It is interesting to note that most of the arguments against intelligent design presented to the general public are not arguments against the data, but appeals to the consensus among scientists. Instead of being presented with refutations of the findings, the masses are only presented with quotes such as “The majority of scientists believe in evolution and not in intelligent design,” or “The only people who believe in intelligent design are Bible-toting Christians.” Notice, though, that neither of these arguments addresses the real issues. Even if the statements are true, the “majority of scientists” can be wrong and, and just because someone is a “Bible-toting Christian” does not mean that he cannot be right. The public is only given filtered information. Why should the slothful scholar worry about researching the data for himself in an attempt to come to the real truth when the “majority of scientists” have already done so and have come to the same conclusions? The slothful scholar takes the path of least resistance and, in a rather vain attempt to be associated with those classified as the intellectual elite, adopts their beliefs. This is nothing more than brainwashing perpetuated by irresponsible journalists.

Because science has introduced the world to a great number of achievements in medicine, technology, and numerous other factors, people have grown to place a high value on the teachings of science. This is a good thing. No one can make a coherent argument against the value of the great number of lives that have been saved due to the scientific advances in medicine. The great problem arises, though, when science becomes not just one of the many ways that we acquire knowledge, but the only way; that if we cannot test something scientifically, it cannot be true. This is exactly the belief that sways people to abandon any information that leads to supernatural beliefs. I must point out here, though, that the core belief (that only things that can be tested and proven by scientific means) cannot itself be tested by science. Even though one might attempt to prove the statement philosophically, philosophy is outside of the realm of science so, by definition, the philosophical defense cannot be accepted.

But just because the belief cannot pass its own test does not mean that it will not be widely accepted. Science has become the only reliable source of information, but what happens when the findings of different scientists conflict with each other? When two different groups of scientists look at the same data and come up with different information, which conclusions are the correct ones? The answer depends on what is being tested. The intelligent design movement has proven to be a worthy adversary to the widely-accepted scientific theory of Darwinian evolution. Work by Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, William Dembski and numerous others have offered a viable scientific alternative to the popular theory, but their work has been dismissed as “unscientific” not because it does not follow established scientific procedures or accurately report its findings, but because its findings are compatible with the creation account found in the Biblical book of Genesis.

Although intelligent design never claims that the Genesis account is true (aliens or even a machine created by aliens or a past generation of human beings more intelligent than us) could have created the universe, the elite scientists see that it also leaves room for the Judeo-Christian God as well. To risk stating the obvious, scientists are not stupid. They know that culture has defined them as holding the key to knowledge and do not want anyone else to get a copy. If religion is allowed to open the door, then they lose their power; knowledge can be found elsewhere, in the pages of the Bible for example.

When God created the Earth, He created a perfect Earth and perfect man. He gave man rules in which man was supposed to live by. This included not eating from the tree which gave the knowledge of good and evil. God revealed that the consequence of this action was death. When the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were tempted by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, they disobeyed the decree of God and ate from the tree. This act of disobedience transformed man, who was created perfect, into an imperfect being and forced the wrath of the Creator who, being the epitome of good, necessarily was forced to keep His original decree, thus causing man to incur death rather than God’s plan of eternal existence. Since the two origins of man’s existence, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were now imperfect and sinners, all of their offspring and the generations to come will inherit this sinful affliction; this disease of imperfection.

How could the beings God created not be perfect? How could God create something that “goes bad’? The answer is quite simple: in order for humans to be perfect they must choose good rather than evil. God always chooses goodness because He, being the embodiment of goodness, cannot choose otherwise, but what about His creatures? Which is the more “perfect” creature, one who is forced to choose goodness, programmed as one would program a computer, or one who, given the choice, chooses to do good? To put it another way, which has a greater existence and is thus more perfect in being, the computer I am typing this paper on or Mother Theresa? Also, since God wanted to have a relationship with His creation, we were given this free will to satisfy the requirements of true fellowship. Who is a greater “friend”, the slave, required to do the master’s choice without any freedom, or the brother, submitting to the choice of his brother because of the love he has for him?

