What is Creationism?

In order to be able to compare evolution and creationism, the definition of the creationism that I will be discussing must first be established.  A simple definition of creationism is that a supernatural force created the universe and everything in it, but there are many types of creationism (Scott, 2009, p. 57-75). According to Scott (2009), day-age, theistic, and intelligent design are a few types of creationism (p. 63- 75).  I will first establish the theological flaws in certain types of creationism and in my next post I will compare the view of creationism that I find most accurate to the model of evolution. 

Day-age creationists believe that the days that are mentioned in Genesis are not 24-hour periods of time and therefore could have been long periods of time (Scott, 2009, p. 68).  The reason that some people believe that the days mentioned in the Bible may not be 24-hour periods is because of the way the original Hebrew can be interpreted.  “Yom” and “yamin” can be translated as day and days respectively or they can also be translated as “a long period of time” (Morris, 1974, p. 224).  When yom is mentioned in the Bible, it has to be considered in context.  In Genesis 1:4-5, it states, “And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night and the evening and the morning were the first day.”  This defines the term “yom” to a more narrow time frame.  It includes a morning and an evening and it also is the first day.  The word “first” seems to point to a defined period of time instead of just a very long time, as yom can also be interpreted (Morris, 1974, p. 224).

According to Morris (1974) and according to my own personal opinion, this theory also does not follow concepts that most Christians, I included, believe about God (p. 219).  God is omnipotent. Therefore, he has the power to create the world in an instant.  Why would he need or want to stretch out the creation of the universe or of life for eons of time when it could have been done in an instant?  When God speaks something, it happens immediately (Ezekiel 12:25 KJV); therefore, when God said that certain things were being made in Genesis 1, those things happened immediately, not over thousands of years.

Theistic creationists believe that God works through the laws of nature.  They believe that after God created the world, He no longer intervenes and only lets the natural laws govern Earth (Scott, 2009, p. 70).  This theory also had theological flaws.  This theory (like day-age creationism) is contradictory to His omnipotence because God did not create humans through change over time, as this theory states, but created them in an instant.  Also, the Big Bang Theory, which is believed to be true by theistic creationists, does not fit with the story of creation that is illustrated in Genesis.  God created the earth on the first day (Genesis 1:1-5) and he created the solar system and everything in it on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19).  This is opposite of what the Big Bang Theory states.

The last type of creationism that I am going to discuss is intelligent design.  Intelligent design creationists believe that God’s existence can be proved by examining God’s works, an idea that was originally coined by William Paley in 1802 (Scott, 2009, p. 70).  Intelligent design creationists believe in natural selection and some of the basic principles of microevolution, but deny that mutations gave rise to new species (Scott, 2009, p. 70).  The idea that mutations and other properties of natural law lead to new species is much too complicated to have happened on its own.

I believe in intelligent design.  The information above is my own theological way of deciphering through the theories based on my beliefs.  On Monday I will assess the validity of the theory of intelligent design in a scientific point of view and I will also compare intelligent design to evolution.

References:

 Morris, H. M. (1974). Scientific creationism. Master Books.

Scott, E. C. (2009). Evolution vs. creationism, an introduction. (2nd ed.). Westport, Conneticut: Greenwood Pub Group.