My Evolution Story, Part 1

I was "radically saved" in 1982: born again, sold-out, hungry for Jesus and the Scriptures. Along with this, I began opposing the teaching of evolution because it did not match the inspired words from God in Genesis. It really did not come up much in conversations, though.

Around 1986 I read a book, published by InterVarsity Press, from three scientists, Christians, who were complaining about the dishonesty being practiced in the young-earth creationist community. They exposed some of that dishonesty and pleaded for more Christian behavior by those against evolution. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the book, and I have not been able to find it.

After a few years, I forgot about that book. In 1995, I saw three one-hour programs on evolution put out by the Kentucky Creation Museum. (I am about 98% certain they were the source for that TV series.)

I was doing a lot of discussing/debating on the religion forum of CompuServe at that time. One day, several "evilutionists" showed up in the forum. I leaped to battle, knowing I was well-prepared by three hours of TV to tear down 150 years of scientific research by professionals who studied evolution full-time. I thought I was superman, but really I was STUPIDMAN, coming to save the day with poor preparation that proved to be no preparation. I was worse than defenseless. I was wounded before the battle even started because I was equipped with lies that these evolutionists were able to easily expose with actual scientific articles and accurate book references.

The one that stands out was the false accusation that Dr. Donald Johanson had been dishonest in his report on discovering "Lucy" (First Australopithecus afarensis partial skeleton ever found). The TV show told me that Dr. Johanson found the knee joint for Lucy 1.5 miles away in a different strata. The problem with this accusation is that Johanson never claimed the knee joint belonged to Lucy, just to another A. afarensis individual, i.e.. same species but not same individual.

The TV series also accused Johanson of never disclosing that the knee joint was found far from the Lucy site. In fact, he did disclose it, and even described the whole discovery, honestly, in a 1974 book available to the public. More importantly, in 1975, scientists found the "first family," fossils from nine adult and four child A. afarensis. This find proved that Dr. Johanson was right in assigning the knee joint to A. afarensis.

Despite all this, the Kentucky Creation Museum slandered him on TV, accusing him of purposeful deceit when there was no deceit, but instead full disclosure, to scientists and public alike. The find was '73, Johanson's book was '74, the finding of "first family" was in 1975, and the Creation Museum's public slander was in 1994. It was not the first time that Johanson had been slandered by young-earth creationists. I would find over time that this kind of deceit is normal practice for creationist organizations.

The Creation Museum TV special also neglected to mention the discovery of A. afarensis footprints in 1978, establishing that they could and did walk upright. That they are also built to swing from trees helps establish that they were a transitional species.

I was rather furious with the Creation Museum because I am an honest person. I was rightfully lambasted by those evolutionists for my slander, and I was embarrassed. Worse, it was supposed Christians who taught me this slander. I was gullible because I thought Christians were generally honest. My mistake. I already knew that most Christians much prefer their tradition to what the Bible teaches, but I was blind-sided by corporate, planned misinformation.

That event prompted all the research that have put into evolution over the years.

This is just part one of my story. In the next part, I will talk about "coming out," telling my wife and best friend that I had been won over by the evolution-teaching invaders into the CompuServe forum. I will also describe the research I did before giving in.

Where to Go Next

• My Evolution Story, Part 2
• All my articles, including those on evolution are on the articles page.
• My Rebuilding the Foundation book is the heart of this website.
• home