The Tampa Tribune, September 23, 2000, Saturday, Pg. 4

HEADLINE: Scientist evolves into creationist;
BYLINE: MICHELLE BEARDEN;

    A creationist scientist?

    Sounds like any oxymoron, but that describes Gary Parker and many of his Christian colleagues.

    "The more you know about evolution, the less likely you are to believe it," he declares.

    Lest you think Parker is blinded by faith and short on facts, consider this: He has a master's  degree in biology and physiology and his
doctorate's in biology and geology, all from Ball State  University in Indiana.

      "Yes, some people think we're kooks," he says. "But there is definitely more acceptance about what  we believe than 30 years ago, when
I first came to accept the truth."

    For Parker, the truth is that God created the universe. The truth, for him, is that Earth is  6,000 years old, not 4.5 billion years as most
scientists believe. The truth is that the world is  based on plan and purpose, not time and chance.

    That's not what he was taught as a young scientist in the 1960s. And living in a household where  churchgoing was sporadic at best, his
exposure to creation beliefs was limited.

    WHILE STUDYING for his doctorate and teaching science at a small private college outside  Philadelphia, Parker was invited to attend a
Bible study by a fellow chemistry teacher. He went for  the free coffee and doughnuts.

    The discussion was to become a defining moment in his life.

    During the next three years, he began to question everything he had learned as a scientist. He  began to find more answers in the Bible than
in textbooks. And he found a worldview that was far  more optimistic than what he was taught.

    "With evolution, it's all about struggle and death, struggle and death, struggle and death. And  death finally wins out," he says. "You're just an
accident. You are in competition with every other  human being. It's all so depressing."

    A man of logic, Parker made a giant leap of faith when he accepted Christ. For the first time,  he believed in a creator. He had to give up
the notion that he was in charge of his own destiny.

    He also had to face colleagues in his science community who thought he had gone off his rocker.  In the late 1960s, he recalls, "there weren't
many of us who took this view."

    Parker found work in places that jibed with his new worldview: leading the science department at  Clearwater Christian College, serving on the
science faculty of the Institute for Creation Research  in San Diego, and working as a senior lecturer for Answers in Genesis, a creationist
ministry in  Kentucky.

    Parker and his wife, Mary, are now involved in a project that is bound to cause some controversy  among scientists. They have joined Charles
McCombs, a chemist with a doctorate from the University  of California, Los Angeles, and his wife, Janis, a former science teacher, in developing
the  Creation Adventure Museum on the Peace River in Arcadia.

    WORKSHOPS AND FIELD TRIPS that support creationism will be the focus at this museum, which is  located in a double-wide trailer at the Peace
River campground. If you want more information about  the project, call up www.genesisministries.com online.

    Today, Parker will be leading "Understanding Genesis," a seminar on the "truth of creation." It  begins at 1:30 p.m. at The Evangelical
Presbyterian Church, 1107 Charlie Griffin Road, Plant City.

    He'll offer his testimony and the path he took from evolution to creationism; discuss fossils  and the Great Flood; and address carbon
dating. At 7:30 p.m., the floor will be open for questions.

    Parker doesn't mind debate. In his opinion, his beliefs are divinely inspired and far more  credible than what science has to offer. He
welcomes skeptics to challenge him.

    "I think Christians, as well as non-Christians, should learn as much about evolution and  creationism as they can," he says. "Then you can
decide for yourself what the truth is."

    For information, call (813) 759-9383.