Vol. 30 No. 4 April 2001 GOD’S TWO GREAT WITNESSES by John D. Morris, Ph.D. There are two great witnesses to God’s fallible proofs” (Acts 1:3), which the almighty power, and two great testimo- skeptic must explain away. nies He has provided for us to employ in As you have noticed, the Institute for pointing people to Him, to the Scriptures, Creation Research does not shirk from and to the rightness of the Christian faith. proclaiming both testimonies. This in- Without a doubt these are the two great- volves extolling the truth of Scripture and est acts of God. His creation of all things never hesitating to tell forth the author- and His bodily resurrection from the ity over our lives of the One who cre- grave demand our eternal awe and ated and bought us. proclamation to all. Consider the Thus, the ICR mandate and following two examples of their mission leads us into a wide use. variety of encounters. Obvi- In Acts 17:16–34, as Paul ously we speak to unbeliev- was declaring “the Unknown ers, both skeptic and seeker, God” to the pagans of Athens, demonstrating that the Chris- he began by establishing tian faith is a reasonable God’s credentials as Creator faith. We also speak to and authority over creation churches and Christian orga- (vv. 24–29). But He is not just nizations, insisting that the the Creator of life, He reigns foundational doctrine of cre- sovereignly even over death, of- ation no longer be minimized. fering eternal life to those who re- And we talk to Christians with a pent (vv. 30–32). Some mocked, heart for God, explaining how cre- some delayed, but some believed. ation thinking is relevant to every de- Similarly, the Apostle John witnessed cision in their lives. a future time of unbridled praise in May I request that you pray for us, that heaven (Revelation 4:8–5:11) when the God would grant consistency in our own four beasts and the four and twenty el- lives, power in our speech, and fruit from ders fell at the feet of the risen “Lamb as our labors? Pray for God’s continued it had been slain” (5:6), they worshiped financial provision for this now very large Him who “created all things” (4:11) and ministry. Pray for me and the other lead- “redeemed us to God by thy blood” (5:9). ers as we consider major decisions re- If the evidence for creation fails to garding ministry, research, and priorities impress the skeptic, he is “without ex- in the days ahead. And pray for open cuse” (Romans 1:20) and the evidence hearts and minds in those to whom we for the resurrection consists of “many in- minister. stated that no fossils of either living apes 1,500 or of proto-apes have been found, but that ATTEND similarities between gorillas and chim- CREATION/ panzees and humans indicated that they had evolved from a common ancestor. He EVOLUTION illustrated certain motions of the arm of DEBATE AT the human, which he claimed are similar JAMES to those of apes. He then assumed the MADISON kneeling position with his upper body UNIVERSITY resting on his knuckles. He pointed out that gorillas and chimpanzees are knuckle Photos by: The Breeze, walkers and that is why a similar posi- James Madison University tion is assumed by humans. Sarich then Dr. Vincent Sarich, Professor Emeritus of stated that evolution of the body, the fos- Anthropology of the University of Cali- sil record, and his evidence based on fornia, Berkeley, was Dr. Duane Gish’s function, do not constitute the real issue. opponent in the debate held in Wilson The real question is about our souls—did Hall of James Madison University, souls evolve? He stated that when the Harrisonburg, Virginia, on January 22. soul is brought in, most people are cre- The overflow-crowd (numbering around ationists. He claimed that neither God nor 1,500!) consisted largely of students, with evolution created the soul—we created faculty from JMU and other colleges. Dr. the soul. Sarich is widely known in evolutionary Gish emphasized the purpose of true circles as the co-inventor of the so-called science education—to instruct students “molecular clock” used in attempts to to identify assumptions, use critical think- date alleged evolutionary events. Gish ing, make logical deductions, and con- and Sarich had previously debated each sider alternative explanations. He then other more than a dozen times. Their last described the fact that this is precisely debate was more than six years ago. The the opposite of what is being done in al- debate was arranged by David Sessa. most all public universities and colleges Dr. Sarich described the scientific ap- and in most public schools in the U.S. proach to problems. He stated that previ- when the subject of origins is taught. The ously he saw his