Why did Christians reject the theory of evolution?

Answer 1

Christians disagree about all kinds of things. On this issue (at the risk of being too simplistic) there are basically two different views.

All Christians firstly would believe that almighty God is the creator. What they disagree on is the 'How' of creation.

Those who take The Bible literally would reject evolution, since it is not found in the Bible and contradicts the Bible.

Those who do not wish, for whatever reason, to take the Bible literally, would incorporate, or seek to incorporate evolution, as God's method of creating the universe and all that is in it to the point of what we observe today.

There are thus two 'camps' on this issue. The 'literalists' would argue that Jesus believed in a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 etc and that God is capable (if He is capable of anything at all) of saying in the bible what He wants to say about the origins issue. They would also argue with some considerable justification, that if one does not believe what God says in Genesis 1 and following, what else does one not believe. The resurrection itself is, to many, another 'unbelievable' event that God has also told us about. The other point which is made by creation scientists on this issue is that science itself does not actually demand an old earth and there are many scientific problems with evolution and the evolutionary ages. They thus see that evolution is tied not just to a false belief about origins but to false science, or at least many who espouse it ignore the serious problems with the data.

Those who support a non-literal interpretation would argue that much incontrovertible science supports the evolutionary argument and so it is necessary to change or reinterpret Genesis to match what science has discovered. They would also argue that this 'infallible' evidence of science makes those who believe the Bible into a laughingstock.

In the end, it would seem that the question boils down to one of authority (even though others may disagree and hold that there is no contradiction at all between what the Bible says and what science says). One camp regards the Bible as the ultimate authority and that science must come into line behind it. The other would argue that scientific understanding must determine how the Bible is viewed.

Answer:

Evolution is not science. Empirical science is

1. observable
2. repeatable
3. measurable

Evolution is not observable, it is not repeatable, nor is it measurable. It contradicts the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics.

1. matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed
2. everything goes from order to disorder

Life only comes from life. That is the only observable, repeatable, and measurable know way of life being created. It has never been observed to come from non-living substances.

Refer to the chart below to more fully see why Christians would disagree with the theory of evolution.

Creation

Evolution

Cause

God was the Cause

For every effect, there is a cause (observable)

There was not cause - 15 billion years ago for no know reason, the universe exploded itself into existence. Time, chance, and natural process created all things.

The creation of the universe is an effect with no cause (not observable).

Origin

The universe was spoken into existence by God's Word.

Matter cannot be created or destroyed by natural processes (observable).

Began with 'singularity', a tiny infinitely hot and dense point

Matter was created by a natural process (not observable).

Energy

We are devolving

Energy goes from a state of usable energy to less usable energy (observable).

We are evolving

Energy goes from a state of less usable energy to more usable energy (not observable).

Space

Earth created first (day 1)

Stars came afterwards (day 4) with the sun and moon.

Stars formed first

Earth formed afterwards

Earths

Covering

Water

Fire

Time Constraints

6 Days - The creation of the World was FINISHED in six day and is no longer taking place (observable).

Infinite Time - 4.6 billion years ago the earth evolved by natural processes. The world is in a continuous process of creation evolution (not observable).

Quality

Very Good

Primitive, Violent

Planning of

Life

By design

Accident

Origin of

Life

God

Life comes from life (observable), no known exceptions.

Forces of Nature

It is possible for life to come from non-life (not observable).

Time needed

for Life

2 Days (Faith based) - all animal/human life was created on day 5 and 6.

Millions of years (Faith based) - They don't know how it happened but given enough time they BELIEVE it will.

Species

Kind begets kind (observable).

Kind begets some other kind (not observable).

Animal Life

Birds first, then

Reptiles

Reptiles first, then

Birds

Human Life

Man was created on day six

Man is made in the image of God.

3.5 billion years ago life evolved

Humans evolved from ape-like creatures.

Beginning

of Death

After Adam sinned, not a process of creation - it is a product of man's sin.

Always been present, part of the creation process - the means by which man evolves into a higher being.

Cause of

Death

Sin, there was no death before Adam sinned (plant life not included), the breath of life was breathed into animals but not plants.

