Creation or Evolution?​—Part 3: Why Believe in Creation?

Do you feel the same way Jeanette does? If so, you may find yourself doubting your belief in creation. After all, no one likes to be viewed as ignorant. What can help?

• Objections to belief

• Think about your beliefs

• Tools to help you examine the evidence

• What your peers say

Objections to belief

1. If you believe in creation, people will think you’re against science.

“My teacher said that believing in creation is something people do when they’re too lazy to come up with an explanation for how the world works.”​—Maria.

What you should know: Those who make such claims are not aware of the facts. Famous scientists such as Galileo and Isaac Newton believed in a Creator. Their belief did not conflict with their love for science. Likewise, some scientists today find no conflict between science and belief in creation.

Try this: Type the expression (including quotation marks) “explains her faith” or “explains his faith” in the search box of Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY for examples of those in the field of medicine and science who accept creation. Note what helped them to reach that conclusion.

The bottom line: Belief in creation doesn’t make you antiscience. In fact, learning more about the natural world can strengthen your belief in creation.​—Romans 1:​20.

2. If you believe in the Bible’s account of creation, people will think you’re a religious fanatic.

“A lot of people consider belief in creation to be a joke. They feel that the Genesis account is just a story.”​—Jasmine.

What you should know: People often have misconceptions about the Bible’s account of creation. For example, some creationists claim that the earth was recently created or that life was created in six 24-hour days. The Bible does not support either viewpoint.

• Genesis 1:1 simply states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This does not conflict with scientific evidence that the earth is billions of years old.

• The word “day” as used in Genesis can refer to long periods of time. In fact, at Genesis 2:4, the word “day” is used to describe all six days of creation.

The bottom line: The Bible’s account of creation is in harmony with scientific facts.

Think about your beliefs

Belief in creation does not require “blind faith.” Rather, it rests on sound reasoning. Consider this:

Everything you experience in life teaches you that where there is design, there is a designer. When you see a camera, a plane, or a house, you rightly conclude that someone designed it. Why should you abandon that logic when you consider the human eye, a bird in the sky, or our planet Earth?

To think about: Engineers often copy traits that they observe in nature so that they can improve their own inventions, and they rightly want others to acknowledge their work. Is it logical to recognize the human inventor and his work and yet fail to acknowledge the Creator and His far superior designs?

Tools to help you examine the evidence

You can strengthen your conviction in creation by inspecting the evidence found in nature.

Try this: Type the phrase (including quotation marks) “was it designed” in the search box of Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY. Select some titles that interest you from the Article Series “Was It Designed?” For each article, identify what is remarkable about the aspect of nature discussed. How does it convince you that there is a Designer?

Dig deeper: Use the following brochures to explore the evidence for creation in more detail.

• Was Life Created?

  • The earth is perfectly located and equipped to support life.​—See pages 4-​10.

  • Examples of design are found in nature.​—See pages 11-​17.

  • The Bible’s account of creation in Genesis is in harmony with science.​—See pages 24-​28.

• The Origin of Life​—Five Questions Worth Asking

  • Life could not have begun spontaneously from nonliving matter.​—See pages 4-7.

  • Living organisms are too complex to have developed through undirected, spontaneous events.​—See pages 8-​12.

  • The information capacity within the genetic code surpasses modern technology.​—See pages 13-​21.

  • All life did not descend from a common ancestor. The fossil record supports the sudden appearance of major animal groups, not their gradual development.​—See pages 22-​29.

“The natural world convinces me most about God’s existence, from the animals here on earth to the universe and the order that exists in it.”​—Thomas.