Sc ience and the Bibl by Bolton Davidheiser Chairman, Science Division Biola College NEW THEORIES e (
AIRLY frequently someone comes out with something “ new” relat ed to evolution and Christian faith. Some time ago there was a booklet which, the author insisted, substan tiated Scripture and disproved Dar win by announcing that the ances tors o f all living things were washed out of the earth at the South Pole in a very primitive state. His view was that different forms o f life have not had common ancestors, as the evolutionists believe, but that each developed independently from its own created ancestral type. Thus human beings at one time swam in the water as simple creatures, later developed gills, and finally came ashore in A frica and lived in the trees. A male reached human per fection before any female arrived at that state, and Eve came into be ing when she was formed from a Y-chromosome o f the male, who was Adam. The author made the usual claim that his view was based upon the newest scientific developments and was worthy o f acceptance. He promised the publication o f a larger volume on the subject, and the pres ent writer strongly urged him to refrain from such a plan. A manuscript recently received, although dated 1956, is about a “ new theory o f immortality.” The author says that there are few things more suggestive o f personal immortality than evolution, provided only that the principles which apply to types be applied to individuals as well. Species can exist fo r a long time, so why not you and I as individuals? He does not seem to realize that analogies, where applicable, may be used to illustrate truth, but they are not a means o f proving anything. He repeatedly cites the well-known case o f the brachiopod Lingula, which the paleontologists say has lived essentially unchanged for about a half billion years. Actually, the evolutionists consider this to be an amazing example o f the lack o f evolution. Thus, although evolution plays an important part in his theory it seems that the less evolu tion there is the better. The author o f this theory o f im mortality professes that he does not believe in the supernatural, or, in
other words, that he does not be lieve in God. On the other hand, he thinks that naturalistic religions do not “ take” with the general public because they lack the supernatural element. He believes that he has solved the dilemma and can produce a religion which is satisfactory both to himself and to the general pub lic, because he teaches that evolu tionary trends carry over from this life to the next. He says that this “ should have an utterly revolution ary effect upon religion and upon so ciety” and that it is “ a fact that should influence conduct.” He adds that the immortality to which he refers applies not only to human be ings but “ absolutely and unqualified ly to all sentiment beings.” He be lieves that the soul may go through a number o f different embodiments, and even revert to a primitive level o f consciousness under unfavorable conditions. The person who has some knowledge o f pagan religions and the cults will recognize that this is not “ new,” but just another varia tion upon an ancient theme. On the copy sent to us the author wrote, “ And yet you fight evolu tion !” This implies not only that we should not fight evolution, but also that the things' he mentions are so obvious that we should have thought o f them ourselves and should have stopped fighting evolu tion before he pointed them out to us. Absurd as all this sounds, cults based upon statements just as un sound are ensnaring multitudes. The Christian church is commis sioned to carry the gospel into all the world, but as apostasy grows within the nominally C h r i s t i a n church we have a- three-way fight with the theory o f evolution. We not only have to fight the theory o f evo lution as such. We also have to fight erroneous and absurd statements made about evolution with regard to the Christian faith, and, more re cently, we have to oppose the teach ing o f evolutionary views by men who profess to be Bible-believing conservative Christians who are tell ing the Christian public that it is now all right to accept a certain amount o f evolution, and indeed that it is impossible to do otherwise.
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