By Matthew Runde, January 18, 2009

(Not published by the Tribune- presumably do to exceeding 250 words)

By Matthew Runde

This letter is in response to Faith Blum’s 1/18/09 article.

Her essential theme is the notion that Darwin based his research on unfounded preconceptions. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Charles Darwin is regarded as one of the greatest scientists in history for just the contrary: he refused to cling to his dearly held beliefs due to his overriding respect for truth. The essential difference between a scientist and a creationist is that the creationist starts her experiment with the answer that she hopes to prove true. She begins her investigation with the claim that Mankind MUST be the product of divine creation.

Creationists’ arguments do not and cannot have evidence to support their claims. That is the opposite of the scientific approach. Darwin was to become a minister of England before setting out on his fateful journey. In fact, he was a devout believer, with as strong and conventional religious views as anyone. In contrast to the creationist, he evaluated the world with an unbiased eye and was truly frightened at the implications of the evidence he had uncovered. It took him years to muster the courage to publish his findings, as it required him to rethink all the pedantry he had been force-fed. However, he could not ignore the certitude of what he had discovered, and ultimately his power of reason triumphed over dogma.

Darwin epitomizes “The Enlightenment”, the age of reason and individual thought. The period of our history that embodies the creationists approach to knowledge is called “the Dark Ages”. Through critical evaluation we advance our species. Darwin’s theory becomes stronger with each generation and has not yet suffered a tenable challenge to its validity despite 200 years of skeptical inquiry.

Creationism is right and evolution is wrong
By Faith Blum

A very influential man was born on Feb. 12, 1809. He was born in England, was known as the father of evolution and went from almost becoming a clergyman to trying to disprove creation.

His name was Charles Darwin. This year is the celebration of his 200th birthday. What do we really know about Darwin’s theory on The Origin of Species? Both sides, creation and evolution, have presuppositions. When scientists look at the evidence, they look at it through their presupposed ideas. When a creationist and an evolutionist look at a site where extinct animals are fossilized, they each see the site differently.

The creationist looks at the site and says, “The worldwide flood killed off most of these animals, and thus we have these fossils. The climate after the flood was so different from before the flood that the animals coming off the ark slowly died off.”

Meanwhile, the evolutionist says, “This site was once covered in water, and over millions of years, the animals were buried and fossilized.” Or, as a recent Tribune article said, “The scientists … say their report offers up … proof it was a comet that set off the sudden, thousand-year freeze and wiped out the big animals of the era.”

Both scientists had presuppositions, saw the same evidence, and reached different conclusions.

The same is true with the origin of life. Creationists believe that the universe and everything in it was created by God. Evolutionists believe that it all came about by random chance.

An analogy: “The Evolution of Cars.”

A man decided to research how cars came to be. He went to the junk yard with the hypothesis that cars had evolved. As he was walking through the junk yard, he found a unicycle. Farther on, he found a bicycle. Still farther, he found a tricycle. Next, he came upon a Volkswagen Beetle, then a Porsche with snazzy leather seats, a minivan with heated seats, and still later he found an 18-wheel semi outfitted with a bed, refrigerator, etc. Having found his evidence all in order, he was convinced that cars had evolved from a unicycle over millions of years.

Ridiculous? Of course, but how is it any different from evolution? Evolutionists say that humans evolved from single-cell organisms, slowly becoming more and more complex. And yet, not even the fanciest, most complex, well-designed car can even come close to the complexity of DNA!

Which theory takes more faith to believe? That a creative God created everything, or that by random chance, boiling mud produced a cell that became a man?

If evolution is true, what is the meaning of life? We are born, live our life however we please and die.

However, if creation is true, then we are born to give glory to God, live our life in God’s plan, and, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior, we will go to heaven.)