Presented by

1. or Creator Creator “Defending Creation” Presented by Eternal Answers Ministry www.EternalAnswersMinistry.org

2. Definitions • Data • Individual points of information • - Data have no structure or construed context beyond an objective or subjective nature • - e.g. The Grand Canyon is a data point (objective) • - e.g. the layers within the canyon are data points (objective) • - e.g. I like chocolate is a data point (subjective) - note we make no distinction as to size nor construe a context

3. Definitions • Belief • Anything thought to be true • - For our purposes, opinions & beliefs are the same thing • - Beliefs DO NOT EQUAL facts • Beliefs may be factual, but do not count as facts themselves • - e.g. I may believe the moon is made of cheese— not factual

4. Definitions • Belief • Anything thought to be true • - For our purposes, opinions & beliefs are the same thing • - Beliefs DO NOT EQUAL facts • Beliefs may be factual, but do not count as facts themselves • - I may believe chocolate is better than vanilla— not objectively based • - I may believe Einsteinian gravity— factually derived but not determined

5. Definitions • Facts • Statements of belief construed from objective data • - Facts have the property of being subject to evaluation because they are statements

6. Definitions • Facts • - DATA: the Grand Canyon FACT: “The Grand Canyon exists.” • - DATA: Dark Chocolate; DATA: Vanilla; DATA: Ice Cream • - BELIEF: “Dark Chocolate Ice Cream tastes better than Vanilla.” • - FACT: “Dark Chocolate Ice Cream is darker in color than Vanilla.”

7. Definitions • Facts • Evaluating Facts: • Data are subjective or objective • - Water (objective); Cold (subjective); Ice (objective); Freezing (objective)

8. Definitions • Facts • Evaluating Facts: • Beliefs are factual or not • - Beliefs are not true or false since by definition beliefs are thought to be true • - A belief is factual if objective data can be gathered to support it • - “It is raining” (factual) • - “She loves me” (factual)

9. Definitions • Facts • Evaluating Facts: • Beliefs are factual or not • - Beliefs are not true or false since by definition beliefs are thought to be true • - A belief is factual if objective data can be gathered to support it • - “He is handsome” (non-factual) (NOTE: Compounding opinions, no matter how many, never constitutes a fact)

10. Definitions • Facts • Evaluating Facts: • Facts are true or false • - This is the importance of facts being statements, since we can only evaluate specific statements as true or false

11. Definitions • Facts • Evaluating Facts: • Facts are true or false • - Note that this means something can be stated as a fact without necessarily being true • - “The Vikings won the Superbowl this year,” is a statement of fact that happens to be false.

12. Definitions • Faith • A measure of existential investment an individual places into particular beliefs/facts • Note that facts also require faith • Sometimes, even when a fact is demonstrated as true, people lack faith in it

13. Definitions • Faith • Faith is well- or poorly-founded based upon evidence & knowledge (Heb 11:1) • - My wife vs a total stranger depositing $100G – the stranger may or may not be trustworthy, but placing faith in him is poorly founded (based) as such trustworthiness is not in evidence

14. Definitions • “Evidence” vs. “Proof” • Evidence • non-mathematical demonstrations that indicate the factual basis for a particular framework of propositions • what counts as evidence is determined by rules of evidence • - e.g. there are rules for legal evidence, scientific evidence, etc.

15. Definitions • “Evidence” vs. “Proof” • Proof • a mathematical formula that describes natural behavior, experimentally verified, never contradicted, never varying

16. Definitions • “Evidence” vs. “Proof” • Proof • Theories accompanied by Proofs are called "Laws" • - There are various theories as to how gravity works but the Law of Gravity (aka The Inverse Square Law) is a mathematical formula that describes exactly what effects gravity will have as a function of mass in terms of the inverse square of the distance between any two given masses.

18. Definitions • Hypothesis • A Hypothesis is a framework of testable propositions not supported by evidence • “Hypothesis” vs. “Theory” vs. “Law”

19. Definitions • Theory • - one should never say, "Oh, that is just a theory" to a scientist (or anyone for that matter) • - the term "Theory" is used to express the highest Form of scientific understanding short of mathematical certainty that we can have • - A Theory is a framework of tested propositions, supported by evidence that can be used as principles of interpretation, explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena

20. Definitions • Theory • it is true that no theory can be regarded as providing 100% certainty in our understanding of any phenomena, BUT 99%+ of science, which is an inductive process, falls into this category • it is important, however, to note that a theory is a "framework" for seeing the evidence • Thus, theories are either “workable” or not; they either provide an adequate scaffold to hold all the data or they do not

21. Definitions • Theory • They can be “well-founded” or not i.e. supported by a lot or only a little evidence • Ultimately, they either “succeed” or “fail” based upon the quantity & quality of evidence

22. Definitions • Theory • Theories are not “true” or “false” since, even if they handle all the data superbly, & utilize bushels of evidence, there is no guarantee that they are “true” • - The geocentric model of Ptolemy handled all the data re: the motion of the planets, even retrograde motion of planets just fine; that did not make it any the more true

