Creationist arguments we should * not * use...

This is an important list to keep up with if you intend to discuss creation or evolution.  It's from Answers in Genesis, and I'm just going to do the ol' copy-n-paste:

Why should a Christian ministry maintain a list of arguments creationists should avoid? As a ministry, we want to honor God and represent Christ well when defend His Word. This means using honest, intellectually sound arguments that are based in Scripture, logic, and scientific research. Because there are so many good arguments for a recent creation (which the Bible clearly teaches), we have no need to grasp at straws—arguments using questionable logic and tenuous or no evidence. Answers in Genesis is not willing to distort evidence or resort to bad logic to defend the Bible.

Furthermore, there is little harm in avoiding questionable arguments—or, at least, stating that certain interpretations of evidence are doubtful—since there are plenty of valid arguments with well-documented evidences against molecules-to-man evolution, atheism, and the like. Using bad arguments allow evolutionists to easily “refute” creationists by sidestepping the actual case for biblical creation. Even one instance of using a faulty argument can lead someone to write off creationism as pseudoscientific and dismiss creationists as shoddy researchers—or charlatans!

A final reason for avoiding flawed arguments is that it leads to faulty thinking. Answers in Genesis is not just about defending a young-earth creation; ultimately, the ministry wants to teach people to start from Scripture and think biblically in all areas of life. The Bible explains the world around us, and since the Bible’s description of earthly things is true, its gospel message is also true.

(These listings are not comprehensive but are instead some of the most common faulty arguments.)

Arguments that should never be used

1. Moon dust thickness proves a young moon.
   
   
2. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics began at the Fall. (If so, how could Adam and Eve have eaten and digested their food that they were told to eat before the Fall?)
   
   
3. NASA computers, in calculating the positions of planets, found a missing day and 40 minutes, proving Joshua’s “long day” (Joshua 10) and Hezekiah’s sundial movement (2 Kings 20).
   
   
4. There are no beneficial mutations.
   
   
5. Darwin recanted on his deathbed. (His family, some of whom attended church and opposed his ideas, said this did not happen.)
   
   
6. Woolly mammoths were flash frozen during the Flood catastrophe.
   
   
7. If we evolved from apes, apes shouldn’t exist today. (In an evolutionary worldview, mankind did not evolve from apes but from an apelike ancestor, from which both humans and apes of today supposedly evolved.)
   
   
8. No new species have been produced.
   
   
9. Ron Wyatt has found much archeological proof of the Bible.

Arguments that should be avoided (because further research is still needed, new research has invalided aspects of it, or biblical implications may discount it)

1. There was a water vapor canopy surrounding earth before the Flood.
   
   
2. Mitochondrial Eve is only 6000 years old.
   
   
3. The Gospel is in the stars.
   
   
4. The Japanese trawler Zuiyo Maru caught a dead plesiosaur near New Zealand. (Later research showed it to be a basking shark.)
   
   
5. The earth’s axis was vertical before the Flood. (Genesis 1:14 reveals seasons did exist prior to the Flood.)
   
   
6. Paluxy tracks proves that humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
   
   
7. Stars are closer than we are lead to believe.
   
   
8. There was no rain before the Flood. (Genesis 2:4–6, a passage commonly used to support this, is speaking of Creation Week, prior to the creation of man. It may not be wise to assume this projects into the future until the Flood.)
   
   
9. The speed of light has decreased over time.
   
   
10. “There are no transitional forms.” (It would be better to say intermediates between two different kinds. We find variant transitional fossils for animals within the same kind—horse to a horse for example but that is expected in a biblcial worldview.)

Common misconceptions/misunderstandings

1. Earth’s division in the days of Peleg (Genesis 10:25) refers to catastrophic splitting of the continents. (How could the mountains of Ararat in Genesis 8:4 have existed on Day 150 of the Flood for the Ark to land in, if the Eurasian, African, and Arabian plates had not collided to form these mountains yet?)
   
   
2. The Septuagint records the correct Genesis chronology. (Methuselah would have lived 17 years after the Flood without being on the Ark. This is a problem.)
   
   
3. The phrase “science falsely so called” in 1 Timothy 6:20 (KJV) refers to evolution.
   
   
4. Man could only live to 120 years as per Genesis 6:3. (Then how could many of Noah’s descendants outlive 120 years, including Abraham? This makes better sense as a countdown to the Flood.)
   
   
5. The Intelligent Design Movement is a Christian movement.
   
   
6. Women have one more rib than men.
   
   
7. Archaeopteryx is a fraud.
   
   
8. The Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire’s house to produce Bibles. (This has never been verified.)

[Editor’s note: For your convenience, links are given to some articles presently on the website that discuss the topic. We hope in the months ahead to readdress many of these issues and provide the most current thinking on each. During this process, we will be expanding these lists to include more items. Check back for updates.]