Imagine this scenario: Alex is confused. He has always believed in God and in creation. But today his biology teacher forcefully claimed that evolution is a fact, that it is based on credible scientific research. Alex doesn’t want to appear foolish. ‘After all,’ he says to himself, ‘if scientists have proved evolution to be true, who am I to question them?’

If you were Alex, would you accept evolution just because the textbooks present it as fact?

People on both sides of the debate are often quick to state what they believe without really knowing why they believe it.

• Some people believe in creation simply because that’s what they’ve been taught at church.

• Some people believe in evolution simply because that’s what they’ve been taught at school.

The Bible says: “Every house is constructed by someone, but the one who constructed all things is God.” (Hebrews 3:4) Is that reasonable to believe?

CLAIM: Everything in the universe came as a result of a random big bang.

CLAIM: Humans evolved from animals.

CLAIM: Evolution is a proven fact.

“If you were walking through the forest and discovered a beautiful house, would you think: ‘How fascinating! The trees must have fallen in just the right way to make this house.’ Of course not! It’s just not reasonable. So why should we believe that everything in the universe just happened to come about?”—Julia.

“Imagine that someone told you that there was an explosion at a printing plant and that the ink spattered onto the walls and ceilings and formed the text of an unabridged dictionary. Would you believe it?”—Gwen.

The Bible encourages you to use your “power of reason.” (Romans 12:1) That means your belief in God should not be based merely on

• EMOTION (I just feel that there must be a higher power)

• THE INFLUENCE OF OTHERS (I live in a religious community)

• PRESSURE (My parents raised me to believe in God—I had no choice)

Instead, you should have sound reasons for your belief.

“When I’m in class listening to the teacher explain how our bodies function, there’s no doubt in my mind that God exists. Each part of the body has its own function, down to the smallest detail, and these functions are often carried out without our awareness. The human body truly is mind-boggling!”—Teresa.

“When I see a skyscraper, a cruise ship, or a car, I ask myself, ‘Who built this?’ It takes intelligent people to build a car, for example, because so many small components have to work just right for the whole thing to function. And if cars have to be designed by someone, then so do we humans.”—Richard.

“The more I studied science, the less credible evolution seemed. . . . To me, it takes more ‘faith’ to believe in evolution than to believe in a Creator.”—Anthony.

Despite decades of research, scientists have yet to come up with an explanation for evolution that they can all agree on. If scientists can’t agree on evolution—and they are supposed to be the experts—are you wrong to question the theory?