If, as the creationists wold have us believe, all life on Earth came into existence through a process of special creation, then the God presumably in charge of the process has had ample opportunity to create evidence that would refute what the religious extremist minority naively labels the "heresy" of evolution. However, when we examine the physical and biological Earth, we encounter not only a complete lack of disproof of evolution, but also vast quantities of evidence supporting evolution, all of which indicates one of three possibilities: (1) life evolved on its own; (2) God used evolution as a means of "creating" life; or (3) God created all life through special creation, but wants to deceive man into believing that evolution is true. All three of these options run counter to the creationist's claims.
Another prediction made by the theory of evolution is that the fossil record should yield transitional forms -- special creation, on the other hand, predicts a complete absence of transitional forms. As it turns out, transitional forms do exist, despite the attempts of creationists to deny them out of existence with wishful thinking. Archaeopteryx lithographica, displaying a distinct blend of major reptilian and avian characteristics and highly resembling the theropod reptiles of its time, is unquestionably a transitional form. Basilosaurus isis is the name given to a whale whose 40-million year old fossilized skeletn features a small pelvis with hind legs. The rhipidistians link the crossopterygian fishes to the icthyostegid amphibians through a clear temporal progression of vertebral and skull characteristics. Diarthrognathus sports both reptilian and mammalian jaw joints. Tetraceratops links the pelycosaurs to the therapsids (the pelycosaurs and therapsids are themselves reptile-mammal transitional forms). Creationists honest enough to acknowledge that the listed creatures exhibit obvious transitional characteristics and exist at precisely the right time periods and in precisely the right places where evolutionists would expect to find them, have no route left but to assume that God created all of those creatures directly. But why would God create creatures that lok so much like transitional forms, unless He wated to trick man into believing in evolution and rejecting Him as Creator -- or unless He actually instituted the process of evolution. But this runs counter to the will of the creationists, who wrongfully wish to portray evolutionists as atheistic sinners who reject the "obvious truth" of special creation out of wicked, godless pride.
As if all this were not enough, the DNA of many organisms also contains introns. Introns are segments of genetic material that are transcribed into mRNA, but are then excised before the mRNA is translated into protein. In plain English, introns constitute genetic garbage. We might expect some meaningless but non-harmful sequences to accumulate in an organism's genes as it evolves, but there is no reason for a creator to have put nonfunctional sequences in any creature's genes. Surely a God that wishes us to believe in special creation would have eliminated all of the evidence for evolution that we acquire through genetic research.
The first chapter of Genesis describes a six-day creation: on the first day, God created light. On the second day, God created Heaven by making a division between the waters which apparently engulfed the universe. On the third day, God created dry land by gathering together the waters beneath Heaen, then created the seas, grass, herbs, and fruit trees. On the fourth day, God put the sun, the moon, and the stars in Heaven, beneath the upper layer of the waters which he had divided on the second day. On the fifth day, God created sea creatures and birds. On the sixth day, God first created land creatures, and then He created man.
Of course, we know that there are no waters above the stars, and that fruit trees did not exist before the first aquatic creatures, and that the earth (much less grass, herbs, and fruit trees) did not exist before the sun or the stars. But lets put aside all of these problems with a literal Genesis 1, for the moment, and focus on how Genesis 1 compares with the next creation story in the Book of Genesis.
The second chapter of Genesis states that God first created man, then created trees, then made the animals, and finally created woman. All of this happened in one day -- the same day that God created the heavens and the earth, as described in Genesis 2:4. Not only is the sequence of creation different, but the time span is different as well.
At most, only one of the two stories can be literally correct. Creationists use all sorts of rhetorical and interpretive ploys to try to deny the contradiction between the first two chapters of Genesis, thereby violating their own precept that the Bible must be read literally. Modern biblical scholars agree that Genesis 1 and 2 do conflict. The two accounts were, after all, written centuries apart, and in very different cultural contexts. To believe in a completely literal rendition of the Book of Genesis is thus to claim that God inspired a self-contradictory set of writings. Apparently the creationists, as much as they claim to worship God, actually believe Him to be exceedingly stupid.
When the two creation stories in the Book of Genesis are appreciated for what they truly are -- allegories inspired by God, or myths designed by the ancient Hebrews -- only then does the Book of Genesis no contradict itself or the discoveries of science.
If we cannot trust science, which rigorously tests its hypotheses and unceasingly double-checks its own conclusions using the tools of observation and logic, then it is evident that we cannot trust anything. The creationists say they can trust their literal rendition of the Bible, but if they reject observation and logic, how can they be certain that the things they see in the Bible are not as much a "deception" as they claim evolution to be? Surely they cannot base their beliefs on faith, because many Christians base their beliefs in an allegorical Genesis on faith. Indeed, one can have faith in anything at all (2). In order for us to have any objective knowledge whatsoever, we must at least trust science.
To the rational Christian, science is a way of using the God-given gift of intelligence to understand how God actually does things. Christians used to think that the sun revolved around the earth, because they thought that the Bible revealed this "truth." But science revealed that the earth revolves around the sun. Although they resisted this discovery bitterly at first, most Christians eventually understood that God did not set up things the way that they had thought, and that, at the very least, they had misread the Bible. Where fact is revealed, faith must often give way. One can use science to better understand one's religion -- and vice versa -- but it is sheer folly to insist upon a religious doctrine when scientific evidence indicates its falsity. Creationism contradicts scientific fact, and its religious basis contradicts itself. But the creationists, like the geocentrist Christians of the Dark Ages, cling to their falsified beliefs, unwilling to admit that perhaps they have made a mistkae in interpreting the "Word of God." The time will hopefully come when the creationists join the geocentrists of old, and set aside their pride and their dogmas so that they may learn the great wonders that science teaches of the universe, and -- if he exists -- of God.
(2) Sometimes the creationists claim to have "experienced Christ" in such a manner that they are convinced that a literal reading of the Bible, including Genesis, yields the truth. But there are Christians who claim to have experienced Christ, yet do not support special creation or a literal reading of the Bible (some don't think much of the Bible, period). Each side denies that the other has really experienced Christ. Since there is no means of testing which side is right (if either!) the "experience of Christ" thus is as unauthoritative as faith.
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