College Bound Reading List
Genesis 1: The Story of Creation
The Authorized King James Bible, first published in 1611, turned 399 years old this month! The KJV is the most often-quoted Bible translation, widely known for its poetic beauty and structure. While its language may sound archaic today, a familiarity with this version of the Bible prepares modern students for reading Shakespeare. The King James Bible was published in the same year that William Shakespeare was writing “The Tempest.” Here is the account of the six days of creation in Genesis 1, from the King James Bible:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
The creation story tends to be a controversial subject, even among Christians, who have trouble reconciling the biblical account of creation with the secular account of creation. The six days of creation certainly contradicts the Darwinian model, which claims that death predates man by millions of years. Taken literally, the biblical account of creation also contradicts the majority of university textbooks on the issue of our origins, making it seem like God and science are mutually exclusive.However, science is constantly changing as new evidence is discovered; and that evidence is always open to interpretation. Many scientific theories have come and gone over the years. It’s rather hypocritical how college students are told to challenge preconceived notions; yet at the same time, students are overwhelmingly taught that evolution is an undisputed fact – while not allowing for any arguments there. The fact is, science can neither prove nor disprove evolution any more than it can creation. Certainly there are no human eyewitness accounts of either. Depending on our faith and worldview, we are predisposed to believe one way or another. But just as Darwin had a right to publish his theory, scientists who have proposed opposing theories have a right to be heard as well. Below are some recommended books to help counter the evolutionary accounts so adamantly adhered to in college science classes. Read them with an open mind, as a real scientist should.
In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation, by John F. Ashton, editor – Can any scientist with a Ph.D. believe in the idea of a literal six-day creation? In this book, fifty scientists from around the world say “Yes!” Taking a factual and scientific look at the evidence for evolution, these physicists, biologists, and chemists come to some revealing conclusions. In their estimation, evolution may offer no more evidence than traditional religion and, factually, it may lag behind. Important questions about the big bang theory, radioactive dating of rocks, light from distant stars, and the fossil evidence for evolution are discussed in detail. In Six Days opens the evolution-versus-creation debate to a wider public-not with narrow and closed arguments, but with a straightforward and wide-ranging analysis of the issues confronting both the scientific community and the general public. These essays examine the entire approach to science education and are essential reading for students and educators.
The Six Days of Genesis: A Scientific Appreciation of Chapters 1-11, by Paul Taylor – This verse-by-verse expository study, by British author Paul Taylor, is a reader-friendly journey through early Genesis. In recent years, conservative Christian thinkers have become alarmed at the erosion of biblical teaching, even in many seminaries across America and Britain. Taylor’s book is a fresh, much-needed resource written for the serious student, and useful for youth leaders. This book promotes the view that Genesis is literal history and can be defended from modern attacks from evolutionists. (The author earned a Master’s degree in science education at Cardiff University, and served as a head of department at Nottingham University. He joined the staff of Answers in Genesis UK in 2005.)
Thousands not Billions: Challenging the Icon of Evolution, Questioning the Age of the Earth, by Donald DeYoung – Radiometric dating is one of the linchpins of evolutionary education today. By dating the soil in which fossils are found to very long ages, evolutionists undermine faith in Genesis as the true documentary of the history of the universe. When people are told that a dinosaur bone has been determined to be tens of millions of years old, that obviously doesn’t square with the biblical record of man being created on Day Six with the land animals. Well, Christians no longer have to puzzle over this glaring contradiction. This book shatters the famed dating methods that evolutionists use to cast doubt on the veracity of the Bible and its chronology of earth history. (Don DeYoung, Ph.D., is chairman of the Physical Science Department at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana.)
In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, by Walt Brown – In this expanded 8th edition, evidence that revolutionizes our understanding of origins is carefully explained. Part I discusses, in quick overview, 131 categories of evidence from biology, astronomy, earth science, and the physical sciences. Part II describes the hydroplate theory, developed during 35 years of study and research by Walt Brown. This theory explains a catastrophic event in Earth’s history and solves a host of recognized problems. Some chapters in Part II deal with: the origin of the Grand Canyon, evidence that shows comets, asteroids, and meteroids came from Earth, the sudden freezing and burial of the frozen mammoths, if there was a global flood, where the water came from and where it went, and how mountain ranges, volcanoes, submarine canyons, ocean trenches, and coal and oil deposits were formed. Thirty-seven other frequently asked questions fill a fascinating Part III of Brown’s book.(The author of this book used to be an evolutionist, but after years of study he became convinced of the scientific validity of creation. A West Point graduate, he received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT.) Click here to read this book online: http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook