David Catchpoole
David Catchpoole, B.Ag.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., was a plant physiologist with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, who now works full time with Creation Ministries International as a speaker and writer, particularly for Creation magazine and the CMI web-site.
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David Catchpoole |
Testimony
Like most scientists today, David Catchpoole was an evolutionist when he started out, and did not believe in God. When he was in his mid-20's, he went on a trip to Indonesia, where a personal crisis, and typhoid fever, brought him to know the Lord. At that time in his life, he remembered the words of some Christian university students, who had told him to cry out to God if he ever faced a crisis. So he said ‘God, it sounds strange even saying your name, because I’m not sure you even exist. But if you can hear me and get me out of this mess, I’ll be a Christian for the rest of my days.’ Apparently God heard his plea and David got out of his mess, and became a Christian. After David became a Christian, he still believed the universe was billions of years old, until he heard a seminar from Dr. Don Batten and Dr. Carl Wieland in 1997. What David didn’t realize is that a lot of speculation goes into what scientists cannot test or observe, which is the distant past.
Creation evangelism
David Catchpoole speaks particularly about the value of creation to evangelism. In response to a story about a girl who could not find an answer to the question, "...our bodies are unclean! Why would God, who is pure, sully himself by coming down to Earth in human form?", he wrote:
| “ | Such a question requires only a basic understanding of the Atonement to answer. Salvation required a sacrificial 'last Adam' (1 Cor. 15:45) to shed His blood in death, one who was a physical descendant of the first, yet sinless. This could be fulfilled only through God incarnate, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:12, 22). Notice, though, how all this is built upon the foundational Genesis truths of the first Adam bringing in sin and death, and the first shedding of blood as a covering for sin (Genesis 3:21). The increasing confusion caused in the church by long-age compromises (which, by putting suffering, death and bloodshed before Adam, undermine these truths) is a major reason why so many today cannot give reasoned answers to basic Gospel-related questions (contravening 1 Peter 3:15). This leaves young people in the church vulnerable to being tossed by winds of false doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).Creation 24(2):46-51, Mar-May 2002. | ” |
Publications
- The Lion That Wouldn't Eat Meat by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(2):22–23 March 2000
- Piranha by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(4):20–23 September 2000
- Fossil Folly by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 23(1):45 December 2000
- Echoes of Eden by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(4):14–15 September 2002
- The 'bird of prey' that's not by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 23(1):24–25 December 2000
- How to build a bomb in the public school system by David Catchpoole. Creation 22(1):17 December 1999
- Morals decline linked to belief in evolution by David Catchpoole. The Australian, February 1, 2000
- ‘I don’t believe!!!’ by David Catchpoole. The American Chesterton Society, 31st January 2001
- ‘Living fossils’ enigma by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(2):56 March 2000
- The bamboozling panda by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 23(2):28–32 March 2001
- After devastation ... the recovery by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(2):33–37 March 2000
- Speedy species surprise by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 23(2):13–15 March 2001
- Message Mania by David Catchpoole. Creation 23(3):16–19 June 2001
- Wings on the wind by David Catchpoole. Creation 23(4):16–23 September 2001
- Another ‘living fossil’ tree by David Catchpoole. Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 2000
- New evidence: Lucy was a knuckle-walker by David Catchpoole. Creation19(1):52, Dec. 1996
- Dinosaur heart update: just a lump of mud? by David Catchpoole. Science 288(5465):503–505, 2000
- Encyclopedic 'truth' ... or wordly wisdom? by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(4):50–52 September 2000
- The Koran vs Genesis by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(2):46–51 March 2002
- Pliable plants by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(1):56 December 2001
- Mokele-mbembe: a living dinosaur? by David Catchpoole. Creation 21(4):24–25 September 1999
- Giant oysters on the mountain by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(2):54–55 March 2002
- Golden oldie by David Catchpoole. Creation 21(4):33 September 1999
- The 'fungus' that 'walks' by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(3):49–51 June 2000
- Life at the extremes by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(1):40–44 December 2001
- Hundreds of jellyfish fossils! by David Catchpoole. Creation 25(4):32–33 September 2003
- Skeptics challenge: a ‘God of love’ created a killer jellyfish? by David Catchpoole. Creation 25(4):34–35 September 2003
- How does a ‘box’ swim? by David Catchpoole. Creation 25(3):56 June 2003
- Monkey madness by David Catchpoole. Creation 25(4):23 September 2003
- Creating life from scratch? by David Catchpoole. Creation ex nihilo 22(2):6 March 2000
- Gladiator—an ‘extinct’ insect is found alive by David Catchpoole. Creation 25(2):51–53 March 2003
- What's in an Egg? by David Catchpoole. Creation 24(3):41–43 June 2002
References
- David Catchpoole shorter biography.
- David Catchpoole longer biography.
- From lampooning ‘loonies’ to shouting ‘creation!’: Former atheist scientist tours USA by Michael Matthews, AiG–US. 22 June 2004
