Fundamental
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©FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt
Costella,
Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor
Evolution or
Creation-Does It Matter?
©Creation
Essays by Robert Kofahl, Ph.D.
FOUNDATION Magazine, Nov-Dec 2000
Printed with permission from the author
Does it matter what one
believes? Yes, it does. Many people have died horrible deaths because
they believed that a poisonous toadstool was an edible mushroom.
Nevertheless, every one of us has differences of belief from our
neighbors or even from our close friends or associates. Often these
disagreements in belief have little or no effect upon our interpersonal
relationships. But what about evolution and creation--is it really
important that we believe one or the other? Some who profess faith in
Jesus Christ are willing to accept the popular idea that living things,
even the human race, are the product not of divine special creation, but
of evolution. Other Christians hold that the biblical record of creation
in the Book of Genesis is literally and strictly correct. Both profess
personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Perhaps, then, belief
in evolution or in creation is a matter of indifference. Does it really
matter?
Does evolution conflict with
Christian biblical doctrines?
In order to arrive at a
persuasive answer to this question let us consider what effect belief in
evolution has upon fundamental teachings of the biblical Christian
faith.
1. The Scriptures: Myth or Divinely Revealed Truth?
If one's faith is to be
really decisive in personal, practical life, it must be logically
consistent. And as the Bible is the source of authority and of truth for
the Christian life, let us first see what effect acceptance of evolution
must logically have upon our view of the Bible.
|
Biblical creation doctrine |
Evolutionary origins doctrine |
|
Ex nihilo (out of nothing creation) |
Eternal, self-existent natural universe |
|
Fiat (by Word of God) creation |
No directive intelligence or will in origin of anything |
| |
|
|
Special creation of the kinds |
All kinds descended by evolution from other kinds |
| |
|
|
Purposeful creation |
No purpose in the universe |
|
Perfect creation |
No perfection, only evolutionary change |
|
Fallen creation |
Existential universe, no good or bad, right or wrong, so no
moral perfection from which to fall |
|
Judged creation |
No judgment, no absolute moral law, no Judge capable of
rendering and enforcing judgment |
|
Degenerating creation and race |
Human race is evolving to higher state |
|
New creation in Jesus Christ |
Universe moving toward ultimate dissolution |
It should be clear from
these contrasting doctrines that, if one believes in the evolutionary
world view, the Bible record of creation becomes myth. consequently, a
serious question is cast upon all of the Bible, because the objective,
historical veracity of the Genesis creation account is implicit
throughout the remainder of the Bible and is specifically acknowledged
at many points in the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, one who accepts
the theory of evolution is automatically denying the claim of the
Scriptures to be the verbally inspired, inerrant Word of God.
2. Doctrine of God
The God of the Bible is
the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, infinite-personal Spirit who is the
Creator and Sustainer of all things, sovereign Lord and Judge of all His
creatures. In total contrast, the god of the evolutionary world view is
either non-existent or at least helpless to influence or intervene in
the real world. Thus, any God an evolutionist may have is useless except
to think about. This is not the God Christians worship and serve.
3. Doctrine of Christ
The Christ of the Bible is
the Son of God--God the Son, and the living Word of the Father--who
created all things, providentially upholds all things, became man, the
perfect man, and suffered on Calvary's cross to redeem Adam's race, rose
from the grave, ascended into heaven, and there awaits the Great Day of
the Lord when He will return personally, in His body, to receive His own
believers and to judge the unbelievers. The Christ of evolutionists is,
at the very best, only a particularly good example of an improved ape
who made it to the top. An evolutionist cannot really believe and
understand the Christ of the Bible.
4. Doctrine of Man
Created man was made in
the image of God, perfect in holiness, a personal being possessed of
intellect, affections, moral responsibility, and will. Now fallen in
Adam into a state of sin and misery, the race is under the wrath and
curse of God, facing judgment and eternal loss at the end of this age.
The man of the evolutionary doctrine is the product of blind,
spontaneous processes of nature and has, therefore, no moral
responsibility before any God, for his will is captive to his
environment and the traits he inherited as the result of adaptation to
the environment while evolving from animal existence. Human nature is
held to be not corrupt and sinful, but good. This is a totally
anti-Christian view of man.
