1. Why Christians should believe in the special creation of all things in the beginning by God.

a. The basic facts about God's work of creation which Moses reported in the Book of Genesis.

b. The admonition which Jesus gave us to believe the writings of Moses. (John 5:45-47)

c. The fact that in this life we must walk by faith. (II Cor. 5:7, Heb. 11:6)

d. The fact that God has in His creation given us scientific evidence to support our faith. (Romans 1:19-20, Psalms 19:1-2.

e. The importance to the Christian faith of the biblical teaching about creation.

2. What science is, its limitations, and the relation of science to our faith.

a. Science properly defined is simply a method for learning about the natural world, and this scientific method with its rules has nothing to say about what a scientist believes.

b. Science can only investigate the natural world, so science can neither prove or disprove the real existence of God.

c. Consequently, scientists, students and teachers of science are free to accept or reject any religious or irreligious belief whatsoever.

d. All scientists, teachers and students of science should be approved or rewarded solely on the basis of the quality of their work. There should be no discrimination because of what they do or do not believe.

e. It is important for Christians concerned with science to be alert to any effort of anti-Christians to make their anti-Christian beliefs a part of the definition of science, of the scientific method, or of a scientific attitude.

f. By the same token, Christians should not try to make their Christian beliefs a part of the definition of science.

g. A Christian whom God calls to take part in science or some other field of scholarship should desire to do well in order to glorify God by demonstrating to the world that being a Christian helps one to do well.

3. How we can know about the world

a. Two kinds of faith concerning how we can know about the world

1) Christian believers in creation

a) By faith they believe that there are at least two ways of gaining knowledge about the world: (1) divine revelation in the Bible and (2) scientific research.

b) Their faith is in the infinite-personal Spirit, God the Creator of all things, who is revealed in the Bible.

2) Non-Christian believers in evolution

a) By faith they believe that there is only one way of gaining knowledge about the world: scientific research.

b) Their faith is in dumb atoms, natural laws, time and chance.

b. These two beliefs about knowledge can be neither proved or disproved by science.

c. Therefore, one can hold either belief about sources of knowledge and be a good scientist. Each person is simply required to abide by the rules of the scientific method.

d. Christians have a special responsibility to distinguish between and not confuse scientific knowledge with divinely revealed truth. Scientific knowledge is knowledge which can be gained by means of the scientific method of research. The divinely revealed truths about the world which are recorded in the Bible are in general not scientific knowledge, because they cannot be discovered by science. Christians by faith believe that they are facts, because God has told us the Truth in His Word the Bible.

e. Science does not discover truth, because everything in science is continually open to correction and revision on the basis of new knowledge. Only God can reveal truth, that is, knowledge which never changes or needs correction or revision.

4. The rights of Christians in science, education, and all forms of scholarship

a. Christians in science have as much right to their beliefs as do the non-Christians and the anti-Christians.

b. Christians should not expect special privileges, but only an equal opportunity to demonstrate by the quality of their performance that their faith is relevant to science and other fields of scholarship.

c. In other words, Christians should have equal opportunity to show that they, too, can apply the scientific method to gain new knowledge about the natural world.

d. Christians and all other people of whatever kind of belief or unbelief should be judged and rewarded solely on the basis of the quality of their performance under the rules of the method of research.