It is one thing to be asked to give an account of what you believe and another to create an opportunity to do so. Lauren Gray, 14 years old, from the Brisbane congregation, received an A for her speech entitled, Creation vs. Evolution.

To complete her year nine studies at Mt. Gravatt StateHigh School for 2011, LaurenGray’s assignment was to choose from a list of topics and deliver a speech to her class.

Not satisfied with any of the supplied titles, Lauren asked her teacher if she could speak on the topic of creation vs. evolution, in favor of creation. With her teacher’s approval, Lauren set about preparing her argument.

“My main resource was the UCG booklet, Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe?” Lauren said, and after a week of researching and creating PowerPoint slides, her speech was ready.

“Were you nervous?” I asked. “No, I was really confident that I had excellent material and my argument was sound,” she said.

Lauren’s Presentation

On Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, with eight minutes to present her assignment, Lauren began her speech in front of 25 classmates:

“Charles Darwin is regarded as one of the founding evolution theorists. However even Charles Darwin conceded that there were certain things that they did not fully understand because they didn’t have appropriate technology to investigate things further.

For example, in Darwin’s time the cell could only be viewed at a magnification of several hundred times. By using the best technology of their day, when scientists viewed the cell they saw a relatively disappointing spectacle, appearing only as an ever changing and apparently disordered pattern of blobs and particles which, under the influence of unseen turbulent forces, were continually tossed haphazardly in all directions (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, page 328). Because of what Darwin witnessed through the microscope he was adamant about his theories.

The years since then have brought astounding technological advancements. Now researchers can peer into the tiniest parts of cells. Do they still see only formless blobs, or do they witness something far more astounding?”

‘To grasp the reality of life as it has been revealed by molecularbiology, writes Dr. Denton, we must magnify a cell a thousand million times until it is twenty kilometres in diameter and resembles a giant airship large enough to cover a great city like London or New York. What we would then see would be an object of unparalleled complexity and adaptive design.

On the surface of the cell w ewould see millions of openings, like the port holes of a vast space ship, opening and closing to allow a continual stream of materials in and out. If we were to enter one of these openings we would find ourselves in a world of supreme technology and bewildering complexity.We would see endless highly organised corridors and conduits branching in every direction away from the perimeter of the cell, some leading to the central memory bank in the nucleus and others to assembly plants and processing units.The nucleus itself would be a vast spherical chamber more than a kilometre in diameter, resembling a geodesic dome inside of which we would see, all neatly stacked together in ordered arrays, the miles of coiled chains of the DNA molecules...’

This is a description of one cell. The human body contains about 10 trillion brain, nerve, muscle and other types of cells, each one as complex as the other. So as we can see for Darwin’s theories to still hold true his mindless blobs would have to still be as chaotic and random today as they appeared to him, but that is not the case.”

Lauren then continued with references to Genesis 1, the Big Bang theory and the effect both evolution and creationism have had on society—admitting neither side has always represented the better side of humanity.

Conclusion

Her conclusion stated, “Do we hold on to a belief that we are evolving into something newer, bigger and better than before? Is there evidence of some of the latest evolutions or the extinction of a species because another more advanced species has evolved to replace them? Is there a future for mankind in this belief?

Or do we accept that there is a greater purpose for us - a future beyond what we understand right now? Do we accept that this was all created for us so that we can have a future and that this life isn’t all there is to it? In the end we are free to choose what we believe. For me, I choose life and a future. But for you, well it’s up to you.”

Her final slide called, “What do you believe?” left the class reconsidering their assumptions about evolution, with a spontaneous thirty minute debate on creation vs. evolution following.

Lauren received an “A” for all aspects of her assignment. Her teacher said it was “very persuasive, with very good facts.” Lauren may never know the full effect of her presentation. Who knows how the seeds of truth she has planted may one day grow to influence the lives of her friends?

Lauren’s decision to stand up for her belief in God in front of her classmates is a wonderful example to Christians of any age. Well done Lauren! May God bless you for your faith and courage.