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It Is Written Canada

Chris Holland

Darwinism On Trial

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written, sharing messages of hope around the world.

You know we've had many discussions in the past about biblical origins.

We've discussed some scientific reasons that the biblical reason of origins is attractive.

Now if you've missed any of those shows on origins you can go to our YouTube channel www.youtube.com forward slash IIW Canada.

But I will tell you when you look at origins, 1 of the often overlooked areas of understandings in the issue of origins makes an immense practical difference in our lives.

To help us in our discussion about ethics, I have with me Dr.

Standish, thank you so much for joining us again.

Standish, you are the senior scientist of the Geoscience Research Institute.

You hold a bachelor's degree in zoology, a master's degree in biology, a PhD in environmental biology, and that's a lot of big words.

Maybe in simple, tell us, what do you do, Dr.

By trade, I'm a molecular geneticist, So I'm very interested in DNA and the information that's encoded into that DNA and how that information is retrieved and used by the cells in our bodies and obviously the cells that make up any other organism to actually make that organism.

It's a profound mystery and yet We're finding out little things as we go along.

And every time we find out something new, all of a sudden we discover that things are much more profound than we'd anticipated.

So it's an exciting area of science to work in.

Now, why is it then that you're working for the Geoscience Research Institute?

And maybe tell us a little bit about what the Geoscience Research Institute does.

Well, the Geoscience Research Institute is a group of scholars.

We're all PhD scientists who are interested in the relationship between the claims of science and what is revealed in Scripture.

Now most of the time there is no disagreement between these things, but obviously there are some areas where there are these kind of tensions between the current claims of science and the clear statements or clear record of Scripture.

So we're interested in those areas of tension.

We kind of straddle that divide and yeah it makes for a very interesting area, sometimes a somewhat controversial area to work in.

Now, if someone was interested in this area, wanted to do a little more reading, find some resources, where might they go to find more information about the Geoscience Research Institute and some of the work that you've been doing.

Well, certainly a good place to start would be our website.

Now, you and I have had a number of discussions about origins, and people can go to our website or to our YouTube channel and see some of those discussions that, invigorating discussions that we've had.

1 of the issues when we talk about origins, and I talked about that in the intro, is that we have not discussed, is the issue of ethics.

So why don't we just start real baseline right there.

Basically ethics, the principles, the system of morals that we use to decide what's right and what's wrong, what's righteous and what's unrighteous.

You're a scientist, I'm a pastor, why are we having a discussion about ethics when it comes to the issue of origins?

Well, because our understanding of origins makes a huge difference in our decision making about what's right and what's wrong.

Obviously, 1 of the foundational things that you have to establish if you're developing a system of ethics is what is a human being?

Because if a human being is, let's say, a worthless object, then Killing a human being would not be a bad thing at all.

If a human being is an invaluable creation of God, then, well, you know, maybe human Life has a different value to it than, you know, other ways in which you can look at it.

So, there are lots of implications just right there.

And I think you've alluded to it just a little bit there, but let's talk about that.

What are the moral implications of accepting the biblical record of origins?

Number 1, the Bible tells us that everything we see is ultimately created by God, and this is very important, also sustained by God.

And So then we have to ask ourselves, how should I treat this creation?

Should I be comfortable with the idea that we can go out and destroy the environment in which we live, destroy other organisms for some short-term expediency for myself.

So just in terms of how we treat the rest of the creation is a big, big question.

Possibly 1 that we as Christians should struggle with a little bit more.

It gives very specific instructions about how we should treat other animals.

It tells us that God cares about other creatures.

It does not put, however, those other creatures on the same footing as human beings.

The Bible tells us that human beings are different.

We have been created in the image of God.

It also tells us that there's something special then about the relationship between men and women.

You know, there's 1 unique difference in the creation of human beings that you don't see with the other organisms.

Bible tells us in Genesis 2 that he formed all the other creatures out of the dust.

God breathed the breath of life into Adam.

But if we look particularly at the a few chapters into the book of Genesis where it starts talking about the flood, we hear it talking about other creatures with the breath of life in them.

So, wow, you know, what is it that makes Adam different?

He's formed in the image of God but think about this.

First of all, Adam got to observe the other creatures and realize his need for a wife.

And then, and this is just glorious, God creates Eve from Adam.

I'm a mere biologist but I notice these differences and That does have powerful implications.

The relationship between a man and a woman is not the same as the relationship between a cow and a bull.

So when we start talking about relationships between human beings, The creation account makes a huge difference.

And so when we look at the moral implications of understanding and accepting the biblical account of origins, it has more than just the implication of an intellectual ideology, but rather it affects, putting it simply, how I live, how I treat others, because when you and I are talking, when you and I are interacting, you are a creature created by God.

When I interact in the environment around me, this environment, the plants, the animals are things created by a creator that I ought to have an appreciation for.

And there's another area that I think we can dig into if we actually get into what I would consider to be the most popular alternative view of things.

You know, it becomes quite stark when you start comparing and contrasting what's going on there.

Yes, And I was just going to ask you about that because then the glaring question is, is if I accept something outside the biblical account of origins, Darwinian evolution is the most popular.

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