Most creationists believe that horses evolved from a multi-toed ancestor. Not only did the modern horse lose toes, but its skull changed quite radically, as did its teeth. Now, yes, it is still a horse, but it is quite a different looking animal. Given an acceptance of evolution at this level, it behooves the creationist to be thinking outside the box as to what constitutes a created Kind and what constitutes a group of animals that indeed do have a common evolutionary ancestor.
So, rather than scoff at evolutionists, we should point them to the creator who seems to have genetically ‘front-loaded’ different created Kinds to express some rather dramatic changes. When we witness in this way, we may make some head-way since we are talking on terms that the evolutionist understands. Only instead of attributing these changes to random mutations, we can attribute them to God who gets all the glory for designing creatures to adapt to differing environments.
Remember, our goal is to win people to Christ, not put them offside by using absolutist language, e.g.,”there is no such thing as an evolutionary transition.” We Christians might agree that the horse is still a horse (therefore no transitions), but an evolutionist doesn’t think like that. What he sees are transitions from one ‘horse-looking’ creature to what we now know today as a horse.
The question is what does one mean by “transitions”? This is where Christians can bring Christ to bear on the conversation. Let’s be careful out there…