We hear the myth all the time that creationists can’t be real scientists. It doesn’t seem to matter how often we point to creation scientists who have made huge achievements and advances in their field, secularists still say that creationists can’t be real scientists.
Well, my personal friend (and cribbage opponent!) Dr. Tommy Mitchell is a creation scientist. He is a medical doctor, and he serves on staff here at AiG. Dr. Mitchell used to be a theistic evolutionist until he began to examine the Scriptures and realized that the two were utterly incompatible. During a recent interview, he was asked how his belief in evolution influenced his work as a medical doctor in contrast to his belief in creation:
It had absolutely no effect. As a theistic evolutionist when I was in medical school, my instructors talked about the kidney, and that when it doesn’t work, here’s what you do to fix it. When Grandma’s in the ICU and her kidneys are not working, you’re not sitting there thinking, “Well, her kidney’s evolved.” No, you just care that Grandma’s kidneys don’t work, and you want them to work again. So, operationally, evolution had zero effect on anything I did as a physician.
When I told my medical practice partners I was going to leave the practice to go to AiG, many of them said things like, “I can’t believe you’re doing this! This is silly! Can’t I talk you out of this? Don’t you know you’re giving up being a physician to go out and teach this fairy tale?” And in the midst of this discussion, I would generally say, “I get that you’re an evolutionist, but tell me how evolution helped you in the last week. Give me any decision you made in this hospital that required you to accept evolution.” I never got an answer, not once. I knew that they wouldn’t have an answer because of the difference between historical and observational science. Actually, taking care of Grandma today in the hospital has nothing to do with accepting evolution—that’s practicing science in real time in the present.
Now, as a scientist, everything I see in the world is consistent with God’s Word. I can look at those rock layers at the Grand Canyon and see evidence of the Flood. It’s totally consistent with what God’s Word tells me.
Now, you can build another story around that, but is that story internally consistent? Starting with God’s Word, I don’t have to explain away any inconsistencies. Everything I see, whether it’s the complexity of the nervous system or how the body works, the more I understand that there’s just no way it could be an accident. So when I read in God’s Word “let us make man in our image,” I get it. What I see is totally consistent with what God’s Word tells me.
You know, Dr. Mitchell’s thoughts remind me of when I debated Bill Nye “The Science Guy” in 2014. I asked him to give me just one example of where a belief in molecules-to-man evolution was needed to develop just one piece of technology. I’ve asked him that publicly a number of times since the debate. Still no answer. I’ve asked secular scientists that question many times—but no answer. Evolution is a belief system—a religion—and it has nothing to do with observational science and technology!
You can learn more about creation scientists and the incredible design of the human body on our information-packed website. You can also request a speaker, such as Dr. Mitchell, to come to your church or group and encourage them to stand on the authority of God’s Word.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.