by Dr. Ken Ham (Lecture 1 of 10)

DEFINITIONS:
Authoritative: true, something people must obey
Agnostic: a person who says God might exist
Atheist: a person who says God does not exist.
Evidence: information used to make a conclusion
Evolution: the idea that plants and animals changed into better life forms
Fact: something you can observe with the senses
Fossils: plants and animal remains impressed in layers of rocks
Unbiased: without an opinion; open to new ideas
Dogmatism: strong beliefs,
Observation: recording data with one of the five senses
Religion: a system of belief held to firm conviction.
Science: a total collection of knowledge gathered from man’s observations of the physical world using one of his five senses (taste, touch, sight, smell, hearing) to investigate the world taken only from the present, and you can repeat your observations.
Philosophy: a system of ideas to explain human lives
Worldview: a complete system of your basic beliefs and values which guide your life
Infallible: cannot make a mistake

Introduction to the Lecture:
Dr. Gary Parker, and Dr. Ken Ham. These scientists believe in the book of Genesis, that it is true and authoritative. Dr Ken Ham will explain the philosophical aspects and biblical relevance aspects of the evolutionary outlook.

How would a scientist approach the topic of creation vs. evolution? Let’s see how the scientist operates so we can understand the Creation vs. Evolution issue from a scientific perspective. Our study will lead us to say that evolution is religion and creation is a religion. Both have scientific aspects. The conflict is between the science of one religion and the science of another religion.

Four commonly held beliefs about scientists: Unbiased, objective, infallible and wear white lab coat.

Unbiased: the atheist says there is no God. When he looks at the evidence he cannot entertain the possibility of creation. As an atheist his mind is already made up. No matter what evidence the atheist finds, he cannot come to conclusion that God created. Similarly, the agnostic after viewing all the evidence still says, “ I don’t know.” The agnostic is religiously committed to not knowing. Romans 1 says there is enough evidence in the world to convince someone that God exists. But people The question is not whether you are biased, but which bias is the best to be biased with. The bias you have determines what you do with the evidence you find. People may accuse Christians of being Dogmatic. Even those who oppose your dogmatism are dogmatic about their views too

Objective: Evolution is religion. We see evolutionary assumption in magazines, TV, and Internet.

Fossils exist in the present, and they are always dead. This is important for a number of reasons. You are digging up dead dinosaurs which exist in the present. In a museum you see a picture which is conjecture (a guess by the scientist). Scientists guess at the age of fossils. The scientist’s belief about their age is given to the bones. People don’t realize that scientists have only the present to work with. Who was there millions of years ago to see the process of evolution? Science is a great tool, but you cannot observe the past. When it comes to the past, science is limited. We don’t have the past to observe. We only have the present. No one was there to see the dinosaur eggs. How would you prove that dinosaurs are extinct? You would have to have a person everywhere in the world at the same time to say “there is no dinosaur here.”

Evolution is a belief system about the past which scientists use to explain the present. Your worldview defines what you believe about life. Evolutionists believe that fish evolve into amphibians. You can’t observe the evolutionary process. Some scientists suggest: “It is so slow you can’t see it. Or, It is so fast you can’t see it. Or, It has stopped.” We must ask ourselves, whether the creationists are correct: evolution doesn’t happen at all.

Evolution is a belief system about the past based on evidence in the present developed by persons who only exist in the present who don’t know everything and who weren’t there. It affects your view about who you are and your view about your nieghbour. Evolution is a belief held strongly. Evolutionists believe life came from primeval soup, that fish turned into amphibians, and that

Every person interprets the evidence to fit the model of origin which I use to explain my life and the world. The evolutionist starts with his belief and then forms a scientific model which he uses to interpret the evidence.

How could you ever come to the correct conclusion about anything in the world. The only way to know for sure is to know everything. No matter how much know, there is always more to know. So you don’t know how much you don’t know. But the Bible gives us the Word of the God who knows everything. We must start with the one who knows everything. Then we can build our thinking about everything else upon this foundation. Scientists weren’t there and they don’t know everything. Put your trust in the words of God who does know everything and who was there. There are certain aspects of the creationists’ scientific model that will change. For example, we don’t know the details of the formation of continents during the world-wide flood. But we have a framework of truth. On the basis of scripture the earth is young. By looking at the past you cannot prove anything. But the evidence does fit the creationists framework.

If the evidence does fit with the creationist’s model, and there is lots of evidence conflicting with the evolutionist’s model, why can’t we agree? The reason is we have a different starting point. We have different eyes. The God of this world has blinded the eyes of those who believe not.

Wrong belief leads to the wrong model and an incorrect way of interpreting the evidence. If you have the wrong belief, you will come up with the wrong model and your interpretation of the evidence will be wrong.

When you ask the wrong questions you will come to the wrong conclusions. You have to question the question before concluding that the answer is correct. Is the missing link really missing? Or does the evolutionist have the wrong story and therefore come to the wrong conclusions. Many people don’t know the right questions to ask. Your beliefs and biases determine where you are going to end up with the evidence.

Teachers don't teach plain facts, but rather a philosophy into which they put the facts. You either gather or scatter. Non-Christians are against Christ. If your philosophy is not built on the knowledge of Jesus Christ then you are not teaching the right story about the facts.

The controversy between creation and evolution is one between two opposing religions. As a creationist I can take the bible as history about creation, the flood, the tower of Babal (beginning languages), etc. We should find evidence in the present world which fits the story of the Bible. And we do.

Why does this controversy matter? It is important because it is the foundation of worldview: evolution leads to lawlessness, abortion, murders.