Natural process, existed from the beginning of life

Spiritual

Death

Both physical and spiritual, you will give an account of your life after you die.

Physical only, no accountability after death.

Sediment Layers,

Canyons

Form rapidly (liquefaction). Witnessed during Mt. St. Helen (observable).

Form slowly. No evidence witnessed (not observable).

Fossil Creation

Catastrophic event, rapid burial in water, (observable).

Buried by dust over long periods of time (not observable).

Marine fossils on

Mountains

Global flood, Genesis account

Rapid 40 day/night event

Springs of the deep broken up

All creation perished

All mountains covered by at least 20 ft.

About 200 legends from cultures all over the world.

Local floods, earth sinking into the ocean and rising again.

No written record or legend

Trees through

layers

Fossilized trees spanning many layers indicates rapid burial by water, observable with Mt. St. Helen. Can be created in one week (observable).

Over many years plant life died, sank into the earth, and coal formed (not observable).

Coal, Oil,

Petrified

Wood

Coal, Oil, Petrified Wood, can all be made in a matter of weeks, (observable).

Coal, Oil, Petrified Wood take millions of years to form (not observable).

Biblical Day

Recognize that the Biblical day means 24 hours and accept it as fact

Hebrew word "Yom", in all cases, means short period of time

defined to be evening and morning

days are distinguished between seasons and years (Genesis 1:14)

God's own word (Exodus 10:11)

writing style of Genesis is narrative, not poetic

genealogy of human race given

Some, recognize that the Biblical day means 24 hours but reject the account as a myth.

Others, interpret the Biblical definition of day to mean millions of years.

Answer 2

Most Christians are taught that there are absolute truths regarding Evolution, when in fact there is a lot of gray area. I believe that there were dinosaurs, yet the Bible does not spell out the fact that they were here other than a vague reference to the behemoth How long was it before God divided the day and the night? I believe that there has to be some give on the time line. Did God wait 5 billion years to finish what he'd started? Who are we to question God? It's called faith. A basic belief in the unseen. There is no way possible to accurately portray the prehistoric past. Even Carbon dating has been proved inaccurate. I believe in the ability to adapt but have yet to see any proof of evolution. A woodpecker could not exist if it had to evolve. without the shock-mounted beak, it would destroy its own mouth. Without the specialized claws it wouldn't be able to hold on. Without the specialized cranial cavity, the hammering would destroy it's brain. It had to happen all at once. If monkeys evolved into humans, why are there still monkeys? It doesn't follow the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest Evolution unfortunately is taught as fact, when in reality it is just a theory, and not a very plausible one.

*The woodpecker has the same ancestor as your common bird. Therefore it already evolved into a form in which it can adapt to its environment. A woodpecker has no need to evolve further because it has already perfected its state of being. (not consciously, though).

AnswerMany Christians didn't accept the idea when it was first proposed because they believed that God had created Adam and Eve. It was not believed that Adam and Eve had evolved from another animal. The main point is when the theory first came out it was challenging the Christian faith, because evolving from other animals was not what Christians had translated the Bible to mean, they thought that man had arrived on the planet by God creating them. AnswerThere are two possible explanations for this.

As stated above Christians believe that the one true and Almighty God created the universe in the beginning. This may well be a simple enough explanation in some cases for why Christians don't believe in evolution.

However, since there are undoubtedly Christians who do believe in evolution, then there may well be another possible answer. Some Christians in this category believe God created and yet they incorporate this belief with a belief in evolution as well and reinterpret the Bible accounts to fit it. Others may well just try to hold the two seemingly contradictory views simultaneously.

Another group of Christians who believe in creation, would also not believe in evolution since they do not find the evidence of science makes it an essential part of being a thinking and believing person. Thus, the answer here is in the unsatisfactory nature of the scientific evidence which supposedly proves evolution. This group of Christians are not bound by any naturalistic world-view to accept evolution, but are thus free to see the many serious scientific flaws in the theory of evolution as well as the Laws of Science which contradict it.

*As a Christian evolutionist I believe that although evolution DOES occur (no DOUBT ABOUT IT) the animals can't consciously control how they wish to change. Consider the following sentence: "God did not JUST create the world, He did something greater still: He made the world make itself." Isn't that just magnificent? So although scientifically there is no doubt of evolution, it cannot occur without some HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS that most people like to call GOD.

