This is a copy of a letter written to present 10 brief reasons to believe in Biblical Creationism. That is, that the creation account in Genesis is in fact accurate history.

Dear Dennis,

These are my revised reasons to believe in creation for Ray Mossholder. I too have enjoyed Ray's teaching and ministry. However, I think these REASONS can be more powerful and useful if we clarify our terms:

CREATIONISM in general can be juxtaposed to DARWINISM or NATURALISM. Darwinism assumes that life and all it's diversity has arisen merely by natural processes (mutation and natural selection) without the need for God or a supernatural intervention.

BIBLICAL CREATIONISM would be juxtaposed to MACROEVOLUTION or to the theory of COMMON DESCENT. Macroevolution could be defined as the theory that all organisms have descended from simpler common ancestors in the distant past. Some Christians believe in macroevolution but say that God directed or controlled the process. However, careful Biblical exegesis as well as the evidence from science does not support the idea of macroevolution.

So I would be more specific and ask, "WHAT ARE THE REASONS I SHOULD BELIEVE IN BIBLICAL CREATION AS OPPOSED TO MACRO EVOLUTION?"

1. THE BIBLE SAYS SO: The Bible says at least 33 times that God created categories of life each "after his kind." The Bible makes it clear that plant and animal categories did not evolve from any other categories in ages past. This is confirmed also by the fossil record (see #9 below).

2. JESUS SAYS SO: Jesus said that people have been on the Earth since the very beginning of the world. When answering the Pharisees on marriage and divorce (Mark 10:6) he said, "But at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female."

3. THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE IS AT STAKE: To NOT believe in creation as stated in #1 and #2 above is inconsistent with what the Bible teaches. This is a dangerous position because:

a. Certain passages must then be understood as myth or allegory and not as actual events. They must be made to say something different from what they really say.

b. Faith is then undermined in the belief that God's Word is free from error and verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit.

In a more general way we could ask, "WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE IN CREATION AS OPPOSED TO DARWINISM OR NATURALISM?"

4. Only a creator God (a pre-existent intelligence) would have the right and power to declare an ABSOLUTE basis for moral truth. On the other hand, if man's evolved mind is the highest intelligence in the universe, then relativism and subjectivism is justified and God becomes a subjective choice instead of an objective reality.

5. Only a creator God who created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE would-have the right and authority to establish governing principles over his creation. Therefore there is a basis for law and justice that is rooted in the will of God and not just the will of the people (popular opinion). So there is an objective basis for decisions dealing with crime, sanctity of life issues, marriage, family and sex life, etc.

6. If we were created IN THE IMAGE of a purposeful creator, then we exist for a PURPOSE and our lives have an eternal meaning and destiny. On the other hand, if we were created by an impersonal, accidental process, then the meaning in life is strictly subjective and we are justified in making up our own rules.

7. The purpose of the creation is to glorify God, bringing a response of worship from mankind. (Psalms 19:1, 95:5-6, 100:3-4, 139:14, 136:3-7, Rev. 4:11, 14:6-7).

8. God's great creation authenticates Christ as the true God and assures and validates our faith in Him. (1 Chron. 16:25-26, Jer. 32:17, Ps 96:3-5 & 8, John 1:1-12, Acts 4:24-30). Also the INVISIBLE and ETERNAL things are made believable by seeing the VISIBLE and TEMPORAL things. The promise of God's heaven is based on the premise of God's creation. (Romans 1:20, Col. 1:16-20).

(If #8 and #9 were true, then a key strategy of the enemy would be to diminish or corrupt the powerful testimony of God's creation. The enemy would like to usurp God's glory by any means he could including co-opting the good name of science to do so).

9. Macroevolution is a belief system that is not supported by the scientific evidence. If Macroevolution is true there should be plenty examples of gradual changes of one species evolving into another. But in the fossil record as well as in the modern world, we observe that plants and animals fall into distinct groups with no transitional forms in between them. Also the very first fossil layers (the Cambrian) show an abrupt appearance of all the major animal groups (phyla). Complex creatures appear suddenly with no simple step by step evolutionary predecessors leading up to them.

10. The scientific data points to the fact that a supernatural intelligence was necessary to create the miracle of life. Examples of this would be the immeasurable complexity of information in a DNA molecule or the irreducible complexity of an organ or organismal system i.e. "Nothing works until everything works" (any partial or incomplete arrangement would be a liability to survival, not an asset).

There you go Dennis. I hope some of this is useful. I'm looking forward to seeing the summary of results.

Sincerely,

John Hergenrather