What does the creation/evolution debate have in common with supposed manmade climate change? Well, both are determined by your starting point!

If we begin with the idea that Earth is millions of years old and the temperature has been steady for tens of thousands of years, well, then climate change is alarming and probably our fault.

But if we start with God’s Word, we know Earth was created recently with a “very good” climate. But there was a catastrophic global flood four thousand years ago that devastated the earth including massive changes to the climate! Climate change has been a reality since the global flood of Noah’s day.

As we’ve seen this week, Noah’s descendants were great architects and explorers who had a detailed knowledge of astronomy. And they also invented many technologies to make life easier.

The Chinese are attributed with inventing moveable type, writing paper, the seismograph, and even a mechanical clock hundreds of years ago. Ancient Greeks used steam boilers. And Neanderthals had a knowledge of chemistry to make complex glues.

Mankind did not evolve but was made in the image of the Creator. For those who believe the Bible’s history, it’s no surprise that our ancestors used their God-given intellects to accomplish great feats.

Did you know that some researchers suggest the Americas were visited by many other cultures long before Columbus ever set sail? This suggests that ancient man had advanced knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation. Advanced shipbuilding early in history makes sense because Noah and his sons knew how to build ships, and they likely passed this knowledge along. After God divided the languages at the tower of Babel, people spread out—including to the Americas.

Since man was created to fill the earth, it should be no surprise to those who believe the Bible that ancient man explored and traveled around the world.

Evolution teaches that human society slowly evolved into more complex forms. But the evidence shows complexity arising across the globe all at once.

Consider the many huge stone structures left behind by the ancients. These stones fit together so precisely that even after thousands of years we can’t slip a credit card through the cracks! Modern engineers still have no idea how these structures were built.

Now the Bible explains why these complex civilizations all arose around the same time. After the flood, God divided the people at Babel. From there they took their shared knowledge, spread out, and began to build cities.

Did you know many ancient cultures had a complex knowledge of astronomy? Structures from ancient times are so precise that their builders must have known that Earth wobbles as it spins. They knew this caused the constellations to shift.

Many cultures also knew that Saturn has rings and that the stars Sirius A and B are actually two stars, even though they appear to be a single star in the night sky. They must’ve had some kind of telescope or lens.

Ancient man was not unintelligent, as evolution teaches. Humans were created in God’s image and have been using their minds to accomplish great things from the beginning.

There are two different accounts of our history: man’s ideas and God’s Word. According to man’s ideas of history, humans evolved from ape-like creatures and were originally primitive and unintelligent. Now if this is true, we should expect our past to be littered with primitive tools and for advanced civilizations to be relatively new.

But according to the Bible’s history, mankind was created in God’s image, intelligent from the beginning. Genesis tells us that within a few generations, humans were building cities and working with bronze and iron. Man was never a primitive brute, and we’ll learn more all this week.

The many similarities we observe among living things is called “homology.” It’s often used as evidence of descent from a common ancestor.

But does similar design mean common ancestor? Well, a car is more similar to a bicycle than to a boat, but this doesn’t mean the car and bicycle are related. They look similar because they were designed for the same purpose and made to function in a similar environment.

And you know it’s the same in the living world. Living things were all made by a common Designer to live in the same world and accomplish the same basic purposes. So it’s no surprise that God used similar designs!

I’m often asked why creation even matters. They say, “Shouldn’t we just be preaching the gospel?” Well, creation matters because the gospel is founded in Genesis! Scripture teaches that God originally made a perfect world, but Adam and Eve’s sin brought death into creation—that’s why we need the last Adam, Jesus! Without the fall, there’d be no need for the Savior!

Creation also matters because it’s an authority issue. There’re only two starting points: man’s word or God’s Word. Whenever we trust man’s word over God’s Word, we are making man the authority—not God. We need to start with God’s Word.

It can be really discouraging to share the truth with a skeptic only to have everything you’ve just shared ignored. It doesn’t seem to matter how much or how good our evidence, some people just won’t believe. And why?

Well, it’s probably not an evidence problem. It’s a heart problem. The people of Jesus’ day saw him heal the blind, deaf, and lame—even raise the dead! And yet many refused to believe. When Jesus’ body disappeared from the tomb, instead of believing, the religious leaders made up a story to explain the evidence of his resurrection.

It’s not a matter of the evidence—it’s a hard heart that refuses to believe.

Many Christians think that God could’ve used evolution to create. But evolutionary ideas contradict the Bible.

For example, Genesis tells us that living things reproduce according to their kind; evolution says that one kind changed into another kind over millions of years.

Jesus said humans were created at the beginning of creation; evolutionists say humans arrived billions of years after the beginning.

Death is a necessary process in evolution, but God’s Word is clear that death is the result of sin—not part of God’s original creation.

God didn’t use evolution. He created just like he said he did in Genesis.