Key Terms 1
A change in the genetic makeup of an organism
What is Mutation?
God best explains the design we see in the universe as the designer.
What is the Design Argument?
The idea that the first life forms used RNA before DNA and proteins existed.
What is the RNA World Hypothesis?
The theory that the universe has the properties to support intelligent life.
What is the Anthropic Principle?
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[a]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
What is Psalms 8:3-5?
A period when people believed reason and science should guide society.
What is the Age of Enlightenment?
The theory that life came to Earth from outer space, carried by meteors or comets.
What is panspermia?
Small changes within a species over time, such as variations in color or size.
What is microevolution?
The belief that God created life but used evolution as the process.
What is Theistic Evolution?
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
The study of the natural world through observation, testing, and evidence.
What is science?
The process by which organisms with beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, thereby passing those traits on.
What is Natural Selection?
Large-scale evolutionary change that results in new species or major biological groups over long periods of time.
What is macroevolution?
The old belief was that living things could come from nonliving matter on their own.
What is Spontaneous Generation?
English philosopher and statesman who helped develop the scientific method, emphasizing careful observation and experimentation. He believed that studying nature was a way to glorify God, arguing that true science and Christianity work together because all truth ultimately comes from God.
Who was Francis Bacon?
The idea that because the universe shows order and design, it must have an intelligent designer, just like a watch has a watchmaker.
What is the Watchmaker Argument?
The belief that God created the universe and life in six literal days and that the Earth is only thousands of years old.
What is Young Earth Creationism?
A laboratory experiment that tested whether the building blocks of life could form from simple chemicals under early Earth–like conditions.
What is the Miller-Urey Experiment?
The idea that life began in Earth’s early oceans from a mix of simple chemicals that slowly formed living cells.
What is 'Primordial Soup'?
Naturalist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection, changing how people understand the development of life.
Who was Charles Darwin?
The belief that God created life in stages over long periods of time, rather than all at once.
What is Progressive Creationism?
The principle that energy naturally becomes more spread out and less usable over time, leading to disorder.
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
The idea that some biological systems need all their parts to work and would not function if any part were missing.
What is irreducible complexity?
The belief that damned souls are utterly destroyed rather than tormented in hell for eternity
What is Annihilationism?
mathematician and physicist who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, laying the foundations of modern science. He was deeply religious and studied the Bible extensively, believing that understanding the natural world revealed God’s order and wisdom.
Who was Isaac Newton?