Creationism vs ID

Published 9-24-2015

Creationism is a faith-based belief. As a verb, “create” has multiple meanings including “bring into being.” If we count the creation of all things in our universe as “bring into being,” we assume that our universe did not exist before. Therefore, when we use the word “creationism,” we posit that God initiated the universe. He “brought it into being.” We are creationists, according to definition. Our faith (belief system) requires a belief in creationism.

We highlight a difference between creationists and adherents of Intelligent Design. ID is not a faith-based theory. Believers in ID do not attempt to identify a specific designer. The designer could be an “extraterrestrial.” Polytheists might ascribe the design features of our universe to a non-biblical deity or even a mystical self-organizing principal of the universe. Some believers in Intelligent Design, however, subscribe to a Judeo-Christian view of the Designer. They believe the Designer is the God of the Bible.

All creationists described in our opening paragraph are adherents of the main features of ID whether or not they wish to identify as ID theorists. The primary cause of the universe is an Organizing Intelligence—the God of the Bible. Creationist belief is clearly faith-based.

Some creationists resist identification with the ID movement because of the ongoing confusion posed by conflating the two terms. For example, some evolutionists have coined the term “Intelligent Design Creationism.” Discovery Institute, the most well known organization promoting the concept of Intelligent Design, has devoted substantial effort to distance ID from the concept of Creationism. They do not wish to be known as Intelligent Design Creationists. Instead, they prefer to present ID as purely an empirical, scientific proposal: the physical features of the universe and its life have a cause. That cause is an organizing intelligence (no capital letters in this case) but not necessarily the God of the Bible.

People holding various positions on this lively issue have criticized both creationists and ID advocates. Some critics such as Eugenie Scott, former National Center for Science Education (NCSE) Executive Director from 1987-2014, have humorously poked fun at ID as “nothing more than creationism in a cheap tuxedo.” Most of these critics hold both creationism and ID in low regard.

The confusing relationship between creationism and ID hides doubt concerning a far deeper reality. Apart from disagreements over definitions of various terms of language, our blog recognizes the real issues are (1) whether the God of Scripture really exists, (2) whether God created all things in the beginning replete with design features and (3) whether we are able to make some conclusions about the Creator/Designer. This woefully incomplete list raises many other questions. If God exists, if He designed and created our universe, and if humans are able to discover truths about the Creator/Designer, do we have a plan for behaving responsibly as creatures created in God’s image?

Both creationism and ID relate to questions of origins of our physical universe and life forms within it. Our outlook flows from proper answers to fundamental issues relating to questions of origins. The Genesis account of origins affirms both creationism and intelligent design. The findings of science support design. Many scientists reject this supporting evidence, claiming that the proposal of design is “faith-based religion.” In discoveries that a Big Bang occurred, science also supports creationism: The universe had a beginning just as Genesis claims. These scripture-supported facts are troubling to naturalistic scientists. They go to great lengths to disparage both theories.

“He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.” (John 1:3 NLT)

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