But man, who was not a slave, in an exercise of this free will, chose to rebel as a slave would rebel against his master and, in doing so, became imperfect and a slave to death itself. God, however, in His original desire and plan for His humanly creatures to have eternal existence, devised a plan in which the fallen man would be able to again rise to their intended purpose. This required redemption of our sinful nature by a perfect man but, since there were no longer any perfect men, this could only be accomplished by God himself, in the form of the second Person of the Trinity becoming a man and giving His life as payment for this original sin in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The person of Jesus was fully man and fully God. Jesus, because of His divine nature, never sinned and, being born without a human father, never inherited original sin, so was able to be the required perfect sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. There have been many suggestions as to how Jesus could be both fully man and fully God as the same time but many of them have included heretical teachings and led to many councils, where scholars have attempted to define the Biblical teachings on this existence. These councils were intended more to stop the spread of heresies than to define the Bible. The Biblical teaching was and is clear; human understanding cannot be. It is impossible for the finite human mind to fully understand the infinite God but oversimplifications of the Biblical teachings in an attempt to explain them, although intended for good, can turn out to warp the original teaching. Such was the case of the heresies the councils intended to refute.

When the incarnate God, Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, the second perfect man to ever live, died on the cross, He paid the price for our inherited corruption. One perfect man sinned causing future generations to be imperfect; another perfect man paid the price, allowing future generations to have perfection once again. But the acts of the Incarnation and Atonement did not automatically grant forgiveness to each and every man. To receive this gift from above, all one must do is to believe in it. The acceptance of this gift, however, proves the most difficult choice one could make. In fact, many would rather spend their lifetimes denying this gift than coming to the reality of it. Some would even quote fictional stories and fabricate others in an attempt to be able to “factually” deny this claim.

Like most doctrinal statements, the basic premise of creation is easy to understand at its surface: To glorify himself, God created the universe from nothing, and it was good. Prior to the creation, nothing existed except for God himself. This is called creation ex nihilo, or “creation out of nothing”. This means that there is no matter in the universe that is eternal. If matter existed before God, He would have no right to rule over it and we would have no guarantee that He rules over everything. The universe and the unseen spiritual realm were created to bring glory to God and God was very pleased with the creation, calling it good.

Humans were a special creation of God, created in God’s image, and the pinnacle of God’s creation. Humans resemble God more than any other creature and are called to rule over them. This biblical account is far more encouraging than the secular view that humans are just an insignificant speck in the immense universe.

God the Father was the “leader” in the act of creation but the Son was the agent who made it possible and the Holy Spirit gave life to the creation but the triune God is distinct and separate from His creation. He made it and rules over it, is not a part of it, but continues to be involved with it. This immanence clearly contrasts with the materialism (the belief that the universe is all there is) believed by most unbelievers today. This also differs from pantheism, the belief that the entire universe is God, or dualism, the belief that God and the universe have always both existed. Deists believe that God created the universe and left it to run unattended.

God created the universe to show his glory not out of necessity but as a totally free act and to take delight in it. Though some may abuse the now-fallen created order, we must not, as our time here is only temporary and our possessions are not eternal. We look forward to the kingdom above.

Contemporary science has always tried to either prove or disprove the Bible but the biblical view of the universe has always been correct even though the Bible does not tell us the exact date the earth or humans were created. Unlike many scientific experiments, however, creation cannot be replicated in a lab but, when all of the facts about creation are finally understood, we can be assured that there will be no final conflict between the facts and scripture. Since God knows all the facts and both created the universe and divinely authored the Bible, there can be no contradictions. We humans just haven’t learned everything yet.

There are many theories regarding the creation. Theistic Evolution is the belief that God guided the process of evolution, thus applying the trait of randomness to God—a trait contrary to Scripture—and contradicting the primacy and immediate response of God’s word and many parts of God’s character that other parts of Scripture clearly reveal to us.

Darwinian evolution presents its own problems. In more than one hundred years of intentional experimental breeding, scientists have only produced very small genetic variations. In no case did a wing just suddenly appear. The theory suggests that the weaker organisms give way to the stronger organisms and all organisms are constantly adapting but what is the advantage of one-fourth of a wing, or one-half? Wouldn’t it get in the way and cause the organism growing it to be “unfit” for survival when a fully-developed organism comes to challenge it? How did that other organism reach its fully-developed state if not by skipping the intermediate states and suddenly growing the wing (or other part), something that, as stated above, science has been unable to duplicate and seems highly improbable.

