The Other Side of the COin: Truths About Creationism | Teen Ink

The Other Side of the COin: Truths About Creationism

January 20, 2010
By clumsy_one123 SILVER, Brentwood, Tennessee
clumsy_one123 SILVER, Brentwood, Tennessee
8 articles 1 photo 170 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All daring starts from within." -Eudora Welty


Try to imagine that, millions of years ago, small particles hit together and collided, spinning out of control, till BANG- they created multiple solar systems, stars, and planets. Does that sound reasonable? I think not. What kind of person would believe that? There are many scientists who devote their lives to trying to prove this so-called “fact”, but, of course, have not been able to. Even though there is no real proof, the Big Bang Theory has been taught in schools for quite along with evolution, which also has no solid proof. However, they are only telling one side of the story. In many schools today, evolution and the Big Bang Theory are taught to students, while Creationism is left for "church only". That is not fair. Creationism should be taught in public schools as well.

To begin with, if evolution and the Big Bang Theory can be taught, why not creationism? First, consider evolution. Scientifically speaking, simple life-forms cannot evolve into “more complex life-forms” (Problems), therefore, man could not have possibly come from apes. Also, if man came from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys? Some evolutionists answer this question by saying “Survival of the fittest”. However, that does not account for the weaker apes that are still living on earth. If they were to follow this “survival of the fittest” theory, then they should have died long ago, when man first appeared. In Mark 10:6, the Bible says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female,” thus proving without a doubt that God created man.

Then, of course, there is the Big Bang Theory. There is not a single scientific law or demonstration that can be preformed that supports the “something from nothing” theory. How could two small particles hit together to create the universe and all the life in it, when, technically speaking, those two particles had not even been created yet? “Design demands a designer” (Wood), and it is as simple as that. Take for example the position of the earth. If it was just a little closer to the sun, everything on it would burn up. If it was just a little farther away, we would all freeze (Wood). Also, Earth is the only planet with free oxygen and water in its liquid form (Wood). In other words, our planet is the only one in our solar system capable of sustaining life. How could that have happened by chance? In Genesis 1:1, the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” so, only God could have done so.

Also, creationism should be taught in public schools because, according to the Bible, God created the earth (Gen. 1:1). So, why would anyone teach anything else? Of course, there are those out there who question the fact that the Bible is God’s written word. They say that it is nothing but a book written by a bunch of different men. The Bible is made up of sixty six books- thirty nine in the Old Testament and twenty seven in the New- written over a time span of 2,000 years, on three different continents (Asia, Europe, and Africa), in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic), however, there are no contradictions. This could only be the work of an all-powerful being. And so it was. II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”. So, basically, God told the writers what to say. He inspired them.

What proof is there that the Bible was inspired by God? To begin with, in Leviticus 17:11a, Moses said that, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”, yet this fact was unknown even in George Washington’s day (Thompson). People would use leeches to bleed out supposed ‘bad blood’ to help the sick get well. So, how did Moses know? Secondly, in Ecclesiastes 11:3a and Amos 9:6b, the writers both refer to rain falling from the clouds, but the water cycle was not completely accepted or understood until the 16th century. Pierre Perrault, Edme Marriot, and Edmund Halley all made discoveries on and added data to the idea of a complete water cycle. However, the Bible indicated a water cycle 2,000 years before their discoveries (Thompson). Next, in Job26:7, Job says that the Lord “hangs the earth on nothing.” Back in Job’s day, people had different beliefs on what kept the earth suspended in space, such as four elephants on a giant turtle, or the shoulders of an abnormally strong man. Job was way ahead of his time by suggesting that the earth “hung on nothing” (Thompson) (Job 26:7). How could he have known when everyone else was wrong? And finally, in I Corinthians 15:39, the apostle Paul says, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.” Paul is right! All four of these fleshes have a different biochemical makeup (Thompson). But how did he know? All of these situations point to one solution: God told the men what to write. Therefore, there is no possible way that the Bible could be made up by men because of the advanced sciences used in it. Given the sufficient evidence, Creationism should be presented alongside other theories of creation.

There are those in this world who say that allowing creationism to be taught in schools is a breech on their First Amendment rights. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”, however, this does not mean that it is against the law to say “One nation, under God,” in the Pledge of Allegiance, print, “In God we trust,” on money, or teach creationism to students in school. It merely is saying that the Government will not make an established religion. One can believe in and worship anything or anyone they want. But, men can preach and teach about their religion to others. It is only fair.

