What is the evidence supporting the hypotheses which are laid out in Genesis?
Question:
I often read articles from Christians and other Creationists in which most of their time is spent on disproving arguments which are put forward by scientists against Creationism. For example, a great deal of time and effort is dedicated to raising issues inherent in the theory of evolution. In fact, most Creationists have gone to the extent of saying that the whole theory of evolution is incorrect. I am not naive about the difficulty of proving the veracity of a scientific
hypothesis. Science usually proceeds by exploring hypotheses and then devising experiments which seek to disprove those hypotheses in order to reveal error in our reasoning. This is somewhat similar to the way Creationists attempt to disprove scientific theories. However, the Bible does have a set of hypotheses which are laid out in the book of Genesis. Could you please outline what you believe to be the most important pieces of observable evidence that support the hypotheses laid out in the book of Genesis?
hypothesis. Science usually proceeds by exploring hypotheses and then devising experiments which seek to disprove those hypotheses in order to reveal error in our reasoning. This is somewhat similar to the way Creationists attempt to disprove scientific theories. However, the Bible does have a set of hypotheses which are laid out in the book of Genesis. Could you please outline what you believe to be the most important pieces of observable evidence that support the hypotheses laid out in the book of Genesis?
These are the basic hypotheses I am referring to:
1) God created the heavens and earth
2) God created light
3) God created plants and animals
4) God created Adam and Eve in the image of God
Answer:
These are not hypotheses. These are propositions, which is something very different. A hypothesis is a tentative explanation of something which can be tested by experiment. The proposition that God created the heavens and the earth cannot be tested by hypothesis. How could one test the claim that God created light? Science does not allow us to do an experiment to test this proposition.
I cannot test or prove whether God created the universe. Neither can I test whether or not God created light or life or Adam, for that matter.
Having said that, I can provide reasonable evidence that the universe was created, that light was created and that life was created. I cannot provide evidence that Adam and Eve were created. (that the Christian God YHWH did this obviously cannot be proved)
Evidence that the universe was created is really rather conclusive. Physicists accept that the evidence that the universe was created in a "big bang" is extremely strong. There is the fact that the universe is expanding at a fantastic rate, as proved by the "red shift" of light coming to us from very distant objects. There is also the cosmic background radiation and the apparent distribution of hydrogen, helium and other elements in the universe, all in dramatic agreement with with the big bang theory, supporting the contention that the universe was created. By the way, physicists would describe the creation of the universe as a burst of light, making the contention that light was created supported by science as well.
As for evidence that life was created by a supernatural "Creator," the scientific community is not so universally sure about this. In fact, many scientists do not accept that life was created by a miraculous event. Yet, I believe the evidence for this, based on what we know of chemistry and physics, is very strong. I argue for this (and for the preceeding claim about creation of the universe) in my book "Is There a God?" (www,ipibooks.com) This is a rather detailed argument, but let me give you an extremely short version. Living things are composed of many thousands of very large, complicated and sensitive molecules. Random chemical events do not produce such molecules under any condition, unless life already exists. There is no way the DNA and proteins required to sustain even the most simple conceivable life could be created by any reasonable natural events. Bottom line, the laws of physics, especially the second law of thermodynamics, do not allow for life to be created by random events, this leaves the only reasonable alternative, which is that life was created miraculously by an intelligent designer.
As to how various plants and animals were created once life existed, the Bible does not say how this happened. I see no particular reason to question that different species evolved by mutation and natural selection. I do not believe that evolution and Genesis are necessarily in opposition. Whether or not God manipulated evolution or allowed it to happen by completely natural processes cannot be proven either scientifically or biblically.
Like I said, I cannot provide much if any evidence that Adam and Eve were created. I accept this biblical claim by faith, not by any sort of scientific evidence. I hope this helps.
John Oakes, PhD
