Books about creationism for a kid who believes in evolution

[pooh bear]

My ds is an atheist and has been reading lot of books about Darwin, and recently started reading this graphic novel of On the Origin of the Species

 

We are an atheist family, but I do want my ds to know both sides of the debate about where we come from. He has been reading a childrens Bible, and has lots of questions which I can not really answer.

 

What would be a good book for my ds to read to have his questions answered and give him an over view on creationism?

[momofabcd]

Answers for Kids might be a good start. There are 3 or 4 books in the series, I think.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Answers for Kids might be a good start. There are 3 or 4 books in the series, I think.

 

 

:iagree: Depending on how old your son it, you might want to have him read both the answers for kids and the new answers books. There are 3 books in the new answers series! (that is for older kids)

New Answers Book 1 The New Answers Book 2

 

The New Answers Book 3

 

 

Answers for kids book 1 Answers for kids book 2 Answers for kids book 3

 

Answers for kids book 4

 

 

I own all (except the New Answers book 4) and they are very well written! I think there is a New Answers book 4, I thought I saw that on rainbow resource, or maybe it is coming out! I can't remember! Hope these help! :)

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I like the Young Earth book. It is really scientific, but for at least a 12 year old. AIG also has something called the Atheist Bible, it is written for Atheists.

Edited April 18, 2010 by mrsjamiesouth

[Matryoshka]

If you're not looking to convince him of creationism but just show why some people so strenuously object to evolution on religious grounds, there's a new YA biography of Darwin and his wife titled Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, and I think one of the main themes is his trying to reconicle his scientific views with those of his deeply religious wife. I'm having my kids read it. Here's a synposis off of Amazon:

 

Beginning with Darwin's notorious chart listing reasons to wed and not to wed, Heiligman has created a unique, flowing, and meticulously researched picture of the controversial scientist and the effect of his marriage on his life and work. Using the couple's letters, diaries, and notebooks as well as documents and memoirs of their relatives, friends, and critics, the author lets her subjects speak for themselves while rounding out the story of their relationship with information about their time and place. She shows how Darwin's love for his intelligent, steadfast, and deeply religious cousin was an important factor in his scientific work—pushing him to document his theory of natural selection for decades before publishing it with great trepidation. Just as the pair embodied a marriage of science and religion, this book weaves together the chronicle of the development of a major scientific theory with a story of true love. Published for young adults, this title will be equally interesting to adults drawn to revisit Darwin on his 200th birthday

[nmoira]

Are you looking specifically for a Christian interpretation of creationism? I'm not sure what age or reading level you're looking for, but here are some suggestions.

 

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World - Hamilton

 

Four Corners of the Sky: Creation Stories and Cosmologies from Around the World - Zeitlin (FWIW, I quite like this one)

 

What is God? - Boritzer

[michelle l]

Does Jay Wyle from Apologia have anything out on this? He has an interesting story of how he came to disproved evolution for himself from a scientific perspective when he was in high school, and then later became a creationist as well as a scientist. I listened to it on CD and it was interesting, but I wonder if he has something more detailed? Maybe check the Apologia site?

 

I've seen a portion of one of the Answers in Genesis videos and found it fascinating. I'd never been exposed to that perspective before, even growing up in a Christian home.

[terrijo]

You can also check out the Answers in Genesis website. There are many great books that you can look at and decide for yourself what he should read. I do really like the Answers series for kids over 11. Both evolutionists and creationists have the same evidence but it is how that evidence is interpreted that distiguishes us. The Answers books look at that evidence with a creation standpoint. Easy reading.

I think mrsjamiesouth mentioned the Young Earth which is by John Morris. This one reads a little more like a textbook with lots of pictures but again it does look at the evidence from a creation standpoint.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[EKS]

We did this as a part of a study of the beginning of the universe and the history of life on earth. We started with lots of different creation stories, including the one presented in Genesis. Then we moved into the scientific version. But we didn't use anything specifically about creationism.

[pooh bear]

Thanks for the replies.

 

We have read lots of different creation stories. For the most part ds has read them as just that, stories.

 

Now that he is reading through a childrens bible, he has lots of questions about different things, questions that I don't have the answers to. I guess I am looking for a book that will answer his questions.

[phathui5]

I read Darwin's Black Box when I was about 14. It's not religious. It's by a scientist who disagrees with Darwin.

[terrijo]

Can I ask how old your son is?

[pooh bear]

Can I ask how old your son is?

 

He will be 10 in a couple of months.

