Creation and EvolutionCreation and Evolution

How a Christian should think about creation and How a Christian should think about creation and evolution is the cause of a wide range of views. In evolution is the cause of a wide range of views. In

this presentation there are three sections – a this presentation there are three sections – a traditional approach followed by two articles arguing traditional approach followed by two articles arguing

for or against Christians believing in evolution – for or against Christians believing in evolution – each section has been adapted from an original each section has been adapted from an original

source and if you want to investigate further I source and if you want to investigate further I recommend going initially to those primary sourcesrecommend going initially to those primary sources

Creation and EvolutionCreation and EvolutionA “traditional” Christian viewA “traditional” Christian view

Adapted from a number of sources including an original by Mike Adapted from a number of sources including an original by Mike Riddle of the Institute for Creation Research, www.icr.orgRiddle of the Institute for Creation Research, www.icr.org

The Problems that Evolution posesThe Problems that Evolution poses

No historic creation of humans

No historic Fall that results in universal sin among humans (and creation)

Death is not a consequence of the Fall but is a natural state of all life occurring before the flood

No hope of an eternal life (or second coming)

No need for Christ as Savior

The Bible is not reliable or valid for soteriology (salvation)—the plan of salvation has no historic basis in the past and no hope in a future reality

“A denial of the historicity of Genesis not only denies the Flood but also the first historicity of the first week of creation and the story of the Fall as well as the creation of the first historic humans who were responsible for introducing sin into the human race;this in turn denies the spread of sin from that first human couple, the introduction of death into the world, and the need for the cross—at least it denies how these things have been traditionally explained by mainstream Christianity for centuries.”

Randall W. YounkerRandall W. Younker

The foundation and doctrines of the Bible are built on the early chapters of Genesis.The early chapters of Genesis teach the true history of the beginning of everything.Once we believe the lie of the Prince of this world, Satan, that Genesis can’t be taken literally, the foundation of the Christian Faith begins to crumble.

AnonAnon

G. Richard Bozarth writes (“The Meaning of Evolution”, American Atheist, Sept. 20, 1979, p. 30):

“Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the [S]on of [G]od…If Jesus was not the [R]edeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”

Charles Smith, “From Ameba to Man”

“In the beginning was matter, which begat the ameba, which begat the worm, which begat the fish, which begat the amphibian, which begat the reptile, which begat the lower mammal, which begat the lemur, which begat the monkey, which begat man, who imagined God. This is the genealogy of man.”

Creation ModelCreation Model

God created the universe and everything in it in 6 days

Sin was the cause of deathGod destroyed the world by a worldwide flood

Man was created in the image of God

God created ALL things

Evolution ModelEvolution Model

About 15 billion years ago the universe exploded into existence

About 4.6 billion years ago the earth evolved

About 3.5 billion years ago life evolved Humans evolved from ape-like creatures

Time, chance, and natural processes

The Process for CreationThe Process for Creation

• Evolution model• The Bible• “And God said”• Psalm 33:6,9 “By the Word of the Lord…”• Hebrews 11:3

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

The Cause of Physical DeathThe Cause of Physical Death

Evolution: natural process Bible: sin (Rom 5:12, 1Cor

15:21) Curse (Genesis 3:17) Put out of the Garden to

keep from eating from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24)

“Very Good” (Genesis 1:31)

The FloodThe Flood Evolution: myth or local flood Bible: worldwide Flood

Rained 40/40 Springs of the deep All land creatures perished All mountains were covered

God’s covenant promise (Gen 9:8-11,15)

Localised FloodingLocalised Flooding

The Flood in Genesis 7The Flood in Genesis 7The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Flood QuotesFlood Quotes

Henry Clarence Thiessen, Ph.D., Lectures in Systematic Theology, 1979, p. 117.

“Further, the Bible teaches a universal flood…”

Gleason Archer (Ph.D., professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages ), Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, 1982, p. 82.

“The biblical record in Genesis 7-8 describes no local inundation confined to the Mesopotamian Valley (as some scholars have suggested) but a water level that surpassed the summits of the highest mountains.”

Eugene Merrill, An Historical Survey of the Old Testament, 1998, p. 50.

“If true scientific principle demands an observer and recorder of phenomena, only the Genesis account can be considered scientific, for only it dares to claim that there was an Observer present – the Triune God.”

Keith Wanser, Creation ex nihilo, 1999, p. 39. (Dr. Wanser works with theoretical condensed matter physics and basic theories of matter)

“I am convinced there is far more evidence for a recent, six-day creation and a global Flood than there is for an old earth and evolution.”

Ernan McMullin is the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Notre Dame

“the great majority of contemporary Scripture scholars agree [that to interpret early Genesis] literally or quasi-literally is to misunderstand the point that the writers of those narratives were trying to make”

The Creation DaysThe Creation Days

Evolution demands long ages

Bible: literal days Meaning of ‘Yom’ Yom with a number Evening and morning Genesis 1:14 Exodus 20:11 Words used to indicate

time

Years after creationCreation 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Year born after creation

Year died after creation

Adam 930

Lamech874 1651

Noah1056 2006

Terah1879

2084

Abraham20092184

Flood (1656)

Genealogical TimelineGenealogical Timeline

Professor James Barr, Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford.“Probably so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who dares not believe that the writer(s) of Gen. 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that creation took place in a series of six days which are the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience…”

Robert L. Reymond, Ph.D., A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 1998, p. 393.

“In the hundreds of other cases in the Old Testament where yom stands in conjunction with an ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.), e.g. Exodus 12:15; 24:16; Leviticus 12:3, it never means anything other than a normal, literal day.”

Douglas F. Kelly (Professor of Systematic Theology) , Creation and Change, 1997, p. 51. “To summarize, liberal scholars of both 19th and 20th centuries admit that the text of Genesis is clearly meant to be taken in a literal, historical sense, although they deny its claims to speak accurately to our space/time cosmos.”

Bible: consistent messageGen 2:7 Isa 57:16 1 Cor 8:6Gen 5:2 Matt 19:4 Eph 3:9Deut 4:32 Mark 10:6 Col 1:16-17Neh 9:6 John 1: 1-3 Heb 11:3Ps 89:47 Acts 4:24 2 Pet 1:3Isa 45:12 Romans 1:19-20 Rev 4:11

Evolution: chance accident

The Origin of LifeThe Origin of Life

What Did Jesus SayWhat Did Jesus Say Jesus believed Moses: John 5:46-47 Jesus confirmed Abel: Matt 23:35 Jesus confirmed the Flood: Matt 24:37-39 …from the beginning… Mark 10:6 Jesus is the Creator

John 1:1-3, Col 1:16, Heb 1:1-3, Eph 3:9

Is it possible to Is it possible to be a Christian be a Christian and believe in and believe in

Evolution?Evolution?

Yes!Yes!

I have edited this article for the purpose of I have edited this article for the purpose of simplifying some points for my students – simplifying some points for my students – however it appears online in at least two however it appears online in at least two

locations:locations:http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/theolohttp://www.eauk.org/church/resources/theolo

gical-articles/can-a-christian-believe-in-gical-articles/can-a-christian-believe-in-evolution.cfmevolution.cfm

http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/theological-articles/can-a-christian-believe-in-theological-articles/can-a-christian-believe-in-

evolution.cfmevolution.cfm

Denis AlexanderDenis AlexanderChairman of the Molecular Immunology Programme Chairman of the Molecular Immunology Programme

at The Babraham Institute, Fellow of St. Edmund’s at The Babraham Institute, Fellow of St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, and Editor of the journal College, Cambridge, and Editor of the journal

Science and Christian Belief.Science and Christian Belief.

It all depends what you mean by the term ‘evolution’. Charles Darwin published the Origin of Species in 1859 as a theory to explain the origins of biological diversity. At that time, that’s all it was – a biological theory, a theory that Christians were quick to baptise into a Biblical doctrine of creation. Asa Gray, Professor of Natural History at Harvard and a committed Christian, organised the publication of the Origin of Species in N. America and maintained that God had providentially arranged the biological processes of evolution to bring about God’s purposes in creation.

The Princeton theologian and prominent defender of the inspiration of Scripture, B.B. Warfield, spoke of himself as a ‘Darwinian of the purest water’. …virtually every American Protestant zoologist and botanist accepted some form of evolution by the early 1870s’.

So why does it now seem Christians are so opposed to evolution? Evolution now has all kinds of ideological baggage which are not part of the theory itself. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was a great populariser of evolution in N. America but unfortunately tried to make evolution into a ‘theory-of-everything’ in which the entire universe was ascending towards ultimate perfection. Spencer (not Darwin) who coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’.

Richard Dawkins says Darwinian evolution enables him to be an ‘intellectually fulfilled atheist’ - this only reinforces the idea that there must be something deeply anti-Christian about evolution. In fact evolutionary theory over the years has been called upon to justify as wide a range of ideologies as communism, capitalism, racism and militarism, some of them mutually exclusive – this should alert us to the dangers of extrapolating scientific theories into arenas in which they actually have little or nothing to say.

