Science and the Bible by Bolton Davidheiser, Ph.D.
T e a c h in g VBS nee d n t in v o lv e vS&uitck/VbS&tounoe^
Evolution Again
W E m ay sometimes be tempted to feel that enough has been said about evolution and that the subject should be given a rest, but it seems that there is no rest among those who are putting pressure upon Chris tians to accept evolution. So there really is no end to the warnings that need to be given. A recent article in a Christian magazine offers another example. The author tells his readers that evolution can be verified experimen tally. He is merely referring to ob servable changes and he himself ad mits that it is only an assumption that such changes could ever pro duce higher forms of life from lower. Charles Darwin believed that all forms of life developed through nat ural means from a simple beginning, and this is taught wherever evolu tion is taught. By saying that evo lution can be verified, the author leads the readers into accepting something which he equates with evolution. This confuses the issue and breaks down resistance to the accept ance of what really is evolution. This technique has been used by non- Christian evolutionists for a long time, but now it has also been used for quite a while by a number of men of science who profess to be Bible-believers! Ch ristian s should not let themselves fall into the trap of calling observable changes evolu tion. Next he tells his readers that real evolution — the development of high er forms of life from lower—though often characterized as atheistic, is not necessarily so because it is pos sible to believe that God was the prime mover in evolution. This is theistic evolution. But the Biblical account of the production of the first woman from a rib of the first man forever puts a stop to all quibbling about theistic evolution for those who believe the Bible. He says that all Christians are creationists even though they believe that God used evolution in His crea tive activity. Thus he says that the istic evolutionists are really creation ists. Others say the same thing; and therefore when a person says he is a creationist, it is now necessary to inquire further in order to find where
he stands on the evolution question. He also refers to those who accept what is called “ progressive creation ism.” Instead of including all of evo lution in their belief, as theistic evo lutionists do, these people believe that there were repeated acts of cre ation separated by long periods of diversification or evolution. Although this may be considered as less evo lutionary than theistic evolution, it is a position of compromise. The author says that the employ ment of evolution as the ultimate explanation of the development of the universe is clea rly atheistic and therefore not acceptable, but he ap pears to place all other views as ac ceptable for the Christian. Many non-Christian evolutionists believe this much. In the last paragraph of the Origin of Species Charles Dar win mentioned the Creator, and he said elsewhere that the acceptance of evolution from one or a few sim ple forms should not interfere with religious beliefs. Some writers of textbooks point out to students that evolution must start somewhere, and if they wish they may attribute to God whatever came before that. The person who is not well founded in his Christian belief will most like ly experience a feeling of relief when he reads such an article as the one we are discussing. He is given the authority of a Christian man of sci ence and the editors of a Christian magazine that it is quite all right for him to hold whatever evolution ary views he feels he must accept to be in keeping with the times. If evolution is true, there never were tw o individual first people. From this it follows that there never was a fall o f man as described in Genesis. This makes Christ an ideal ist ahead of His time and a martyr instead of the Saviour. This is a position known as “modernism .” Teaching people to accept evolution is a grave responsibility which Chris tians ought not to take lightly. It is a sobering thought that while some groups who have been known as Bible-believers are espousing evo lutionary theory, quite a bit of the anti-evolutionary writing now being published comes from anti-Christian cults.
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