In addition, the First Amendment was added by the founding fathers to keep the church from controlling the government, and they had good reason to be fearful of this. “Early settlers” in America wanted religious liberty; however, they refused to grant it to others (Gay). They set up the Anglican Church as the main religion (Gay). Others set up their own churches, but, they still had to pay taxes for the maintenance of the Anglican Church, even though they did not attend there (Gay). Laws demanded people to attend church (Gay), and if they did not, they could be fined, and even imprisoned. Other rules covered clothing, business conduct, education, and recreation (Gay). “Only members of the… established religion were allowed to vote (Gay)”. It is no wonder James Madison was careful about how much control the church would receive. All in all, separation of church and state was established to keep government control in the proper hands, not to forbid the teaching of creationism.

In conclusion, creationism should be taught in public schools because, even though some say it cannot be proven, it is the most reasonable solution to the creation of the world, and, if evolution and the Big Bang Theory can be taught, why not creationism? It has not been proved either. If schools are going to teach unproven theories, then why not add creationism to the list? One might as well tell both sides of the story if they are going to tell it at all. Besides, if Evolutionists are so sure that man came from monkeys, then what are they afraid of?



















Bibliography
“Evolution.” The American Colledge Dictionary. 1964.
Gay, Kathlyn. CHurch and State. Brookfield: The Millbrook Press, 1992.
The History of Man. Sanford: Riebers.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982.
Isaak, Mark. “Five major misconceptions about Evolution.” Talkorigins.org. 1 Oct. 2003. 18 Jan. 2009 <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html>.
McIntosh, Kenneth, and Marsha McIntosh. Issues of Church, State, and Religious Liberties. Broomal: Mason Crest Publishers, Inc., 2006.
“Problems for atheistic evolutionists.” Creationtips.com. 10 Nov. 2008. 18 Jan. 2009 <http://www.creationtips.com/evoluwrong.html>.
The Reality of God. Sanford: Riebers.
Roberts, Hill. The Second Law of Thermodynamics. 1986.
Suggs, Bill. “When did the U.S. Government pass a law dictating the separation of church and state? Where can this law be found?” Christiananswers.net. 18 Jan. 2009 <http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g004.html>.
Thompson, Bert. Scientific Evidences of the Bible’s Inspiration. Montgomery: Apologetics Press, Inc., 1981.
Wood, James. We Believe. 2005.





Works Cited
Gay, Kathlyn. CHurch and State. Brookfield: The Millbrook Press, 1992.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982.
“Problems for atheistic evolutionists.” Creationtips.com. 10 Nov. 2008. 18 Jan. 2009 <http://www.creationtips.com/evoluwrong.html>.
Thompson, Bert. Scientific Evidences of the Bible’s Inspiration. Montgomery: Apologetics Press, Inc., 1981.
Wood, James. We Believe. 2005.



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This article has 347 comments.


on Feb. 20 2014 at 6:16 pm
SomethingWitty, No, Other
0 articles 0 photos 22 comments
I'm not going to discuss everything you've written, as it wasn't written for me, but I can full-heartedly say that freedom of religion = freedom from religion. The thing is there are more religions that just Christianity. Therefore if you have the right to prectice your religion I have the right to practice mine, or my lack thereof. Ergo, I am free to be an Atheist, Agnostic, Pastafarian, or what have you. And when attending government-regulated schooling I should be taught information gathered through observation and controlled tests. Not a book that I have the right not to believe.

on Feb. 20 2014 at 5:50 pm
SomethingWitty, No, Other
0 articles 0 photos 22 comments
Just so we're on the same page, you wrote that sarcastically, right?

Bones96 BRONZE said...
on Feb. 2 2014 at 5:28 pm
Bones96 BRONZE, Charlotte, North Carolina
2 articles 0 photos 108 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life isn't about finding yourself it's about creating yourself-

