—  J.X. Mason’s Blog of 10-3-21
—  J.X. Mason is the author of www.ContinuingCreation.org

Question:  What’s the difference between Continuing Creation and Creationism?

Continuing Creation: The Growing> Organizing> Direction of the Cosmos is about the continuing creative power of evolution. Its processes started billions of years ago at the time of the Big Bang.

In contrast, Fundamentalist, Biblical Creationism is about a personal, anthropomorphic God who created, by His own hand, all the creatures on Earth during just six days which they estimate took place over 6 days sometime within the last 10,000 years!  Creationism is rooted in the Bible. Continuing Creation is rooted in Nature, Reason, and Science. Each of them opposes the other.

Question:  If Creationism and Continuing Creation are opposites, why has the more recent idea, Continuing Creation, adopted a name that is so similar to the older idea, Creationism?

Because Creationism should not have a patent on the word “Creation.”  The word “Creation” best belongs to Continuing Creation, because its concepts correctly describe how things were made, are being made today, and will likely be made into the future.

Question: So, what is the process of Continuing Creation?

The process of Continuing Creation proceeds by differentiation through combination:  atoms combine to make more complex and quite different molecules; molecules combine to make more complex and quite different chemical compounds; compounds combine to make single-celled organisms; on to make larger multicellular organisms, and on to evolve consciousness and intelligence.

Then, principally using the minds and hands of humans as agents, Continuing Creation evolves communication, language, culture, science, and technology.  (Many futurists predict electronic minds and self-aware robots will eventually evolve culture and technology on their own.)

At each step in this evolutionary saga, we see that similar parts combine to make new wholes that are qualitatively different than the sum of their parts.  For example, on Earth’s surface, the molecule H2O (water) is utterly different than its two components, H (hydrogen) and O (oxygen).  H and O are gases on the surface of Earth, but H20 is a most often a liquid or the solid called ice.

Question:  Do Creationism and Continuing Creation have anything in common?

Well, even Fundamentalist Creationists understand that humans can continue do “God’s work.”  Updating that opinion, many people in Catholic and “mainline” Protestant churches refer to themselves as “Evolutionary Creationists.” They hold that their personal, anthropomorphic God uses the processes of scientific evolution (e.g., modern medicine), to accomplish many of “His” goals through humans.

But neither Fundamentalist Creationism nor Evolutionary Creationism is as well supported by scientific evidence as is Continuing Creation.