role as defending evo- evolutionary establishment has a tight lution, but now he intended to challenge control of the educational system, and Gish’s ideas of creation. He said there was to be no argument whether God does or does not exist, but personally he is an atheist. He quoted from Gish’s books, PUBLISHED BY Dinosaurs by Design, The Amazing Story INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH of Creation, and from Science and the P.O . B OX 2667, EL CAJON, CA 92021 Bible, where a literal creation in six days To disseminate articles and information of is described. He pointed out that the fos- current interest dealing with creation, evolution, and related topics. Sent free upon sils of humans and such mammals as request. bears, camels, etc., have never been found Editor: John D. Morris with dinosaurs, thus falsifying the claim Co-Editor: Henry M. Morris that they coexisted. He claimed that most Managing Editor: Donald H. Rohrer of the evidence for evolution does not Assistant Editor: Kelly Griffin come from fossils but is based on com- No articles may be reprinted in whole or in parative anatomy of living creatures. He part without obtaining permission from ICR. 2 students are subjected to indoctrination he asserted rendered a naturalistic, evo- in evolutionary theory. (Sarich, however, lutionary origin of the universe impos- somewhat of an independent thinker sible, thus requiring a supernatural ori- within humanist circles, expressed sup- gin. He closed with a description of the port for teaching both creation and evo- impossible odds of even a single mol- lution in public schools.) He quoted from ecule of a biologically active protein aris- a recent article by Dr. Michael Ruse, well ing by chance, let alone an incredibly known throughout evolutionary circles complex living cell. worldwide, the philosopher of science who was the chief witness for the evolu- tionist side in the Arkansas equal time trial in 1981. At that time Ruse insisted that creation was pure religion and evo- lutionary biology was pure science. In an article published last year, Ruse revealed the fact that he had changed his mind completely on that point. Still an evolu- tionist, he stated that now he realizes that evolution is being taught “as a secular re- ligion, a full-fledged alternative to Chris- tianity.” Gish quoted other evolutionary sources to support this fact. He then presented the scientific evi- dence for creation, placing heavy empha- sis on the fossil record. This was followed During rebuttals, Sarich maintained by a description of the incredibly com- that the scarcity of evidence for evolu- plex motor system and control mecha- tion based on the fossil record is mainly nism that propels the bacterium, Escheri- due to the general difficulty in finding fos- chia coli, via its flagella. Gish stated that sils. Gish countered by pointing out that those who deny that this marvelous sys- not only are there billions times billions tem required an origin by an intelligent of fossils of complex invertebrates and agent but had merely evolved through a billions of fossil fish, but our museums series of genetic errors or mutations have fossils of more than 250,000 differ- would be incapable of accepting proof, ent species. Sarich showed a slide alleg- no matter how irrefutable and over- edly illustrating the similarity of the hu- whelming. He described the evidence man pelvis to that of supposed ape-like from the science of thermodynamics that ancestors (the australopithecines). Gish countered with the results of years of re- search by a team of anatomists led by Lord Zuckerman and the work of Charles Oxnard that they claimed showed that differences are very significant, proving that the australopithecines (including “Lucy”) did not walk upright and were not human ancestors. Much credit for publicizing the debate must be given to the continued efforts of John Doughty, an ardent creationist and student of creation science. 3 and patterns. Everything from the spiral inside a seashell to the intricate pattern of a sunflower follows certain mathematics. Is this the result of random chance? The two newest adventures of Jonathan Tune in to find out! Park—“The Disaster at Brenan Bluff” Apr. 28 “The Absolute Truth” and “The African Safari” are set to air How many times have you heard Memorial Day weekend. Please contact these comments? “Well, that’s your local station managers to encourage fine for you to believe, but it’s not them to air the broadcasts. If you would my truth.” Or how about this one? like to hand carry or mail a demo CD to “There are no absolutes!” But your station’s manager, please contact us isn’t truth an absolute? at 619/ 596-6059.