AnswerBecause they were conditioned to believe that the Bible is infallible and the Bible say that the world and everything in it was created by God. Some people are ignorant because they have to believe the Bible even though its obvious we evolved. AnswerFrom a scientific point of view, evolution has been proved to be a faulty theory. There are many, many problems with the theory of evolution.

*In everyday speech the word "theory" means that something is suggested without any proof to establish it as a fact. In the scientific community the word "theory" implies something totally different. In science a theory is something that has been formulated in order to give an explanation for something. A scientific theory is tested hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of times before it can even be called a "theory". So we can conclude that the Theory Of Evolution has been formulated BASED ON FACTS collected by VARIOUS scientists and not just the founder (Charles Robert Darwin).

But if we just focus on the Biblical perspective as to why Christians don't believe in evolution, lets look at a few points:

1. Everything in the theory of evolution is backwards from the creation account in Genesis. For example, evolution says birds evolved from reptiles, whereas Genesis says that birds were created before reptiles. Evolution says the sun came before plants, yet Genesis says the plants were created before the sun. (interesting note: if we believe that the days of Genesis were not literal 24 hour days, and that each day could have been 1 million years or something, then we have to believe that the plants survived without the sun for that period of time. If we believe in a literal 6 day creation, the plants would only have been without the sun for one day)

2. If we believe in evolution, then we are believing that death came before sin, since the evolution theory suggests that man evolved from single cell organisms through various evolutionary changes. That would mean that there was a fair amount of death before man (woman) committed the first sin. HOWEVER, the Bible says the opposite. It says sin came before death, and death is the consequence of sin.

The theory of evolution is one of the major weapons in Satan's arsenal, and he is not called the Father of Lies for nothing.

Micro evolution does occur. Micro evolution is minor changes within a kind of animal. You can have many species of animal but it stays one kind. It is true we have many different species of dogs, but they all have one ancestor - a dog. It is very possible that the wolf and the dog could have a common ancestor, but it is still the same kind of animal. The same for donkeys and horses - same kind of animal - they could have had a common ancestor but they are still the same kind. Christians have no problem with micro evolution. It is macro-evolution that we disagree with, which says that the dog and a rock have the same common ancestor.

AnswerIn order to understand evolution you have to be open-minded and not one-track minded. In science we arrange each sort of life form in a lot of categories. Therefore it is incorrect to to say DONKEYS and HORSES are "the same kind of animal". YES, they belong to the same GENUS, but they are totally different organisms.

ALSO: Macro-evolution does not say a rock and a dog has a common ancestor. Evolution refers to the minor changes in each organism from one generation to another. Do rock have generations? I don't think so. You have to distinguish between LIVING and NON-LIVING factors here.

Thus, if you believe in micro-evolution you are INCLINED to believe in macro-evolution since small changes from generation to generation result to GREATER changes (macro-evolution) over longer periods of time.

AnswerActually, most Christians do believe in evolution. This may sound odd, but this is because Christian extremists who deny evolution are very vocal and attract a lot of media and internet attention, but they are actually just a small minority of fanatics, who are basically a cult rather than a religion, and they don't speak for the vast majority of Christians.

Fundamentalist Christians deny that evolution is true, because they (for whatever reason) choose to interpret the creation story in Genesis completely literally, meaning that they believe that the earth and all life was literally created in 7 days, instead of over millions of years.

Though it doesn't really make sense for them to interpret this story literally, when they interpret plenty of other Bible stories allegorically. For example, the Antichrist in the book of Revelation is described as a beast, but even fundamentalist Christians believe that this is just a metaphor (they believe the Antichrist will be a man, not a literal dragon or monster, even though this is what the Bible literally says).

So the true reason that fundamentalists insist on denying evolution, (which 99.995% of all scientists believe to be fact) is something of a mystery, and is one of the many signs that they are a cult (ex. cults often indoctrinate their members with extremely bizarre views in order to distance their members from mainstream society and force them to rely solely on the cult for "true" information about evolution, the origin of life, etc).

