Evolution does not Explain Human Creativity

A strongly made but poorly questioned explanation given by evolutionists is that the proof that evolution is true is, well, we're here, so we must have evolved since we can't possibly have been created. It's such a weak argument that it's hard to take it seriously, yet it is the kind of logic often used by evolutionists to deny the obvious and give credit to the enormously unlikely *.

If chance evolution were true, life on earth (if either existed at all) should be a complete "mish mash" of half-formed, incomplete and largely dysfunctional animal characteristics, limping along in an irregular, chaotic procession on a mutilated planet. Instead, we see order, creativity and purpose bursting out of every corner. Evolutionists know all this, yet persist in burying their collective heads in the theory's barren sands. The most noticeable place we do see chaos and distortion is of course in the human experience - loneliness, isolation, pain, regret, bitterness, unforgiveness, pride and on the list goes. Yet, even in the midst of this inner darkness, we see the imprint of a greater purpose and a higher call, in our DNA if you will.

The Bible gives a ready explanation of the "broken mirror" inside our hearts that at times can cause many of us to despair of life itself. Mankind has got a problem, described by just one three letter word - sin. Yet despite the problem of sin and the many problems caused by sin, the fact remains that we still bear a strong resemblance to the One who created us in the first place, since we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26).

Sin makes us miserable, It also explains why we turn to "myths and fables" (2 Timothy 4:4) such as evolutionary theory. Sin has made us rebel against the One who made us in the first place and put our trust in many illogical speculations, spanning the centuries of recorded history. But despite all of this, there are countless facets of our nature that still point us to the fact that we are very, very like the God who Himself has shown the most amazing array of creative capabilities imaginable; in how He made the universe, the earth and it's fully functioning life support system, plants, animals and most of all, man himself.

Evolution cannot explain human creativity, the Bible on the other hand predicts it. Mankind is capable of producing the most wonderful music, art and feats of engineering. Mankind has written magnificent poetry and brilliant novels; built beautiful buildings, produced incredible sculptures, planned economic revivals, developed technologies, produced epic motion pictures and deeply moving theatre, achieved commercial success on an unimaginable scale, developed cultures, both started and resolved international conflicts, caused great damage to and engineered great renewal of earth's natural resources, developed educational systems, thought up and implemented every conceivable type of human governmental framework, from the downright cruel to modern working democracies; we've flown to the moon and back and, continue to aspire to greater conquests.

And yet, the the middle of all this evidence that we are made in the image of our most amazingly creative Creator, hard core evolutionists still shake their head sadly and would have us believe that we are merely the advanced version of a common ape-like ancestor and should count ourselves lucky to be so. This odd and contrived theory is taught in our schools, generally with a straight face and most of us just sit there and swallow it, because to question it would be uncool, to undermine it would be unthinkable and to dismiss altogether would be outrageous and indeed, possibly mean the end of a promising career.

Yet, evolution does not explain human creativity. It does not offer a valid reason for why mankind is so very exceptional at persevering in coming up with solutions to the enormous medical, food-related and huge logistical problems that face a 21st century world of over seven billion inhabitants. Of course, we fail a lot too, but we don't give up. We keep aspiring to overcome the obstacles. The Bible tells us exactly why this is. We were created with a drive, a sense of purpose, built into our psyches just as strongly as DNA was built into our bodies (Genesis 1:27-29). We were given the mandate by God to take charge of this earth and we can't help ourselves but try to do that successfully, even though we fail and flounder, we get back up again and try to get it done better the next time - not because we evolved this way by mere chance and co-incidence but because we were designed this way by a loving God who thought ahead and came up with a plan B if we goofed up in the Garden of Eden, which we very spectacularly did.

But it still shines through. We just can't help ourselves. We are made in God's image. We look like God, we talk like God, we have emotions like God, we think like Him, we act like Him, we create...like Him; not of nothing, but out of what we've been given. We are as close to being in the image of God as we possibly can be, without actually being God. It's incredible the lengths He has gone to to secure our futures and give us hope. And even when we've turned our backs on Him and called Him a liar and a fraud, He came up with a totally just yet totally adequate way of buying us back from the indebtedness we sold ourselves into.  He gave up His Son, His only Son to an ignominious death at our own very hands. Yet in this loss He endured, a great doorway was opened for us to find our way back to "paradise lost", and to the arms of our loving Father and Creator.

Evolution does not explain human creativity nor does it begin to explain God's generosity in the face of the shaking of our collective fists. He overlooks our willful ignoring of the obvious likeness that we bear to Himself. Despite the brutality of countless despots over the ages, we have never given up on trying to make a better world. But you'd expect this, wouldn't you? He has never given up on us.

* It is both interesting and sad to note that evolutionist presumptions, the foundations upon which the theory is seated, have changed little over the last one hundred years :

"...the theory of evolution itself, a theory universally accepted, not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible."
 
(D.M.S. Watson, Adaptation, Nature - Vol 123, 1929 p. 233)

"(regarding the unlikelihood of beneficial mutations).....a thousand to the millionth power, when written out, becomes a 1 with three million noughts after it; and that would take three large volumes of about five hundred pages each, just to print!...No one would bet on anything so improbable happening. And yet, it has happened! It has happened, thanks to the working of natural selection and the properties of living substance, which makes natural selection inevitable!"

(Julian Huxley, Evolution in Action, New York, Harper and Bros., 1953 p.41)

"The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity."

(Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1987, p. 317)