Lesson 4 of 7: Creation and Evolution
SERIES: WHY FAITH MAKES SENSE
Key Scriptures for this Study: Job 12:7-10; Psalm 104:24-30; Acts 17:22-28*
1. Divine Creation and Evolution are not necessarily contradictory. God is the Ultimate Cause of
the cosmos and life within it, and evolutionary processes have been employed as a
Secondary Cause within his design. The two models are contradictory only if one adopts a
dogmatic posture of physicalism that will not admit a personal deity into the picture.
2. Why do you think this video begins with a plea for humility? Is the Bible a textbook on
biology, chemistry, and physics? Does it require that one believe Planet Earth is only 10,000
years old? Is the Big Bang Theory incompatible with Genesis 1:1-2? Should Christians fear
the work of scientists? Explain your view.
3. What is the meaning of the word “evolution”? Is there any good reason to deny that plants
and animals undergo change? That germs mutate in response to antibiotics? That viruses
such as the ones responsible for the common cold or COVID-19 evolve?
4. Distinguish microevolution and macroevolution. Which of them is the genuine challenge to
Christian faith? Does the obvious correctness of the former justify the claims of the latter?
(Note: This is important to understand. Confusion on this point has caused many young
people to abandon faith in the biblical account of creation.)
5. A physicalist’s case (i.e., the claim that life could appear, self-organize, and produce human
beings) depends on what science calls the spontaneous generation of life (SGL). Define SGL
in your own words. Is SGL “scientific”? Has SGL ever been demonstrated? What does this
tell you about the logical choice between Divine Creation and Atheistic Evolution?
6. Whose work established that SGL is unscientific and false? Has recent science challenged his
finding? Established SGL? Only physicalism preserves the false idea that life can come from
non-living matter – and then only for the sake of launching non-theistic macroevolution!
7. The video ends with a reference to Thomas Huxley’s famous claim that an infinite number of
monkeys given typewriters and allowed to type freely would eventually produce the works
of Shakespeare. What was Huxley’s point? Is it really “scientific” to posit that infinite time
will produce every possible outcome? Or does a purposeful outcome not require a person
with enough intelligence to foresee an end, design a process, and supervise the eventual
outcome? In other words, science and reason combine to affirm the creative handiwork of a
personal deity: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
*Suggestion: If you use this video for personal, class, or small-group study, please view the video in its
entirety, then read and reflect on the “Key Scriptures” as they relate to the video, and then work
through the questions above. This process is likely to generate the greatest value for your study.