Answer:Because the two stories are contradictory. Refer to the chart below.

Creation

Evolution

Cause

God was the Cause

For every effect, there is a cause (observable)

There was not cause - 15 billion years ago for no know reason, the universe exploded itself into existence. Time, chance, and natural process created all things.

The creation of the universe is an effect with no cause (not observable).

Origin

The universe was spoken into existence by God's Word.

Matter cannot be created or destroyed by natural processes (observable).

Began with 'singularity', a tiny infinitely hot and dense point

Matter was created by a natural process (not observable).

Energy

We are devolving

Energy goes from a state of usable energy to less usable energy (observable).

We are evolving

Energy goes from a state of less usable energy to more usable energy (not observable).

Space

Earth created first (day 1)

Stars came afterwards (day 4) with the sun and moon.

Stars formed first

Earth formed afterwards

Earths

Covering

Water

Fire

Time Constraints

6 Days - The creation of the World was FINISHED in six day and is no longer taking place (observable).

Infinite Time - 4.6 billion years ago the earth evolved by natural processes. The world is in a continuous process of creation evolution (not observable).

Quality

Very Good

Primitive, Violent

Planning of

Life

By design

Accident

Origin of

Life

God

Life comes from life (observable), no known exceptions.

Forces of Nature

It is possible for life to come from non-life (not observable).

Time needed

for Life

2 Days (Faith based) - all animal/human life was created on day 5 and 6.

Millions of years (Faith based) - They don't know how it happened but given enough time they BELIEVE it will.

Species

Kind begets kind (observable).

Kind begets some other kind (not observable).

Animal Life

Birds first, then

Reptiles

Reptiles first, then

Birds

Human Life

Man was created on day six

Man is made in the image of God.

3.5 billion years ago life evolved

Humans evolved from ape-like creatures.

Beginning

of Death

After Adam sinned, not a process of creation - it is a product of man's sin.

Always been present, part of the creation process - the means by which man evolves into a higher being.

Cause of

Death

Sin, there was no death before Adam sinned (plant life not included), the breath of life was breathed into animals but not plants.

Natural process, existed from the beginning of life

Spiritual

Death

Both physical and spiritual, you will give an account of your life after you die.

Physical only, no accountability after death.

Sediment Layers,

Canyons

Form rapidly (liquefaction). Witnessed during Mt. St. Helen (observable).

Form slowly. No evidence witnessed (not observable).

Fossil Creation

Catastrophic event, rapid burial in water, (observable).

Buried by dust over long periods of time (not observable).

Marine fossils on

Mountains

Global flood, Genesis account

Rapid 40 day/night event

Springs of the deep broken up

All creation perished

All mountains covered by at least 20 ft.

About 200 legends from cultures all over the world.

Local floods, earth sinking into the ocean and rising again.

No written record or legend

Trees through

layers

Fossilized trees spanning many layers indicates rapid burial by water, observable with Mt. St. Helen. Can be created in one week (observable).

Over many years plant life died, sank into the earth, and coal formed (not observable).

Coal, Oil,

Petrified

Wood

Coal, Oil, Petrified Wood, can all be made in a matter of weeks, (observable).

Coal, Oil, Petrified Wood take millions of years to form (not observable).

Biblical Day

Recognize that the Biblical day means 24 hours and accept it as fact

Hebrew word "Yom", in all cases, means short period of time

defined to be evening and morning

days are distinguished between seasons and years (Genesis 1:14)

God's own word (Exodus 10:11)

writing style of Genesis is narrative, not poetic

genealogy of human race given

Some, recognize that the Biblical day means 24 hours but reject the account as a myth.

Others, interpret the Biblical definition of day to mean millions of years.
Actually, most Christians do believe in evolution. This may sound odd, but this is because Christian extremists who deny evolution are very vocal and attract a lot of media and internet attention, but they are actually just a small minority of fanatics, who are basically a cult rather than a religion, and they don't speak for the vast majority of Christians.

Fundamentalist Christians deny that evolution is true, because they (for whatever reason) choose to interpret the creation story in Genesis completely literally, meaning that they believe that the and all life was literally created in 7 days, instead of over millions of years.