While your writing isn't bad there are couple things I think you've been misunstood. Firstly the Big Bang Theory is just as it title says, a theory. It's a very good theory but as of today can't be proven. Scientist and others who accpet the theory don't say it's fact. And like many other things it's worth studying and looking in to. Also it was particles hiting something then bang there's the universe.The Big Bang happened 5 billion years before stars, 10 billion before the sun, 11 billion before molten earth and about 12 billion before the first ocean.   You state that "If we evoulved from apes then why are there still monkeys?" One monkeys and apes are different. Apes are larger and have no tail leaving them grounded mostly. Monkeys are much smaller and have tails for climbing and living in the trees. For example Gorilla (ape) and Capuchin (monkey). A common misconception of evoultion in humans is that we came from apes. That's not true, we are very similar, yes but as for evolution we only share a common ancestor. You also say that simple life forms can't become complex creatures such as humans. Here's an example that happens everyday. A human egg is made of cells (a simple life form) furtilized by another simple life from human sperm. The two cells grow and muliply becoming a cluster of cells. Then the cells form a fetus which grows into baby. After the baby is born it continues to grow. A simple life form becomes a complex being. Evoultion does have proof that when a mutation happens the life form (if it surivives) can go on too create a new version or even species. I personally find it hard to believe that God could come up with all life on earth, create the universe and everything in six days. Devine or not that seems unlikily if he exist. Evoultion by scientific standards has been mostly proven.  A problem with teaching creationism in school is this. There are many religions and in the united states to get many different people from many backgrounds in schools. If evolution and creationism was taugh then what about other religions who don't suscribe to either beilef? Evolution is taught because it isn't connected to any religion. Rather instead of teaching creationism I'd say a world religion class should be added. This is so everyone can learn about other religous practices and ideas.  As for the bible being advanced for it's time in science  I don't believe that counts as proof. Others have done this too, I've done this. I call it intution knowing something before it happens. Example 14 years before the titanic sank a book was written about a ship all the facts matched what happened to the Titanic besides the name which was Titan. Another is the work of Mendel a scienist who was discovering gentics and it wasn't untill the 40's and 50's that his theories and work could be proven and further studied. His ideas where not only right but different and revoutionary to his time.  Last two points I'd like to make. You say "one might as well tell both sides of the story if their going to tell it at all". There are 7 billion people in the world not everyone believes in evolution or creationism. This isn't a two sided story this is many sided story with lots of short stories based off of them.  Lastly, in the begining you so bluntly state "What kind of person would believe that?" I am one of those people along with many others. Many others believe something else. It doens't make me or those other people stupid or less than. Just as your beilfs don't make you stupid or less than. I found your statement rude and unnecessary. And I kindly ask in the future you are more respectful of others belifs. Someone might say the same thing about you and I'm going to guess you wouldn't appeciate that.   In my comment I stated facts about ideas or qouted you. I have been as respectful as I can if I have offened you or anyone else that wasn't my intention. Everyone has and is intitled to his/her own options, thoughts and feelings. 

on Jan. 20 2014 at 2:02 am
Zaraclaylime DIAMOND, Chicago, Illinois
75 articles 2 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
So I suppose my simple advice is: Love your life. I only say that because your life is what you have to give.
-Tom Hiddleston

I support this so strongly! Everyone should read this!

on Dec. 29 2013 at 6:13 pm
Aramis_999 PLATINUM, Matthews, North Carolina
25 articles 0 photos 54 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, don’t judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family. -Madonna

I spoke i n haste, please accept my apology. When I saw the word g.ay I posted in haste. I am deeply sorry.

on Dec. 29 2013 at 6:12 pm
Aramis_999 PLATINUM, Matthews, North Carolina
25 articles 0 photos 54 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, don’t judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family. -Madonna

I owe you an apology.  I thought that when you wrote gay in parenteses, it was you intergecting an insult. I am deeply sorry for what I said. It was spoken out of anger, and posted before I read the works cited. Ussally when I se the word "gay" intergected it is deragatory.  I am deeply sorry, and I am in the wwrong. Please accept my apology.

on Dec. 29 2013 at 6:06 pm
Aramis_999 PLATINUM, Matthews, North Carolina
25 articles 0 photos 54 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, don’t judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family. -Madonna

Bight your toung b!tch. My [God Given] sexuality isn't a insult to through around at the idocy of the pilgrims. Try and use big people words that legitimently describe how much you don't like them. 

on Dec. 29 2013 at 6:02 pm
Aramis_999 PLATINUM, Matthews, North Carolina
25 articles 0 photos 54 comments

Favorite Quote:
Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, don’t judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family. -Madonna

Wow. The big bang theory I'll give you that isn't a lot of proof. But you can't teach your creation story, because that would ipose on the rights of others.  Evolution has nothing but proof. It has the fosil record, and all of science behind it.  Yes, it is church stuff, and should not be forced on tens. Science is the physical truth, and your "biblical truths" should be ccepted on faith, in church or private school, but not in pub lic school. We seperation of church and state, and we only teach things with factual backing in school. Which rules out the bible. And the creationist "theory". 

on Sep. 16 2013 at 7:16 pm
Drac-in-Black GOLD, London, Ohio
16 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Never apologizing for feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth." - Benjamin Disraeli

whoops, replied to the wrong person, sorry. Meant to respond to the whole article in general.

