Celebrating 20 Years!
Looking Back — Looking Ahead
by Dave & Mary Jo Nutting

Can you believe it? This year, we are celebrating Alpha Omega Institute’s 20th Anniversary! We have seen many changes over those years besides grayer hair and a few more wrinkles. Twenty years ago very few people had ever heard the case for creation. Most hadn’t even known there were books available on the subject. As we, along with other creation ministries, shared the evidence for creation and the fallacies of evolution, eyes began to pop open to the Truth of God’s Word!

Today, a whole generation of children has completed it’s formal education and is now raising a new generation. Praise God that so many of these young adults have now heard creation teaching and have been equipped to share the truth of God’s creation and to arm their own children to withstand evolutionary indoctrination. Others have also been trained to teach creation and they are actually training others to teach as well. There has been has been much progress — but the battle still rages. Evolution is still strongly promoted in schools, media and even in some churches. Too many children and adults still have not heard the truth of God’s Word and the problems with evolution. Some have asked us so what? Why bother? Well, here is why we still continue this ministry:

• Evolution is the #1 reason young people give for rejecting the Gospel.
• Evolution undermines acceptance of the truth and authority of God’s Word.
• Evolution is one of the main reasons young people leave the church.
• Evolutionary teaching takes away from our view of God and how He values us.
• Belief in evolution makes people believe they are just animals; therefore anything goes.
• Evolution is just plain bad science.

As we look ahead, we are committed to continue spreading the Good News – that God is our Creator; that His Word and His world agree; and that He wants all of us to enter into an eternal relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. We are also committed to see people of all ages grow in that relationship as Discover Creation and they walk confidently in the Truth of God’s Word.

As we think back over these years, we are so grateful for the abundant opportunities God has given to minister to people here in the USA and internationally. We praise God for the dedicated staff at AOI and for all of you faithful partners who stand with us in this battle for the hearts and minds of this generation. God is using you to make a difference!

How Blind Is the Watchmaker?
A book review by Mark Sonmor

When I started reading How Blind Is the Watchmaker, by Neil Broom, I was strangely reminded of a cartoon like the one above. Although I can’t remember the source, it illustrates the all-to-frequent practice of modern science. Words like “meaning,” and “purpose,” are covered up because they go against the prevailing notions of materialism—that we exist in a vast, meaningless, cosmic machine that is driven completely by chance.

Ironically, to fabricate their story, scientists can’t escape using terms like, “advantage,” “struggle,” and “survival” to describe the process of evolution. These words imply a purpose and intention that should not exist if life is a product of blind chance. Broom says (p.188), “We find the entire living world operates within a rich gradient of meaning... It is a world driven by an overwhelming “urge” to live and to keep on living. It seeks to “attain,” to “achieve,” to “improve.”...All of these attributes...lie completely outside and beyond the power of [secular]science to explain.” This is the central theme of the book which is reiterated in various ways.

I believe most people, at one time or another, have felt at the mercy of what Broom terms “aristoscience”— or a secular priesthood where only a few scientists have access to truth and dispense it on their terms. By citing the shortcomings of modern science and the questions beyond its scope, the author helps the average person dismantle these ivory towers and see their philosophical shortcomings.

These inconsistencies are revealed further in sections dealing with proposed scenarios of the origin of life. Although he thoroughly refutes them, I appreciated Broom’s desire to respond to the more “reasoned” attempts put forth to explain naturalistic origins.

At times, the illustrations used from the author’s field of research and other areas of biology, were a bit daunting for someone with a rudimentary science background. However, the philosophical conclusions the author arrives at make it worth the struggle.

The section I found most rewarding was the Appendix. There, Broom recounts the rise of modern science and the way many God-fearing men used science to dispel superstition and discover laws and physical properties operating in the universe
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However, this mode of thinking also opened the door for subsequent generations to exalt man’s ability to observe and reason and assume that everything can be explained by strictly material causes. Although I appreciate the clarity with which the author exposes the problems of materialism, he appears to be partly trapped in a compromise of his own. In a footnote on p.135 Broom states, “Creation science...makes the dubious assumption that Gen 1-2 must be read in a strictly literal sense...It is not at all clear to me that the language is literal and even remotely scientific in its intent. The passage contains a very simple story line that is timeless and relevant for all people for all time. But is it science? Science wasn’t even invented when the Genesis narrative was written.”

