Some time ago I received a phone call from a lady. She had heard that I was going to be speaking at her church on the topic of creation and evolution. As she was planning to take her “unbelieving” boyfriend to the meeting, it was important for her to be able to tell him what “credentials” I had in order to be speaking on the topic of origins.

The lady was a believer. She said she believed in God and creation, but her boyfriend was an evolutionist and a humanist. She wanted to invite him to hear me speak, but he said he would not go unless I had a Ph. D. 

Responding to her question, somewhat indirectly, I told her I would be speaking on the topic of creation and evolution with the purpose of analyzing the two worldviews by examining the facts. “No,” she interrupted, “I need to know your credentials.” When I asked why, she said that her boyfriend had an earned PhD in biology. “If you don’t have a Ph.D, he won’t waste his time coming to the meeting,” she insisted.

What the lady was telling me is quite true. Credentials, for many, mean credibility. If you don’t have credentials, it doesn’t matter what facts you present. Facts are secondary.

As I was listening to this lady, I was reminded of a friend of mine who has now passed on to be with the Lord. He was a brilliant scientist who had attained three earned doctorate degrees. He was known world wide as one of the leading thinkers of his day. He supported the biblical view of origins and presented his case eloquently and scientifically. His name was Dr. A.E. Wildersmith.

On one occasion, a professor who was a zealous promoter of evolution from UCI refused to debate him. Dr. Wildersmith had plenty of credentials to be credible, but the reason he would not debate Wildersmith is that he was a creationist. In the eyes of the evolutionary elite, when someone declares he believes in a creation view, credentials are meaningless.

I told the lady I never promote myself nor talk about my credentials. Credentials are not important to me. You see, the credentials I have were given to me by a university based on what I was taught by professors and teachers who tested me on how well I understood evolution. Now that I can see that evolution can not be supported by the facts, these credentials are of no value to me.

I have found that evaluating something to be true or false based on credentials can be misleading. We should always check out what someone is saying or writing by examining the facts. If the facts support what he says, the person has credibility – whether he is a creationist or an evolutionist.