[Just Robyn]

All creation stories or just the Christian one? I was looking at this book on evolution at the bookstore recently and it actually addresses creationism in it to some extent.

[Jeana]

My 12 yr old loved a book called convicted by Brad Harrab. You can get this on focuspress.com. Hth, Jeana

[LunaLee]

My dd is reading that Darwin book now, and we've had some great discussions about it. She's Christian and has really come to her own decisions about the whole thing. We talked a lot about Intellegent Design.

 

I don't really have any books for you, but I just wanted to applaud you for trying to show your son all sides of the story.

[redheadeddaughter]

I, too, applaud you for sharing various ideas with your son. It sounds as if he is a driven "learner" if he is choosing books on a subject such as this. I'm not sure exactly what you need (haven't read all the other replies yet), but if you are looking for more general information about what he has read, and not merely books regarding creation/evolution, we really enjoyed the tone and content of the Lee Strobel books for kids:

The Case for Christ for Kids

The Case for a Creator for Kids

The Case for Faith for Kids

http://www.amazon.com/Case-Christ-Kids/dp/0310711479/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

 

He is a journalist with a neat back story of his own. But basically he presents the arguments for and against in an interesting, logical way.

It is difficult to answer (competently) all the great questions that kids have about the Bible... but this series is a pretty good start. I didn't find the tone preachy, and I came away with a bunch of different viewpoints.

[AudreyTN]

If you want a really good book into WHY Christians don't believe in evolution (unless I'm mistaken, that's what it sounds like you want) read Ken Ham's The Lie: Evolution. <~ Link to a free eBook download

 

ETA: There's another book on that free download page called In Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation. I've never read it, but that may work for you too.

Edited April 19, 2010 by AudreyTN

[KarenNC]

Thanks for the replies.

 

We have read lots of different creation stories. For the most part ds has read them as just that, stories.

 

Now that he is reading through a childrens bible, he has lots of questions about different things, questions that I don't have the answers to. I guess I am looking for a book that will answer his questions.

 

What types of questions is he asking? Is it curiosity as to why some people think that the Bible's creation story specifically is scientifically accurate or is it that he is reading the Bible as something substantially different than the other creation stories, giving it more "weight," either because of the presentation or perhaps subconsciously due to the influence of the surrounding culture? They are different questions altogether and you will probably want to approach them differently.

 

The first seems pretty straightforward---people are beginning with the premise that the stories of their faith tradition are literally true because they were dictated by their deity and everything else in the world must conform to them. Their faith is the filter through which all information must pass. It isn't unique to the Jewish/Christian/Muslim creation stories.

 

If the latter, it might be interesting as part of the discussion to explore with him why *he* might be looking at the stories in the children's Bible as different than the creation stories from other cultures. I am guessing he has not been questioning why science doesn't teach that the universe was formed by the giant Mbombo vomiting up the sun, moon and stars or by Marduk ripping the corpse of Tiamat into pieces which then became the skies and the earth.

 

This could lead to a very interesting discussion on the effect of the dominant culture's religious practices on the way everyone in that culture tends to look (even subconsciously) at materials from that religion differently (giving it more weight or credence by default) than one does those of other religions.

[pooh bear]

These are some of the questions that he has been asking me

 

Where did Cain and Able's wives come from?

 

If all the animals went on the ark in pairs, that would mean that their children would have to mate with their brothers and sisters, and that is not right.

 

If everything in the sea died during the flood, how did fish survive?

 

What about the dinosaurs? How can man and dinosaurs have lived at the same time?

 

How did penguins get to Antarctica, if the ark stopped on top of a mountain in Turkey?

 

What about fossils?

 

These are just some of the many questions that he has, and I don't want to say, "Well dear, the answer doesn't matter because it's all just a bunch of silly nonsense." I want him to get good answers to these questions so that he can think about it and decide for himself what he believes.

 

I think that he is asking more questions about Christianity than other religions, because God and Jesus seem more like us than other deities do. Not many humans have elephant heads or five arms.

[laughing lioness]

You might also check out Reasons To Believe http://www.reasons.org/ for a lot of information on Creation and Intelligent Design. They do (or did) have resources that address questions of origins such as your son is asking, and they used to have a "help line" where you could actually call in and talk to someone.

[Jugglin'5]

These are some of the questions that he has been asking me

 

Where did Cain and Able's wives come from?

 

If all the animals went on the ark in pairs, that would mean that their children would have to mate with their brothers and sisters, and that is not right.

 

If everything in the sea died during the flood, how did fish survive?

