animals that wear clothes?”
He responds by saying for warmth and that there are places in the world where humans don’t wear clothes.
Ken agrees that there are some places that don’t, but follow with another question. “If we just wear them for warmth, then why don’t we take them all off when we get hot.”
They go around and around with this question (as they did with many topics), but Ken explains that there is a moral basis behind it and tells how God made clothes for man to cover their sin, making the first sacrifice.
Image Credit: Noah’s Ark (Boarding, Gate 1) by Adam Lederer (original image)
How was Noah’s Ark Even Possible?
Branching out from this topic, they begin analyzing Noah’s Ark. Bill ask multiple questions. How did eight people build such a grand ark? How was Noah even smart enough to build such a thing in that time period? How did they take care of all the animals on the ark? How did the ark not sink?
Ken responded to the first question by saying that maybe it wasn’t just Noah and his family working on it. Maybe he contracted out people like I did in the building the ark replica. He then says, “You didn’t meet Noah, so how are you to be a judge of his intellect?”
Bill states that early civilization did not process the intelligence to build the ark, but Ken reminds him that there are many early civilizations which used advanced technologies that we still wonder today how they managed it.
Bill Nye estimated 7,000 animals on the ark and evaluated how 8 people could’ve cared for them all when a whole crew at a zoo couldn’t care for that many. However, Ken thought there to be around 2,000 animals on the ark, which seemed more feasible (though even if there was more, God can do all things).
He presented the scripture from the Bible that says God took the animals in pairs of two each according to its “kind.” When Biblical scholars analyzed the work kind that came up with it to have around the same meaning as the work family in the taxonomy system.
He brought up Darwin’s finches saying that he agreed that species could evolve and adapt to the changing environment creating different types of finches, but they were all still finches. In other words, all finches came from two finches, all horses came from two horses, and all dogs came from two dogs. But animals didn’t come from plants, dogs didn’t come from a fish, and humans didn’t come from apes or bananas.
Also, people today get this theory of major evolution from Darwin’s notes, and in the picture of the note that this derives from, in the top corner, Darwin wrote the words “I think.” So we base this all this off one man’s thoughts.
This is also contradiction to another well respected scientific scholar Linnaeus who coined the terms of taxonomy. He, himself states that man is not an animal, whereas Darwin does.
The final question Bill brought up was how did it even float? He showed examples of other ships similar in size to the ark that would twist while out at sea allowing water to leak in and the crews couldn’t keep in dry so it eventually sank. Ken Ham confirms that did happen to other ships, but if you look closely you would see where the ark was built with three hulls to keep it from twisting like that as many other large ships.
Credit Image: Earth from the moon wallpapers and images / A view of the earth from space / Public domain stock illustration.
How Old is the Earth?
The final major conversation point was the age of the earth. Bill Nye claimed that the earth was 4.5 billion years old while Ken Ham argued only 6,000 years old.
One thing to think on is that Bill Nye admits that he does not believe in miracles. They do not line up with science and he only believes in scientific fact. So he thinks that earth and organisms by creation is crazy because he doesn’t believe in supernatural powers. Yet, he can believe that everything we behold today was created by an explosion of nothing and it just so happened that earth landed right where it needed to be, at the exact tilt and rotation it needed to be, in order for us to not die and be able to sustain life.
With that being said he presents several different methods scientist may use to date the earth: ice layers, tree rings, carbon dating. All to which Ken has a faulty example for.
It is held that 1 ice layer forms each year, yet we can see layers form before our eyes in much less than a year. He asked a woman who lived in an area that received lots of snowfall each year had she seen multiple layers in the ice. She confirmed that she had. She said there could be snow already on the ground, then it would rain, and form another layer on top of that.
A layer of ice is supposed to represent one rotation from summer to winter, yet he brings up an example from Greenland. A plane had crashed on the ice in the 1930s and 46 years later they go looking for the missing plane and people only to find them buried under 120 some layers of ice. That is a present day observation proving that multiple ice layers can form in a year.
Then, Mr. Nye tries tree rings bringing up the fact that the oldest tree on earth is older than the 6,000 years we say the earth is. Mr. Ham then questioned Mr. Nye inquiring, “Isn’t it true that a tree can have multiple growth periods in a year?” Bill then had to answer the question as yes. Now they have found flaw in two dating methods.
He then brings up carbon dating which is supposed to tell you the age of a rock based on levels of certain elements in those rocks. It is known that the rocks on the surface are younger than the rocks on the bottom. To this, Ken’s response was a tree that had been found several layers below the surface. They had the tree sent off to a lab to know the age. It came back saying the tree was 4,500 years old. They then sent the rock that it was encased in to the lab and it came back as being 45,000 years old. He explains the problem occurs when volcanoes erupt. The lava that pours out onto the surface is molten rock from the mantle, which has levels of those elements showing it to be much older.
