Creation vs. Evolution Essay

Submitted By apennington6
Words: 1300
Pages: 6

Creationism vs. Evolution Creation and evolution have been a debate against each other in almost every aspect of life for many years. These two different viewpoints on how life began affect religion, education and society. The history of evolution can mostly be traced back to Charles Darwin. Darwin is the scientist most credited with the theory of evolution and ideas about natural selection. His theories claim that genetic traits contributing to survival are passed on to offspring, and these traits continue to become stronger as they are passed on from generation to generation. Organisms respond to their environment, and their genetics change as a result (“History of…”). This is Darwin’s theory of natural selection. There are three components to the natural selection theory—variation, competition and heritability (“History of…”).
Creationism is almost the complete opposite of evolution. While evolution argues that organisms change over time, creationism argues that God created organisms just as they are with all the features they need to survive. He is the ultimate designer and creator. Creationists are not one size fits all though. There are many different interpretations of creationism. Mark Isaacs writes, “Many creationists disagree as much with other creationists as they do with evolutionists” (Isaacs). Young-Earth creationism is a popular view among Christians and creationists. These creationists interpret the Bible literally and believe that the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old. They believe that in Genesis when God was creating on the first six days, he was speaking forth full grown trees and plants, animals and organisms as they are today, and geology is interpreted in the terms of Noah’s flood (Isaacs). Young-Earth creationists believe that death and decay of the earth and its organisms was a result of Adam and Eve’s fall. God let the earth decline rapidly to cause what many scientists today attribute to billions of years of evolution (Isaacs). The Omphalos is a branch of the Young Earth argument. This belief argues that the earth is young, but was created to appear old and aged. Old Earth creationists believe scientific theories about the age of the earth, but they still believe that God created life. They use science to back up the Bible and their religious beliefs (Isaacs). Day-Age Creationists interpret the six days that God created as long periods of time, not literal days like the Young-Earth Creationists. They see that the order of creation on each day in the Bible lines up with science, but they accept that each day could actually be thousands or millions of years apart (Isaacs). Progressive Creationism is probably the most liberal view on creation. These creationists accept evolution and the Big Bang Theory, but they give the credit to God for the events that have happened (Isaacs). Theistic Evolution takes the stance that God creates, but he does it over time through evolution. These creationists also credit God with the creation of the human soul, which many theories leave out, especially the evolution theory (Isaacs). The creationism theories are almost as widespread as the non-creationist theories. I personally take the Young-Earth Creationism view as my theory of choice. I believe in the Bible literally. When the Bible says that God created the earth in 6 days, I believe that He truly did all of those things in each 24-hour period. An example from the Bible that backs up the literal translation of the 6 creation days is from Numbers 7. This passage of scripture describes each of the 12 tribes bringing gifts to the Lord and laying them down before Moses. Numbers methodically lists out each tribe, the gift that was brought and the day on which they brought the gift. In this chapter, the days are described as the “first day”, the “second day”, the “third day” and through to the “twelfth day”. Young-Earth creationists argue that Moses accepted the gifts each day or