Though it doesn't really make sense for them to interpret this story literally, when they interpret plenty of other Bible stories allegorically. For example, the Antichrist in the book of Revelation is described as a beast, but even fundamentalist Christians believe that this is just a metaphor (they believe the Antichrist will be a man, not a literal dragon or monster, even though this is what the Bible literally says).

So the true reason that fundamentalists insist on denying evolution, (which 99.995% of all scientists believe to be fact) is something of a mystery.

Another Answer:Christians don't believe in evolution because it was not taught by Christ. Creation was. In order to be a true Christian, you must be a follower of the teachings of Christ.

Some Christians do not interpret Genesis to mean that the world was created in seven days. Some believe it took longer than that. This has nothing to do with the question, however, as the main reason that Christians don't accept evolution lies in the statement that God created human beings. Not only did he create us, Genesis also states that he created us from nothing. Simply because some passages in the Bible are to be taken figuratively does not mean that the entire Bible is this way. The Bible contains many stories and actual account of people's lives. Genesis is an actual account of creation and other people that existed around this time period. Genesis was meant to be taken literally, if in no other way, at least with the account of creation and God making everything from nothing. Because of this, a Christian cannot accept both creation and evolution or successfully combine Christianity with the theory of evolution.

Answer 3

Because many devout Christians see evolution as contradiction to the Genesis account of the Creation, and therefore a theory that goes against their view. This rejection still goes around today by fundamental Christians. Around the time Charles Darwin first formulated the theory of evolution, the Church still taught young earth creation. The idea that the earth and its inhabitants were created over a very long period of time must have been very displeasing indeed.

Answer 4

If you ask a evolutionist or people who don't believe that God created the world say that there are no miracles. There are no miracles and they don't believe in them, they have to see an evidence. However, there's a weak spot about that. If you ask them, "Can you explain how the random chemicals randomly and miraculously interacted with each other and formed the Earth?" If you keep asking. It will come down to where they say, it's just by random chance. In other words by miracle. See, here they are saying that they don't believe in miracles, but there they are saying the Earth was created by miracles. Dude, even some scientists say that evolution theory is wrong. There are evidences that Darwin estimated some research and didn't record it accurately. I believe that there's some evolutionary thing going on. However, you have to see that Darwin is saying all species originated from one animal. They said they found the Java Man, the missing link. However, they only found the part of a skull cap, thigh bone, and three teeth. That's it! It's like looking through the book "War and Peace" and looking at 17 random pages then guessing what the whole book is talking about.

Answer A key problem is that evolutionary theory just does not line up with the very opening account of the Holy Bible.

But whether Christian or otherwise, there are serious practical problems with evolution.

Just one example is the recent discovery of Kinesiologist, Denis Towers, that groundsnakes present as the complete antithesis of Man - homo sapiens - both, FUNCTIONAL-anatomically and behaviourally.

Surely, this simple discovery alone, suggests that for this to be the case, a great Mastermind deliberated this creative outcome. That implies problems for atheistic views.

For Christians, it implies the possible reality of the Adam-serpent experience related in the Creation account of the Holy Bible, as the suggestion is that when God subsequently cursed all things, including the serpent, following the Eve-serpent encounter, He created Man and the snake in a manner that depicted that momentous event of "Opposition" causing the changing of relations between God, man and beast.

So, just this simple discovery, alone, creates its own set of problems for evolutionists.

Answer 5

The Question itself is wrong.. Christians did not disagree with Darwin's ideas. If someone do so the reason should be misunderstanding of bible .... in Genesis it is written that God created sky and earth in one day, second day he created sun and other planets . Now i wanna ask u something,will the term 'day' mean the same as now when there was no sky and no sun? Clearly it is not. So in the book Genesis the term day refers millions or billions of years. this is what Darwin also said.He was not against Christian thoughts.The book genesis is fully of myths .it should not be understood in words.I think the idea is clear now.

Answer 6

Not all Christians disagree with the Theory of Evolution. In most western countries, quite large numbers of Christians are quite comfortable in accepting evolution as being the scientific explanation for our origins. Moreover, the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church, among others, have taken positions in support of evolution.
Those Christians who disagree about the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection generally support creationism, and are eaither 'old-earth' creationists or 'young-earth' creationists. Old-earth creationists accept the geological age of the earth, but look for purely divine explanations for our personal existence. Young-earth creationists, on the other hand, believe that the earth is literally only thousands of years old.