All these examples Mr. Ham uses question the validity of the very scientific facts that Mr. Nye built his argument on. Bill then claims that Ken is just cherry picking, but it doesn’t work that way in science. For something to be considered a law you must be able to recreate it with the same results time and time again, which Mr. Ham has just disproven. He doesn’t have to name all the other events in which it didn’t hold up. He just has to name one to poke the hole in the balloon taking all the air out of it. Because if we can see and know that it was wrong once, who’s to say that it wasn’t wrong many more times before that. There is a reason they are referred to as Creation Theory and Evolution Theory instead of laws.
Credit Image: Scientific Research on Defect Issues in Laboratory Setting
Interpreting the Evidence
Throughout the debate, Ken Ham mentions they both have the same evidence. There is nothing different in their evidence, but how they each interpret it. They are both given the same information; they just choose to interpret it their own way. One way you see nothing that falsifies creation; the other you see nothing that confirms evolution.
Bill Nye also admits that science is always changing because of new scientific discoveries. Therefore, this is to say that when you put all your faith in science that what you believe today may not always be what you believe tomorrow. There is not consistency in that belief. He is saying that tomorrow they may discover something new that tells us this is wrong and you establish something else as being right.
But what if the discovery you’re waiting for comes too late? One thing that Bill Nye says over and over again is, “Show me something, some type of proof that confirms your theory and I will gladly believe you. The scientific community will welcome your discovery.” I’m sorry, but that’s not necessarily true.
We don’t always welcome new discoveries. Like when they all believed the earth was flat and someone said no it’s round. He was criticized. They thought he was crazy. Look at Nicholas Copernicus when he said the sun is the center of the universe. People didn’t welcome him either. Then there was Alfred Wagner who proclaimed continental drift and he was thought to be a lunatic.
The other thing I find problematic in him saying this is that it sounds very familiar to what people have said for thousands of years. Just like the people in the Bible, he is saying, “Give me a sign. Give me proof. Give me something I can see and touch. Then I will believe you.” And Jesus’ response to the people of that day was, “to them no sigh shall be given.” He had already been in their land and preformed miracles. He done many wonderful works in their land, yet they refused to accept him and they rationalized it among themselves. They saw what he done, but didn’t open their eyes. They heard what He said but closed their ears.
Credit Image: Photo by PhotoMIXCompany. from PxHere
The Real Argument is the Existence of God
This is where we get to the heart of what we are really arguing here. It’s not evolution. Evolution is a change in genetic frequencies over time. We know that species evolve and adapt to their changing environment because we can observe it. What we disagree on is the extent of evolution.
Darwin’s form (what is accepted in school) looks like a tree with everything springing off from one microorganism. A creation’s looks like multiple bushes, one for each kind, and the different types of that kind evolving from the original two.
What we really ask is when and how everything came into existence. So we debate over the age of the earth and where we originated from, all the while dancing around the truth of why we are arguing.
The fact of the matter is they don’t really want to argue that the big bang theory is real. They want to argue that God is not.
Truth is, for many atheist, they’re mad with God so therefore want nothing to do with Him. They don’t want Him to be a part of your universe. Because to admit that He created everything in the universe and is in control of it all, is to say that God could’ve changed their life but didn’t for whatever reason. It’s not that they have proof He doesn’t exist. It’s not that they don’t believe He could exist. They don’t want Him to.
I picture this scenario like a heartbreak. When your heart gets broken, you feel it. You can’t deny what you feel. Others may come up and tell you, “It’s no big deal. This is ludacris. There are plenty other fish in the sea. I don’t understand what you’re going on about.” This is because they don’t understand and you can’t make them. They don’t feel what you feel and you can’t prove it them. Even though you both live in the same world and see the same thing (evidence) only one of you knows what it feels like. You see things a bit differently until the other feels it to. And when they get their heart broken, it becomes real to them to and they are like I understand now.
Credit Image: Photo by PhotoMIXCompany. from PxHere
Key Take Away…
Basically, all those scientific facts and evidence I loaded you down with at the beginning of this are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. All that really matters is that you have accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior. Ken Ham even says this when he spoke.
If I can leave you with something, let it be this: If you know what you believe, know why you believe it. Prepare yourself to answer why.
Bill Nye admits that he is an atheist, yet he has read the Bible twice. That’s more than some Christians! You should find this alarming. He wasn’t reading it to get to know the Lord. He was reading it to get to know you. He wanted to know everything that you knew so that he would be prepared when you came at him with questions and accusations.
He is prepared. Are you?