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Creation Science Book Review:
Scientific Creationism, by Henry Morris
Review by Greg Neyman
© 2006, Old Earth Ministries
Review Published June 2006
Old Earth Ministries Science website
Chapter 1, Part 4: Pedagogical Advantages of the Creation Model
The first question one must ask is...what does pedagogical mean? To get the right meaning for this book, since it was written in 1974, I consulted a dictionary from 1973. Pedagogue is a child and a teacher of children, thus pedagogical can be seen as the art of teaching. Morris is saying that there are great benefits to teaching children the creation model along with the evolution model. It is commendable that Morris says that evolution should be taught, which few young earth creationists today would say. Morris was a person with an open mind, who believed that creation could stand on its own, even if evolution were taught alongside it. We now know this to be false, as long ages are the clear winner, so that is why young earth creationists today fear the teaching of evolution, because they see that it will win. The only creation models that stand a chance against evolution are the old earth models, which also includes theistic evolution.
Chapter 1 - Evolution or Creation?
Part 1 - The Importance of Origins
Part 2 - Impossibility of Scientific Proof of Origins
Part 3 - The Two Scientific Models of Origins
Part 4 - Pedagogical Advantages of the Creation Model
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Chapter 2 - Chaos or Cosmos (4 Topics)
Chapter 3 - Uphill or Downhill? (4 Topics)
Chapter 4 - Accident or Plan? (4 Topics)
Chapter 5 - Uniformitarianism or Catastrophism (4 Topics)
Chapter 6 - Old or Young? (4 Topics)
Chapter 7 - Apes or Men? (4 Topics)
Chapter 8 - Creation According to Scripture (14 Topics)
Morris lists several advantages to teaching both, all of which present no issues from an old earth perspective. I agree that it would be a good thing if creation were taught alongside evolution, however, in today's world, that isn't going to happen. The courts, and liberal lawyers and judges, have effectively silenced creationism in our public schools.
Much talk recently has been upon a new concept called intelligent design. While I agree with the basic tenets of this concept, it will be a hard sell to get it taught in our schools. As you know from the court decision in Dover, Pennsylvania in 2005, ID is seen as creationism cloaked to look like science. This perception will remain with the public, and I don't think ID will make much progress. Interestingly, some major young earth creationists embrace ID, despite the fact that at its heart, ID is an old earth movement.
Morris makes an interesting point. The public schools are supported with our tax dollars, and thus should teach creationism and evolution. If parents want evolution-only teaching, they should form their own private schools. I agree with this reasoning, but due to the courts we have today, it will not happen. This is all the more reason to elect judges that are conservative Christians, who support the values of the taxpayer.
Morris says that the most effective means of accomplishing these goals (to teach creationism) is to evaluate both scientifically. As you have already seen from the chart he gave in the previous section, this reasoning will fail. Young earth creation science cannot overcome evolution on the basis of science. Since you can be a Christian and believe in evolution, there is no need to overcome evolution anyway.
Included in the "evolution" arena are old earth ideas outside of biology, such as astronomy and geology, which clearly indicate an old earth. The only way that Christianity can compete with atheistic evolution is if one accepts old ages. The world recognizes young earth ideas as foolishness, and thus young earth creationists cannot reach the world for Christ. It is up to the old earth creationists to take over leadership of reaching the world for Christ.
The remainder of this section outlines the remaining chapters of this book, which contain the evidence for young earth creationism. These topics will be dealt with in those chapters.
Evolution as Religion
Finally, Morris attempts to say that evolution is a religion, since it cannot be tested scientifically. It must be accepted on faith, the same as religions. As we have seen in previous sections for this chapter, this is only partially true. Microevolution, or changes through mutations, do occur, and can be tested. The stringing together of many of these changes, over time, to produce a new species, cannot be tested by us, but given time, and our historical records, they can be proven, if they are true. Thus, one can accept the building blocks of evolution as truth, but must accept on faith that these blocks can be built into a building.
If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.