Re: Any Suggestions??

Stephen Jones (sjones@iinet.net.au)
Mon, 24 Jun 96 06:53:52 +0800

Darrin

On Thu, 20 Jun 1996 18:11:55 -0400 (EDT), Darrin R. Brooker wrote:

DB>I need some suggestions. Can anyone recommend sources for the
>laymen which shows major flaws, contradictions, inconsistencies,
>etc. with the theories in volved in evolution???

Books I recommend:

Johnson P.E., "Darwin on Trial", InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove,
Ill., Second Edition, 1993.
Johnson P.E., "Reason in the Balance", InterVarsity Press: Downers
Grove Ill., 1995.
Moreland J.P. (ed.), "The Creation Hypothesis: Scientific Evidence
for an Intelligent Designer", InterVarsity Press: Illinois, 1994
Hayward A., "Creation and Evolution: Rethinking the Evidence from
Science and the Bible", Bethany House: Minneapolis, 1995 reprint
ReMine W.J., "The Biotic Message: Evolution Versus Message
Theory", St. Paul Science: Saint Paul, 1993
Davis P. & Kenyon D.H., "Of Pandas and People: The Central Question
of Biological Origins", Foundation for Thought and Ethics:
Richardson TX, Second Edition, 1993
Denton M., "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis", Burnett Books:
London, 1985
Taylor G.R.,"The Great Evolution Mystery", Abacus, 1983
Milton R., "The Facts of Life: Shattering the Myth of Darwinism",
Fourth Estate, London, 1992

The last three are written by non-theist anti-Darwinists. Some of
the YEC stuff is good at exposing flaws in evolution, but one must be
aware of their YEC and Creation-Science presuppositions:

Gish D.T., "Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record", Master
Book Publishers: El Cajon CA, 1986
Gish D.T., "Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics",
Institute for Creation Research: El Cajon Ca, 1993
Morris H.M., "Scientific Creationism", Master Books, El Cajon CA,
Second Edition 1985
Morris H.M. & Parker G.E., "What is Creation Science?", Master
Books: El Cajon CA, 1987
Sunderland L.D., "Darwin's Enigma: Fossils and Other Problems",
Master Book Publishers: El Cajon CA, Revised Edition, 1988
Wysong R.L.,"The Creation-Evolution Controversy", Inquiry Press:
Michigan, 1976
Bird W. R., "The Origin of Species Revisited", Vols. I & II,
Regency: Nashville, 1991

The last three authors are moderate YEC.

DB>I work in the financial industry and discussions at work have
>touched on these topics with the majority (all laymen as well)
>feeling that Darwin and the others are irrefutable.

The problem is one of paradigms. If a supernatural Creator who can
intervene at strategic points in biological history is ruled
out aprior, then "Darwin and the others are irrefutable", because
there is *by definition* no other option. The origin of life and
life's complex designs *must* have been by a Darwinist evolutionary
process, or something like it. The role of naturalistic
evolutionary science is then defined as proposing the least
implausible hypothesis how it might have happened by purely
naturalistic processes, as Johnson points out:

"If scientists had actually observed natural selection creating new
organs, or had seen a step-by-step process of fundamental change
consistently recorded in the fossil record, such observations could
readily be interpreted as evidence of God's use of secondary causes
to create. But Darwinian scientists have not observed anything like
that. What they have done is to assume as a matter of first
principle that purposeless material processes can do all the work of
biological creation because, according to their philosophy, nothing
else was available. They have defined their task as finding the most
plausible-or least implausible-description of how biological creation
could occur in the absence of a creator." (Phillip E. Johnson,
"Shouting `Heresy' in the Temple of Darwin", Christianity Today,
October 24, 1994, p26)

DB>Any websites or books that would be good for this kind of
>debate/discussion??

Websites include:

http://www.arn.org/arn" [Access Research Network]
http://www.fni.com/cim/index.html [Christian Information Ministries]
http://www.iclnet.org/clm/ [Christian Life Ministries]
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/crs/crs-home.html
[Creation Research Society]
http://www.christiananswers.net/canhome.html/ [Creation Science
Foundation]
http://www.icr.org/ [Institute for Creation Research]
http://www.mrccos.com/arn/orpages/or.htm [Origins Research]
http://id-www.ucsb.edu/fscf/LIBRARY/JOHNSON/home.html [Phil Johnson's
Home Page]
http://www.calvin.edu/chemistry/ASA/PSCF.html [Perspectives
on Science & Christian Faith]
http://www.reasons.org/reasons/ [Hugh Ross' Reasons to Believe]
http://www.gocin.com/rzim/rzim.htm/ [Ravi Zacharias]

Not all these are of equal value, from the perspective of showing
"major flaws, contradictions, inconsistencies, etc. with theories
involved in evolution". IMHO the best place to start is Access
Research Network, which has links to others. Most of these are
already on my home page (see tagline below) and I hope to have them
all on by this weekend.

DB>Any help would be appreciated.

If I can be of help, either publicly on the Reflector, or privately,
just ask. I am a Progressive Creationist, whose perspective is
similar to Phil Johnson's:

"I am a philosophical theist and a Christian. I believe that a God
exists who could create out of nothing if He wanted to do so, but who
might have chosen to work through a natural evolutionary process
instead. I am not a defender of creation-science..." (Johnson P.E.,
"Darwin on Trial", InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove Ill., Second
Edition, 1993, p14).

God bless.

Steve

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