5. Salvation Doctrine
Created man is the object
of divine grace and compassion in the offer of pardon and regeneration
through the gospel of Christ, to be received by faith, grounded entirely
in the merits, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The man of
evolutionary doctrine can hope only for self-improvement in this life
through personal struggle that ends in total dissolution of personality
at death. The species might improve after he is gone, but for what
purpose or goal is unknown since death supposedly ends all. Moreover,
without divinely revealed moral law, what constitutes improvement is
problematic. How infinitely better is the Christian hope and assurance
in Christ.
6. Doctrine of Human Life and Goals
Created man was made to
glorify and enjoy God for all eternity. the man of evolutionary theory
does his own thing, for his own pleasure and glory, in this life only.
Thus he really has no worthy purpose in living or
dying.
In all the areas of doctrine
we have just considered, there is nothing but stark contrast between the
creation view and the evolution view. Creation and evolution are
fundamental concepts of two totally contradictory world views between
which there can be no compromise, no melding together. So to the
Christian creation and evolution do make a difference. It does matter
which we believe, for all of the basic areas of biblical Christian faith
are radically transformed by evolutionary theory. Therefore, it is
necessary for every Christ to make an intelligent choice to reject the
evolutionary dogmas and to believe the biblical record of creation. This
faith must be literal faith, accepting each statement of the Scriptures
in the most straightforward and direct sense possible in the context of
the whole teaching of the Bible concerning the doctrines of creation.
There is no advantage, only confusion for the Christian who insists on
being double-minded about creation and evolution.
Does belief in evolution or
creation have practical consequences for Christian life and action in
society?
Yes, for the Word of God
tells us concerning man, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is
he." Proverbs 23:7It is certain that the doctrine of evolution,
because it requires the complete reversal of the foundational doctrines
of the biblical Christian faith which we have summarized above, will
have profound influence upon our responses to the practical issues of
life and action in society.
1. Confrontation Between Christianity and Humanism
If a Christian submits his
mind to the doctrine of evolution, he espouses the most important
foundational principle of Secular Humanism. Also, as we have seen, he
opens all of the most vital principles of the Christian faith to
refutation. The Christian warrior has chased away his powerful war horse
and discarded his sword. He will be easily overcome by the enemy
humanist warrior, who sits firmly astride his materialistic,
evolutionary war horse and vigorously wields his humanistic doctrinal
sword. The Christian evolutionist has repudiated his biblical basis for
Christian judgment concerning the vital issues at stake in the cosmic
20th century confrontation between biblical Christianity and Secular
Humanism. He will probably end up aiding the enemy on many of these
issues.
2. Law, Crime, and Punishment
Under evolutionary
doctrine there is no moral law, no right and wrong, and no personal
responsibility, for humans are only highly evolved animals, products of
the environmental influences acting during the millions of years of
their rise from lower animals. Thus their environment is responsible,
and this means that society is principally to blame for the anti-social
behavior of criminals. In fact this inverted reasoning lays guilt on the
victim and transforms the criminal into a victim. Influenced by such
foolishness, legislators soften the law and the consequences of
law-breaking, and judges let criminals off with minimum sentences or no
punishment at all. The long-term result is a steady rise in the crime
rate.
3. Capital Punishment for Capital Crimes
Following the above
reasoning, murder is simply one animal fatally injuring another. There
is no offense to the righteous and holy God because His image in the
victim has been despised. It is unreasonable, then, for other men to
punish the murderer for an act which has no eternal consequences.
Furthermore, why should guilty society act so self-righteously anyway,
so the ranks of living murderers swell, unrestrained by any meaningful
penalty?
4. Abortion, Infanticide and Euthanasia
Since under evolutionary
theory man is the product of purely materialistic, spontaneous processes
and therefore possesses no spiritual nature, the living who have power
to promote their own benefit, are free for their own advantage to do
away with those burdensome persons who cannot protect themselves,
namely, unwanted fetuses, infants, and aged persons. As in the case of
capital punishment, the crime of murder in these three forms is no
longer heinous, because that which was killed had no eternally
continuing personal existence, for it was not created in the image of
God. It has no value except that accorded to it by other humans who have
arrogated to themselves the authority to make that evaluation on the
basis of their personal opinions. Thus evolutionary beliefs help to
justify the murder of innocents.
