AS A CHRISTIAN and a science student at university I tried to believe both evolution and the Bible. I subscribed
to the tests of evangelical orthodoxy,
such as the inerrancy of the Bible—or
I thought I did. I would trot out popular
‘explanations’ of the time about how
they could go together: the days are long
periods of time, or ‘God used evolution’,
etc. The currently fashionable ‘
disconnect’ approach, that Genesis was a
‘different genre of literature’ that said
nothing about real events in space and
time, had not gained any traction at that
time. However, deep down I knew that
there was something seriously wrong
with my position.
Then I heard the leading creationist
biochemist and debater Dr Duane
Gish (1921–2013) speak at a lunchtime meeting at the university. It was
the first time I had heard any man of
science stand up for believing the Bible
in a straightforward manner in Genesis.
That impressed me. He recommended
a book about Noah’s Flood, which I
bought (it was expensive on a student’s
income). Reading that book changed my
approach to the Bible, which changed
my life, but it did not happen overnight.
It took about two years for the message
to fully sink in. The last pillar of my
evolutionary thinking to fall was my
naïve acceptance of ‘deep time’. Then
I finally realized that I now did believe
the Bible and I did really believe it as
God’s inerrant Word and that henceforth
I would strive to let it rule my thinking.
And I felt liberated! It reminds me
of what Jesus said to the Jews who had
believed in him, “If you abide in my
word, you are truly my disciples, and
you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.” (John 8: 31–32)
Yes, liberated! I no longer believed
in a God who was limited by my puny
imagination (‘How could God create
the universe in a few days?’) but in God
who is all-powerful. This change in me
was almost like being born again, again!
Many people in our churches need
liberating like that, and so we produce
Creation magazine to help with this
process. And we receive lots of testi-monies along similar lines to mine.
The author of the article on man as the
pinnacle of creation (p. 52) once thought
like I did, but was liberated.
There is now such a strong case for
the Bible’s history; it’s much stronger
than when I was freed from the evolutionary shackles. You will find some
of this wealth of evidence in this issue:
some marvellous examples of divine
design in diatoms (p. 12), the incredible motors that unwind DNA (p. 24),
the amazing features of whales(p. 28),
and the astonishing characteristics of
humans (p. 52), the eye-catching eye
spots of the peacock’s tail (back cover),
and much more.
Then there are the personal stories
of a scientist who researched the
astounding human immune system
(p. 40), the captain of The Beagle that
carried Darwin around the world (p. 14),
and the tragic story of a young lady who
suffered because of social Darwinism
(p. 50).
And then there are articles on
geology (p. 44), astronomy (p. 22, p. 38),
and biology (p. 48) that point to creation
not long ago, a lack of evolution, and the
global Flood of Noah as explaining the
surface features of the earth.
I trust that you will enjoy this issue,
and share it with someone else; you might
be the means of their liberation!
Liberation!
EDITORIAL
Don Batten
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you
abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8: 3–32
to
s
t
p
h
o
t
o
/12
3
R
F
|
A
na
t
o
l
y
Ma
s
l
e
n
n
i
k
ov/
12
3
R
F