on Sep. 16 2013 at 7:13 pm
Drac-in-Black GOLD, London, Ohio
16 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Never apologizing for feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth." - Benjamin Disraeli

Not sure if this quote has already been mentioned in the comments, but I'm not going to read through 16 pages to find out if it has     "If humans came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" This is equivalent to asking: "If Americans came from Europe, how are there still Europeans?"

on Sep. 16 2013 at 1:07 pm
AnInkling SILVER, Castle Rock, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 110 comments

Favorite Quote:
“This is your life. Is it everything you dreamed that it would be, when the world was younger and you had everything to lose?” Switchfoot
“Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Galatians 4:16

Thank you very much for this article! It is good to see another teenager not letting themselves believing whatever the school tells them. However, I think that this article would be more constructive if instead of directly pointing to Christianity as the solution (even though I believe that it is the only solution), I would suggest simply pointing to inteligent design which is layed out in the first chapters of Genesis. It is simply the idea that God (or a god) created everything in the universe rather than unknown gasses and random explosions creating everything.  Even though I am a Christian, myself, and I agree with all that you are saying, I think that the article could be more effective if you stayed a little bit more on track instead of deviating onto the topic of "Is the Bible True?". There of course, is a very good place for that discussion, but perhaps it needs an article all to itself!

on Sep. 8 2013 at 9:09 pm
Bravewolfd BRONZE, Anonymous, Iowa
1 article 0 photos 1 comment
I agree with this! There are so many holes in the evolution theory.  Creationism should be taught in school. (I'd make it an elective though.) I don't understand why they would even come up with the idea we came from something that was never even alive. Even if life could evolve, it'd just die out.  Like with the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken of course, but something has to fertilize the egg from that came from the chicken, and what are the chances another chicken would evolve. Its species would just die out. Not that life is actuallyeven possible without a creator.

FreeRain11 said...
on Aug. 12 2013 at 4:29 pm
"In Mark 10:6, the Bible says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female,” thus proving without a doubt that God created man." Yes, because absoloutely everyone agrees with the Bible and that it is the word of God (sarcastic).  If creationism were taught as well, then we would have to cover beleifs by all religions so Christianity did not get special treatment.  Just because a book written thousands of years ago and is believed to be the word of God says that man was created by God does not make it true.
 

on Jun. 10 2013 at 7:51 pm
monochromatic BRONZE, Alexandria, Virginia
3 articles 0 photos 84 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C. S. Lewis

Could you explain what you mean by a total energy of 0? So the Big Bang was not catastrophic - it's just an unexplained phenomena that created time, space, and matter, resulting in the world we know today.That sounds a lot like what I believe with a couple of exceptions. I don't understand the Big bang at all now actually. I'v heard several variations. What do you believe the Big Bang was? I can't wait to hear yet another definition of this simple to understand occurence. I was not aware that "something can not come from nothing" was such a weak theory that the constantly changing Big Bang theory trumps it. ok, so just to be clear, I believe that God exists outside of time, matter, and space, which is logical since I also believe that he created those three. He can't be contained by the laws of nature because He made them.This Deity created the universe similar to the way a human would write a book - only the characters in His story have free will and can do what they want within their boundaries.  I think it's simpler to believe that an intelligent Being created the universe with a purpose then it is to believe that time and space and, essentially, science and all the laws of nature happened to come into existence and then randomly changed and changed and changed until it ended up as a whole bunch of structured galaxies and stars and planets composed of mind-bogglingly complex atoms, cels, etc. and, m,ost fascinatingly, life. Not only did life occur by chance, but several different forms of life managed to randomly survive and even accidentally reproduced offspring that could also reproduce until eventually, intelligent beings rose up above the othr animals and started studying everything else, eventually happening to come up with how the universe accidentally originated. Why bother? If evolution is true, how on eath would highly evolved animals be able to determine exactly how evolution occured? And I find your last statement amusing, esp. since evolution was obviously made up and since I find creation simple to understand and more reliable - especially since it doesn't keep changing. 

on Jun. 10 2013 at 6:58 pm
monochromatic BRONZE, Alexandria, Virginia
3 articles 0 photos 84 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C. S. Lewis