When I read this quote, I was struck with several questions. In Broom’s mind what role does man’s reason play in determining truth? Does he have an overestimation of the ability of science to deal with events of the unobservable past? Is he compromising scripture by relying on the interpretations of the very materialistic scientists whom he discredits? Since science is limited, wouldn’t it be safer to accept the straightforward teaching of scripture rather the fallible opinions of men?
In my (fallible) opinion, the author, who valiantly defends God’s ability to create, stops short in defending His word.

Overall, this book makes some excellent points and confronts many difficult issues — including the problem of evil. Skeptics, should find it very thought-provoking. However, it is a reminder that we need to read with discernment and stand firmly on the truth of God’s Word.

Is Science Neutral?
by Rachel Painter

When asked, “What is science?” the picture that comes to most people’s minds is a man in a white coat, peering into a microscope, discovering some significant truth. For most people, including Christians, science is basically observation and experimentation—a neutral pursuit of knowledge. But, is this really science?

Our modern view of science has become very narrow when compared to the great scientists of the past. For example, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines science as: “In a general sense, knowledge, or certain knowledge; the comprehension or understanding of truth or facts by the mind...” At its very core, science is knowledge.

If this is true, then science goes far beyond the scope of the laboratory. It is the study of everything—material and immaterial. In reality, there is a science to everything—from tadpoles to teleology.

Now, pay attention to the phrase “…the comprehension or understanding of truth or facts by the mind...” Science cannot simply be a collection of facts. Facts are part of science, but science is not complete unless we comprehend and understand those facts. Having knowledge of a thing is meaningless without also having an understanding of its purpose.

Look at the scientific method for example. It basically arises from a thought, an idea, or a need. Someone has a question and sets out to find the answer. As the search begins, it is done so with an intent—a purpose. This purpose is inherently subjective and determined by the worldview of the pursuer.

So, what about the scientist? When he steps into his lab, does he leave his worldview at the door, and enter as an unbiased observer into the world of science? Of course not. The worldview a man holds, and the presuppositions he believes, are inseparable from him whether he is an atheist or a christian, these direct anything he puts his hand to. Ironically, the atheist, functions in a world that is driven by the purpose and intent of its Creator—whom he denies. Yet, every day the atheistic scientist uses the natural laws that God instituted in the beginning to move from the unknown to the known. So, whether he realizes it or not, he is functioning within God’s parameters.

On the other hand, some Christians believe in the superintendence of the Creator, yet they do not extend that to the area of science. This is a distressing paradox. The atheistic scientist functions in a way that he doesn’t believe, and the Christian believes in a way that he doesn’t function.

In reality, they both believe that science is a realm from which you can extract God and still maintain the integrity of the discipline. But, if you do, then who governs the discipline of science? “Nothing” cannot govern something. Either God governs it, or man does. There is no neutral area in between.

The idea of neutrality so permeates our culture that we do not realize how many areas of our life it has infiltrated and caused us to think unbiblically. It affects more than just the area of science. For example, what about government, and the idea of the separation of church and state? Doesn’t this idea advocate that there is a neutral, middle ground, where moral and religious absolutes don’t belong? But then, what do laws do, if not legislate morality? What are the implications when we compartmentalize life into sacred and secular realms?

What are the consequences when we remove Biblical truth from a section of our society for the sake of tolerance? When Biblical truth is removed, what is going to take its place? Something will fill it. It will not remain void.

What does the idea of neutrality do to our understanding of Scripture, church, family and education? You see, this false idea undermines our faith little by little, and, as a result, our effectiveness for God’s Kingdom. I challenge you to turn back to the Bible as your primary source. Examine it. Consider where the myth of neutrality has influenced your life.

[To express thoughts or questions on this topic, or others in this newsletter, write us or send an email to: thinkandbelieve@discovercreation.org.]

Editor’s note: In our Fall, 2003 issue, we made the statement that a lecture at a local college entitled: The Pseudoscience of Intelligent Design “just happened” to fall right in the middle of three weeks of our own lectures on creation. One of the sponsors of the event expressed concern that our words “just happened” might insinuate that the lecture “was arranged to interfere or in some way compete with AOI’s ‘outreach’ program at [the college].” He assured us that this was not the case. It was not our intent to insinuate that the lecture was orchestrated by the college to undermine our efforts. Though, some people might call the precise timing coincidence, we feel that it was a “God-cidence” — orchestrated by the Great Orchestrator Who is active in the affairs of His people. Nevertheless, we appreciate the comment and apologize for any misunderstanding.