Evolution, Part 1

By Gerald McKibben

Evolution, by Langdon Smith

“When you were a tadpole and I was a fish

                           In the Paleozoic time,

                 And side by side on the ebbing tide

                          We sprawled through the ooze and slime,

                        Or skittered with many a caudal flip,

                          Through the depths of the Cambrian fen,

                        My heart was rife with the joy of life,

                          For I loved you even then.”

                        …

                        “Then as we linger at luncheon here

                          O'er many a dainty dish,

                        Let us drink anew to the time when you

                          Were a tadpole and I was a fish.”

(Langdon Smith was a Biologist born in Scotland in 1877, who came to the U.S. when he was 14. In addition to being a well-respected Scientist, he wrote very respectable poetry. The excerpt above is an example of his exquisite style, while regrettably expressing the evolution dogma.)

Evolutionary theory has been so pervasive in our educational system that most school-age children today believe it that it has been proven as fact. From this educational background many adults also believe in evolution, with a concurrent faltering view of the Biblical record of creation. Consequently our witness today often must be preceded with the declaration of who we are talking about: The God who created the universe; the “Word” in John’s introduction “In the beginning was the Word…”

The situation is not unlike that of the Apostles’ witness to first-century Greeks. Unlike his message to the Jews earlier, the Apostle Paul’s gospel message to the Greek Philosophers at Athens began with the statement that “God made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24). He didn’t have to start there for Jewish audiences, who were already in agreement with this obvious fact. He could get right to the heart of the gospel message without having to remind his listeners of things that should be obvious.

Sadly, many today have followed after scientific theories that have undermined the authority of the Bible. After all, they reason, if the Bible contains the obvious myth that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and a man and woman named Adam and Eve, then surely that casts doubt on the veracity and authenticity of the entire book. Many theologians subscribe to what one might term the “Post Modern Berean Principle”: “And they searched the science books daily, to see whether the things written in the Bible were so.” Because of these prevailing opinions, our society today is much like that of the Greeks’ in Paul’s day, when he wrote “… but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” (I Cor. 1:23).

The Jews had no problem believing there was one God, that He was the Creator, and that a blood sacrifice was essential to being in a right relationship with Him. But they stumbled at the cross because they didn’t believe Jesus was their Messiah. Any appeal to their salvation could start with a testimony of who Jesus is based on what the Scriptures said.

To the Greek mind, the whole idea of one God who created everything was foolishness. It is no wonder then that everything else written in the Scriptures was foolishness to them. And our society today in the U.S. and many other countries is more like the Greek one than the Jewish one, primarily, I believe, because Satan has planted seeds of doubt about the veracity of the Bible. As he did in the Garden of Eden, Satan only needed to suggest “Has God really said …”.

Many Christians today compromise by saying, “But I’m not sure just how literal we should take Genesis.” One can almost hear the Serpent in the Garden saying to Eve “Has God indeed said…” In Mark 10, Jesus took Genesis very literal when he quoted from 2:24: “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” The basis and pattern for marriage is thus found in the book of Genesis, something many today have chosen to ignore. The origin of sin is likewise rooted in the Genesis record of Adam and Eve, often quoted in the New Testament.

Luke gave the genealogy of Joseph all the way back to Adam. One might say that if Adam in Genesis is a metaphor for early humans, then perhaps Jesus is also metaphorical; if not, where does the Genesis record stop being figurative and become literal? And Jude (v. 14) wrote of Enoch as being the “seventh from Adam”.

It is time that evangelical Christians come back to our roots and reaffirm that the Bible is infallible after all, and that it is man’s theories are flawed. Any attack on any part of the Bible is an attack on the Bible as a whole. There is no conflict between the Bible and real Science. I believe we need to reassess how we present our message today, keeping in mind that many of our contemporaries are of the Greek mindset regarding attitudes about the Bible. We must shift our focus in order to have an impact on the culture of our day.

For more information on the evolution/creation issue I highly recommend www.answersingenesis.org.