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originally posted by: PhilbertDezineck
a reply to: Out6of9Balance
On day every knee shall bow and every toughen shall confess
originally posted by: Out6of9Balance
For me it's logical to think and believe that anything that exists has to have been made.
originally posted by: TzarChasm
originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: Out6of9Balance
Creationism is the belief that God made the world and the human race.
The theory of evolution offers one description of the way that he did it.
Except the methods and data which have demonstrated evolution have so far failed to demonstrate any supernatural or divine element in the process. Purely natural cause and effect. It would appear from the results of scientific inquiry that once again, the laziest student is taking credit for work he didn't do.
originally posted by: Out6of9Balance
Creationism is the idea a creator created existence.
Is there a distinction between “creation” and “creationism”?
Yes, there is. The word “creation,” appearing some 18 times in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, properly refers to Jehovah’s creative activity. (See, for example, Romans 1:20; 8:21; 2 Corinthians 5:17) The term “creationism” is not found in the Bible.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1971) defines “creation” as “the act of creating,” and “creationism” as “a doctrine or theory of creation.” The same dictionary defines “ism” as “a distinctive doctrine, cause, system, or theory—often used disparagingly.”
In these 1980’s, “creationism” has become a true “ism” because of its adoption by political pressure groups, such as the Moral Majority. It is no longer a neutral term, but embodies extreme fundamentalist views of the Bible, such as the view that God created the earth and everything upon it in six days of 24 hours each. There are now more than 350 books in circulation setting out such “creationism” dogma. Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the unreasonable theories of “creationism” in favor of what the Bible really teaches about “creation.”
For a more complete answer to the above question, please see the article entitled “Evolution, Creation, or Creationism—Which Do You Believe?” on pages 12-15 of our companion magazine Awake! dated March 22, 1983.
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An organized crusade is currently seen in efforts to downgrade the teaching of evolution in the public schools through laws requiring that creation be given equal time. In the most recent legal skirmish, a federal judge decided that “creation science” as defined in an Arkansas law did not qualify on an equal basis with evolution. This setback was disappointing to many who hold that evolution does not satisfactorily explain life’s origin. What went wrong?
Flaws in “Scientific Creationism”
From the testimony given in the trial, it is manifest that the scientific evidence for creation was not really presented in clear confrontation with evolution. Instead, it was lost to sight in clashes over side issues, particularly two tenets of creationism that had been written into the law:
1. That creation took place only a few thousand years ago.
2. That all geologic strata were formed by the Biblical Deluge.
Neither of these dogmas is really crucial to the central question of whether living things were created or not. They are merely doctrines held by the members of a few churches, notably the Seventh-Day Adventists, who form the core of the group that sponsored the law. When these sectarian beliefs were written into the law as something that must be taught in public schools, that law was foredoomed to be declared unconstitutional.
Creationist Doctrines Not Biblical
But does the legal defeat of scientific creationism, as this movement is known, reflect unfavorably on the Bible? Are the doctrines of recent creation and a diluvial origin of geologic strata found in God’s Word?
An informed Bible student would answer, No. While the Bible clearly states that the heavens and the earth and everything in them were created by God, it does not say when those things were created. Most of the defense witnesses were shackled by the religious dogma that the six creative days in Genesis were all encompassed in a period of 144 hours. This harks back to an erroneous fundamentalist teaching that was not challenged by the science of the 17th century, but that is no longer tenable in the light of present knowledge. The Bible itself does not set any such time limit on the days of creation.
The first verse of Genesis 1:1 simply says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If we take this to mean the creation of the starry heavens, the galaxies, and the solar system of which the earth is a part, we are talking about events that preceded the first creative day. The description of the earth’s condition in Ge 1 verse 2 also precedes the first day. Not until Ge 1 verses 3 to 5 do we enter upon the activity of the first day of creation.
So no matter how long the days might prove to be, Ge 1 verses 1 and 2 describe things already accomplished, and they fall outside any time frame encompassing the creative days. If geologists want to say that the earth is 4 billion years old, or astronomers want to make the universe 20 billion years old, the Bible student has no quarrel with them. The Bible simply does not indicate the time of those events.
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