5. Pornography, Prostitution, and Homosexuality
In harmony with
evolutionary theory about the nature of man, the individual should be
free to do with his body and mind what he pleases, without hindrance by
moral laws or by parental or societal authority. This is because moral
laws and traditional family and societal restraints on individual
behavior are supposedly only the products of cultural evolution, having
no lasting authority or value. Furthermore, the evolved human being
possesses no spiritual nature bearing the divine image, nor is his body
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, there are no sexual sins of
thought or action. Human society should be open, with nothing
barred.
Without doubt many who accept
evolution, both Christians and non-Christians, will repudiate the above
analysis, because they do personally submit their behavior to
traditional norms. However, they have a difficult task justifying their
self-imposed restraints to a libertine who justifies his license on the
basis of evolutionary doctrine.
6. The Legalization of Drugs
The dedicated evolutionist
may reject the use of mind changing drugs on the basis of the genetic
threat they pose to unborn generations and thus to the evolutionary hope
of the race. (Marijuana, for example, induces chromosome breakage in
human eggs and sperm). But since evolutionary doctrine has done away
with moral law, with personal responsibility, and with meaning and
purpose in life, what is there to keep a hedonistic generation from
seeking pleasure for a season in drugs or any other kind of sin? If the
drug user is willing to endanger his health in this life, he should be
free to do so. Since moral responsibility does not exist, why worry
about the next generation of (human) animals? If he becomes a ward of
the state, society bears the guilt for his aberrations and should pay
the tab.
7. Education for Social Adjustment
In accord with the
evolutionary view of man, since spiritual life and obedience to a
Creator are excluded, the highest ends of the individual are to please
himself and, perhaps, to preserve the race. Human nature, supposedly
being the most advanced product of evolution, is held to be basically
good, not corrupt. therefore, self-expression free from external control
is the ideal educational goal. Practical considerations would then
suggest that the prime purpose of education is the socialization of the
individual to bring him into a workable but loose conformity with the
group, with society, subject in some degree to group consensus, but not
to absolute moral law. In this view the imposition of absolute moral law
is repugnant, for it tends to produce feelings of guilt which supposedly
hinder or twist the desirable natural course of personal human
development. Such an evolution-based educational program, by avoiding
all reference to the moral law, to God, or to the spiritual nature of
man, is teaching practical if not theoretical atheism. An additional
"benefit" arises from the fact that education without a
morality-based discipline usually produces much learning failure, with
many functionally illiterate graduates.
In actual practice this
permissive type of education has caused such chaotic conditions in the
schools and in society that the evolutionary humanists themselves are
frightened. Their response takes two forms. One is psychosocial mind
programming and the other is the imposition of increasingly oppressive
governmental controls over behavior. Each of these responses is designed
to give the elite planners power over a population reduced to the
condition of an efficiently operating termite colony in which the will
of the planners is done. As this essay is being revised in June, 1996, a
radical addition to the federal stable of education legislation is in
committee in both houses of the supposedly Republican congress. It would
establish a set of federal standards for public schools across the
nation. Each child would have a "smart card" on which his or
her entire personal record is stored. At an early age, perhaps around 12
years, counseling would be initiated aimed at determining the course of
secondary education and the career goal of the child. The child's
parents and the child's preferences would be overridden if the
"expert" counselor determined the smart card data ruled
otherwise. At the conclusion of the bureaucratically planned educational
process would be a Certificate of Completion. And by law employers would
be forbidden from hiring any young person not possessing a Certificate!
Now what would this do to all private education? Either control or
destroy it. What would happen to students who evidenced intelligence and
ability, but were deemed to have attitudes or convictions not in line
with the humanist/statist goals of the bureaucracy? They would be
side-tracked into some form of street sweeping. The Christian who
accepts some brand of theistic evolution has no firm or credible basis
for criticizing such a hideous public educational system.
8. Government Control of the Family
Government policy informed by evolutionary theory will aim ultimately
to control family life, for family influence shapes the individual's
character. Training and socialization within the family unit generally
tend to perpetuate traditional values which in America are basically
Christian values, grounded in the moral law given by the Creator. This
cultural chain must be broken if the evolution-based values of the elite
secular humanist planners are to replace Christian values. It is thus no
surprise that numerous government plans and programs at both the state
and national levels appear designed to weaken the Christian concept of
the family or to give recognition to and acceptance of competing modes
of life, such as communal extended families, or even homosexual
"families."
