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[21] Genesis 1:1

[22] Genesis 1:31

[23] The theory of naturalistic macroevolution (or Neo-Darwinism) asserts that every living creature is the product of purposeless and undirected genetic mutations and natural selection over a vast amount of time. In this view, land animals evolved from fish, birds evolved from dinosaurs or other reptiles, and mankind evolved from an ancestor common both to apes and man. In short, all animals and plants ultimately evolved from the same single-celled original life form, which itself originated naturalistically from non-living chemicals. This theory contradicts Biblical revelation. The Bible asserts that God was intimately involved in the creative process so as to accomplish particular goals. And the Bible records that God created distinct "kinds" of animals and plants at the beginning that were to reproduce according to their kind (Genesis 1). This obviously contradicts the idea that all life forms have descended from a common ancestor.

In contrast to the theory of macroevolution, observations do exist of variation within limits among the created kinds of plants and animals what might be termed microevolution. This kind of variability is at least partially explainable in terms of mutations and natural selection, and would include some of the famous examples often cited as proof of evolution, such as the differences in the shapes of the beaks of birds where the birds have been subjected to different environmental factors and shifts in the distribution of light and dark colored moths within a changing environment. Microevolution involves small-scale and limited amounts of variability among living things and does not provide any substantiation of the claim that one distinct kind of animal evolved into an entirely different kind, or that new body forms or structures were developed over long periods of time by mutations and natural selection. Understood correctly, microevolution is consistent with the Biblical revelation and it poses no challenge to the Biblical view of earth history or of the origin of life.

For helpful critiques of naturalistic macroevolution, see Phillip E. Johnson "Darwin on Trial", (Chicago: Regnery/Gateway, 1991) and Michael Behe, "Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution," (New York: Free Press, 1996).

[24] Genesis 1:26-27 - Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

[25] Genesis 2:15-17 - Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.

[26] In the following passage, the sin of Adam and its consequences for those whom he represents is contrasted with the obedience of Jesus Christ and its results for those whom He represents:

Romans 5:12-21 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned -- for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[27] See Genesis 3.

[28] Genesis 3:17-19 - Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.

[29] Jeremiah 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.

[30] Jeremiah 17:9