 

What about the dinosaurs? How can man and dinosaurs have lived at the same time?

 

How did penguins get to Antarctica, if the ark stopped on top of a mountain in Turkey?

 

What about fossils?

 

These are just some of the many questions that he has, and I don't want to say, "Well dear, the answer doesn't matter because it's all just a bunch of silly nonsense." I want him to get good answers to these questions so that he can think about it and decide for himself what he believes.

 

I think that he is asking more questions about Christianity than other religions, because God and Jesus seem more like us than other deities do. Not many humans have elephant heads or five arms.

 

I think the AIG books might be your best bet (the Answers series that were linked earlier in the thread). They specifically deal with questions like these.

[IsabelC]

These are just some of the many questions that he has, and I don't want to say, "Well dear, the answer doesn't matter because it's all just a bunch of silly nonsense." I want him to get good answers to these questions so that he can think about it and decide for himself what he believes.

Those questions are mostly covered in the standard creationist texts as well as sites such as Answers in Genesis. If he isn't keen on reading lots, you could also encourage him to discuss his questions with a friend or relative who holds those beliefs. If you don't know a suitable person, you could contact your nearest fundamentalist Christian Church and ask whether somebody would have time to talk to him. There might be a youth outreach program he could participate in if he wants to learn more.

[michelle l]

I think the AIG books might be your best bet (the Answers series that were linked earlier in the thread). They specifically deal with questions like these.

:iagree:

[KarenNC]

These are some of the questions that he has been asking me

 

Where did Cain and Able's wives come from?

 

If all the animals went on the ark in pairs, that would mean that their children would have to mate with their brothers and sisters, and that is not right.

 

If everything in the sea died during the flood, how did fish survive?

 

What about the dinosaurs? How can man and dinosaurs have lived at the same time?

 

How did penguins get to Antarctica, if the ark stopped on top of a mountain in Turkey?

 

What about fossils?

 

These are just some of the many questions that he has, and I don't want to say, "Well dear, the answer doesn't matter because it's all just a bunch of silly nonsense." I want him to get good answers to these questions so that he can think about it and decide for himself what he believes.

 

I think that he is asking more questions about Christianity than other religions, because God and Jesus seem more like us than other deities do. Not many humans have elephant heads or five arms.

 

His questions sound like he is taking a very literal approach to these stories, with the expectation that they should be factually true rather than using imagery of some sort to make a deeper point. He does indeed also appear to be approachihng the Jewish/Christian/Muslim creation stories differently than he does others.

 

We don't approach it as "a bunch of silly nonsense" either. It is not respectful of the belief systems of others to put it that way, even if I don't follow that particular religion. The sacred stories of any culture or tradition are about conveying to the members of that group what it means to be human, how to relate to other humans and how to relate to that which we do not yet understand. None of it is (or was to the people of any given culture) "silly nonsense" even if you do not personally believe that they are "true" in the literal (or even metaphysical) sense (note that many Christians, Jews and Muslims do not treat them as literally and scientifically verifiable either). The answer does indeed matter if you are trying to understand more about the group that views these stories as sacred. It's just that that answer may not be that there is a scientifically verifiable reason or answer because the stories were never intended to teach science. They were intended to teach faith and transmit cultural values, just like all other sacred stories.

 

If it were me, I would start by asking him why he thinks that these stories in particular should be more literally verifiable than Roman or Egyptian or Native American or Norse stories should be or if they should be, instead, seen as trying to teach something important to the people like other stories he's read. I'm afraid that does, indeed, presuppose that all the other creation stories haven't been presented as "silly nonsense." If they have and you have not presented these in that way, it's not surprising he is looking at them differently.

 

My daughter is 9 and we have had many conversations about the "whys" behind the stories of various religions. My approach has been to try, now that she is getting into the logic stage, to help her look at religious stories more deeply than only as a surface literal reading, just as we do with literature. We talk about why a statue of Kuan Yin might have a thousand arms (to represent that she helps many people at the same time) or why God in the Jewish/Christian/Muslim stories is often represented as a king seated on a throne (to represent to the faithful his power, not because there is a physical man on a physical throne that a spaceship could find).

 

A good place to start in the Christian Bible might actually be not with the creation stories but with the parables of Jesus, to illustrate the way in which stories with imagery are used in Jewish tradition (from whence these creation stories come) to convey a deeper point.

