The RenewaNation Review 2019 Volume 11 Issue 1 | Seite 10

changes have resulted in increasingly complex plants and
animals with millions of new structures and behaviors like
DNA, sexual reproduction, migration, lungs, eyes, wings,
bones, scales, feathers, leaves, flowers, seeds, new body
plans, and entirely new species and classes of animals and
plants. Compare this teaching to Genesis 1 where God says
each creature reproduced its own kind.
• “We can observe and measure evolution directly, and
many biologists conduct experiments on evolving popu-
lations. ... In addition, we can directly observe a record of
the history of evolution in the fossil record over the almost
unimaginably long periods of geological time. ... The fact
that biological populations evolve, however, is not disput-
ed among biologists.”   6
• “The millions of species that live on Earth today emerged
over time, with each new species arising from an already
existing species.”   7
“So how much poison does
it take to render the water in
a good well unfit to drink?”
Human Beings Descended from Earlier,
More Primitive Primates
These textbooks assert that human beings are not special
creations but are evolved from earlier ancestors just like all
other species: “Many species in our genus existed before
our species, Homo sapiens, appeared. Furthermore, at least
three other Homo species existed at the same time as early
humans.”  8 Compare this teaching with Genesis 1–2 which
teaches that humans were made in God’s own image as male
and female as His final, unique act of creation.
CHILDREN WILL BE LIKE THEIR TEACHERS
How do these textbook teachers and the human teachers
who use them affect the youth who study them? The Barna
Group, Pew Research, and others have compiled consider-
10
able statistics documenting the youth exodus
from churches and the Christian faith follow-
ing high school and college. For me, this is
not just more statistics; it is my personal
experience.
I was raised in a devout Christian home by
godly parents, steeped in Scripture, baptized
at age eight, called to Christian service at age
fourteen, educated in public schools—and
was almost apostate by the time I was age
twenty-one! What happened? During seven
years of high school and college, I discovered
a love for science and the theory of evolution
through my biology classes in high school
and my zoology major in college. During those seven years,
I was thoroughly indoctrinated in the theory of evolution,
finding it persuasive, sensible, intellectually appealing, and
unchallenged by any scientific view of Genesis and Scrip-
ture. At age twenty-one, I was about to push my faith over
the cliff of apostasy when the Lord called me back from the
edge. He asked me two questions: “Do you believe I am?”
Years of anchoring in the Word, Scripture memory, and
training shaped my answer, and I replied, “Yes, I do.” Then
He asked me, “Then how can what I have made be at odds
with who I am?” This brief conversation with God began
my journey back to full faith and a biblical worldview of
science and education.
My story of falling away and almost losing my faith is not
unique. Untold thousands of youth and adults have left their