23. Definitions • Theory • Theories are not “true” or “false” since, even if they handle all the data superbly, & utilizes bushels of evidence, there is no guarantee that they are “true” • - You can theorize that you have found a Spanish gold treasure because you have found a huge chest with thousands of dublunes all dated before 1750; so you have an enormous chest full of evidence to support your theory,

24. Definitions • Theory • Theories are not “true” or “false” since, even if they handle all the data superbly, & utilizes bushels of evidence, there is no guarantee that they are “true” • … but then you find one and only one American quarter dated 1998 at the bottom of the chest. Thus, despite all the evidence for the theory, this one piece of data completely defeats the theory,

25. Definitions • Theory • Theories are not “true” or “false” since, even if they handle all the data superbly, & utilizes bushels of evidence, there is no guarantee that they are “true” • … since they did not have American coins dated 1998 in 1750’s Spain. Thus, even though well- founded, the theory fails.

26. Definitions • Theory • What science is in the business of attempting to do, through experimentation & controlled observation, is to determine which frameworks are best suited to guide our understanding of the phenomena we are studying

27. Definitions • Creation • The six day account given in Genesis • roughly 6,000-10,000 years ago • though other theories certainly exist, defending this one is the most difficult • therefore if it is scientifically & philosophically defensible, others are, too

28. Definitions • Creation • However, in mixing creation & evolution: • theologically, serious questions are introduced that otherwise would not apply • - e.g. what need is there for a savior if evolution is making man better & better? • - e.g. what right does God have to hold us responsible for not being born when man would be more advanced?

29. Definitions • Creation • However, in mixing creation & evolution: • philosophically, the naturalist asks the good question, "Why resort to God to govern a process that can guide itself just fine without intervention?" • These are issues that the progressive creationist / theistic evolutionist must answer for themselves & will not be addressed in this lecture

30. Definitions • Evolution • The Specific Theory of Evolution • living organisms change from generation to generation by a series of mutations • natural selection operates on these variations to "select" those individuals best suited to survive in the particular environment • this theory is well founded, experimentally demonstrable & operates as one of the best supported, most successful theories in biology

31. Definitions • Evolution • The General Theory of Evolution • A theory that expands the evolutionary principle (that things change over time) beyond simple variation, but to all things. • In biology, this means that, given enough time, one kind of creature can change into another kind;

32. Definitions • Evolution • The General Theory of Evolution • In other areas, such as astronomy & cosmology, scientists speak about the “evolution of stars,” or in geology, they speak of the “evolution of the planet”

33. Definitions • Evolution • The General Theory of Evolution • IMPORTANT—Evolution (General or Specific) is a theory about change (not of similarity); the difference between the Specific & General Theories is the degree of change. Thus it is of vital importance that we not only observe that change takes place, but that we carefully classify the degree & nature of change.

34. Has there been enough time for evolution to occur? • Data: • The Moon

35. Has there been enough time for evolution to occur? • Data: • The moon’s recession

36. Has there been enough time for evolution to occur? • Facts: • The moon’s recession means the moon/earth system could not have existed for hundreds of millions of years

37. Has there been enough time for evolution to occur? • Theories: • The tides caused by the moon/earth interaction led to the evolution of land animals hundreds of millions of years ago even though there was no moon

38. Has there been enough time for evolution to occur? • Theories: • The moon, earth & land animals were all created less than 10 million years ago

39. Can life spontaneously generate? • Data: • The Miller-Urey Experiment

40. Can life spontaneously generate? • Data: • The Pasteur Experiments

41. Can life spontaneously generate? • Data: • The Pasteur Experiments

42. Can life spontaneously generate? • Facts: • Amino acids generated in a raciated atmosphere ala Miller-Urey will not collect into protein chains, preferring to bond with elements in the raciatedatmosphere and break down rather than bond to each other.

43. Can life spontaneously generate? • Facts: • No group of non-living molecules, even from formerly living things, will ever re-congeal and become alive.

44. Can life spontaneously generate? • Theories: • Life spontaneous generated from primordial chemical soup.

45. Can life spontaneously generate? • Theories: • An intelligent agent designed & created life.

46. Can living things change to the extent necessary for General Evolution to occur? • Data: • The Human Genome • The Ape Genome

47. Can living things change to the extent necessary for General Evolution to occur? • Facts: • There are 2,000,000,000 base pairs in the human genome • Proponents of evolution claim we are genetically 98% identical to the apes • - This is poorly founded • - The paper published on this claimed: “2% of the difference between us & the great apes can be accounted for by genetic transposition”

48. Can living things change to the extent necessary for General Evolution to occur? • Facts: • There are 2,000,000,000 base pairs in the human genome • Proponents of evolution claim we are genetically 98% identical to the apes • - The actual figure is more like 30-40% difference but let us just use their number

49. Can living things change to the extent necessary for General Evolution to occur? • Facts: • Let’s do the math: • 2% difference means there have been 40,000,000 successful base pair mutations since the supposed divergence 250,000 years ago • 2% x 2,000,000,000 = 40,000,000

50. Can living things change to the extent necessary for General Evolution to occur? • Facts: • Let’s do the math: • This means that there would have to be an average of 160 successful base pair mutations every year for 250,000 years • 40,000,000 / 250,000 = 160