Is it possible to be a Christian and believe in evolution? Certainly, as long as ‘evolution’ refers to the biological theory describing how God has created all living things. The vast majority of Christians who are active in biological research today have no problem with incorporating evolutionary theory within their belief in God as creator. Our task as scientists is to describe the actions of God in the created order as accurately as we can. If an evolutionary process provides the best explanation for the origins of biological diversity, then that’s fine.

Evolution combines together two mechanisms: first, variation is introduced into genes by various mechanisms, second, the consequences of these mutations are ‘tested out’ by the criterion of ‘reproductive success’, the extent to which mutations impact on the ability of individual organisms to generate offspring. Taken overall, this is a tightly regulated process, as far from the idea of ‘random chance’ as can be imagined.

Evolutionary processes are not there to teach us morality – Christians are called to behave like children of God, shown in the Bible. But Christians should not abuse the Bible by trying to treat it as a scientific text-book – as scientific writing as we understand it now did not even get going until thousands of years after the writing of the early chapters of Genesis. It is outdated to treat Biblical texts as if they were articles out of a contemporary scientific journal - if they were, they would soon be out of date!

The Biblical creation accounts tell us timeless truths about God’s purposes for his creation in general, and for humankind in particular. It is up to scientists to find out how exactly God carries out his creative handiwork.Some Christians think belief in evolution undermines the uniqueness of humankind and the reality of evil and the Fall. Not so.

Genesis portrays Adam and Eve as Neolithic farmers. It is perfectly feasible that God bestowed his image on representative Homo sapiens already living in the Near East to generate what John Stott has called Homo divinus, those who first enjoyed personal fellowship with God, but who then fell most terribly from their close walk with God (Gen. 3:8). All those who disobey God and trust in their own wisdom in place of God’s law reiterate the historical Fall in their own being (Ezek. 28: 11-19).

Those many Christians today who are active in the biological sciences are amazed as we uncover more and more of God’s creative actions in our daily research. We do not look for God in the ‘gaps’ in our scientific knowledge, but instead worship God for the whole of his created order, including those remarkable evolutionary processes that God has used for his creative purposes.

Can a Christian Can a Christian believe in believe in evolution?evolution?

No!No!

Gregory KouklGregory Koukl

http://www.seanmcdowell.org/index.php This article first appeared in the Apologetics Study This article first appeared in the Apologetics Study

Bible For Students, edited by Sean McDowell Bible For Students, edited by Sean McDowell (Broadman Holman, 2010)(Broadman Holman, 2010)

Evolution means different things to different people. “Change over time” is one basic definition. Used this way, no one objects to evolution. Another meaning includes the idea that living things have descended, with modifications, from common ancestors. Some evolutionists think all living things evolved from a single source. This is more controversial.

Natural selection is yet another aspect of evolution. When an organism’s genetic code changes (mutates), it produces offspring whose bodies differ from those of other members of the species. Nature then “selects” which modifications are best at helping the organism survive and reproduce. This competition is called “survival of the fittest.” Over time, this results in the diversity of life on Earth. This process is typically said to be unguided.

When combined, all of the above aspects entail a specific brand of evolutionary theory called Darwinism or neo-Darwinism. Darwinism says that the evolution of living organisms is accidental, not designed. Oxford evolutionist Richard Dawkins takes this to imply that living systems were made by a blind watchmaker (unguided nature) rather than an all-knowing, purposeful watchmaker (God).

How does Darwinian evolution square with Christianity? The Bible teaches that God created the world - the stuff of the universe, which he formed into individual things (like Adam). Since this change took place over time, there is an “evolution” here, of sorts. All humans have descended—with some modification as the gene pool changed over time—from Adam and Eve, though each is still human.

Is Darwinian evolution therefore consistent with Christianity? I do not think so. Darwinism, as most commonly defined, says nature is the designer, not God. Darwinian “design” is driven by random, purposeless genetic mutations which are then “selected” as organisms compete for survival.Here there is no God-given purpose or outcome.

Can we say God used evolution?Natural selection—which we observe in nature in limited ways—could theoretically be used by God to direct the descent and modification of living things. By making modifications that increase the fitness of the organism, God could guarantee that a species would adapt and be selected for survival.But this isn’t Darwinism. It’s a form of intelligent design.

The real question about evolution is what (or Who) directs the change. Virtually every authority in the field of evolutionary biology believes that Darwinian evolution is mechanical, unguided, and purposeless. “Whatever we think of God, his existence is not manifest in the products of nature” Stephen Jay Gould

Christians know God is the Creator and purposeful designer of all species. Exactly how He designed them is a matter of debate. Therefore, Darwinian evolution, according to its standard scientific definition, is un-Christian. Keep in mind, though, that it is still possible to be Christian even if you mistakenly believe some things that are inconsistent with Christianity.