Guest Author - Diana Pederson

Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. Creation & Evolution 101. Harvest House Publishers. 2001.

Christian youth are constantly exposed to the theory of evolution in school. This book will help you educate your children as to the truth about evolution.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, called “In the Beginning” contains 4 chapters. According to the authors, today’s scientists believe that the universe had a definite beginning, just like Genesis says. The problem is that they don’t have scientific proof (at least acceptable to scientists) for how the universe was created. Although Christians believing the Bible’s creation story will think that scientists are wrong, it is important to understand the authors’ viewpoint of science:

Science is neither good nor bad in itself. It simply observes the universe and measures what’s in it—temperature, time, speed, weight, frequency, etc. Scientists try to find out if the measurements are consistent or repeatable, and then they come to conclusions based on the evidence. Such scientific truth will never contradict the truth about God. [Page 26].

Four possible “causes” for the existence of the universe are presented. It is an irrefutable fact that every “effect”, such as the existence of the planets and stars, had to have a “cause”. Christians call the “cause”, God but scientists are trying to claim that other possible causes exist. Finishing just chapter 1 will help you intelligently discuss the theory of an intelligent designer—a theory many scientists now accept as fact.

Chapters 2-4 address the story of God’s existence, some ideas of what would happen if God didn’t exist, and presents the logical conclusion that God created the known universe.

Part II, “God Created the Heavens and the Earth”, talks about creation. One of the chapters in this section addresses the issue of fossils. Reading these chapters (5-10) will give you much food for thought and some ammunition for debating the “fact” of evolution versus the “fact” of creationism or the “fact” of intelligent design.

The final part (III) is titled “And God Saw That It was Good”. You’ll learn about God’s eternal plan and how your life depends on what you personally decide about creationism versus evolution and/or intelligent design.

Recommendation

The Christianity 101 series of books deals with major issues in Christianity. This book is no exception. It is easy to read and well organized. Each chapter ends with questions to help you think through what you have just read. I believe this would be an excellent book to use in a High School student bible study or Sunday school class. Adults will also benefit from this information because virtually every thinking person alive has been educated in Darwinism and needs to rethink their belief about this scientific theory versus scientific facts.