[momofabcd]

There is also a book called The Big Book of Questions and Answers. http://www.amazon.com/Book-Questions-Answers-Ferguson-Sinclair/dp/1857922956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271683423&sr=8-1

[IsabelC]

What types of questions is he asking? Is it curiosity as to why some people think that the Bible's creation story specifically is scientifically accurate or is it that he is reading the Bible as something substantially different than the other creation stories, giving it more "weight," either because of the presentation or perhaps subconsciously due to the influence of the surrounding culture? They are different questions altogether and you will probably want to approach them differently.

 

The first seems pretty straightforward---people are beginning with the premise that the stories of their faith tradition are literally true because they were dictated by their deity and everything else in the world must conform to them. Their faith is the filter through which all information must pass. It isn't unique to the Jewish/Christian/Muslim creation stories.

 

If the latter, it might be interesting as part of the discussion to explore with him why *he* might be looking at the stories in the children's Bible as different than the creation stories from other cultures. I am guessing he has not been questioning why science doesn't teach that the universe was formed by the giant Mbombo vomiting up the sun, moon and stars or by Marduk ripping the corpse of Tiamat into pieces which then became the skies and the earth.

 

This could lead to a very interesting discussion on the effect of the dominant culture's religious practices on the way everyone in that culture tends to look (even subconsciously) at materials from that religion differently (giving it more weight or credence by default) than one does those of other religions.

If his interest is heading in this direction, he might also want to read The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or something similar.

[SophiaH]

You might also check out Reasons To Believe http://www.reasons.org/ for a lot of information on Creation and Intelligent Design. They do (or did) have resources that address questions of origins such as your son is asking, and they used to have a "help line" where you could actually call in and talk to someone.

 

:iagree: I second Reasons.org.

[elfinbaby]

:bigear:

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I think the AIG books might be your best bet (the Answers series that were linked earlier in the thread). They specifically deal with questions like these.

 

:iagree:

 

Yes the Answers books for kids and the new answers books explain those questions!!!!!

[debbielong]

This is a profound and extraordinarily well-written response from KarenNC

 

His questions sound like he is taking a very literal approach to these stories, with the expectation that they should be factually true rather than using imagery of some sort to make a deeper point. He does indeed also appear to be approachihng the Jewish/Christian/Muslim creation stories differently than he does others.

 

We don't approach it as "a bunch of silly nonsense" either. It is not respectful of the belief systems of others to put it that way, even if I don't follow that particular religion. The sacred stories of any culture or tradition are about conveying to the members of that group what it means to be human, how to relate to other humans and how to relate to that which we do not yet understand. None of it is (or was to the people of any given culture) "silly nonsense" even if you do not personally believe that they are "true" in the literal (or even metaphysical) sense (note that many Christians, Jews and Muslims do not treat them as literally and scientifically verifiable either). The answer does indeed matter if you are trying to understand more about the group that views these stories as sacred. It's just that that answer may not be that there is a scientifically verifiable reason or answer because the stories were never intended to teach science. They were intended to teach faith and transmit cultural values, just like all other sacred stories.

 

If it were me, I would start by asking him why he thinks that these stories in particular should be more literally verifiable than Roman or Egyptian or Native American or Norse stories should be or if they should be, instead, seen as trying to teach something important to the people like other stories he's read. I'm afraid that does, indeed, presuppose that all the other creation stories haven't been presented as "silly nonsense." If they have and you have not presented these in that way, it's not surprising he is looking at them differently.

 

My daughter is 9 and we have had many conversations about the "whys" behind the stories of various religions. My approach has been to try, now that she is getting into the logic stage, to help her look at religious stories more deeply than only as a surface literal reading, just as we do with literature. We talk about why a statue of Kuan Yin might have a thousand arms (to represent that she helps many people at the same time) or why God in the Jewish/Christian/Muslim stories is often represented as a king seated on a throne (to represent to the faithful his power, not because there is a physical man on a physical throne that a spaceship could find).

 

A good place to start in the Christian Bible might actually be not with the creation stories but with the parables of Jesus, to illustrate the way in which stories with imagery are used in Jewish tradition (from whence these creation stories come) to convey a deeper point.

[Corraleno]

This is a profound and extraordinarily well-written response from KarenNC

:iagree:

 

Jackie

[Johanna]

http://himvisible.com/#/?section=Gallery

 

After watching even the sample...there's no denying God being revealed in creation!! His handiwork!!

:)

[nmoira]

After watching even the sample...there's no denying God being revealed in creation!! His handiwork!!

:)

That's a matter of perspective. ;)

[SonshineLearner]

How bout the latest of "It Couldn't Just Happen" and books on Intelligent Design, which is not from a "Christian Perspective".