with Laurie John, Australian Broadcasting Co., June 10, 1976.
2 A. J. Mattell, Jr. “Three Cheers for the Creationists,” Free Inquiry, vol. 2 (Spring 1982), p. 17.
3 Michael Ruse, “A Few Last Words — Until the Next Time,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 79.
4 Michael Ruse, “A Few Last Words — Until the Next Time,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 78.
5 Ibid., p. 79.
6 David L. Hull, “The God of the Galapagos,” Nature, vol. 352 (August 8, 1992), p. 486.
7 Ibid.
8 Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwin and Paley Meet the Invisible Hand,” Natural History (November 1990), p. 12.
9 Charles Darwin, “Autobiography,” reprinted in The Voyage of Charles Darwin, ed. Christopher Rawlings, 1978, New Scientist, vol. 104 (December 1984), p. 75.
10 Michael Ruse, “From Belief to Unbelief — and Halfway Back,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 31.
11 Ibid., p. 33.
12 William B. Provine, “Progress in Evolution and Meaning in Life,” in Evolutionary Progress, ed., M. H. Nitecki (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 69.
13 Ibid., p. 70.
14 James Rachels, Created from Animals (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 125.
15 Julian Huxley, in Issues of Evolution, ed. Sol Tax (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1960), p. 45.
16 Mattell, “Three Cheers for the Creationists”, p. 17.
17 Holmes Rolston, III. “Does Nature Need to be Redeemed?” Zygon, vol. 29 (June 1994), p. 205.
18 Ibid. The journal Zygon is devoted to studies of problems at the interface between science and religion.
19 Rolston, “Does Nature Need to be Redeemed?” p. 206.
20 Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, (1859), last paragraph.
21 Don Stoner, A New Look at an Old Earth (Paramount, CA: Schroeder Publishing, 1985), p. 47.
22 Hugh Ross, Creation and Time (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1994), p. 62–63.
23 Stephen Jay Gould, “The Power of this View of Life,” Natural History (June 1994), p. 6.
24 David Hull, “God of the Galapagos,” p. 486.
25 Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwin and Paley Meet the Invisible Hand,” Natural History (November 1990), p. 14.
26 Irving Stone, “The Death of Darwin,” chap. 22, in Darwin Up to Date, ed. Jeremy Cherfas, (London: New Scientist Guide, IPC Magazines, Ltd., 1982), p. 69. Stone is author of the best-selling biography of Darwin entitled: The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., p. 69–70. Although there is certainly no firm evidence of Darwin’s reputed conversion, there are some possible intimations. See L. R. Croft, The Life and Death of Charles Darwin (Lancashire, England: Elmwood Books, 1989), also James Moore, The Darwin Legend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1994).
29 L. R. Croft, How Life Began (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1988), p. 20.
30 Ibid., p. 20. Croft has been a diligent researcher into the life and death of Charles Darwin, examining his papers and interviewing the inhabitants of his home community at great length. See also his book The Life and Death of Charles Darwin.
31 E. O. Wilson, “Toward a Humanistic Biology,” The Humanist (September/October 1982), p. 40.
32 Henry M. Morris, History of Modern Creationism (El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research, 1993), second edition.
Chapter 8
The Importance of Creation
One of the common misconceptions among evangelical Christians is the notion that the doctrine of creation is only a peripheral doctrine, important to scientists and philosophers perhaps, but not to ordinary lay Christians. Winning people to Christ and building them up in the Christian life, they think, are much more important. Furthermore, creationism is so controversial and generates such heated opposition whenever it is advocated that it is best just to ignore it. As long as one believes in God and that He created things, it really doesn’t matter how He did it, or when.
But that is the traditional attitude of the head-in-the-sand ostrich. Creation is not a peripheral doctrine. In fact, biblical creationism is the most important of all biblical teachings, because it is the very foundation of everything else in the Bible. That is why God put it as the very first revelation in His written Word.
Similarly, the Book of Genesis is the most important book in the Bible, for it is the foundation of every other book of the Bible, without which the whole structure of God’s revelation would collapse. Then, further, the very first verse of Genesis is the most important verse in the Bible. If a person really believes Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”), he should have no difficulty believing all the rest. On the other hand, if he does not believe that verse, he might as well discard the whole Bible, for it becomes no different from any other religious tome or sacred book in value or meaning.
As we shall see in this chapter, creation
