Questions: Guiding Foundations of Science Module #10 Intelligent Design and Creationism
Overview: Proponents of Intelligent design and creationism believe that nature bears the hallmark of design and a designer/creator. The intelligent design movement is a movement which has as its primary goal to expose the deficiencies of Darwinian gradualism by showing that it is inadequate to explain the existence of design and complexity in nature. Creationism is a concept which flows from a literal interpretation and plain reading of scripture and includes the idea that design is an important concept, however creationism is much broader than intelligent design in many ways. There is a lot of overlap between these two movements and the ideas they espouse. Kurt Wise outlines the ideas of creationism in his text. In class we will learn more about intelligent design. And you can find out more about intelligent design at arn.org.
Reading:
Wise chapters 10-15 Selected papers at arn.org (although we won't cover the intelligent design movement on this guiding question form, you are encouraged to read more about ID at the main website of the intelligent design movement).
Wise, chapter 10 1 How long was the edenian epoch? 70 to 100 years. 2 According to the Genesis account what is the location of the waters above the firmament? The waters are located even beyond the furthest stars. 3 What is Rodinia? It is a theoretical supercontinent, made up of all of the land masses of the earth. 4 Is the Edenic River which is split into four branches observable today? No. 5 Why can we postulate that natural geological evil did not occur before the flood? It can be postulated because earthquakes and volcanoes seem to be a part of God's judgment on the world for sin and occurred as residual effects of the flood. 6 According to Genesis what was man allowed to eat? Man was allowed to eat plants before the fall, meat eating only occurred afterwards. 7 Biblically what is the difference between plants and animals? The Bible describes only God, men and animals to be alive, plants are never thought of as living.
8 What is the significance of the olive branch brought back by the dove? The olive branch was brought back, even though the Bible says that every living thing upon the ground had been destroyed, so obviously the Bible doesn't consider plants as "living". 9 List the creatures which are probably not considered to be biblically alive? Plants, fungi, protests, algae and bacteria. Wise, chapter 11 10 What was the curse a direct result of? God's response to the sin of man. 12 What was the full extent of the curse? The curse extended corruption to the whole universe. 13 The second law of thermodynamics affected complex systems in what way? It causes energy to be lost in the form of heat, and therefore any system, even the universe itself is slowly breaking down. 14 How does the second law of thermodynamics fit into a creationist understanding of earth history? The second law of thermodynamics tells us that all systems are degenerating, which is at odds with the evolutionary system. 15 What biblical evidence supports the idea that animals did not consume other animals before the fall? Gen 1:29-30 tells us that animals were given plants to eat and not other animals. 16 Why is the young earth creation model more consistent with a good and merciful God? Other models say that the death of animals occurred even before humans were created, which would not be consistent with at good and merciful God. 17 What is the relationship between mutations and behavior? Some mutations after the fall caused some organisms to change and begin to hurt other organisms. 18 What is the relationship between overproduction and the fall? Overproduction was necessary after the fall because many of the organisms that were born would not make it to reproductive age. This is the reason that man would have to struggle with over productive plants like weeds. 19 What is the relationship between mutation and disease? Genetic mutations eventually were the cause of genetic diseases in organisms. 20 What is Dr Wise's definition of natural selection? He says it is a process created by God to allow creatures to continue to thrive through changes in their environment.
21 What was the status of disease and carnivory at the time of the flood? Carnivores tend to eat those animals that are diseased and less capable of defending themselves and therefore those populations that are preyed on by carnivores have less incidence of disease. 22 What is the dominion mandate? To care for and nurture God's creation. 23 How does young age creationism influence our view of medicine? It shows us that suffering is not natural to humanity and encourages us to do something to stop suffering. Wise chapter 12 24 What is the "antediluvian" world? How long did it last It was the world as it existed between the fall and the flood which lasted for nine hundred years. 25 What is the basis for Dr Wise's speculation about the large floating forest biome? His basis for the floating forest biome is the close association between plants in the primary layer and fossils of sea life, this could be explained if a floating forest had built up on these primary plants. 26 What is a quaking bog? A quaking bog is a soil layer that slowly build up on a thick layer of floating water plants until eventually full sized trees are able to grow in the soil. 27 How does the floating forest biome correspond to the fossil record in the "primary" flood rocks? It is closely related to fossils of sea life in the "primary' layer. 28 When were the dinosaurs created? On day six of creation. 29 What are stromatolites? Dome shaped structures formed by alternating layers of organic and sedimentary material. 30 What are the two theories which may explain how the human lifespan decreased over time as described in Genesis 5 and 11? The decrease in life span occurred either because of a change in environment or a change in genetics. Wise chapter 13 31 According to II Peter the two (creation-related) reasons that unbelievers will use to scoff or doubt the coming judgment of Christ will be? They would doubt creation and they would also doubt the flood to support their doubt for any coming judgement.