Darwin’s theory also suggests that there are “intermediary types” of organisms—like a half-bird half-fish creature in the middle of its transformation from a fish to a bird yet no fossil records have been found to confirm this. But the most ridiculous portion of evolutionary theory is how life began in the first place. Evolutionary theory would have one believe that life began in an act of randomness greater than the same person winning the lottery 10 times in a row….not just any 10 times….10 times in a row. I know we’ve all come close.

Why science tries to disprove the one book in history that has never been wrong and tries to make humans feel insignificant is crafty work of the enemy, taking away moral absolutes and causing monsters like Hitler to attempt to speed up natural selection.

Many evangelicals believe there was a gap between Gen 1:1-2 where an earlier creation existed but the Bible never mentions this. Evangelicals also disagree on the age of the earth. With gaps in Biblical genealogies and scientific discoveries, this is understandable. There are two views, old-earth (the earth is 4,500,000,000 years old) and young-earth (10,000-20,000). Scripturally, both views are accurate but scientific evidence leans to the old-earth because if God created a mature earth, with living trees that would have taken years to grow, and the light from the stars in the sky (which would take many, many years to reach earth), why did he create fossils that are millions of years old but to deceive us? Scripture teaches us God is truth so the fossils must be that age because they serve no other purpose (unlike the trees or stars mentioned above). There are also questions about whether the “days” of creation were actual days or ages. Since the Bible is not clear and the original word for “day” is used in other places in Scripture for both “day” and “age”, it is unknown.

The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who is most prominently with us today in the church age. “The work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the active presence of God in the world, and especially in the church” (Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology (Inter-Varsity Press: Leicaster, 1994), 634). Although most mentioned or implied in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament period as well, moving over the face of the waters in Genesis. The outpouring of the blessings brought by the Holy Spirit in the current age was even predicted by the prophet Isaiah (see Isa 32:14-18, 44:3). These blessings are: empowerment, purification, revelation, and unification. These blessings, or activities, of the Holy Spirit are not given automatically but rely on the faith and obedience of the believer and should never be taken for granted. Because of this, the Holy Spirit also gives the believer evidence of the presence and blessings of God, based upon the believer’s response to Him.

The Holy Spirit gives power for service in both the Old and New Testaments, equiping Joshua with leadership skills, David with the power to become king, and by equiping Jesus and the apostles for ministry. The Holy Spirit is also responsible for giving Christians spiritual gifts to equip them for ministry (1 Cor 12:17), interceding for us in our prayer lives (Rom 8:26; Eph 2:18), and empowerment to overcome spirtual opression to the preaching of the Gospel (Matt 12:28; Acts 13:9-11;1 Cor 12:10).

The Holy Spirit purifies by both giving the believer life and the power for service. Throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is connected with the giving and sustaining of human and animal life (Ps 104:30; Job 34:14-15) and also gives us new life through regeneration (John 3:6-7, 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6). It was the Holy Spirit who conceived Jesus in the virgin body of Mary and it is the Holy Spirit who will give life to the resurrection bodies of believers when Christ returns. When someone becomes a Christian, they are given a spiritual “hosing off” which initially washes them through the doctrine of justification but are internally made clean by the internal cleansing and sanctification process (cf. 1 Cor 6:11; Rom 8:13) which brings forth the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) within(Gal 5:22-23).

Prophets and apostles have received special revelation from the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21; John 16:13) and He also reveals God’s presence by pointing attention to Jesus and to God the Father and by making His own presence known by His effects on people and by visual manifestations such as transforming into a dove (John 1:32) and sounding like a rushing wind and visible tongues of fire (Acts 2:2-3). The Holy Spirit further makes revelation by guiding and directing God’s people (as in the book of Acts), providing a Godlike atmosphere when he manifests His presence, giving the believer assurance (Rom 8:16), and by teaching and illumining them so that they can comprehend certain things (John 14:26, 16:13).

Believers are unified by the Holy Spirit by the creation of the church at Pentecost and in the new unity between Jews and Gentles. Also, the dispersement of spiritual gifts to different individuals amplifies the need and power of Christian fellowship. Each believer has been given a different tool to accomplish her part in building the kingdom of God. When believers get together much more can be “built” a lot faster.

If the believer continues to follow the guidance of the Spirit, she will be led down a path full of Godly blessings and she will have the honor of having God accomplish His work through her. If she resists, the blessings will diminish and she will separate herself from God.