Furthermore, because the race
supposedly is still evolving and new technology may be placing in human
hands some powerful capabilities of genetic engineering and
psychological conditioning techniques, elite planners and power seekers
will inevitably try to apply these capabilities to control and remold
the race. Such experimentation, even on a mass scale, is acceptable if
man is only an evolved animal. One biologist of international repute
stated publicly that he would accept the position of genetic czar with
the authority to determine which human sperm and eggs would be permitted
to unite and develop in selected wombs to create the population of the
future! Christians who accept evolution have seriously undermined their
platform for resisting such Orwellian schemes for humanity.
9. Government Control of Everything
Created man bears the divine image and has received from God the
moral law and personal responsibility. He possesses as a personal being
gifts of precious rights and freedoms from his Creator. These are all
protected from governmental encroachment in the United States
Constitution, the fundamental principles of which are firmly grounded in
the conception of human nature and the Moral Law expounded in the Bible.
Evolved man, in contrast, bears the image of his ancient animal
ancestry, is subject to no external moral law, and is responsible only
to himself. The only permanent law for evolved man is adaptive response
to the environment for preservation of self and, perhaps, of the race.
Since he is a product of his environment and has no eternal personal
value, experimentation by government planners is acceptable for the
solution of social problems. Since anarchy is really intolerable for
everybody, progressive breakdown of the social order demands corrective
remedial action.
The creationist sees that the
key requirement for social order is that individuals have internal
personal commitment based upon the sense of personal responsibility to
the Creator and His Moral law. The evolutionist, rejecting the idea of
personal responsibility, seeks to preserve the social order or to create
a new one by forcible psychosocial mind programming and/or external
forcible police state controls upon behavior. The goals of the
programming and controls are determined by whoever gains the requisite
political or military power. These persons, whoever they may be, have
the power to constitute themselves as the authoritarian elite who know
what should be done to, for, and with mankind. Dreams and actual
implementation of such humanist/collectivist dreams can be observed in
developing stages at every level of human society today, state,
national, and global. A population indoctrinated in the evolutionary
view of the world and of themselves is helpless effectively to resist
domination by the planners. The Christian who espouses any form of
evolution ruins the cutting edge of his spiritual sword, the Bible,
having already compromised the Word of God by making peace with the
archenemies of the God of the Bible, the evolutionary humanists. Their
schemes are clearly preparing the world for the anti-Christ beast of the
revelation. Christians surely should have no part in these machinations.
Conclusions
The world system, says the Apostle John, "lies in the wicked
one." (1 John 5:19) The social, moral, political, and religious
atmosphere in which unregenerate men and women live has been created by
"the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in
the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 2:2) The theory of
evolution is a doctrine of demons taught by seducing spirits. As we have
seen, evolution subverts every fundamental doctrine of biblical
Christianity. Furthermore, the evolutionary world view dictates starkly
un-Christian and anti-Christian responses to the needs and problems of
life in this world. In no way can a Christian man or woman espouse
evolutionary doctrine and honor God with the implicit faith in His
written Word that He requires. It is not possible for a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ to go along with the evolution-based humanistic
programs of the world without denying the lordship of Christ and the
necessity of the gospel of grace. To espouse both evolution and the
gospel of Christ is to be double-minded and lose the effectiveness of
one's witness to the world. James said, "A double-minded man is
unstable in all his ways." (James 1:8).
The alternative to
double-mindedness is faith, faith which works by love and produces
obedience in the believer's life, faith that enables the Christian to
hang his life and his reputation before the world upon the Word of God
written, the Bible. The Scriptures plainly teach the doctrines of
creation which we presented at the beginning of this study. The
Scriptures also call upon Christians to be "the salt of the
earth," opposing the corrupting influences which flow from
anti-Christian doctrines. History is rushing on to its end. Satan is
pushing his program of deception to the hilt, and evolutionism is one of
his most powerful offensive weapons. In the face of this hellish
onslaught against truth and righteousness the Christian can surely
accept the charge of the Apostle James, "Submit yourselves,
therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
(James 4:7)
Robert E. Kofahl, Ph.D.,
21st Century Creation Evangelism. Email: Truth4Free@aol.com
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