ANSWERS IN GENESIS: 35 ANTI-EVOLUTION ARGUMENTS TO AVOID

In an article on its web site entitled "Arguments we think creationists should NOT use", Answers in Genesis (AIG) has 'warned anti-evolutionists to avoid 35 common arguments against evolution.

Some of these arguments are rejected by AIG because they are clearly contrary to the scientific evidence. Others are rejected primarily because AIG finds no scriptural basis for using them (or because the AIG view of scripture contradicts them).

The page describes the content of the article this way: "The first article on this page sums up what the creationists' attitude should be. The other articles provide examples of arguments that should no longer be used; some are definitely fallacious, while others are merely doubtful or unsubstantiated."

24 ARGUMENTS NOT TO USE

1. Darwin's Deathbed Conversion
2. Moon Dust
3. Joshua's Long Day
4. Flash-Frozen Mammoths
5. Casteneldo and Calveras Skeletal Remains
6. "Java Man" is an Ape
7. Plesiosaur Netted in 1977
8. Second Law of Thermodynamics Began with the Fall
9. Why Are There Still Apes?
10. Women and Men Have Different Numbers of Ribs
11. Archaeopteryx is a Fraud
12. Mutations are Never Beneficial
13. No New Species Have Ever Been Produced
14. Earth's Axis Tilted After the Flood
15. Paluxy Tracks Proved Human-Dinosaur Coexistence
16. Darwin Doubted Evolution of the Eye
17. "Earth's Division in Peleg's Day" Relates to Continental Drift
18. Genesis Chronology Provides Reliable Ages
19. Genesis Chronologies Allow an Earth Older than 6000 Years
20. Jesus Cannot have Inherited Genetic Material from Mary
21. "Science Falsely So-Called" (1 Timothy 6:20) Refers to Evolution
22. Heliocentrism is Anti-Scriptural
23. Ron Wyatt's Claim of Archaeological Proof of Bible and Ark
24. Carl Baugh's "Evidences"

11 ARGUMENTS THAT ARE "DOUBTFUL"

1. Canopy "Theory"
2. No Rain Before the Flood
3. Hydroplate "Theory"
4. Natural Selection Argues in Circles
5. Evolution is Just a "Theory"
6. Speed of Light Has Decayed Over Time
7. No Transitional Forms Exist
8. Gold Chains Found in Coal
9. Plate Tectonics is False
10. Creationists Accept Micro- but not Macro-evolution
11. Gospel is in the Stars

From - REPORTS of the National Center for Science Education May-Aug. 2001, Vol 21, NUmbers 3-4

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What is interesting about this list is that all of these arguments were used for years and many still continue to be used. Many of the argument the creationists used were directly from the Bible. Numbers 3, 10, 18, 19, 20, 21, and from the doubtful list, 1, 2, and 11 can all be found in scripture. As a young biology teacher I heard the longest day, the Adam's rib, the age of the earth, and canopy myths. I had to deal with them then, but I find that I am still answering these ridiculous claims 50 years later.

The general public's lack of scientific knowledge is difficult to overcome when answering numbers 8, 9, 13, and 15. Still the numbers 5 and 7 from the doubtful list seems to be the most commonly misunderstood by the very religious.

Jim Strayer