32 According to the Bible the flood was local or global? What are the biblical supports for this? Global. Gen. 6:5-7, 11-13, 17, 7:4) 33 What was God's purpose for causing the flood? What was covered by the flood? What was killed by the flood? How long did the flood last? God's purpose was the destruction of all men, land animals, birds, and the earth itself. All the high hills on the earth were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth was killed. flood The lasted one year and ten days. 34 What are the "fountains of the deep?" They were probably springs scattered across the surface of the earth and in the oceans. 35 What is plate tectonics? It is the movement of the plates of the earth's crust. 36 What is basalt? How does it form? Basalt is a product of the partial melting of the rock of the earth's mantle. It forms when only certain parts of the rock melt and a mixing of those certain parts creates basalt. 37 What is the MOR. It is a system of mid-ocean ridges on the ocean floor. 38 What is the evidence which shows that the continents were close together or connected at one time in the past? The shapes and geological makeup of the continents are complimentary suggesting that they were at one time connected. 39 What is the CPT? How does it relate to the "foundations of the deep" and the "windows of heaven" described in Genesis 7:11? CPT stands for catastrophic plate tectonics and occurs when the plates of the oceans are all cool and begin to sink at an especially fast rate. When the magma of the mantle came in contact with the oceans at the point where the plates split, huge geysers along the entire split formed (the fountains of the deep) and sprayed steam into the air which cooled and came down as intense rain (the windows of heaven) as described in Gen 7:11. 40 What is anti-catastrophism and neo-catastrophism? Anti-catastrophism says that there was no catastrophe that effected the geological record of the entire world. Neo-catastrophism accepts some small, local catastrophes. 41 What does the "flood theory" predict about the fossil order in the fossil record? That there should be no vertical change in the fossil record based upon evolutionary change. 42 How many parts can the fossil record be divided into according to the young-age creation theory? It can be divided into three parts.
43 What are transitional forms? What percentage (high or low) of modern species are found in the fossil record? Why is the fossil record more consistent with young-age creation than other models of origins? Transitional forms are organism formed between two species in the evolutionary chain. A low percentage of modern species are found in the fossil record. The fossil record is more consistent with a young earth because the deposits of fossils do not change over the fossil record and when they do change it is not in the order predicted by evolutionists. Wise chapter 14 44 What was the geological status of the post flood world? It was in a state of recovery form violent upheaval, the recovery is still occurring today. 45 What is the relationship between today's earthquakes and the movement of plates during the flood? Earthquakes are the continuation of recovery from the extreme movements of the plates during the flood. 46 Why have earthquakes been decreasing in frequency and size? Because the plates have already done most of the moving necessary to get back to their previous position so over time less movement is needed and the earthquakes become less violent. 47 What is the relationship between ash fall and fossilization? Ash creates ideal conditions for fossilization of organic material. 48 What/who is responsible for natural geological evil? Man's sin is ultimately responsible. 49 What could be one explanation for the post-fall creation of the Grand Caynon? The rapid drainage of a large lake, possibly because of a breaking dam. 50 What is the "ice advance" ? How does it relate to the ice age? The Ice Advance is the rapid build up of ice that flowed over the continents, it is what is commonly called the ice age, but occurred at a much faster rate. 51What are AGE's? They are altruistic genetic elements, which are designed to move around within and between organisms in order to change them. 52What is intrabaraminic diversification? It is a rapid increase in diversity entirely within baramins. 53 What are vestigial structures? It is a structure that has reduced function compared to similar structures in other organisms. 54 What are genetic throwbacks? They are past structures that appear spontaneously in a small number of offspring in the present.
55 What is interspecific hybridization? How does it relate to intrabaraminic diversification? It is the combining of two different species. Diversification within baramins still allows for hybridization, but it would be much less likely on an evolutionary model. 56 What is biogeography? It is the science of where organisms live and the science of how they came to live there. 57 What are ring species? How might they be explained in young-age creationism? Ring species are a set of populations arranged geographically in a closed loop where all but one pair can interbreed with adjacent species. This is acceptable because young age creationism accepts changes within baramins, even changes that do not allow interbreeding. 58 What is the significance of plant rafts to creationism? Plant rafts, which were mats of dead matter floating on the oceans after the flood, could have moved different species across the oceans. Wise chapter 15 59 How many languages were spoken by Noah's family just after the flood? Probably just a single language was spoken by them. 60 What is the average generation time suggested by an analysis of Genesis 11? About thirty years. 61 Review and know Babel story. 62 How did new cultures arise? New cultures arose when God created a new mindset in the people at Babel and quickly developed within their new mindsets. 63 How many distinct languages do we have today? There are a couple hundred distinct language groups in the world today. 64 What is genetic drift? Paleoanthropology? Genetic drift takes a given genetic trait, that does not necessarily have an advantage and makes it the only trait within a population. Paleoanthropology is the study of human and human like fossils. 65 What is Homo erectus? Homo Erectus is a human that lived in the time shortly after the flood. 66 What is the significance of cave-men and ice-men after the flood? Cave-men and ice-men were cultured men who were forced to live in caves following the flood because of how much the world had changed from its previous state. It took time for them to regain what they needed to re-build civilizations.
67 Why are ape fossils found below he first evidences of humans? Because humans did not fulfill their requirement to go forth into the earth immediately, but the animals did and so there were apes in many places before there were humans there.
68 What are some of the reasons that the life-span of humans decreased after the flood? The life span of humans may have decreased because of an increase in the rate of maturity.