Did you watch or hear about yesterday’s Evolution vs. Creationism Debate between Bill Nye (Science Guy) and Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis CEO)? I’m glad we’re having this open debate, but there is nothing that “ruffles my feathers” more for me than walking into a museum somewhere and seeing a definitive statement of how the earth is billions of years old. When this happens, my family will look cautiously over at me, shaking their head and thinking, “uh oh, here she goes again”. By my nature, I am a very factual and logical person, which serves me well in my computer career. Computers always have a reason for every action. Nothing can happen in a computer unless it has been instructed to do so by its programmer or designer. Whenever I encounter a computer error at work, it will easily drive me crazy until I figure out the cause of the problem. Most of the time, errors are caused by missing logic rather than from the logic already given. Yet, with all of the lines of code and instructions contained in a computer, nothing can happen until someone turns it on.
So what about debate from last night? Last year I wrote an article called “Music and Science” that explains many of the facts and details about the subject, but my logical conclusion after watching last night’s debate can be summarized by the following:
Neither belief system can be completely proven or disproven (evolutionism/atheism is also a “belief”), so it gets down to only one thing – whether you believe in God or not. The rest is just back-and-forth debate. It’s that simple.
The one question I would like to ask Bill Nye and other evolutionists is this:
How do you explain miracles and other mysteries? People have encountered angels, spirits, and other miracles that cannot be explained by science. If you believe evolution’s version of the facts, then these things cannot possibly happen. I think most people would tend to disagree with that.
And this brings me to my printer… believe it or not, it holds the answer. One morning my son and I were rushing off to school as usual, and he had forgotten to print his report from the night before. He tried to print it quickly before leaving, but the printer would not work and he asked me to look at it. I checked it out and everything was turned on and the wireless was working. I punched all the buttons on the printer but nothing would come out. The error said the router settings needed to be entered, and that there was no connection set up for the printer. This can’t be, I thought, and I frantically prayed to God to get the printer working for us. We were running late and my son had worked so hard on his paper, and I knew a late grade might mean failing the class. Right after I had whispered my prayer, the printer spewed out the report. I didn’t understand how that could happen, but I just grabbed the paper and ran out the door. All day at work I wondered about that printer and how it could have suddenly worked. As soon as I returned home, I went straight to the printer to try it out. It still said the same thing, that you must enter the router information and passcode. I went to each computer in the house but was unsuccessful in getting any of them to print again. For two days, every time I walked by that printer sitting on the floor, I would obsessively try to get it to print again without changing anything. There had to be some logical explanation, but nothing came. Finally, I surrendered to re-entering the router information and the printer started up immediately. There was no explanation or theory that could explain why it worked just that one time on that morning, other than God in His caring way had intervened. So whenever someone challenges my science and logic, I just smile and think of that printer!
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1-3
11 Responses
The biggest mistake Ken Ham and you make is equating evolution with atheism. I know many God fearing Christians who fully believe in the miraculous, who acknowledge God’s continuing hand on the earth and in their lives who acknowledge the fact of evolution.
Thanks for your comment. It depends on how you use the word evolution. Yes, there is some evolution. Even Ken Ham agreed that you could be a Christian without knowing the age of the earth. But fundamentally, the sticking point of the debate was about believing in God. Nothing else really matters.
“How do you explain miracles and other mysteries? People have encountered angels, spirits, and other miracles that cannot be explained by science. ”
Simple…the people claiming those things have happened have failed to meet their burden of proof.
Plenty of people claim to have experienced miracles. And I won’t say that they didn’t have some sort of personal experience. But unless or until they supply more evidence than an anecdote, there’s no good reason to believe them.
Thanks for your comment. I am glad we’re having this debate. Can you explain my printer? Either way, I would ask.. Why not believe in God? What’s the fear of it?
“Can you explain my printer?”
Do I need to?
I have a headache. I take an Advil and I pray to Thor. My headache goes away. Can you explain that?
I can give a probably explanation for your printer, but that doesn’t matter. I see no good reason to think that your prayer caused it to work.
“Why not believe in God?”
Lack of evidence.
“What’s the fear of it?”
No fear. Lack of evidence.
I appreciate the discussion. And that was my point of my post. This debate is really about God and not how the earth was formed. Do you believe Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago? There is good evidence that he did exist. He was either lying, crazy, or telling the truth.
“He was either lying, crazy, or telling the truth”
Or a legend…that is a combination of a real person and mythological stories.
Julius Caesar existed, for example. But he almost certainly wasn’t a descendant of the goddess Venus, despite what the Romans said.
all good questions, NotAScientist. How do you explain Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascas? I don’t think that is legend. People would have disputed those writings, which no one did. Why would he give up everything, his pride, his money, his position, and never once turn back from it, to the point of death? There has to be something more.
No, there really doesn’t.
By your argument, we should believe all the stories about people being abducted by aliens.
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Thank you! May God bless you.