One of the reasons I’m so passionate about the evolution issue is because I believe evolution is perhaps the foremost obstacle preventing people from coming to Christ today. The logic goes something like this: people are told evolution is a FACT (have you noticed how evolutionists, when make this statement, always capitalize the word “FACT”?); the people then reject or water down the Genesis account of creation; next, they reject the need of a Creator; soon, they reject the entire Bible; finally, they reject the idea of God altogether. There was no creation, there was no Adam, there was no sin of Adam, there was no Fall, so there is no need of a Savior.
I have to admit it’s a reasonable conclusion. If evolution is true, the whole foundation of Christianity is shaken.
Jesus Himself talked about these very things. There are several passages that we could point to as examples of this. Consider first John 5:45-47:
Also from John, Jesus gave us these insightful words:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? John 3:11-12
In this passage, Jesus draws a connection with God’s revelation of earthly things and His revelation of spiritual things. God has told us about the creation of the earth, the Flood, etc. If we don’t believe the Bible about these things, how can we believe it about anything?
Finally, consider the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). There, the Rich Man, being in torment, asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn the rich man’s brothers to repent before they came to this place. Abraham told him the brothers had Moses and the prophets (i.e. the Old Testament Scriptures) and that they could repent by hearing them. The rich man insisted that they were not persuaded by the prophets but would be convinced if someone came back from the dead. Listen to Abraham’s response (v.31): “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
Today, we have someone who came back from the dead: Jesus Himself. Even so, some people still refuse to believe. Why? Because they don’t believe Moses and so neither will they believe Jesus.
I have to admit it’s a reasonable conclusion. If evolution is true, the whole foundation of Christianity is shaken.
Jesus Himself talked about these very things. There are several passages that we could point to as examples of this. Consider first John 5:45-47:
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?Here we see a perfect example of Jesus pointing out the simple fact that, if we don’t believe Moses (the author of Genesis), then we won’t believe Jesus either.
Also from John, Jesus gave us these insightful words:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? John 3:11-12
In this passage, Jesus draws a connection with God’s revelation of earthly things and His revelation of spiritual things. God has told us about the creation of the earth, the Flood, etc. If we don’t believe the Bible about these things, how can we believe it about anything?
Finally, consider the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). There, the Rich Man, being in torment, asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn the rich man’s brothers to repent before they came to this place. Abraham told him the brothers had Moses and the prophets (i.e. the Old Testament Scriptures) and that they could repent by hearing them. The rich man insisted that they were not persuaded by the prophets but would be convinced if someone came back from the dead. Listen to Abraham’s response (v.31): “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
Today, we have someone who came back from the dead: Jesus Himself. Even so, some people still refuse to believe. Why? Because they don’t believe Moses and so neither will they believe Jesus.
Normally, I don’t care if someone believes something that’s not true. If people want to watch pro-wrestling, look for UFO’s, hunt for Bigfoot, or have Santa come visit their children, you won’t hear a peep from me. I say let them have their fun. But a belief in evolution can have life changing consequences. I cannot simply sit by and let people reject God because they believe something that’s not true.
This is why I blog about creation.
Been a while since I visited your blog, Bentley. Coming from the point of view of someone who has not grown up being told that the earth was created in six days, I have to say this: a non-literal interpretation of Genesis that accepts the fact of evolution would be far more plausible and palatable than having to believe in what seems to be sheer lunacy to me. If all Christians were young earth creationists, I would find the entire religion utterly preposterous. Bear in mind that I find other aspects of the religion - shared by both YECs and TEs - to be rather preposterous. In other words, evolution is not what keeps me from accepting Jesus Christ as my saviour. If I had reason to believe that the myths surrounding this man were true, I would see no problem in accepting evolution and being a Christian.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a while since you've visited. I've also been posting less frequently on CARM so I haven't bumped into you there either. Welcome back and thanks for visiting.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure evolution is not the ONLY reason some people reject Christ. Certainly there were lost people before Darwin. But as I've said, it's probably the leading reason. And even in your case, I'll be willing to guess it plays a bigger part than you realize. Imagine, for example, that there was no other possible explanation for the existence of life (although evolution really doesn't explain who life began but work with me here). If we could not have come into existence by any natural means, then the only alternative is by supernatural means. It would be much harder for you to reject the idea of a Creator. I remind you of Dawkin's remark that evolution allows him to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.
And BTW, I went to public schools all my life and was taught evolution. As an adult, I continued believing evolution even after becoming a Christian. So my rejection of evolution is not the result of indoctrination into creation. Rather, I came to believe creation so late in life because of my early indoctrination into evolution!
I'm not at all convinced that evolution is the leading reason why people reject Christ. Are there any particular surveys or studies that you are basing this on?
ReplyDeleteAnd even assuming the theory of evolution did not exist - you're forgetting that one could believe in some kind of creator without accepting Christ or believing in salvation. After all, that is the more important issue at hand, isn't it?
Why assume that if I were to become a theist that I would choose Christ as my saviour?
In any case, I care about the science, which clearly supports that creatures evolve over time and that we share a common ancestor with other living creatures. Sure, it gives me intellectual fulfillment - but just as knowing how my cardiovascular system works gives me some fulfillment.
Anyway, if your "indoctrination" in evolution was anything like mine, then it wasn't much. In my case, I would hardly have called it indoctrination. We spent very little time in high school biology going over evolution - maybe a couple of hours. I learnt a lot more about evolution once I got to university and was better able to understand things like genetics and cell biology. I also then did research into things I did not know much about e.g. geology and paleontology. So it's not just a case of just taking it as fact because of what I was taught in high school.
I've seen you attempt to undermine science and the evidence that supports evolution. In fact, one of your recent posts on CARM basically tries to argue that evolution and creation are the same because neither of them can be science. While the latter certainly isn't, you really haven't made a case against the former. I addressed that post on CARM - there are many other fields of science that operate in much the same way. It seems that it is not the science that's flawed, but rather your own understanding of it.
Anyway, I think in a way it is unfortunate that I cannot sincerely debate you on theological issues - as I believe that is your biggest concern with evolution. And unless you are willing to admit to what constitutes science, I cannot really argue about the merits of evolutionary biology because you might just turn around and say that a creation science theory about continents zipping across the earth in a short time is "scientific". From your point of view, would it affect your faith if you had to come to accept evolution?