Some young-earth creationists seek to explain the geological and fossil evidence by saying that God created this evidence to confuse us. Others believe, quite wrongly, that scientists use carbon-dating techniques to arrive at a date for the earth. They feel that carbon-dating must be the easiest scientific method to refute, because they say that the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere could have changed over time. In fact, carbon-dating techniques were not, for valid scientific reasons, used for arriving at an estimate for the date of the earth. And scientists have identified the natural mechanism for the carbon isotope ratio in the atmosphere, as well as establishing its ratio to be constant over the range for which carbon-dating is used.

In the opinion of Marvin Lubenow, a well-known opponent of evolution, a species can never evolve into two separate species. Evolutionary scientists dispute this position, as being unsupported by the evidence.

For more information on a number of views on creation, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 7

Opinion:

Though there is a growing trend amongst many in 'Christianity' to accept evolution as an explanation for origins of life here on Earth, it is far from a proven 'theory.' Consider Australian molecular biologist and medical doctor Michael Denton, himself an agnostic, has written, evolutionary theory "is still, as it was in Darwin's time, a highly speculative hypothesis entirely without direct factual support and very far from that self-evident axiom some of its more aggressive advocates would have us believe" ( Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, 1986, p. 77). But for mankind, it seems for every 'educated' person supporting evolution there will be another not supporting it. This is an unending debate for many but not for the student of the Bible who is not a follower of some mainstream Christian group.

The choice for me is to either believe the words of Christ or to deny Him. Jesus said Mark 10:6 in the New King James Version (NKJV) 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ referring to Genesis 1:27; 5:2. He also said this in the parallel account of Matthew 19:4 New King James Version (NKJV) 4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ The Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, also fully believed in the creation account (see Acts 17:24,26; 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Timothy 2:13; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9.

To my way of thinking then, there is simply no way of reshaping the Bible into a book that also somehow supports the theory of evolution. Either we are brave enough to accept the creation account at face value making theistic evolution impossible to believe or we fully discount the truth of Scripture. We cannot believe both the Bible and evolution as both Old and New Testaments consistently support the account of the divine creation of Adam and Eve.

Answer 8

Those Christians who still hold firmly to the view that the world was created just six thousand years ago and that God created every living thing just as we see them now, have the greatest problems with the Theory of Evolution and with much of science in general. This view runs entirely counter to the Theory of Evolution.

Some Christians have adapted and accept that the world is immensely old and that some form of evolution must have taken place. Many believe that evolution did not happen in response to environmental pressures, but was guided by God. The problem here is that God never seems to have guided the evolution of species other than in directions that helped them survive; also some species were simply allowed to become extinct, presumably because God did not wish to help them evolve or was unsure how.

Other Christians accept that the world is immensely old and that some form of evolution must have taken place, but find intellectual difficulties in accepting that evolution could take place on the basis of what they assume to be mere chance.
For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 9

Evolution is a scientifically proven fact, and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is simply a well attested way of explaining how evolution has occurred. This removes evolution from the realm of religion, yet many Christians refuse to believe that evolution has occurred (and is still occurring, gradually and imperceptibly). A famous example of a Christian who chose not to believe in evolution was the wife of the Bishop of Worcester, after she heard about Darwin's book, Origin of the Species: “Descended from the apes! My dear, let us hope that it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known.” She feared not so much knowing the truth, but what widespread knowledge of that truth might do to religious belief.

In the same way, there are still many Christian fundamentalists who fear that widespread knowledge of the truth of evolution could undermine Christian faith. They not only choose not to believe in evolution themselves, but insist that others not believe as well. If this means disseminating false information and half-truths about evolution, so be it, just as long as people can be convinced that evolution is not factual. If some form of 'creationism' can be taught as science in our schools, then perhaps the tide of knowledge about the earth's history can be reversed.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 10

First, not all Christians reject Evolutionary theory.

Those that reject Evolutionary theory do so because it does not match the creation stories in the book of Genesis.