Larry Gleason
On November 7 PebbleCreek resident Neil Smith presented a very stimulating and insightful presentation titled “The Great Debate: Spontaneous Generation vs. Special Creation.” A retired criminal investigator, he has used his professional expertise to study in depth the validity of evolution and the Biblical account of creation. Neil’s stated conclusion is that Biblical creation is true and that faith can and should be both reasonable and logical. He shared the basic tenets of Creation include: God exists, God has aseity and God speaks to us in different ways.
Neil also provided the Fellowship with the tenets/major examples used to support the theory of evolution and he shared how each one of them lacks scientific proof to support this was how man came to be. For example, the early “human” discovered named Lucy has now been acknowledged to have been a chimpanzee. Darwin himself recognized the issue that fossil records do not support evolution. Evolution, or adaptation, does occur within species over time but does not create them. Neil also shared information on many different scientific and physical laws of nature and how most do not support evolution. He noted that both Biblical and secular scientists have had the same information available to them. There have been many noted Christian scientists through the centuries, such as Francis Bacon, but unfortunately Christian scientists have often been marginalized and in recent times have had difficulty getting their works published. Regardless of the different theories as to how life and man were created, Christians have their own information source, the Holy Bible. The Bible is a history book more than a science textbook but does contain information on cosmology, geology, biology and archeology. The Bible has never been disproved and never been contraindicated in the historical area. The debate between evolution vs. creation continues today. Neil noted that IF evolution were true there would be no need for God. Two interesting issues surrounding the idea that man evolved out of the “Big Bang” theory are what was the status before the “big bang” and what caused it to happen? Or if God only created a molecule that eventually evolved into man, then there was no “purpose” in man’s creation. However, a belief in creation of man by God does give purpose to man’s creation. There were many questions following the presentation and requests for Neil to speak to Bible study groups, etc. to which he kindly agreed to do. Neil stated the purpose of his presentation was not to persuade but encourage others to do their own study. It was obvious Neil has great knowledge on creation and evolution and his thought-provoking presentation was enjoyed by all who attended.
The meeting also included the election of officers for the coming year. Current incumbents were re-elected. The Men’s Christian Fellowship officers for 2019 will be: Tom Chapman, President; Ron Glynn, Vice-president; Jim Beyers, Secretary and Tom MacKenzie, Treasurer. There will be no formal meeting of the Men’s Christian Fellowship in December. In January, in lieu of a meeting, the Fellowship will be doing an outreach service activity on January 16 at the St. Mary’s Food Bank in Surprise.