Creation vs. Theistic Evolution

While there has been a long running debate between creation and evolution, yet there are those who try to reconcile the two theories together and they suggest that the bible actually teaches what they call "Theistic Evolution." The idea behind theistic evolution is that God controlled creation by using evolution to bring life into existence. Those who espouse theistic evolution are trying to synergize God based creation as taught by the scriptures with godless evolution.

The major supposition of theistic evolutionists is that the bible uses seven days to describe creation. Sometimes a day is used to represent an epoch or age of time. Assuming the day in Genesis chapter 1 is an epoch or age of time and that those epochs or ages of time are not specified, then man would be free to assign periods of time to each day. For instance, if according to evolutionary theory the age of the earth is 7 billions years old, and then a billion years could be assigned to each day. In this manner the theistic evolutionists try to synergize the doctrine of creation with the doctrine of evolution. Their theory is that creation is an ongoing evolutionary process.

The theory of theistic evolution cannot be supported by the Genesis account of creation, however. The Genesis account sets forth four major contradictions to the theory of theistic (God-controlled) evolution.

The first contradiction in the Genesis account of creation to the theory of theistic evolution is that the bible actually teaches seven literal 24-hour days in which God created the heaven and the earth and rested. One thing serious bible scholars generally come to recognize is that the scriptures are amazingly consistent. In the account of creation beginning with Gen. 1:1 through Gen. 2:4 there are three ways in which the word, day, is used. The word, day, is used in those same three ways throughout the scriptures. The first way was to use the word, day, symbolically. For instance, "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Sometimes in the scriptures the word, day, is used symbolically to represent Jesus Christ. Christ is symbolized by the dayspring and the Day star.
A second way in which the word, day, is used is in a way to represent an epoch or period of time. This is found in Gen. 2:4: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens." Thus, the word day is used to represent the entire period of creation. There is a peculiar identifying mark when the word, day, is used to represent an epoch or period of time. This identifying mark is that throughout the scriptures the word day will be preceded with one of the adjectives: the, this, and that. Therefore when the word day is expressed as "the day" or "this day" or "that day" it represents an epoch or period of time.

The third way in which the word, day is used is the far most common way. It is used to mean a 24-hour period of time. Whenever the word, day, has a number associated with it, then it represents a 24-hour period of time. The account of creation in Genesis chapter 1 is identified as the 1st day, the 2nd day, etc.

Furthermore, God established the week as a demarked period of time to be observed by man. Man was to work for six days and to rest on the seventh day even as God worked six days and rested on the seventh day. It is interesting that we live in a world in which the week is a recognized demarcation of time. Just about every nation on earth observes the seven day week!

The second major contradiction between the biblical account of creation and the theory of theistic evolution is found in the order of creation. On the third day God created plant life on earth: 11 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day."

On the fourth day God created the sun, moon and stars: 14 "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."

Therefore, in the biblical account if each day represented an indefinitely long period of time, say, a billion years, then based on the above you would have plant life existing on the earth for a billion years before you had the sun, moon, or stars. This of course is both absurd and impossible.
The third major contradiction between the biblical account of creation and the theory of theistic evolution is found in what the created species bring forth. The following verses show us that each species brings forth after his kind:

1. 12 "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
2. 21 "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
3. 24 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Notice that each species, whether plant, fishes, birds, or mammals all bring forth after their own kind. This flies in the face of the theory of evolution which has species evolving to bring forth other species.

The fourth major contradiction between the biblical account of creation and theory of theistic evolution is found in the fact that God rested on the seventh day. Thus, according to the biblical account, natural creation is completed and there will be no more new species to be created. This defies the theory of evolution.
We draw the conclusion based on the biblical account that creation was completed in six literal 24-hour days and that God rested on the seventh literal 24-hour day. Theistic evolutionists will have to go somewhere other than the bible to attempt to establish their theory of God-controlled evolution.