The Bible isn't a hypothesis. It's a statement which is either true or false. Out of curiosity, how familiar are you with the Bible? The KJV preferably? I'm getting the impression that you only know what you've heard or read second hand. In the biblical account of creation, man was made in God's image, woman was made because he needed a partner just like all the animals had. What separated Adam was his soul/spirit. And at first, humans were perfect. They had no concept of wrong until they violated the only law God gave them, which was eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. That got them kicked out of the garden God made esp. for them and also instilled in them a sense of right and wrong - a conscience, as well as the ability to do wrong, which people have exercised quite frequently since then.  The Bible provides he facts - science provides the proof. The Bible has a lot in it about science that wasn't technically discovered until centuries after it was written. It also has historical incidences that match up with other acounts and findings.  You're right, the Bible should not be blindly accepted. Nothing should be blindly accepted. I'll be glad to change my beliefs if you can prove the Bible wrong and furthermore prove the theory of evolution right. If humans don't have souls - if we're not special - if nothing has a purpose, then why do we live like we do, with rule systems, an understanding of right and wrong. Why would right and wrong matter annyways - why don't humans just live like animals with no qualms about it. If we're nothing but accidentally intelligent animals, why do we feel that occurences can be unfair. Unfair doesn't exist without right and wrong and right and wrong don't exist by accidental chance. If evolution is true, why do we have a conscience that can be stronger then the instinct to survive, which would have to be pretty strong in the most advanced species on earth?

on Jun. 10 2013 at 1:01 pm
LittleDreamer BRONZE, New Delhi, Other
2 articles 6 photos 42 comments
It is good to have a self-correcting THEORY - unlike Creationism which is hypothesis. If god really made us in his image, aren't we supposed to be perfect? Then why is that even humans have flaws and make mistakes. People support religion but turn back to the pages of history and we can see how many wars and conflicts have risen due to this. And when we talk about god - which god is we to trust? Many religions tell us about many gods - then what is the true word of god? Science is universal, the definition of a homosapien is the same for any person from the US to Timbuktu. How can you say that the Bible is a reliable account of correct information? It doesn't provide us with evidence and facts - how can one blindly accept it? That also raises the question, that why do humans see a purpose behind everything? Why do need to be felt special? Why do we need to have a soul? Why do we need to be immortal at some point in life? When you boil it down, we are accidental and insignitcant in the vast cosmos. The only feature that makes us special is that we can comprehend the laws of nature, but to an extent.

on Jun. 10 2013 at 12:51 pm
LittleDreamer BRONZE, New Delhi, Other
2 articles 6 photos 42 comments
It was not catastrophic. Our universe is special because is it supposedly flat and it's total energy is 0. Therefore, it suggests to have an origin at some point in time. 'Something cannot come from nothing', BBT breaks this theory but I wonder if it's the same for a grand designer - you talk about a diety who created the world and itself came from nothing. How does that work?  BBT is simple to understand and is more reliable, creationism is made up. 

on Jun. 8 2013 at 9:29 am
monochromatic BRONZE, Alexandria, Virginia
3 articles 0 photos 84 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C. S. Lewis

I didn't say anything about teaching Creation in public schools - I only mentioned history and science.  Assuming the Biblical account of Creation is true, it would make sense that after God had the Bible written, it would not change because it was true to begin with, right? I mean, if He created the universe and everything in it, He should be able to get His story right. the Bible doesn't need to change. Assuming evolution is true - which is hard because everyone seems to have a different overall definition for it - then we're here by chance, there's no rules or morals, and no particular reason for us to discover our origin anyways because once we die, it's all over for us. Evolutionists are still speculating about how evolution happened. The arguments you bring up today will be considered ridiculous and out of date several years from now. A good scientific theory is jsut a theory, not fact, until the tests and challenges prove it to be correct. Every time a proof against evolution is brought up, the theory changes, and some speculation replaces the part of the theory in question. 

on Jun. 8 2013 at 9:15 am
monochromatic BRONZE, Alexandria, Virginia
3 articles 0 photos 84 comments

Favorite Quote:
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C. S. Lewis

so in effect, you believe that a catastrophic event created the universe, time, and space and I believe that an intelligent being created the universe, time and space. I don't see how creation is harder to believe.  

on Jun. 8 2013 at 7:10 am
LittleDreamer BRONZE, New Delhi, Other
2 articles 6 photos 42 comments
The event occured billions of years ago - YES. The event created time at the moment of the explosion - is what I mean here. Time didn't exist before the Big Bang, therefore there was no time for god to create the universe. The energy and matter that would create the universe was contained in the Big Bang singularity itself and was therefore produced at the moment of the explosion. This doesn't mean that the galaxies and stars were clumped in the singularity, but the Big Bang itslef created the foundations of the universe. Space didn't exist too (the event occurred in Quantum VACUUM). Both Space and Time were created at the moment of the explosion.