theory holds that the first life forms were marine organisms, while the Bible says that God created land plants first. Reptiles are supposed to have predated birds, while Genesis says that birds came first. Evolutionists believe that land mammals came before whales, while the Bible teaches that God created whales first.
Dr. Davis Young, former geology professor at Calvin College, recognized this dilemma and abandoned the “day-age” theory. Here is part of his explanation as to why he discarded it:
The biblical text, for example, has vegetation appearing on the third day and animals on the fifth day. Geology, however, had long realized that invertebrate animals were swarming in the seas long before vegetation gained a foothold on the land … . Worse yet, the text states that on the fourth day God made the heavenly bodies after the earth was already in existence. Here is a blatant confrontation with science. Astronomy insists that the sun is older than the earth. 8
The Sixty-Seventh Book of the Bible
Dr. Ross has stated that he believes nature to be “just as perfect” as the Bible. Here is the full quote:
Not everyone has been exposed to the sixty-six books of the Bible, but everyone on planet Earth has been exposed to the sixty-seventh book—the book that God has written upon the heavens for everyone to read.
And the Bible tells us it’s impossible for God to lie, so the record of nature must be just as perfect, and reliable and truthful as the sixty-six books of the Bible that is part of the Word of God … . And so when astronomers tell us [their attempts to measure distance in space] … it’s part of the truth that God has revealed to us. It actually encompasses part of the Word of God. 9
Dr. Ross is right that God cannot lie, and God tells us in Romans 8:22 that “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs” because of sin. And not only was the universe cursed, but man himself has been affected by the Fall. So how can sinful, fallible human beings in a sin-cursed universe say that their interpretation of the evidence is as perfect as God’s written revelation? Scientific assertions must use
fallible
assumptions and
fallen
reasoning—how can this be the Word of God?
The respected systematic theologian Louis Berkhof said,
Since the entrance of sin into the world, man can gather true knowledge about God from His general revelation only if he studies it in the light of Scripture, in which the elements of God’s original self-revelation, which were obscured and perverted by the blight of sin, are republished, corrected, and interpreted. … Some are inclined to speak of God’s general revelation as a second source; but this is hardly correct in view of the fact that nature can come into consideration here only as interpreted in the light of Scripture. 10
In other words, Christians should build their thinking on the Bible, not on “science.”
Death and Disease Before Adam
Progressive creationists believe the fossil record was formed from the millions of animals that lived and died before Adam and Eve were created. They accept the idea that there was death, bloodshed and disease (including cancer) before sin, which goes directly against the teaching of the Bible and dishonors the character of God.
God created a perfect world at the beginning. When He was finished, God stated that His creation was “very good.” The Bible makes it clear that man and all the animals were vegetarians before the Fall (Genesis 1:29). Plants were given to them for food (plants do not have a
nephesh
[life spirit] as man and animals do and thus eating them would not constitute “death” in the biblical sense 11 ).
Concerning the entrance of sin into the world, Dr. Ross writes, “The groaning of creation in anticipation of release from sin has lasted fifteen billion years and affected a hundred billion trillion stars.” 12
However, the Bible teaches something quite different. The Apostle Paul states,