By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Former Tennessee Baptist Convention staffer Jennie Rhodes spies a monkey in a tree at the Nashville Zoo with her husband, Justin. The Rhodes, who were attending the TBC Apologetics Conference, live in Clarksville.
NASHVILLE — On a recent Saturday some folks viewing the giraffes at the Nashville Zoo could hold their smart phone up to the area sign and view via video Brent Porter, associate pastor of students, Springfield Baptist Church, Springfield, say, “God created the giraffe on day six and created it as the tallest animal in all of the world. …
“The giraffe has one of the strongest hearts of any animal because it has to have the pressure to push the blood all the way to the brain. …” The giraffe also has very high blood pressure which seems like it would damage his brain when he lowers his head, he explained.
“Evolutionists have a problem explaining that … because if the neck was shorter in the past, it wouldn’t have the problem. But the records show through fossils that the giraffe has had the same set of fossil records throughout history.”
The video was available using an app as a part of the Apologetics Conference held that day, explained David Evans, evangelism specialist, Tennessee Baptist Convention. The giraffe along with 26 other animals had accompanying videos produced by nine Baptist ministers and a director of missions.
Nathan Washburn, pastor, First Baptist Church, Greenbrier, and former second vice president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, enjoys the Nashville Zoo during the Apologetics Conference with his family, Jennifer, Owen, and Kara, 6.
Evans explained that the conference was held at the zoo and included a talk on evolution from the Christian perspective because of I Peter 3:15 — “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (HCSB). Christians have “an amazing reason” for that hope which they would be reminded of, he told the crowd of about 200. The conference was sponsored by the TBC.
Speaking on evolution was Bryan Osborne of Answers in Genesis. Answers in Genesis developed the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Kentucky. “The history of Genesis is the foundation of every single biblical doctrine … ,” said Osborne.
“We recognize this history is under attack. God’s Word is under attack … and we’re seeing the consequences in our culture.
“We suggest in our day the teaching of things like evolution, ape men, big bang, and many other issues is to really get people to doubt God’s Word, to reject God’s Word.
“If we cannot believe the Bible’s history, why on earth do we choose to believe what it says about salvation?” asked Osborne.
This attack by the devil has resulted in about two-thirds of young people who grew up in the church “walking away from the faith by the time they reach college age,” noted Osborne, citing multiple sources of research.
Members of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Bradford, and friends pause at the Nashville Zoo during the Apologetics Conference. From left are Dennis Blackerby; Brittney Humphrey; Abel Stone; Theresa Kay Stone (in front); Josh Stone, pastor; Jude Stone (in front); Caleb Stone; Katie Stone; Emaleen Rutherford; and Georgia and Andy Rutherford, ministers of youth.
That’s why it’s so important that we are prepared to give an answer for our faith where the attack is occurring today,” he noted.
“According to our culture, evolution is just an absolute fact,” noted Osborne.
He noted multiple kinds of evolution exist including cosmic evolution which suggests the big bang theory or that 14 billion years ago “nothing exploded and produced everything.”
“So as far as the origin of the universe you have to choose to believe one of two things — both are subjects which are taken by faith — you can choose to believe God’s Word … or you can believe the words of man which says ‘In the beginning nothing created everything.’ ”
If one believes the big bang theory, one also can’t explain where matter came from, where the laws of nature came from, and why they aren’t changing randomly over time? Also, where does the energy come from we still experience? Osborne continued.
Actually, the big bang theory violates the scientific law of thermodynamics, he reported.
Another kind of evolution, organic evolution, is “a huge problem for these secular scientists,” he noted, because it teaches “life from non-life.”
Osborne reported that Richard Dawkins, author and well-known atheist, was interviewed by Ben Stein, lawyer and actor, about the origin of life during which Dawkins admitted intelligent design “might be a legitimate pursuit,” said Stein. But Stein then discovered that “Professor Dawkins is not against intelligent design, just certain types of designers, such as God.”
Osborne discussed macro-evolution, which teaches that dinosaurs evolved into birds, apes evolved into man, and fish evolved into amphibians, into reptiles, and then into mammals. This is what Charles Darwin concluded in his book, The Origin of the Species. Darwin also concluded that all living things are related, or that, for instance, the ancestor of a person is a sea sponge, noted Osborne.
Yet, transitions of living creatures into a creature of another kind are not seen in fossil records, he observed. Also the famous finding of the skeleton of Lucy, purportedly a chimpanzee who walked upright, was altered to show that.
Natural selection does not lead to macro-evolution because it does not provide the new genetic information needed for a new animal, he added. Another factor in macro-evolution cited is mutations, but they result in the change of or damage to genetic information, with over 99 percent of mutations being harmful in some way, according to secular scientists. This was confirmed by Richard Dawkins. Finally, bacteria-resistant mutations involve the loss of genetic information, Osborne explained.
On the other hand, micro-evolution, which is the belief that animals of a kind produce variations, is observed and confirmed by the Bible, said Osborne. The argument that macro-evolution leads to micro-evolution is not true because the findings lead in opposite directions.
He referred to the video, “Evolution vs. God,” by Ray Comfort, which features professors and students at college campuses who were asked for examples of Darwinian evolution or macro-evolution. The only examples cited were the finch on the Galapagos island, but all admitted that the finch did not evolve beyond being a bird.
To sum it up, people generally say they believe in evolution rather than macro-evolution or micro-evolution. Only micro-evolution, which equals variation, adaptation, speciation, can be embraced by Christians.
“Real science, real physical science … with the right foundation in God’s Word, confirms what we see in God’s Word and rejects the idea of evolutionary thinking … .” Evolution (as most people understand the word) “is utterly, biologically, genetically impossible,” he said.