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Creation V Evolution Series
Contributed by Clive Pooley on Oct 1, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: A common question, frequently asked by people who have been indoctrinated with evolutionary concepts through school, higher education and the media is; ‘Should Christians believe in Evolution?’
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In many nations of the West, the Word of God was once widely respected and taken seriously. It’s still taken seriously in many nations in the southern hemisphere. But once the door of compromise was unlocked and Christian leaders conceded we shouldn’t take the Bible as written in Genesis, it undermined the integrity of the rest of the Bible.
Many in the church have said; ‘you can use man’s interpretation of the world to interpret the Bible’. An example of this is taking on board the idea that the world is billions of years old. This is reinterpreting the Bible. It’s revisionism. Those who follow this idea are saying the Bible is an outdated, scientifically incorrect ‘holy book’, not intended to be taken as written.
As each subsequent generations push the door of compromise open further, increasingly, they are not accepting the morality or salvation of the Bible either. After all, if the history in Genesis is not correct as written, then not only is the Bible’s integrity questioned but how can we be sure the rest can be taken as written?
Recall what Jesus said, ‘If I have told you Earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?’ (Jn 3:12).
The majority of Christian leaders and lay people within the church, in our society, do not believe in six literal days of creation. Why? Because they’ve been influenced by the world to not take the Bible as written.
Sadly, being influenced by the world has led to the church no longer being in a position to influence the world.
‘Naturalism’ is the dominant religion in our society. A view which says every law and force in the universe is natural rather than moral, spiritual or supernatural. It teaches that over billions of years and out of sheer chaos, matter evolved into everything we see today by pure chance.
Demo Evolution looks okay in static diagram BUT 4 in centre booklet.
It’s popularly believed that Naturalism is objective and scientific. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Naturalism stems from Darwin’s theory of Evolution. But remember it’s just a theory and a very flaky theory at best. Yet in schools, colleges and in the media it’s pedalled as fact. Years ago TV presenters would have said; ‘scientists believe the world to be 6 billion years old’; today it’s stated as fact yet there is no proof. Belief in evolutionary theory requires absolute faith, it’s a philosophy, an attitude of mind. It’s no more ‘scientific’ than any other kind of religious faith. Jaw Bone - to ape man - show machine screw?
Social Darwinism applies the doctrines of evolution and survival of the fittest to human societies. This spawned Frederick Nietzsche’s philosophy, which opposed everything Christ taught. He scoffed at Christian moral values such as humility, mercy, modesty. meekness, compassion and service. He believed this bred weakness in society. His philosophy laid the foundation for Nazi Germany. Similarly you can trace Marxism and other tyrannical movements like eugenics and abortion to Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’.
Evolution is in conflict with the teachings of Christ. He should not have healed the lame and the sick if progress is measured by the ‘survival of the fittest’. Jesus taught self sacrifice; evolution is based on self preservation in the struggle for existence.
Some Christians believe evolution was God’s method of creation, but this is an inconsistent and contradictory position to hold. See P 1 of notes for an explanation.
Evolution is the cruellest and most inefficient way of creating man that could have been conceived. If God is a God of love and wisdom and power why would he devise such a wicked scheme as evolution.
The account of Creation concludes with God saying it was ‘very good’. Could he have said this if he was looking at the fossilised remains of billions upon billions of creatures in the rocks of the earth’s crust if such fossils marked the end of his Creation period.
Evolution was invented to eliminate the God of Genesis. It is the latest means our fallen race has devised to suppress our innate knowledge and the biblical testimony that there is a God and that we are accountable to Him (cf Rom 1.28).
By embracing evolution modern society aims to do away with morality, responsibility and guilt. Evolution eliminates the Judge and leaves the individual to do whatever they want without guilt or indeed consequence.
The collapse of Christianity in the once ‘Christian’ West is directly related to the issue of Biblical authority - which is directly related to the Creation account.
The battle is not one of young Earth vs old Earth, or billions of years vs six days, or creation vs evolution. No. The real battle is over the authority of the Word of God vs man’s fallible theories.