Arguments creationists should not use

The following is a list of arguments that creationists should not use but are often used by even creation ministries, but essentially these are arguments which are seen as problematic for various reasons. The list is derived from an article published by Creation Ministries International and Answers in Genesis titled, Arguments we think creationists should NOT use. A DVD by Jonathan Sarfati is also a source used for this article which is similarly titled, Arguments Creationists Should NOT Use.

The list is divided into two categories, those that definately should not be used and those that are not advisable to use. Kent Hovind responded to the AiG publication of the article, disagreeing with some points while Creation Ministries replied with Maintaining Creationist Integrity.

Darwin recanted on his deathbed

 * Main Article: Darwin recanted on his deathbed (Talk.Origins)

It is almost certainly not true, and if it is true, has no relevance.

Moon-Dust thickness proves a young moon
More recent evidence means that this argument cannot be sustained.

NASA computers found a missing day and 40 minutes, proving Joshua’s “long day” and Hezekiah’s sundial movement
This is a hoax and can be found in Joshua 10 and 2 Kings 20 of the Bible. And more to the point, even James Ussher warned his readers never to expect that the "missing time" would affect later astronomical back-calculations in any way, shape or form.

In this regard, Ussher specifically stated: "By divine providence things were so ordered that no harm or disturbance happened to the predictable motion and harmony of the heavenly bodies."

This would prevent any astronomer from noticing any "missing time" in the past.

Furthermore, the "degree" in view in is not related to the modern degree of angle in any provable way. The Hebrew word rendered "degree" (and so understood by James Ussher) means a "step," and we do not know the number of steps that King Jehoahaz I ("Ahaz"), the named builder of the sundial, actually built into his design. Therefore, that forty minutes of a day went missing is only an assumption, for which no historical warrant exists. (But Ussher does say that King Merodach-Baladan of Babylonia visited King Hezekiah to ask him about the rollback of the day. )

Woolly mammoths were snap frozen during the Flood catastrophe
The evidence contradicts this claim.

The Castenedolo and Calaveras human remains in “old” strata invalidate the geologic column
The evidence is not sound.

Dubois renounced Java man as a “missing link” and claimed it was just a giant gibbon
This is not true, although evolutionary textbooks did report this.

The Japanese trawler Zuiyo-maru caught a dead plesiosaur near New Zealand
Zuiyo-maru find when compared with other examples have been found to turn out to be rotting basking sharks.

The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics began at the Fall
Various processes which operated before the Fall, such as digestion, friction, the sun heating the Earth, and breathing, require this Law to have been in operation before the Fall.

If we evolved from apes, why are there still apes today?
Evolutionary theory does not require the parent species to become extinct.

Women have one more rib than men
Not true. The rib is the only bone in the human body that can grow back.

Archaeopteryx is a fraud

 * Main Article: Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx was a true bird. But Archaeoraptor might be the fraud in view.

There are no beneficial mutations
Some information-losing mutations can be beneficial in the right circumstances.

No new species have been produced

 * Not true. Species have been observed to form, and Biblical creationism requires rapid speciation following the Flood.  Speciation is not evolution, however.

Earth’s axis was vertical before the Flood
There is no basis to this.

Paluxy tracks prove that humans and dinosaurs co-existed
The evidence for this does not stand scrutiny at the present time.

Darwin’s quote about the absurdity of eye evolution from Origin of Species
The quote is subtly out of context.

Earth’s division in the days of Peleg (Gen. 10:25) refers to catastrophic splitting of the continents
Biblically, the division must refer to the events of Babel.

The Septuagint records the correct Genesis chronology
The Septuagint chronologies are demonstrably inflated, including having Methuselah living through the flood.

There are gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 so the Earth may be 10,000 years old or even more
The language does not allow for that.

Jesus cannot have inherited genetic material from Mary, otherwise He would have inherited original sin
Biblically unsustainable and even contradicted.

The phrase "science falsely so called" in 1 Timothy 6:20 (KJV) refers to evolution
The word translated "science" actually means "knowledge" and the verse is referring to Gnosticism.

Geocentrism (taking Earth as an absolute reference frame) is taught by Scripture and Heliocentrism is anti-Scriptural
The scriptural references are from the point of view of an observer on Earth; they are not absolute.

Ron Wyatt has found Noah’s Ark
What Ron Wyatt found is a natural geological formation.

Ron Wyatt has found much archaeological proof of the Bible
There is no substantiation of his claims.

Many of Carl Baugh’s creation 'evidences'
Not scientifically sound.

Missing solar neutrinos prove that the sun shines by gravitational collapse, and is proof of a young sun
Newer evidence makes this no longer a sustainable argument.

Einstein held unswervingly, against enormous peer pressure, to belief in a Creator
Not really.

Canopy theory
Insufficient evidence and not Biblically required.

There was no rain before the Flood
Not directly taught by Scripture and not required by Scripture.

Natural selection as tautology
Often true, but that doesn't make it wrong.

Evolution is just a theory
The layman and the scientist use the word "theory" in two different ways.

There is amazing modern scientific insight in the Bible
The original authors did not intend it to be understood the way that some people read science into it.

The speed of light has decreased over time
There are still too many problems with this theory.

There are no transitional forms
There are better ways of making this argument.

Gold chains have been found in coal
The evidence is anecdotal.

Plate tectonics is fallacious
Many prominent creationists don't agree.

Creationists believe in microevolution but not macroevolution

 * Main Article: Macroevolution

This argument distracts from the key point of the source of information.

The Gospel is in the stars
The argument is speculative.